According to a report by Billboard, Ticketmaster’s $400 million settlement will be coming into effect soon.
The lawsuit, Schlesinger v. Ticketmaster started back in 2003 when Ticketmaster was part of IAC/InterActive Corp. Five Ticketmaster customers filed a class action lawsuit claiming that their order processing fees and delivery prices were ‘excessive and deceptive’.
Ticketmaster customers who purchased a ticket on the company’s website from Oct. 21, 1999 to Feb. 27, 2013 can collect on the settlement, and there are reportedly over 50 million class members.
But, there’s a catch…
You have to buy a new ticket to get your money back.
The settlement has raised criticism as the buyers will receive settlement in the form of discount codes – one for each transaction during the class period, worth $2.25 each. The discount codes are capped at 17 per class member regardless of whether the customer purchased significantly more tickets.
Those Ticketmaster customers who used UPS to deliver tickets during the time period will receive one $5.00 discount code per transaction, off a future UPS charge. Class members may also receive ticket codes to redeem free concert tickets, but only at Live Nation-owned or operated venues. The tickets will be available via a dedicated website for ticket codes, which will notify members when tickets become available. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Class members are far from satisfied with the outcome of the settlement, and to make matters worse Ticketmaster “denies any fault or liability, or any charges of wrongdoing that have been or could have been asserted” throughout the case.
But, if one good thing came out of the lawsuit, it is that Ticketmaster have now clarified and stated on their site, that order-processing and delivery charges include a profit for the company. So, hopefully this will result in transparency for ticket-buyers moving forward.
(Image by Chris Potter, Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic, cc by 2.0)
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