Class Action Blog : Consumer Fraud, Consumer Protection, Securities and Antitrust Lawyer & Attorney : Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz

In recent years, concert and sporting event tickets have become increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain.  Ticket retailers and even some artists and sports teams blame this phenomenon on the ever-expanding "secondary market" for tickets.  The secondary market is largely created by ticket "brokers" buying large blocks of tickets and reselling them to consumers for higher, and sometimes exorbitant prices.

Capitalizing on the widespread frustration with ticket prices and unavailability, retailers such as Ticketmaster are offering, and vying for the expanded use of "paperless tickets", akin to those used in the airline industry.  As the name suggests, for events offering paperless tickets -- which is currently at the discretion of the performer, team or venue -- no paper ticket is issued.  Upon arrival at the venue, rather than presenting a ticket to gain admission, the consumer must present both a valid government issued I.D. and the credit card with which the ticket was purchased.  Proponents claim that paper tickets are consumer friendly, but the reality is the opposite.

Paperless tickets devalue the ticket itself and create unnecessary and unfair restrictions on the consumer.  If the consumer is unable to use the ticket, he or she cannot resell it or give it to a friend.  This "use it or lose it" issue is particularly apparent with respect to season tickets to sporting events, which are often purchased, both by corporations and individuals, with the intention that they will be shared with clients, children and friends.  The use of paperless tickets thus greatly devalues the consumer's season tickets. 

Additionally, paperless tickets create the so-called "Grandma Problem" -- Grandma cannot purchase tickets to a concert for her grand kids unless she intends to go to the venue with them on the day of the concert and present her I.D. and credit card for the kids' admissions.  Likewise, if a group plans to attend an event together, and one member of the group purchases all of the tickets, the group will only gain admission to the event if they are present when the ticket-purchaser presents his I.D. and credit card.  Group members who arrive at the venue after the purchaser has been admitted will not be admitted.  Likewise, if the ticket purchaser does not show up, no one in the group gains admission.

Critics of paperless tickets, including some state legislatures, recognize the harm they pose to consumers.  Consumer-friendly bills restricting the use of paperless tickets have been introduced in the United States Congress and in states such as Connecticut, North Carolina and Minnesota.

If you have purchased paperless tickets to an event that you were unable to attend, please contact us to discuss your rights.

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When tickets for Leonard Cohen’s new tour went on sale at 10:00 a.m. on March 9, 2009, the tickets were listed on ticketmaster.com as being sold out within minutes. Mysteriously, at that same exact time and day, fans were told they could purchase tickets at a TicketExchange, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster. Not surprisingly, TicketExchange was offering the very same Leonard Cohen tickets for hundreds or thousands of dollars more than the face value of the tickets. Moreover, at that same time, TicketsNow -- also a wholly owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster -- was also selling Leonard Cohen tickets for hundreds of dollars more.

What some Leonard Cohen fans may not have known was that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Ticketmaster in California by the firm of Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C., alleging that Ticketmaster has engaged in deceptive business practices by redirecting consumers to TicketsNow.com, a website which specializes in the secondary, resale market for tickets. The class action complaint alleges that consumers do not know that TicketsNow.com is a fully owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster, and any tickets purchased on TicketsNow.com are essentially being purchased from Ticketmaster itself, albeit at an obscene mark-up.

Ticketmaster’s conduct in the sale of the Leonard Cohen tickets has not only enraged fans, it has also sparked a comment about Ticketmaster’s business practices from United States Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “This seems to be the kind of sleight of hand we have come to expect from Ticketmaster and it cannot be allowed to continue.” The Senator went on to state that, “Time and again, Ticketmaster appears to be going out of its way to prevent concertgoers from paying face value for tickets.” 

The fact that ticketmaster.com sold out of tickets at the same time that Leonard Cohen tickets were being made available on TicketExchange raises serious questions about Ticketmaster’s business practices and whether it engaged it deliberate and intentional deceptive business practices.

If you were forced to purchase one or more Leonard Cohen tickets through TicketExchange at prices above the face value of the tickets because you were barred or redirected from purchasing tickets at ticketmaster.com, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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When tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s new tour went on sale at 9:00 a.m. on February 2, 2009, fans had only one option to purchase tickets: exclusively through ticketmaster.com. Mysteriously, at that same exact time and day, ticketmaster.com’s website began experiencing “technical difficulties” and Springsteen fans could not purchase any tickets to the Boss’ shows. Instead, conspicuously placed on the same ticketmaster.com screen that informed fans that the website was experiencing “technical difficulties,” was an alternative purchasing option from TicketsNow.com, offering the very same Springsteen tickets for hundreds of dollars more than the face value of the tickets.

Thousands of other Bruce Springsteen fans who were able to get beyond the “technical difficulties” which ticketmaster.com was allegedly experiencing were informed that all tickets for all shows across the country were already sold out. They too were conspicuously re-directed to TicketsNow.com where they could elect to purchase tickets for the “sold out” shows for 10 to 50 times the face value of the tickets.

What Bruce Springsteen fans did not know was that in a recent effort to expand its business and profits, Ticketmaster acquired TicketsNow.com, a website which specializes in the secondary, resale market for tickets. Indeed, TicketsNow.com is a fully owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster, and any tickets purchased on TicketsNow.com are essentially being purchased from Ticketmaster itself, albeit at an obscene mark-up.

Ticketmaster’s conduct in the sale of these tickets has not only enraged fans of Bruce Springsteen and the Boss himself, it has also sparked a Congressional inquiry into Ticketmaster’s business practices. United States Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) has requested that the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) investigate Ticketmaster’s relationship with its subsidiary TicketsNow.com, and their handling of ticket sales for the Bruce Springsteen tour. 

The fact that ticketmaster.com experienced “technical problems” at the exact time that Bruce Springsteen tickets were to be sold, and the speed with which tickets were made available on TicketsNow.com – a fully owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster – raises serious questions about Ticketmaster’s business practices and whether it engaged it deliberate and intentional deceptive business practices.

If you were forced to purchase one or more Bruce Springsteen tickets through TicketsNow.com at prices above the face value of the tickets because you were barred from purchasing tickets at ticketmaster.com, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

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