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Charges Filed Against Ticket Resellers
Springsteen’s Giants Stadium shows – Sept. 30, Oct. 2-3 – won’t go on sale until June 1, yet resellers allegedly advertised having tickets for the concerts.
In one of the lawsuits filed on May 27, NJ Attorney General Anne Milgram charged Select-A-Ticket with selling tickets without actually having the tix in hand. A second lawsuit was filed against against Orbitz Worldwide, which operates CheapTickets.com, and Connecticut-based TicketNetwork, which supplies technology to Cheaptickets.com and other third-party ticketing sites, according to The Star-Ledger.
Along with charging Orbitz for selling tickets it did not possess, Milgram also charged the company with selling seats that do not exist. According to the lawsuit, Orbitz, through Cheaptickets.com, offered seats in row 30, section 214 and row 45 in section 130 even though Giants Stadium has only 11 rows in section 214 and 41 in section 214.
The lawsuits charge all three companies with engaging in “unconscionable commercial practices, deception, fraud, false pretense and/or misrepresentation to New Jersey consumers.”
Said Milgram:
“You cannot make fraudulent or misleading statements. You can’t tell consumers that you have a ticket to sell when in fact you do not have that ticket. There’s no question that they didn’t have the tickets. It’s plain fraud.”
The lawsuits state that undercover agents for New Jersey’s Division of Consumer Affairs purchased tickets from the resellers. That is, the transactions were processed even though the companies did not have the tickets in their possession at the time of the transactions.
According to the lawsuit, Select-A-Ticket offered seats priced from $90 to $499. At Orbitz the prices were a tad higher – $98 to $1,300.
This isn’t the first time Milgram has taken a whack at ticket reselling connected with Springsteen’s “Working On A Dream” tour.
Earlier this year the attorney general launched investigations into onsales for Springsteen’s two shows at the Izod Center after fans who attempted to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster complained they were redirected to Ticketmaster-owned reseller TicketsNow. Milgram eventually settled with Ticketmaster resulting in some fans getting a second chance to purchase tickets.
TicketNetwork CEO Don Vaccaro issued a statement defending his company, saying it only provides technology for resellers and does not actually sell tickets.
According to the Star-Ledger, Vaccaro also said his company hopes “to work closely with the Attorney General to ensure that industry transparency is achieved forcing promoters and producers to supply adequate information about the availability of tickets to entertainment events.”
Meanwhile, Milgram indicated she is investigating several other resellers for alleged violations.
“The next step is to figure out what gives the brokers reason to believe they will get access to these tickets. How are they getting these tickets?” the AG said. “Do ordinary consumers have equal ability to get tickets? The answer we are continually getting is ‘No.’”
Click here for the entire Star-Ledger article.