An administrator working for the Federal Trade Commission has mailed claim forms to 1,174 consumers who are eligible for refunds because they allegedly were steered from the Ticketmaster website to its ticket resale website TicketsNow while buying tickets to attend Bruce Springsteen concerts last year. Ticketmaster and its affiliates agreed to pay refunds to some of the concertgoers to settle FTC charges that they used deceptive bait-and-switch tactics to sell event tickets.
The claim forms were mailed earlier this month to some concertgoers who bought tickets for shows in 14 cities: Glendale, Ariz.; San Jose, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Hartford, Conn.; Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Boston, Mass.; Saint Paul, Minn.; East Rutherford, N.J.; Long Island, N.Y.; Pittsburgh, Pa..; University Park, Pa..; and Washington, DC.
According to the February 2010 FTC complaint, Ticketmaster steered unknowing consumers to TicketsNow, where tickets were offered at prices that were sometimes double, triple, or quadruple the face value of the ticket. Under the settlement, these concertgoers will get back the difference between what they paid for their tickets and what they would have paid on Ticketmaster. For example, if a consumer paid $400 for two tickets from TicketsNow, and those same two tickets would have cost $200 from Ticketmaster, the customer will get a $200 refund. Ticketmaster provided the FTC with a list that included the eligible concertgoers who had not received refunds for the extra money they paid to buy the higher-priced tickets from TicketsNow.
All claims must be made by mail and postmarked on or before the date specified on the form. There is no way to submit a claim form online. No date has been set yet for distribution of the checks.
If you received a claim form and have recently moved and would like to change the address the FTC has on file, send your new address to:
FTC v. Ticketmaster
Claims Administration Center
P.O. Box 1110
Corte Madera, CA 94976-1110If you did not receive a claim form and believe you are entitled to a refund, please call:
1-866-332-6536For more information about this case, please visit the FTC’s website at:
www.ftc.gov/refunds
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.
(FTC File No. 092-3091)
(Ticketmaster Refund)