Connecticut BBB warns about event ticket seller practices by online ticket broke

Wallingford, CT - September 30, 2008 – Consumers who reserve tickets online for sporting events, concerts and theater performances are fuming over two online ticket brokers, the Vernon, Connecticut-based Ticket Network Direct and Las Vegas-based Event Tickets LLC, which operates the web site www.TicketsMyWay.com, after buyers received less than they bargained for, at inflated prices – or nothing at all, according to complaints against the two ticket brokers. Connecticut BBB has processed more than 120 complaints about Ticket Network Direct in the past three years, 63 of which were filed in

the last year alone. Disputes in the company’s BBB Reliability Report include complaints about ticket price advertising, sales practices, delivery issues, customer service, product issues refunds, etc.

BBB has given Ticket Network Direct an “unsatisfactory” rating because of unresolved complaints about the firm’s advertising practices. Others have complained about Ticket Network Direct’s pricing claims, with one consumer asking rhetorically, “Why would I purchase $89.00 tickets when the same is available (elsewhere) for $49.00?” Even though Ticket Network Direct’s online advertising claims it offers event tickets at the “cheapest” prices and prices “lower” than the competition, Better Business Bureau informs that tickets have been reported to cost significantly more than their actual face value when bought through a secondary market ticket broker. BBB therefore questioned Ticket Network Direct about some cases in which consumers may purchase tickets at face value directly from the venues, despite the company’s claim its tickets are less expensive than its competitors. To date the company has not resolved BBB’s advertising inquiry.

In the meantime, consumers across the nation are flooding Better Business Bureau with complaints about www.TicketsMyWay.com, a web site operated by Event Tickets, LLC, claiming they paid for various events but that the tickets arrived too late, received seats that were not valid or as good as advertised, and in some cases, did not receive their tickets at all. The company’s web site states “If you dispute your charge with your credit card company any time after you place your order you agree to pay a litigation fee of $125 dollars, and may be responsible for the entire amount of your order plus any interest and penalty fees associated with the servicing of your account.”