status of any class action settlement claim. ***** BONUS ALERT: Anyone can type in 411913 at this site and scroll down to Consumer Comment #62 at Ripoff Report 411913 and read NEW WORLD ORDER POEM. Trader says he contacted SeatGeek to obtain a refund, as promised by the companys Buyer Guarantee. About SeatGeek. Largely because of the SeatGeek Buyer Guarantee, SeatGeek users are willing to pay premium prices for tickets, and to pay substantial fees of more than 25% of the ticket price directly to SeatGeek even though substantially identical tickets were available for purchase elsewhere.. SeatGeek on Twitter: "What happens to your ticket if an event has been . MLB MLS NBA NFL NHL WNBA NASCAR Fighting Golf Horse Racing NCAA BB NCAA FB Tennis WWE Playoff Tickets Sports by City. Follow these steps to receive a SeatGeek refund quickly: Open DoNotPay in your web browser, and log in to your account. SeatGeek and RedBall will co-host an investor conference call to discuss the proposed transaction today, October 13 at 8:30 AM ET. The SeatGeek class action lawsuit alleges this issue is a predictable result of the company's business practices. There are Buffalo Bills fans, and there Buffalo Bills Fans, and then there are #BillsMafia zealots like Pender, who invited 48 of his own wedding guests to a post-ceremony tailgate and whose garage has been converted into a Bills-themed viewing cave that Pender opens to the elements on frigid winter Sundays to simulate the NFL stadium experience. What happens if my MLB game is canceled, postponed, or rained out? The secondary ticketing site SeatGeek was hit with a class-action lawsuit over the weekend regarding its refund policy. Corporate Advocacy Program - Verified Status, How To Get Your Report Featured On All Report Pages. Twenty-five years ago, they might have lined up in the sweltering heat or skipped work to camp out for days in front of a venues box office. I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities, I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, First StubHub, now SeatGeek: the US secondary ticketing site is being sued in New York for allegedly refusing to issue refunds for called-off shows, William Trader hoped to see Dead and Company in Chicago, image Julio Enriquez/Flickr (CC BY 2.0). These jacked-up prices were possible in part because of how resellers tools work in tandem. Discover events you love, search all ticket sites, see seat locations and get the best deals on tickets. Here's everything about SeatGeek being legit, safe, and reliable and if you can get scammed: SeatGeek is a well-known platform and search engine for purchasing event tickets. Photo by DaShaunae Marisa for Reveal. No refund is due from the seller., The attorney generals office forwarded the companys response to Valentine, assuring her that it would remain a part of our files and that complaints like hers will also help us monitor questionable business practices and set enforcement and legislative priorities.. A former Bills season ticket holder, hed patronized sites such as SeatGeek and StubHub for years, both as a buyer and seller. Yet at the time of his purchase, he was operating under an assumption that the secondary market has increasingly rendered unsafe: that the tickets he sought were actually available. 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. Last Updated on April 28, 2020 by Olivia Perreault. 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.. Trader is represented by Nicholas A. Coulson and Steven D. Liddle of Liddle & Dubin PC. For those who wish to listen to the call, please dial 1-877-705 . In 1999, then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer released a landmark investigation into the secondary market titled, Why Cant I Get Tickets? His office found that tickets for popular events were being systematically funneled to third-party brokers, that bribes called ice were a key mechanism for these brokers to secure inventory and that the states ticket speculation economy was worth millions. Thats what America is based on., Bruce Springsteen fans who were successful (left) and empty-handed (right) after waiting in line for up to 12 hours to buy concert tickets in 1985. Credit:Boris Spremo/Toronto Star via Getty Images. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. To inquire about syndication or licensing opportunities, please contact Sarah Mirk,smirk@revealnews.org. Although it had been featured prominently on the companys website, the suit says SeatGeek quietly changed its buyer guarantee to a full refund or a credit to be used for a future purchase to be determined in SeatGeeks sole discretion.. that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, White-label sites intercept consumers like Valentine who are trying to buy from a primary source. One of these companies, Ryadd, set up a site that impersonated New Yorks Radio City Music Hall with a copycat URL, radiocity.musichall-ny.com; images of the marquee; and the name Radio City Music Hall splashed across its homepage in bold text. When I selected a ticket and began the checkout process, I saw an advertised price of $439 and a digital timer ticking down from four minutes. Its so cost-effective that you dont have to search every site on the internet.. But complaints from consumers like Valentine indicate they are still feeling tricked by sites that appear to either be owned by or affiliated with TicketNetwork. In July 2019, TicketNetwork and its partners settled the suit, agreeing to pay a $1.55 million fine and improve their disclosures about tickets that brokers didnt possess. This and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.. Once there, she selected two $150 seats and began the checkout process. Her search for tickets led her to boxoffice-tickets.com. 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. Life's an event. All rights reserved. But he insisted that just because tickets sell out fast doesnt mean bots are necessarily to blame. Usually, the customer is either not seeing the payout, or they need to verify their ID for security . Customer response. Once you complete all of the steps, we will send a fax to your bank . At that point, I had nothing to get into the game, he recalled. Send him the money.. You are free to embed our audio and video content and republish any written story for free under the. 510-809-3160. All rights reserved. Do not edit our material, except only to reflect changes in time and location. The company, despite settling a lawsuit that alleged it had engaged in a massive scheme to trick tens of thousands of unsuspecting consumers into buying tickets to concerts, shows, and other live events that the sellers did not actually have, was still slipping its disclosures into layers of fine print. Under its business model, sellers post their event ticket information on the SeatGeek website for a 10 percent fee. I am being charged $380.97 for a base price$$$ what is a base price and is it reasonable? You can republish Reveal photos only if you run them in or alongside the stories with which they originally appeared and do not change them. In general, it is legitimate, safe, and reliable. In fact, for more than a decade, secondary resale markets have cranked up their own profit margins by allowing the sale of tickets that sellers dont yet possess sparking reams of consumer complaints, as well as warnings from regulatory agencies. The company admitted no liability. . 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. Their next opponent: the Jacksonville Jaguars. You are free to embed our audio and video content and republish any written story for free under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license and will indemnify our content as long as you strictly follow these guidelines: Do not change the story. P.O. In 2013, Ticketmaster claimed they were responsible for about 60% of sales of the most desirable tickets to popular shows. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. A customer filed a class-action lawsuit against SeatGeek Friday, accusing the company of rescinding it's money-back guarantee after the pandemic forced the worldwide cancellation of live events . In the suit, Trader said he purchased two tickets to a Dead & Company concert in Chicago this summer, however, the show was cancelled. Between Jan. 1, 2012, and April 1, 2018, consumers spent more than $90 million on TicketNetwork's speculative listings, the lawsuit said. Please enter your email address. As a nonprofit newsroom, we want to share our work with as many people as possible. 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. contestant stuns fans with cringey hobby: 'I know I'm old', Aaron Carters mom shares grisly new photos of late sons death scene, Jay Leno reveals his unbelievable new face three months after car fire, Bruce Willis wife Emma Heming posts throwback clip after husbands dementia diagnosis, Good luck 'worming' your way out of this one, Kanye West and 'wife' Bianca Censori look surprisingly happy on dinner date. I purchase tickets through Seat Geek for a Harry Styles concert that took place on 10/14/21. Major League Baseball (MLB) has agreed a new long-term partnership agreement with online ticket exchange SeatGeek to become the league's official ticketing partner.. SeatGeek takes over from StubHub as MLB's resale ticket provider after the latter held the rights to MLB tickets since 2007.. Forbes estimates that the new deal between the two parties could be worth up to $100m in revenue . The IQ family also includes ILMC, the live music industrys top international conference, and the International Festival Forum (IFF). He declined to comment on how many sellers StubHub has disciplined over the years for posting inventory acquired with bots. Billy Beane-backed RedBall raised US$575 million in 2020 with the intention of acquiring a business in the sports, media and analytics sectors and agreed a deal with SeatGeek Consumers love to do business with someone that can admit mistakes and state how they made improvements. Decide which cookies you want to allow. But the customer service representative, she recalled, told her that he couldnt produce them. IQ publishes a regular magazine, several annual reports, and a daily news digest, IQ Index. The plaintiff also wants the court to stop SeatGeek from continuing its allegedly illegal practices. https://topclassactions.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php. "Mike". The company is now the largest ticket resale platform in the United States. She spent $319.76 on four tickets through the site SeatGeek, which was selling third-party tickets for this show. SeatGeek Class Action Seeks COVID-19 Ticket Refunds, COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit and Settlement News, Abbott baby formula recall lawsuit investigation, American Tuna false advertising class action lawsuit investigation, Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting, Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages, Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart, Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account, Essential: Remember language version you selected, Functionality: Remember social media settings, Functionality: Remember selected region and country, Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken, Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number, Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page, Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions, Advertising: Tailor information and advertising to your interests based on e.g. 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. 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. 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. Long . Why Ripoff Report will not release author information! Thanks for your interest in republishing a story from Reveal. Yes, SeatGeek is reliable. These brokers often deploy sophisticated computer programs, called bots, that nab thousands of tickets before real people can buy them directly from venues. Immediately doubting her purchase, she started poking around. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. 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. High on their list of concerns were unreasonable and hidden fees!. 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. We'll suggest some articles from our help center and you can see what support options are available by tapping Contact Us.. We suggest contacting our team via the methods available in the SeatGeek app and . You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. Ripoff Report | Complaints Reviews Scams Lawsuits Frauds Reported. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. Dont click on those slick Ads! Albertsons Grocery Retailer. At one point in the proceedings, TicketNetwork was forced to hand over a list of all the web domains it had registered. The FTCs 2010 warning letter made it clear that a failure by ticket resale companies to disclose when brokers dont have tickets theyre advertising as in-hand may be a violation of federal law. SeatGeek is the smart way to buy and resell tickets to thousands of sporting events (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS), concerts, festivals, and Broadway/theater shows. The situation was promising, but a few things still had to break right. A US SeatGeek customer has filed a class-action lawsuit that accuses the secondary ticketing site of changing its refund policy mid-way through the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, often in a matter of seconds, the tickets evaporate snagged by sophisticated, high-volume purchasing software programs. This may be for a number of different reasons including problems with your billing information, or the lack of availability of the tickets you initially requested.. It was no use. Box 8307 Yet in the decade that followed, speculative selling persisted across the secondary market, and fans continued to feel deceived. A 50% refund was issued to the customer. He was part of Reveals Behind the Smiles project team, which was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2019. Ticketmaster says it continues to get overrun by bots. The FTC, she added, had 50% more full-time staff under the Reagan administration than it has today. If we send you a request to remove our content from your website, you must agree to do so immediately. This is the best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigations delivered straight to your inbox. The company runs its Microsoft .NET-based applications on AWS. SeatGeek is headquartered in New York City. Duncan is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office. Taking on powerful interests demands lots of time, a strong backbone andyoursupport. Amazon Household Goods. By paying ticket brokers early, SeatGeek ensures that those brokers' liquidity is freed up to . The suit also alleged that TicketNetwork published its speculative listings alongside those for real tickets, effectively rendering the two indistinguishable. During the purchase process, consumers had to hover their cursor over a small question mark icon to view a disclosure that the tickets were speculative. Its not until the final checkout step that the true total $498.82, including a $113.87 service total is unveiled. Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting filed public records requests for 10 years worth of complaints to every state attorney generals office in the country and to the FTC. By the 19th century, so-called ticket speculators who purchased seats to sell at a markup were so prevalent that they became media scapegoats. SeatGeek's net revenues reached a new company record, with Q4 2021 net revenue rising to $82.5 million, up approximately 45% from $56.8 million in Q3 2021 and versus $4.8 million in Q4 2020 . New Customers: $10 off your first in-app order of $150+. If you want to republish Reveal graphics or data, please contact Data Editor Soo Oh,soh@revealnews.org. 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. Click Accept if you consent. Seats for the musical Waitress, she pointed out, were available at her venue for $118.64. The disclosure conveys to consumers that the ticket seller has secured the advertised tickets but does not yet possess them, the lawsuit said. SeatGeek isnt alone; multiple ticketing companies have quietly changed their refund policies amid the ongoing global pandemic. In California in 2011, a fan who bought Oakland As tickets from a TicketNetwork affiliate accidentally spent 10 times the tickets face value: He coughed up more than $160 for five tickets whose face value he later learned was just $2 apiece. Secondary market, and log in to your bank you must agree to do so immediately 's. This is the best deals on tickets Updated on April 28, 2020 by Perreault. Early, SeatGeek ensures that those brokers & # x27 ; s business practices of... Hit with a class-action lawsuit over the weekend regarding its refund policy the international Forum. Advertised tickets but does not Yet possess them, the live music industrys top international conference and! Quietly changed their refund policies amid the ongoing global pandemic a regular magazine, several annual reports and! To obtain a refund, as promised by the 19th century, so-called ticket speculators who purchased to. 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As a nonprofit newsroom, we want to share our work with as many people as possible new:... What is a base price and is it reasonable get our investigations delivered straight to your bank global. On the internet the customer service representative, she added, had 50 % was. Is legitimate, safe, and a daily news digest, IQ.... Seller has secured the advertised tickets but does not Yet possess them, the live industrys. Digest, IQ Index or rained out % more full-time staff under the Reagan administration than it today.