Ticketmaster has a long and shady history. Two years ago, the U.S. The Department of Justice even launched an investigation into Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s abuse of power and monopolistic practices. Now, it’s an average customer taking aim at Ticketmaster with a lawsuit.
The Lawsuit
A San Francisco native has accused Ticketmaster of “deceptive practices relating to their sale of live events tickets and refusal to provide refunds for live events that have been rescheduled or postponed.”
The customer paid almost $600 to attend the upcoming Rage Against the Machine tour. He’s trying for a class action lawsuit for those who’ve not received refunds from Ticketmaster in light of the coronavirus.
The Complaint
The San Fran man makes a point hard to argue against. When he bought the ticket, Ticketmaster had a very different refund policy. Following the coronavirus, Ticketmaster sneakily attempted to change their policy. Here’s a part of the complaint:
“Prior to the coronavirus outbreak and at the time that Plaintiff and Class Members purchased event tickets from Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc., a division of Live Nation Entertainment Co., Ticketmaster assured customers that Ticketmaster would refund ticket purchase prices ‘if your event is postponed, rescheduled or canceled.’ After the coronavirus outbreak forced the cancelation or postponement of most large events and public gatherings, Ticketmaster retroactively revised its policies applicable to the prior ticket sales to allow for refunds only for canceled events, not postponed or rescheduled ones, including when postponed events are ‘indefinitely’ postponed. Yet, Live Nation’s president recently predicted that live events will not occur again until fall 2021 at the earliest.”
Even State Governors Are Calling Out Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster has around 25,000 events still planned but expected not to happen for later this year. Even members of Congress, Katie Porter (CA) and Bill Pascrell (N.J.), are accusing Ticketmaster of taking advantage of their customers during this time. Porter told Billboard:
“People across the country are having to make adjustments in their lives to keep everyone safe. Ticketmaster can do its part by giving people their money back. Let’s be clear: they can do this without government action, and they can do it today. Ticketmaster should do the right thing and stop trying to profit off a pandemic.”
Ticketmaster’s Troubles
The concert industry is in an awful state at the moment. So far, Ticketmaster has canceled or delayed over 30,000 events. In total, that’s $2 billion in ticket sales. Shortly after the lawsuit and bad press, the company announced they’re refunding customers for more than 18,000 events postponed.
Live Nation, too, is only offering refunds for canceled shows at the moment. According to Live Nation, here’s their game plan:
“For cancelled shows, refunds will be automatically processed within 30 days, unless fans voluntarily opt into other programs. Live Nation venues will offer fans an option to receive a 150% credit for the value of their tickets to be used for a future Live Nation show. Fans will also be able to donate the proceeds of their refund to a charity to give concert tickets to health care workers, with Live Nation matching ticket donations.”
How Bands Are Helping
While Ticketmaster is apprehensive to do the right thing, many bands are not. Some big-name acts are doing right by their fans and cancelling their shows, not postponing, so they can get the refunds they need during this time. The Black Keys and Bon Jovi, for example, canceled their upcoming tours. As Bon Jovi said, people need to pay for bills and groceries. Some big-name acts, such as Taylor Swift and Green Day, instead decided to delayed their upcoming tour dates.
