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Attorney General Anne Milgram
announced today a settlement with Ticketmaster
to resolve more than two thousand complaints
filed by consumers with the State Division
of Consumer Affairs this month in connection
with the sale of tickets to Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band concerts scheduled for
May at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands
in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The agreement
also mandates reforms to Ticketmaster’s
business practices.
The settlement creates a random
drawing for 1,000 consumers who filed complaints
against Ticketmaster with the Division of
Consumer Affairs as of last Tuesday, February
17th, to purchase two tickets each to one
of the two concerts scheduled for May 21st
and May 23rd at the Izod Center.
In addition, those consumers
who filed complaints but are not chosen in
the random drawing for the opportunity to
purchase tickets to the May concerts will
be given a $100 Ticketmaster gift certificate
and will be given the opportunity to purchase
two tickets to a future Springsteen concert
in New Jersey prior to a general ticket sale.
For those consumers identified
by the state and Ticketmaster whose credit
cards were charged for ticket purchases but
the transactions were never completed because
of technical problems, Ticketmaster agreed
to complete the transaction and provide consumers
with the tickets.
For those consumers identified
by the state and Ticketmaster who within the
first five hours that tickets went on sale
went from the “No Tickets Found”
page of Ticketmaster’s primary website
to Ticketmaster’s wholly-owned subsidiary
TicketsNow.Com and purchased tickets at a
higher price, Ticketmaster agreed to refund
the difference between the purchase price
and the face value of the tickets.
The settlement, known formally
as an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, places
a wall between Ticketmaster and its ticket
re-selling subsidiary TicketsNow.com for at
least a year for all shows and entertainment
events Ticketmaster handles. After the conclusion
of the year, Ticketmaster will need prior
approval from the Attorney General for any
links between its “No Tickets Found”
Internet page to its TicketsNow re-sale website.
Ticketmaster agreed not to
engage in paid Internet search advertising
that would lead consumers searching for “Ticketmaster”
on Internet search engines to its TicketsNow
re-sale site. In addition, Ticketmaster confirmed
and agreed that all tickets it receives for
sale to the general public will be sold on
its primary market website. Ticketmaster also
agreed not to allow the sale or offer of sale
of any tickets on the TicketsNow.com re-selling
website until the initial sale begins on its
primary website.
“This settlement swiftly
and fairly resolves a significant issue for
thousands of loyal Springsteen fans in the
Garden State who believe that Ticketmaster
tilted the playing field against their efforts
to purchase tickets to the May concerts,’’
Attorney General Milgram said. “Everyone
deserves an equal chance to buy tickets on
a primary ticket selling website and shouldn’t
be steered to a re-selling website where the
prices can be substantially higher.”
“Because of the excellent
cooperation of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition
Authority, the agreement will make tickets
available for many of those who filed complaints
with the Division of Consumer Affairs as of
last week,” Milgram added. “I
also want to thank Bruce Springsteen and his
management in our efforts to hammer out this
agreement. He was as outraged as anyone over
the circumstances surrounding the sale of
tickets to his concerts.”
“Significantly, Ticketmaster
has agreed to change its business practices
and not allow any link from its No Tickets
Found Internet page to re-sale Internet sites
for at least one year, and after that any
proposed linkage will not be permitted unless
approved by my office,” she said.
Dennis
Robinson, president and chief executive officer
of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority,
said, “On behalf of our Chairman, Commissioners
and staff whose dedication to customer service
have made the IZOD Center one of the world’s
most successful concert venues, we deeply
appreciate the Attorney General’s commitment
to bringing about a solution to the issue
which occurred with these ticket sales.’’
The 2,000 tickets – 1,000 tickets for
each show – are being made available
for purchase through the random drawing by
the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
All Ticketmaster fees and service charges
will be waived.
An investigation by the Attorney
General and the Division of Consumer Affairs
into Ticketmaster’s sales practices
began with the immediate uproar over the sale
of Springsteen tickets when they were made
available for sale on Feb. 2. The Division
of Consumer Affairs created a link on its
website to receive complaints. As of Tuesday,
Feb. 17, approximately 2,200 complaints were
filed concerning the Springsteen concerts.
Complaints filed by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17,
will be covered by the agreement.
Consumers complained that
sales were blocked on the Ticketmaster website
and they were re-directed to the ticket re-selling
website called TicketsNow.com where tickets
were available at substantially higher prices.
The state receives a settlement
of $350,000 to cover investigative, attorney
and administrative fees and to support New
Jersey consumer protection initiatives.
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