In February of this year, a customer sent a complaint to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman detailing a customer service interaction with Ticketmaster. The customer did not receive their tickets on the listed delivery date, and when contacted neither Ticketmaster, nor the venue would issue the customer the tickets or a refund.
According to the Federal Trade Commission: “If you can’t ship within the promised time (or within 30 days if you made no promise), you must notify the customer of the delay, provide a revised shipment date and explain his right to cancel and get a full and prompt refund”.
This particular customer told NYSAG that they specifically choose not to purchase tickets with a delivery time of three days prior to the event, as they often need to travel at the last minute. In those circumstances, they would need the tickets on hand to give as a gift or resell on the secondary market.
When the delivery date listed for the customer at the time of purchase came and went, they contacted Ticketmaster, who told them to contact the venue, Nassau Coliseum. The customer claims the venue’s Director of Ticketing repeatedly ignored their attempts to reach him.
To their complaint, the customer attached several pages worth of emails throughout the month of January between them and various customer service representatives. The first representative promised the customer to lift the delay so they could access the tickets, which the customer says did not happen. Each of the following representatives told the customer that the ticket delivery delay is set by the venue and cannot be removed, nor can a refund be issued, and advised them to contact the venue.
Below is the full complaint to the New York State Attorney General office on February 7, 2017.
Nature of response: First I made multiple attempts to rectify issue through Ticketmaster (see attached) and they finally told me I needed to contact Nassau Coliseum. I contacted their ticket office and they were very helpful and told me they would pass message to a manager. Mr Pearson called me same day, but neither of us could speak at that time, so he said he would call me next day. He did not return the call, nor did he return any of the ten messages I left over the course of the next week, both to his office and to his cell (from which he had originally called me)
Briefly describe your complaint: Concert tickets (Stevie Nicks). Nassau Coliseum has recently been scheduling concerts, and I have noted that they often have date restrictions for ticket delivery (three days before event). I have passed on a number of shows with this restriction because I may be traveling last minute and will need to give tickets to a relative, or even try to post on secondary market, but I do not want to deal with the hassle of getting them so late. For this concert it was very clearly stated that tickets would be delivered in January for the April show (see attached – delivery date is highlighted). I sent an email to Ticketmaster when they were not available on said date, and after much back and forth, they have subsequently responded that even though it was posted with the January date, they would not deliver until April as per Nassau Coliseum instructions. So it is very clear to me that there was a fraudulent representation of when these tickets would be available and I would not have purchased them if that had been the case at the time the tickets went on sale. This false representation very clearly should not be permitted.
What form of relief are you seeking? I simply want a refund for the tickets I purchased.
