SeatGeek Stadium, formerly Toyota Park, in Bridgeview is the home of the Fire and the Red Stars soccer teams. It shouldnt be allowed.. They watched tickets sell out in seconds, only to appear immediately thereafter at higher prices on resale sites. This is a marketplace where its very easy to confuse consumers and give them bad information., In February 2020, leaders in the secondary ticket market were called before Congress to explain their fees. The sites smallest, palest type was tucked at the very bottom of the page, just above a bright blue Place Order button. ******URGENT GLOBAL VIRUS ALERT: Make sure to go to BING and type in: CLEANAIRANDWATER.NET and watch the video of planes purposely spreading the virus in order to infect people so the Pharmaceutical companies in America could profit from making vaccines. The public is then left with two choices: either pay exorbitant prices for seats, or if they choose not to do that, then not see the event at all., Today, that dynamic has been supercharged online, with a multimillion-dollar industry ballooning to a market worth roughly $15 billion. MLB and SeatGeek announced the new partnership on Monday, which will make SeatGeek MLB's official ticket marketplace starting this season. Photo by DaShaunae Marisa for Reveal. Next to this language was a question mark. I was sent a confirmation of my purchase and my credit card was hit on 2/13/20 however the tickets were never sent to me. Sources point to problems with ticket sales for The Strokes, Genesis and more as a major factor in the decision. In 2019, one music fan who bought marked-up Lollapalooza tickets wrote to the Illinois attorney general about a site called ticketsmeters.com, whose layout and logo closely resemble Ticketmasters. The company has a valuation of $1 billion, according to the release. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast.. You refresh your browser as the seconds tick down to a team or artists official sale time. Top Class Actions is a legal news source The consumer, William Trader, said that SeatGeek modified its buyer guarantee, which originally promised a full cash refund if an event is cancelled and not rescheduled. Reveal The broker selling them, she suspects, didnt yet have them in his possession. Legions of fans say the secondary ticket market is rigged against them. You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. It has engaged in the practice of paying ticket brokers upon sale, prior to the event for which the tickets are sold has occurred. If republishing our stories, please also include this language at the end of the story: This story was produced by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization. Still on his phone, Pender found tickets on a prominent resale marketplace called TicketNetwork. "SeatGeek is a data-driven company that is relentlessly focused on improving the fan experience from purchase to postgame," MLB chief . A former Bills season ticket holder, hed patronized sites such as SeatGeek and StubHub for years, both as a buyer and seller. SeatGeek is the Web's largest event ticket search engine. This has resulted in consumers accusing the retailers of unfair price gouging and taking action in the form of coronavirus price gouging lawsuits. Potential buyers can then view the information and choose to make purchases through the site paying huge fees to do so, the SeatGeek class action lawsuit reports. Defendant has sought to surreptitiously shift its losses onto its innocent customers. If you have any other questions, please contact us at republish@revealnews.org. 510-809-3160. Sac_County Iowa Prosecutor Ben Smith pays $750,000 to settle Ripoff Report 1983 civil rights lawsuit.. Federal Judge stops prosecutors abuse of power against ED Magedson Founder of Ripoff Report. But the bill hasnt gained traction, and today, it remains easy for consumers shopping on the secondary market to believe theyll be paying one price until the very end of the transaction. Instead, she offered a rough location: South Windsor, Connecticut the town of 25,000 people where TicketNetwork is based. Pender got a refund, but it provided little solace. Life's an event. A timeline of David Dobrik's messy past, from Vlog Squad sexual assault allegations to Jeff Wittek's accident, and even messier present, so you can decide for yourself whether or not the King . The fan described calling a customer service number to complain. Click Change Settings if you want to tailor the use of your cookies. Copyright 1997-2023, Ripoff Report. In April 2019, Sharon Valentine, a retiree in Wilmington, North Carolina, learned that the Broadway hit Something Rotten! was coming to the nearby Wilson Center. Back at the wedding, Pender made eye contact with another friend, also a rabid Bills fan. These different policies that are towards the customers . the content you have visited before, Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location, Advertising: Use information for tailored advertising with third parties, Advertising: Allow you to connect to social sites, Advertising: Identify device you are using. New Customers: $10 off your first in-app order of $150+. .top-of-article-prompt{border-bottom:1px solid #cccccc;padding-bottom:32px;}. However, this can result in some functions no longer being available. A twist of shock, then frustration, washed over the prospective buyers. The FTC sued the reseller and two of its partners in 2014 for knowingly profiting from deceptive venue-mimicking tactics. The partners named in the suit had employed audacious methods to fool consumers into believing theyd arrived at an official venue box office, according to the complaint. This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens. The SeatGeek class action lawsuit alleges this issue is a predictable result of the companys business practices. The story was leaked last week, with Bloomberg . The way these systems are set up, you make a decision about what ticket you want to buy based on the initial information, and its a few steps down before you realize how much the ticket actually costs, said Anna Laitin, director of financial fairness and legislative strategy at Consumer Reports. Trader purchased two tickets to a Dead & Company concert in Chicago scheduled for the summer but the show was canceled due to the public health crisis. Another ticketing company is going public, as SeatGeek and RedBall Acquisition Corp confirmed rumors that they were working on a deal, announcing plans to merge. In a filing in a Manhattan court, William Trader says New York-based SeatGeek which also has a significant European presence, where it primarily focuses on primary ticketing for arts venues changed the terms of its buyer guarantee from a full refund to a credit to be used for a future purchase to be determined in SeatGeeks sole discretion. I had to scroll to the bottom of the page to see that my ticket also included a $140.65 service fee a 32% markup over the advertised total. Her search for tickets led her to boxoffice-tickets.com. |. Pender instructed his brother to purchase them on the spot. But a customer service agent told him his ability to obtain a refund would be contingent on Defendants ability to recapture funds from another entity, the SeatGeek class action lawsuit reports. Congress gave state attorneys general and the FTC the power to enforce the law. . We've received your submission. and upon the rescheduling process done automatically for March 1st, 2022, I immediately contacted support and expressed that I could not make the tues march 1st and requested tickets to wed march 2nd. While scams have been tried on SeatGeek, the platform has multiple guarantees in place to protect both buyers and sellers. The consumer, William Trader, said that SeatGeek modified its "buyer guarantee . Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigations delivered straight to your inbox. administrator or law firm. In the midst of the greatest public health and economic crisis in living memory, defendant has sought to surreptitiously shift its losses onto its innocent customers, furthering the financial hardship endured by people across the country, Coulson wrote in the Manhattan federal filing. Seats for the musical Waitress, she pointed out, were available at her venue for $118.64. The plaintiff brings charges including breach of contract, conversion, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, unfair business practices (under New York state law), and breach of express warranty. For those who wish to listen to the call, please dial 1-877-705 . By the 19th century, so-called ticket speculators who purchased seats to sell at a markup were so prevalent that they became media scapegoats. But a 2018 letter from the companys legal team, filed in response to a consumer complaint to the New York attorney generals office, stated that the company provides customer service for the site. This phrasing didnt bother Pender when the money left his bank account. But he never got the tickets. The Judge overseeing this case is KINSEY, PAT. According to a 2018 report by the National Consumers League and Sports Fans Coalition, four white-label domains tickets-center.com, box-officetickets.com, ticketoffices.com and onlinecitytickets.com accounted for roughly two-thirds of Vivid Seats web traffic. status of any class action settlement claim. But complaints to regulators tell another story. I cant be the first one.. . Thanks for your interest in republishing a story from Reveal. But on eventticketscenter.com, they were $643. Hovering my cursor over it, I could view a smaller disclosure that read, The seller has not yet received your tickets, but youll get them before the event.. Company website run by crooks outside USA pretending to be in USA to get USA money taking your hard-earned dollars funneling it to the country of Peru, Better Business Bureau of South Florida BBB of South Florida Andre Amaro and the BBB of South Florida are harassing me and my small business! So many asked variations of the same question: How is this legal?, If we see the same kinds of violations from the same kinds of companies again and again, that tells me that what we have done so far isnt working, said Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, acting FTC chair. The company runs its Microsoft .NET-based applications on AWS. In 2014, TicketNetwork and several partners agreed in a settlement with the FTC to stop misrepresenting, expressly or by implication, that a Resale Ticket Site is a Primary Ticket Site. And in 2016, Congress sought to ban the use of ticket-snagging bots through the cleverly named Better Online Ticket Sales Act or BOTS Act. Secondary ticketing provider SeatGeek has filed a $2m (1.8m) lawsuit in a New York court against ScoreBig, the discount ticketing. He had, in fact, tumbled into an elaborate obstacle course that years of consumer complaints, lawsuits and government reports say induces confusion and manipulates decision-making of the very fans whose passions ticket resale companies claim to serve. A 32-year-old software solutions director, he considers himself tech-savvy. Minutes after the event sold out, plenty of inventory suddenly became available, priced well above face value, on a variety of secondary market sites. Top illustration by Maxwell Erwin. 2,372 reviews for SeatGeek, 3.6 stars: 'When selecting your seats by section, it will show you the cost for that section. https://www.ripoffreport.com/report/seat-geek/took-money-got-tickets-1512823. Why Ripoff Report will not release author information! Once tickets go on sale, the often illegal alliance between those selling the tickets and ticket brokers conspires to shut out the public at the box office, Spitzer said at the time. Yet in the decade that followed, speculative selling persisted across the secondary market, and fans continued to feel deceived. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Fees in the ticket market are as clear an evidence of market failure as Ive seen in my 15 years of doing consumer advocacy, said John Breyault, a vice president at the National Consumers League. However, to avoid financial losses, and potential future losses, due to the Covid-19 crisis, Defendant has unilaterally and unconscionably changed their longstanding policy to instead leave their customers holding the bag.. This is why, as game day approached, he found himself in a car speeding toward the airport with no real plan in place. expected to be mailed out. The suit, which alleges that SeatGeek rescinded its money-back guarantee amid the widespread cancellation of live events, comes three weeks after similar legal action was initiated against ticket-resale rival StubHub, which is also offering credit instead of cash refunds for cancelled or postponed events. (Google removed these videos from the web several years ago.) READ: Foreign websites steal our content, Click Here to read other Ripoff Reports on Seat Geek. Best wishes, SeatGeek CX Team. Explore the best deals mapped on interactive seating . TicketNetwork declined Reveals requests to describe its affiliation with this site. they cannot deliver what they say an insane amount of money Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Attorney Sharon K. Campbell COLLUDES with Wells Fargo Dallas Texas, BlackSwanCapital.co Black Swan Enterprises Peter Tumbas Black Swan Capital The offered guaranteed low-cost financing if I first stepped in high-cost short term financing New York New York, Geeks Ondemand LLC, Lizeth Lagomarcino Papaleo Geeks Ondemand LLC, The Geeks Mob SCAM! Ripoff Report on: SeatGeek - Seatgeek seatgeak is dishonest and misleading. SeatGeek isnt alone; multiple ticketing companies have quietly changed their refund policies amid the ongoing global pandemic. No, none of us got tickets. How Does the Illinois Lemon Law Protect Car Buyers? This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 10/15/2021 09:41 AM and is a permanent record located here: Get it in your inbox. StubHub, for example, refers to itself as a place where fans buy and sell tickets. Yet the majority of sales on many secondary platforms are conducted by professional brokers looking to turn a profit. Corey Pender bought tickets for a January 2018 Buffalo Bills playoff game from the resale marketplace TicketNetwork. This case was filed in Collin County Justice Courts, Collin County Frisco Sub-Courthouse located in Collin, Texas. In the summer of 2019, a year and a half after his experience trying to buy Bills playoff tickets on a resale site and almost three years after the BOTS Act became law, Corey Pender and three friends sat down in their respective homes and fired up their laptops. A customer filed the suit Friday, Live Nation Argues Taylor Swift Lawsuits Must Be Arbitrated, KISS Announce Final Shows on End of the Road Tour, Nas & Wu Tang Clan Plot More NY State of Mind Tour Dates, Consumer Groups Launch Campaign for Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights, Foo Fighters Announce First Tour Dates Since Loss of Hawkins, Vivid Seats Slams Ticketmaster-Backed Colorado Bill in Memo, SeatGeek Signs Resale Ticketing Deal With Major League Baseball, Springsteen Fans Complain Again Over Surged Ticket Pricing, Senators Blast Live Nations Trust Us Responses, Call for DOJ Inquiry, USFL Announces Ticket Prices for 2023 Regular Season, Event Ticketing Resources For Secondary and Primary, Seatgeek Sued Over Covid-19 Refund Policy Change, customers would be eligible to receive a voucher, scathing letter from U.S. representatives. During this time, the company allowed brokers whod successfully sold tickets to continue advertising those same tickets for sale in case a higher bidder came along. The company admitted no liability. But for years, no one did. If we send you a request to remove our content from your website, you must agree to do so immediately. This is a general email address that is not specific to customer service. Tickets for the Ryder Cup, an international mens golf competition, were slated to go on sale in minutes. The secondary ticketing site SeatGeek was hit with a class-action lawsuit over the weekend regarding its refund policy.. A customer filed the suit Friday, accusing the company of rescinding its money-back guarantee following widespread cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic, The New York Post reports. High on their list of concerns were unreasonable and hidden fees!. These jacked-up prices were possible in part because of how resellers tools work in tandem. Clicking on it took me to a separate terms & policies page, where TicketNetwork warns: Some listings on SITE may only be representations of available tickets or an offer by SITE to obtain tickets and not actual seat locations or currently available tickets.. Want more Reveal? Emeryville, CA 94662 Yeah, lets go.. Seat Geek has my $517.48 but I never received the tickets - this is complete fraud. Under this business model, the brokers and SeatGeek both make more money than if SeatGeek were responsible and held onto the proceeds of the sale until the event occurred.. The company, the suit says, has refused to return his money. Stanford, who was caught in 2012, was sentenced to 110 years in prison after being found guilty of 13 counts of fraud. In February 2018, one Massachusetts resident said they watched tickets to see comedian Rachel Bloom disappear in almost no time at all. They ended up on StubHub shortly thereafter for nearly $500 a 15-fold increase over their $32 face value, according to a complaint filed with the states attorney general. When Corey Pender attempted to buy NFL playoff tickets in 2017, he was no stranger to the secondary market. Drug Rehab Deception Addiction Treatment Industry Rocked By Fraud & Abuse. It was no use. Yet in spite of this, the company has admitted that it is reasonable to assume that speculative tickets are sometimes sold through the StubHub site.. (For example, yesterday can be changed to last week, and Portland, Ore. to Portland or here.). Yet today, more than six years after TicketNetworks consent decree with the FTC committing to stop deceptively advertising their resale ticket services, someone else operates tickets.jonesbeach.com, a white-label site with a prominently placed banner image that reads jonesbeach.com, the venues exact URL. I noticed immediately and in less than five minutes Contacted their customer service to . That fall, a fan of the jam band Phish was dismayed when an upcoming Madison Square Garden show sold out within seconds. Those tickets then appeared on StubHub at triple their face value. What the BBB has done to consumers for over 100 years is one of the many reasons why Ripoff Report was created. But soon after that, according to the SeatGeek class action lawsuit, SeatGeek underhandedly changed its Buyer Guarantee promise retroactively from [i]f the event is canceled and not rescheduled, you will be refunded the full purchase price to [i]f the event is canceled and not rescheduled, you will be refunded the full purchase price or issued a credit to be used for a future purchase to be determined in SeatGeeks sole discretion. Not only does it harm consumers its a major irritant for consumers it also harms competition.. Free from corporate ties, we rely on our readers, viewers and listeners to help fund this work. Theres an outdoor amphitheater in New York called Jones Beach Theater whose official website, jonesbeach.com, features a cartoon seahorse on the homepages top left corner. Now its effectively dominated by software companies. Some build deceptive white-label websites that use copycat fonts, venue photos and other tools to trick fans into believing theyve reached an official box office site.