A $500-million class action lawsuit has been launched against Ticketmaster and related groups, claiming the ticket seller conspired to "scalp" its own tickets.
The suit alleges that Ticketmaster has diverted tickets to concerts and other popular events away from its own regular website, Ticketmaster.ca, over to its ticket-brokering website TicketsNow.com.
TicketsNow allows people who have tickets to exchange, trade or sell tickets at marked-up prices.
Last fall, Toronto resident Henryk Krajewski hoped to buy a pair of tickets to see his favourite band, the Smashing Pumpkins, for about $133. The Ticketmaster website listed the show as being sold-out and offered a link to TicketsNow, where the same pair of tickets were allegedly being offered for $533.
"It leaves you kind of angry because you feel like you're almost being forced to pay a big-time premium for good tickets," he told CTV Toronto.
The lawsuit is being handled by lawyers from Sutts, Strosberg in Windsor, Ont., and Branch McMaster in Vancouver. The firms say other event-goers have been overcharged in the same way when they bought tickets from Ticketmaster.ca or TicketsNow.com since February 2007.
They allege the defendants violated Ontario's "anti-scalping" laws, contending that the practice of selling tickets in the secondary market for amounts that exceed their face price violates the legislation.
The law firms claim Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc., Ticketmaster Canada Ltd., TNOW Entertainment Group, Inc., and Premium Inventory, INC. owe $500 million in damages to those who were overcharged.
The firms allege that Ticketmaster deliberately limits the number of tickets that are sold at face price and then diverts tickets to TicketsNow, where they can be sold for amounts that exceed their face value.
"Customers have voiced concerns over the fact that tickets for the most popular events can ostensibly sell out in minutes, only to become immediately available in the secondary market at much higher prices," said Luciana Brasil of Branch McMaster, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiff.
"The mere fact that Ticketmaster has a financial interest in both retail and premium ticket sales leads to an obvious question about the process by which those tickets are sold to members of the public and how it works," said Jay Strosberg of Sutts Strosberg LLP, another of the lawyers representing the plaintiff.
Ticketmaster has said in response to prior complaints that the company's ticket-selling system is fair and doesn't violate the law.
The class action aims to represent all persons who bought tickets for an event in Ontario from Ticketmaster or through TicketsNow.com from and after February 9, 2007. More information on the suit can be found at www.ticketmasterclassaction.com.
Earlier this month, Bruce Springsteen expressed anger with Ticketmaster's selling practices.
He said he has heard from fans who wanted to see him play at New Jersey's Meadowlands that they received an error message on their computer screen that shut them out of the main Ticketmaster website.
The potential ticket-buyers then saw an ad for Ticketmaster subsidiary TicketsNow offering tickets for hundreds of dollars more than face value.
Springsteen said on his website that he and the E Street Band are "furious."
"We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest," the band said.
The band said it had received assurances from Ticketmaster that it will stop redirecting Springsteen fans to TicketsNow.
With a report by CTV's Austin Delaney in Toronto
