RIDICULOUS!

[valhoun]

Well, I couldn't get tickets either.

However, it could have something to do with being in Iraq. It sucks so bad that my unit got deployed in September and won't be back until this coming September. If I miss the entire North American tour I will be really frustrated.

But, as for the ticketmaster thing, it's generally one big annoyance. Ticket selling in the USA is largely one big joke. Though, eBay generally does have better prices for scalped tickets than websites solely devoted towards the resale of tickets. Though, even eBay is running at about 250 per ticket.

[lizzytysh]

Welcome back to the Forum, Valhoun . It's been almost a year . I hope you're doing okay and that you'll be able to come here more often. Where in Iraq are you, or aren't you allowed to post such information? How I wish you were Stateside and free to attend Leonard's concerts, and I'm hoping his U.S. tour will extend to where you'll be able to get to one of them. Were you able to drive to Toronto or did you end up being on drill that weekend? I pray for your continued safety, Valhoun.


~ Lizzy

[hydriot]

Surprisingly, the fiasco with Springstein tickets and the behaviour of scalpers generally was featured on the Andrew Marr Show this morning (the UK's leading political show). The antisocial merger was brought up by Harvey Goldsmith. The Andrew Marr Show is very high-brow, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on later, so this is quite impressive. Things really seem to be moving.

[mirka]

I heard NPR also reported on Springsteen sale fiasco, in the context of TM proposed merger with Live Nation.

When writing to Rep. Pascrell, I pointed out that contrary to TM assurance that "the error message affected only a "teeny" number of consumers using the website.", scalping seems to be TicketMaster customary global policy regarding high demand tickets, not limited to Bruce Springsteen and even not to US only.

I gave pointers to reports published here during the summer European leg of LC tour, describing experiences with Manchester and Edinburgh sales. I'm not sure how detailed the investigation is, but if they are willing to look closer into reports on this Forum, the scale of Ticketmaster ripp-off becomes obvious.


mirka
--

[valhoun]

Welcome back to the Forum, Valhoun . It's been almost a year . I hope you're doing okay and that you'll be able to come here more often. Where in Iraq are you, or aren't you allowed to post such information? How I wish you were Stateside and free to attend Leonard's concerts, and I'm hoping his U.S. tour will extend to where you'll be able to get to one of them. Were you able to drive to Toronto or did you end up being on drill that weekend? I pray for your continued safety, Valhoun.


~ Lizzy

I'm on a small base outside of Taji which is northwest of Baghdad. I wasn't able to make any of the Canadian dates. I'll be back in the States by the end of September so hopefully I'll be able to make one of the shows.

[MarieM]

GO CANADA!

Suit says Ticketmaster violated anti-scalping law

Feb 09, 2009 07:13 PM
BRUCE DEMARA
ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER

A $500 million class action lawsuit has been launched against Ticketmaster and its TicketsNow subsidiary, accusing the companies of conspiring to force customers to pay inflated prices for tickets.

"We're hearing from people that ... they can't buy tickets for the face value, and if you want to go to see your favourite artist, you have to pay two or three times the face value," said Jay Strosberg of Sutts, Strosberg LLP, which filed the suit today in conjunction with Vancouver law firm Branch MacMaster.

"It's a matter of fairness," Strosberg said. "It's also causing a fair amount of frustration."

Ticketmaster's practices amount to a violation of Ontario's Ticket Speculation Act, aimed at preventing ticket scalping, said Strosberg. The claims have not been proven in court.

"Our office has been flooded with calls," he added. "We have a registration system online and people are registering at a speed which we've never seen." The registration system is at ticketmasterclassaction.com.

Albert Lopez, spokesperson for Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster Canada and TicketsNow, did not return calls for comment yesterday.

Last week, New Jersey residents were outraged after being unable to purchase tickets for an upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert there via Ticketmaster, sparking a demand by a U.S. congressman for a federal investigation into the company's practices.

Such practices included directing potential buyers to the TicketsNow site, where tickets were priced well above the face value. New York Senator Charles Schumer has since added his voice to the call.

New Jersey's attorney general pledged to launch a state probe into the matter.

Springsteen himself denounced Ticketmaster for having a conflict of interest and wrung a concession from officials that fans would no longer be directed to TicketsNow. CEO Irving Azoff of Ticketmaster, based in California, also issued a public apology.

On Friday, Springsteen fans hoping to see a show on May 7 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto called the Star to complain that tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale online, but that more than 800 higher-priced tickets were available shortly afterward on TicketsNow, at prices up to $1,338.

Strosberg said he and lawyer Luciana Brasil of Branch MacMaster have been looking at the issue for some time.

The class action suit – which could include anyone who has done business with Ticketmaster and TicketsNow since Feb. 9, 2007 – was sparked by a complaint from Henryk Krajewski of Toronto, who tried to buy two tickets last September for a Smashing Pumpkins concert at Massey Hall.

Krajewski was unable to purchase the tickets at a face value of $133 from Ticketmaster and was instead forced to pay $533.65 on the TicketsNow site.

"We are interested in hearing about everyone's experience. People should be able to access entertainment for reasonable prices. That's what this lawsuit is about," Strosberg said.

"We're both younger lawyers, and we know what it's like to want to go see an event and to not be able to access tickets."

Both firms, he noted, are also experienced in the area of class action lawsuits. Sutts, Strosberg has recovered more than $1 billion in damages on behalf of its clients, and Branch MacMaster has authored a textbook on class action suits in Canada and acted in more than 80 such cases in four provinces.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/584720

[lizzytysh]

WoW. Wouldn't it be awesome if cases like this were decided like that everywhere regarding Ticketmaster? Thanks for posting that encouraging article, Marie!

What can be done Stateside [anyone know who to contact?] in this exact, same way?


~ Lizzy

[huurwoordenaar]

What to do with those greedy people from ticketmaster? A suggestion: click their google adwords advertisements for LC every dat a couple of times. This will cost them lots of money with no sales. This will end them capturing alle the tickets and sell them for the 'only for the rich & wealthy' prices.... If we all do this, I'm sure it's gonna stop. LC-management, is the somehing that can be done about this? So many true fans on this forum cannot be wrong sharing the same experience....