Pascrell keeps the focus on TicketsNow practices

by: Jason Springer

Tue May 19, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM EDT

Congressman Bill Pascrell still isn't satisfied with what he's heard regarding ticket practices and went back to the well once again taking another shot when the Boss was in town last night appearing in DC:

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. urged the Federal Trade Commission to review the controversy over sales to Monday night's Washington show made on TicketsNow, a Ticketmaster subsidiary, as part of the investigation he requested the FTC to launch in February.

For the Washington show, TicketsNow had to offer refunds and other benefits to fans when brokers sold tickets they did not have:

Ticketmaster subsidiary TicketsNow has contacted more than 300 customers who paid top dollar for premium seats at the Boss' May 18 show at Washington's Verizon Center, telling them their tickets were not, in fact, available.

In his latest letter to the FTC, Pascrell wants further investigation:

"To its credit, TicketsNow is offering refunds, gift certificates, different tickets and tickets to alternate concerts in order to make up for this mistake," Pascrell wrote in a letter to FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz. "However, the unfortunate result of this incident will ultimately be that many Bruce Springsteen fans acting in good faith will not be able to attend tonight's concert as they had planned."
Pascrell criticized TicketsNow for not requiring sellers to prove they own the tickets "through physical or photographic evidence." That, he said, "calls the company's business practices into question."

I don't know how even physical or photographic evidence would guarantee things because you can have a ticket look real and then realize its fake when they scan the bar code at the gate. That says nothing about whether the company has good business practices however.

Pascrell has promised to introduce new legislation to deal with the matter and is still opposing Ticketmaster's planned merger with Live Nation saying the merger will create a monopoly over the live music industry. The Justice Department is looking into the merger still.

Jason Springer :: Pascrell keeps the focus on TicketsNow practices