FTC criticizes Ticketmaster concert sales practice
LOS ANGELES — Bruce Springsteen fans who bought seats for a hugely popular “Working on a Dream” concert last year were sold “phantom tickets” that Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster unit didn’t have in hand, said the Federal Trade Commission.
The federal agency, which had accused the company of “deceptive bait-and-switch tactics,” on Thursday denounced the practice, which left hundreds of would-be concertgoers without tickets they thought they had legitimately purchased on Ticketmaster’s TicketsNow resale site.
In a settlement, Ticketmaster agreed to stop the practice. The company did not admit to wrongdoing.
“Ticketmaster kept the sales proceeds,” the FTC said in a statement, “without a reasonable basis for believing it could fulfill the orders.”
As an example cited by the FTC, the same set of 38 tickets for the Springsteen concert in Washington were sold and resold 1,600 times.
Some consumers — many of whom had gotten receipts for the tickets that included seat locations — were not informed about the problem for as long as three months.
“Getting your money back two weeks before the concert is not a satisfactory resolution,” said Heather Hippsley, assistant director of enforcement for the FTC’s consumer protection division.
“The problem is that the consumer was not told immediately that there’s a risk here.”
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement, “Buying tickets should not be a game of chance.”
Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster last month, declined requests for an interview but issued a statement saying it appreciated “the FTC’s diligence in closely investigating this matter.”
The practice came to light last year, when Springsteen criticized Ticketmaster for its handling of sales for concerts in May and June.
Fans who raced online to buy tickets from Ticketmaster in the initial hours of sales were met with the message “no tickets found.” They were redirected to the TicketsNow reseller site, where tickets were sold at prices of up to $400 — a dramatic premium over the $90 face value, the FTC said.