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Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger: Trouble with Leonard Cohen tickets on TicketsNow, and a third class action lawsuit
Just as the company deals with its two Congressional hearings this week on its planned merger with Live Nation, Ticketmaster Entertainment is about to be hit by a third class action lawsuit in Canada over its alleged business practices.
In addition, Ticketmaster separately finds itself on the defensive again North of the Border, this time over its alleged mishandling of sales of Leonard Cohen tickets.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the third class action lawsuit are from the province of Manitoba, and they allege that Ticketmaster "conspired to divert tickets to popular events away from" its Web site to "its ticket brokering website TicketsNow, in which the same tickets were sold at premium prices," according to a statement about the pending lawsuit.
The other two class action lawsuits were filed earlier this month in the provinces of Ontario and Alberta, and combined they are seeking a total of about $750 million in damages. One of the lawsuits claims that Ticketmaster and TicketsNow allegedly redirect consumers to higher priced tickets, something that Ticketmaster apologized for in relation to sales of Bruce Springsteen tickets. The second lawsuit claims that Ticketmaster's extra convenience and service fees are excessive.
The latest class action lawsuit aims to represent anyone bought tickets for an event in Manitoba from the TicketsNow Web site dating back to February 17, 2007.
According to attorneys, the lawsuit was initiated on behalf of a unnamed woman who tried to purchase Carrie Underwood tickets for a December 2, 2008 show at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Using a "pre-sale password" obtained from a local radio station the woman and her daughter tried numerous times to buy tickets on the Ticketmaster Web site, "but each time were redirected to the TicketsNow website." The daughter, allegedly thinking she was buying four tickets in the second row for $193, completed the transaction on TicketsNow. Later, the credit card was charged a total of "$917.75 including 'service charges' and a 'delivery charge,' according to the attorneys. The woman tried to have the order cancelled, but was denied, and in addition she was allegedly charged in U.S. currency which converted to $1,010.05. The original face value of the tickets was $57 each.
"We have heard hundreds of similar stories from consumers across Canada who alledge the process in which tickets are sold on the Ticketmaster and TicketsNow website contravenes specific legislation in their province," the plaintiff's attorney Luciana Brasil, of the law firm Branch MacMaster, said in a statement.
"The Manitoba legislation exists to govern the process by which tickets are sold, and we are hopeful the courts will take a serious look into this issue," added attorney Matthew Maruca, of Wilder Wilder & Langtry, in a statement. He, too, represents the plaintiff.
During a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, February 24, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, urged Ticketmaster to sell its TicketsNow division to help avoid such problems in the future. Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff did not say he would sell it, but said had he been with the company when it was bought, he would have strongly opposed the deal because he does not believe there should be a secondary market for tickets.
As part of a recent settlement with New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, Ticketmaster vowed to end the practice of placing tickets for sale on TicketsNow before they went on sale to the general public, but according to a report published by CBC.com, the company was doing just that with Leonard Cohen tickets.
Tickets reportedly were selling at a face value of $99 to $250, but werre being sold on TicketsNow for between $568 and $856. Service charges tacked on an additional $85 to $128 per ticket, according to CBC.com.
"Sometimes it's a matter [in] large corporations like that of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Is that understandable? Yes. Is that excusable? No," Duncan Gillespie, CEO of the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ONT, told CBC.com. "Do they need to correct it? Absolutely. We're not happy and I think fans are justifiably very unhappy."
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Leonard Cohen U.S. tickets just went on sale this morning (3/2/09) at 10 a.m. When I logged on at 10:30 a.m., tickets were gone but Ticketmaster linked directly to their site called "TicketExchange Marketplace," and anything sold there they get a cut of. Tickets were already on sale there for double original price up to over $1000 per ticket (highest Ticketmaster price was $251). Other scalping sites, such as Ticket Tango, offered tickets for $34,000 per ticket and NO I'M NOT KIDDING YOU. I think a sensible solution might be for sites not to allow immediate turnaround of tickets. Hardly anyone is going to buy tickets and minutes later sell them away, no one except scalpers. There also should be a reasonable maximum amount allowed to be charged for resale of tickets, say 50% more.
Tom Waits worked with Ticketmaster for a recent tour whereby only original ticketbuyers were allowed in via presentation of their credit card & photo ID. It's possible to be fair but is there $$ in it for them?
Contact the chair of Senate's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights, Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, phone (202) 225-1605. Tell his office to make TicketMaster accountable, and to deny their virtual monopoly with the LiveNation merger. Tell his office about your horror stories of trying to buy tickets. Contact and complain to the BBB in your area (www.bbb.org). Contact your local government officials, the FTC (www.ftc.gov), state dept of consumer complaints. If we don't speak up, nothing will be solved and business "as usual."
Never mind all the re-directing from tmaster to tnow. How about a few months ago when ticketatlantic.com had james blunt tickets for sale. The link to buy off of ticketatlantic took the buyer right to ticketsnow.com to buy off the secondary market.
See, these are things that are happening that no one has complained about yet.
Halifax should launch a lawsuit again ticket atlantic and ticketsnow for the exact same thing.
Gosh... I can't believe Ticketmaster is also a scalper. I thought the scalpers on the streets were rediculous.
Tickets Now will go out of business. Why? The brand is tanrished. Read the news. The lawsuits are adding up. One after another. Just one succesful class action could wipe them out. They might be ranked # 3 but I bet the costs outweigh the profit to be # 3. With out the bank of Ticketmaster, they will not be able to spend as much and their ranking will go down - fast. They will have to layoff people and soon will be nothing but... I am not sure why the management at Tickets Now, esp the marketing ones has not been fired. I guess that will be next.
Oh my gosh.... In response to AFAN2... Tickets Now / Ticketmater is diverting sales aka doing a bait and switch whereas the other sites are not. 1 + 1 = 2...
Nice to see that your own in-house scalping arm (http://www.ticketnetwork.com/tix/leonard-cohen-tuesday-4-21-2009-tickets...)has the same Leonard Cohen tickets for sale too...we should add your name to the lawsuit as you're just as guilty.