Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster is accused of illegally profiting off of inflated delivery and order processing fees.
In 2009, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the ticketing company by a group of customers. These customers said Ticketmaster raised online fees to make a profit.
Now, Ticketmaster has reached a settlement. A judge has preliminarily approved it.
Ticketmaster plans to distribute $400 million in credits to customers. Those who purchased tickets online between 1999 and 2013 and were charged an order-processing fee are eligible.
The company will distribute up to 161 million $2.25 credits and up to 4.9 million $5 credits. Class-members have to spend money to redeem these credits, so I wouldn’t call this a punishment.
If less than $10.5 million is redeemed in a year, Ticketmaster will make some events free for those who participate in the settlement. This would go on for the next four years.
Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more. Follow her on Twitter: @nine_u
Photo from Sharib4rb on Flickr used with the Creative Commons License
Ticketmaster and Live Nation are consumer-hostile businesses, and this is more proof. Most consumers won’t redeem, in fact, most will have no idea this settlement happened. All of which means Ticketmaster loses little through this wrist slap, and gains an overall profit with excess fees and charges. That’s the game.
Before everyone and there dog was “connected” online, ticketmaster had a nice monopoly, but I would have to say it was deserved, IE: they built the infrastructure from the ground up and should benefit from it..
but now?
I’m constantly surprised they dont have more real world competition..
Credit? Cmon, this is more of a victory for Ticketmaster than anyone else. Exactly how much credit do I get having purchased 20 tickets during that timeframe compared to someone who purchased 2?
exactly what i said: “I wouldn’t call this a punishment”
Their deals with the venues holds everyone hostage.
I don’t know how they are allowed to operate legally.