Two New Jersey ticket broker companies, part of a lawsuit filed in the spring by state Attorney General Anne Milgram over the resale of Bruce Springsteen tickets, settled their cases with her office this week, without admitting any wrongdoing.
The two companies, Almost Backstage Inc., of Vauxhall, N.J., and Ticket Town, Inc., of Fort Lee, NJ, will each pay the state $5,000 and will “not offer for sale, sell or advertise for purchase any concert ticket prior to the initial on-sale date.” In addition, the two have agreed to only sell tickets they have on-hand.
Ticket Town does business as Northeasttickets.com, while Almost Backstage reportedly does business as abtickets.com. A spokesperson for Almost Backstage could not be reached for comment, and a representative who answered the phone at Ticket Town declined to comment.
“We want to end the fraud committed against the public through the offering of phantom tickets,” Milgram said in a statement. “Our message to the ticket resale industry is very clear – it is fraud to sell something that you don’t have and may never have, while giving the public the impression that these tickets are yours to sell.”
These settlements are the latest Milgram has achieved from the ticket industry this year. Over the winter, the AG’s office reached a settlement with also in connection with the way the companies sold Bruce Springsteen tickets.
Other similar lawsuits Milgram filed are still pending against Select-A-Ticket, which is owned by former National Association of Ticket Brokers President Tom Patania, and TicketNetwork, owner of TicketNews. A third pending lawsuit was filed against Orbitz’s Cheaptickets.com, which has a partnership with TicketNetwork.
At various times, the companies allegedly sold tickets to some of Bruce Springsteen’s September and October concerts for prices above face value. In addition, there were allegedly some discrepancies for which seats were being offered with some ticket listings allegedly for rows or seats that did not exist at the venue.
David Szuchman, New Jersey’s Consumer Affairs Director, said in a statement that the state will consider lawsuits against brokers who allegedly deceive fans. “We continue our efforts to produce a level-playing field for consumers who expect, and are entitled to, an equal opportunity to purchase tickets when seats initially go on sale.”
Last Updated on November 2, 2009 by By Alfred Branch Jr.
7 Comments
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in other news stock brokers on wall street trade millions of dollars in phantom stocks every day other the guise of “stock options”…Maybe this will be Milgram’s next target…I doubt it
ok so explain to me how stock options are different than selling tickets before you have them in hand? Ok so is she going to go after department stores for taking pre-orders? Alls i am saying is that the act of not filling the order is what is wrong not actually taking a pre-order…Taking a pre-order for tickets is only wrong if you don’t fill the order
You obviously don’t know anything about the stock market, or even where it’s located. Wall Street is in New York, so I’m not sure how the New Jersey AG could go after anyone on Wall Street, even if her understanding of the stock market was as wretched as your’s.
How are the two things alike in any way? To sell an option for a stock you must actually own the stock. Perhaps you’re thinking of short-selling? Even then you are technically borrowing the stock from the brokerage in order to sell it.
…and you’re on the hook for any losses you incur with short selling stocks, not with tickets though. Right now, if I shorted a pair of Super Bowl tickets to you for $ 5k and then couldn’t get them for less than $ 10k, I could just refund you your money instead of taking a loss. Doesn’t work that way with the stock market.
“…and you’re on the hook for any losses you incur with short selling stocks, not with tickets though. Right now, if I shorted a pair of Super Bowl tickets to you for $ 5k and then couldn’t get them for less than $ 10k, I could just refund you your money instead of taking a loss.”
Huh? No you can’t you have to fill the order…this is exactly why the AG office is going after brokers because of scumbags like that…that take short sales and can’t fill them so they just refund money…That’s BS…You should 100% have to fill the order…Even in the NATB bylaws they have one where it states you need to offer at 200% refund if you don’t fill the order….If you take a short order you HAVE to fill it…
As far as the stock market goes i’m talking about futures sorry…
“Huh? No you can’t you have to fill the order”
Only if everyone plays by the same rules.
They don’t.