Ticketmaster fined $4.5 million over misleading ticket prices
The charge relates to mandatory fees which were later added to orders...
Ticketmaster has been ordered to pay a hefty fine following an investigation into misleading ticket prices carried out by Canada's Competition Bureau.
Ticketmaster LLC, TNow Entertainment Group Inc. and Ticketmaster Canada LP will collectively be ordered to pay a $4 million penalty to settle the case, in addition to the bureau's $500,000 investigation costs. The companies will also have to sign up to a new agreement to ensure that they clean up their act after it was found that the company's advertised ticket costs frequently did not reflect the final sale cost.
The bureau's investigation found that in a number of instances added mandatory fees meant that there was an extra 20% added to some sales, and in some cases the extra fees even reached an extra 65%.
Matthew Boswell, the bureau's Commissioner of Competition said: "The bureau expects all ticket vendors to take note and review their marketing practices, knowing that the bureau continues to examine similar issues in the marketplace and will take action as necessary."
Ticketmaster said in response that it is clearly displays final ticket costs before transactions are made, and also tells consumers if the tickets they are purchasing through their main or resale-focused sites are being sold at the original face value or a higher price than the face value cost.
