Score one for the little guy!
Ticketmaster will change the way it sells tickets online as part of a settlement announced by New Jersey's Attorney General on Monday.
The company will stop linking to it's other, higher-priced website, TicketsNow.
It's all because of the way the company handled sales for the upcoming Bruce Springsteen concerts at the Meadowlands in May.
When the tickets went on sale, February 2, thousands of people who went online to Ticketmaster were directed to TicketsNow. That's another Ticketmaster site where tickets re-sell for whatever the market will bear. For a hot-ticket guy like Bruce, you can kiss the face-value price goodbye.
More than 2,200 ticked off consumers went the extra step and filed complaints with New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs.
The N.J. Attorney General's office got involved, investigated and ultimately decided on this settlement with Ticketmaster:
- Ticketmaster won't link to TicketsNow for at least a year.
- 1,000 consumers who complained about the Springsteen tickets will have a chance to win tickets to the May concert through a lottery Ticketmaster is setting up. Click here to read more about how that will work.
- If you filed a complaint and DON'T win tickets in the lottery, you'll get a $100 Gift Certificate from Ticketmaster AND a chance to get future tickets to a Springsteen concert in New Jersey BEFORE tickets go on sale for the general public.
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram says Ticketmaster has not admitted any wrongdoing but has also agreed to pay $350,000 to the state for the cost of its investigation.
Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff has since apologized to Springsteen and his fans.
