TicketsMyWay: Sell Tickets You Don't Have, Keep Money, Threaten Customers, Profit!
A reader sent in the following tip about a Vegas-based ticket broker:
There is a company by the name of Ticketsmyway.com (Event Tickets LLC) that has the scam of the century running. Their operations run like this.
- Advertise tickets slightly cheaper than Stubhub and other sites.
- Consumers place an order online for tickets often months in advance
- Credit cards are charged full amount immediately
- Customers are told to check status of order online
- Orders always show as "processing"
- As date of event gets closer, customer starts calling to find out Status of shipping
- 1-2 days before event, customer are told tickets are "no longer available"
- Phone rep says a refund can only be requested online
- Terms of Use online say any refund request is considered a "cancellation" and customer is charged 45% of the purchase price
Even though company cannot produce tickets, customers lose 45% of their entire purchase price.
The reader adds, "After first call that gets through, company notes number and consumer can NEVER AGAIN get through. Calls are forwarded to a voicemail account."
We looked around online and indeed there were lots of complaints about TicketsMyWay and Event Tickets LLC. Tracy at Rip-off Report says a live CSR told her the tickets were going to be shipped within a few weeks—but they never arrived. When Tracy finally got through to the same CSR again, she was told they were no longer available. A second CSR offered to replace the tickets for $200 more, despite the fact that "their terms and conditions clearly state, if your seats are no longer available they reserve the right to upgrade or provide comparable tickets at NO EXTRA COST."
A customer at onerave.com claims only six of his eight tickets were shipped, because ticketsmyway added $332 in shipping and handling fees "and decided to make up the difference by removing two tickets!"
Rocky at pissedconsumer.com spent four days seeing "processing" on his order and not getting his calls returned. He finally canceled the order and disputed the charges. "I never heard back from them until I received a lawsuit package saying I have to pay by 5/30/08 or go to court."
After our tipster contacted us, she sent in a follow-up email a few days later:
Fyi, I just received a call from someone (no name given) at that company threatening legal action if I continue to "make slanderous statements about them." From other stories online, this is their basic modus operandi and strong-arm intimidation tactic to get consumers to stay quiet about being defrauded and scammed. They steal from you and THEY threaten legal action. What country are we living in again?
Stay far, far away from ticketsmyway and Event Tickets LLC.
(Photo: Getty)
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Comments:
@Terd_Ferguson: fine, let the buyer beware, but don't blame the victims for the company's fraudulent behavior. Every site has to start somewhere. Someone was the first person to order from Amazon.com.
screw this place. welcome to the internet backlash!
Scalping itself is a scam...this just raises the level to outright theft...nice.
Don
Shady ticket dealers? Who woulda thunk it!
I've had three transactions with StubHub, all good. Good seats, decent prices.
This is sleazy...why didn't I think of this?!
So where are the police, the AG in this? I'm pretty much tired of do nothing AG's and Police. This is theft pure and simple. Glad I never used this place, and had I not knowing what I do now and got one of those letters, I would have invited them to sue me, since they'd have to do it in my state.
@donopolis: Scalping within reason is not a scam. It's supply and demand. I don't mind paying 10-20 bucks extra for a ticket if it's a game I really want to go to.
Hell, I got tickets for a game the day of the event for less than face.
I'd like to see what these summons look like. They have to be raking in some sort of money in order have lawyers on retainer like this.
Is it a court-issued summons or a legal documents saying you'll be summoned if you don't pay?
@MissTicklebritches: Ah, but the point is that this company has been around long enough to have accumulated plenty of negative reviews online.
As the article above states:
We looked around online and indeed there were lots of complaints about TicketsMyWay and Event Tickets LLC.
Scalping within reason is not a scam. It's supply and demand. I don't mind paying 10-20 bucks extra for a ticket if it's a game I really want to go to.
Actually had a friend do this and said outloud: "It's not illegal. It's capitalism!"
What I hate is when scalpers get ticket holds with extra tickets to just give them a ticket and then sell it for 100% profit.
@BuddyGuyMontag: When I lived in Chicago, I used to go to 25 Cubs games every year. I bought most of my tickets from scalpers at well under face value. Without a secondary ticket market, I couldn't have afforded to go to so many games.
Get that Scumbag:
Event Tickets LLC
Charlie Stewart
3131 Meade Ave Suite C
Las Vegas, NV 89102
US
Email: eventtickets.llc@gmail.com
Phone: +1.8884424404
Email: charlies702@yahoo.com
@Consumerist: Please be sure to post any threatening letters you get from them about this post, so we can mock them.
Registrant:
Event Tickets LLC
Charlie Stewart
3131 Meade Ave Suite C
Las Vegas, NV 89102
US
Email: eventtickets.llc@gmail.com
Registrar Name....: REGISTER.COM, INC.
Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: www.register.com
Domain Name: ticketsmyway.com
Created on..............: Thu, Jul 17, 2003
Expires on..............: Wed, Jul 17, 2013
Record last updated on..: Mon, Sep 24, 2007
Administrative Contact:
Event Tickets LLC
Event Tickets
3131 Meade Ave Suite C
Las Vegas, NV 89102
US
Phone: +1.8884424404
Email: charlies702@yahoo.com
Technical Contact:
Event Tickets LLC
Event Tickets
3131 Meade Ave Suite C
Las Vegas, NV 89102
US
Phone: +1.8884424404
Email: charlies702@yahoo.com
DNS Servers:
ns1.ticketsmyway.com
ns2.ticketsmyway.com
How is this different than Live Nation cancling a show and keeping the processing fee? I think this is a great business model until this is made illegal. Event Tickets really should follow Live Nation's model to a T and call it a processing fee just to keep on the safe side.
@tinycorkscrew: Consider yourself lucky (perhaps because of the Cubs record). In most places scalper prices are much higher than face value.
I'm just shocked that someone managed to make TicketMaster look good in comparison!
Charlie's about to feel the wrath of the interwebz.
Is there time for a last minute entry into the Worst Company voting?
Wow, a yahoo email addy as the corporate communication? This is way beyond the scalping debate, anyway. In capitalism, goods are actually delivered.
@linus: The high markups are usually for concerts or playoffs, one time events where the demand is really high.
The farther out you are from an event, the higher the scalp. As the event draws closer, the price drops lower.
You have to learn to work the market!
ticketsmyway.com contains a SiteSafe certificate & logo from Network Solutions. According to the NetSol website the seal: "provides certain monetary benefits to people who conduct an online credit card transaction in reliance on a Network Solutions-issued digital certificate or site seal and who otherwise meet the requirements described below. If you lose money due to a fraudulent charge to your credit card by the holder of one of our digital certificates or site seals, and we did not exercise reasonable care in issuing that digital certificate or site seal, you may be eligible to receive up to US$1,000 per incident," I think it's worded so no claims get approved.
@BuddyGuyMontag: "Shady ticket dealers? Who woulda thunk it!"
This comment is all that needs to be said.
What does your credit card company have to say about all this, OP?
I'd love to see another few letters from Gawkers lawyers, and hopefully this story will be just the one to get letters flying.
The farther out you are from an event, the higher the scalp. As the event draws closer, the price drops lower.
I've never purchased from a scalper. I don't know how that market works. I thought prices would be HIGHER the closer you got to the event because there is less supply at the box office.
$332 shipping and handling for 8 pieces of paper? i can priority fedex a 5lb package of brick wrapped in newspaper to south africa for cheaper than that.
Attorney General! Attorney General!!
@linus: "I thought prices would be HIGHER the closer you got to the event because there is less supply at the box office."
First rule of scalping is not to be caught with extra tickets. Hard to sell a ticket for an event that took place the previous day. Hard, but not impossible. It happens.
This is what the chargeback was invented for.
FYI - Here's TicketsMyWay's email address exactly as its listed on their site on their "Affiliates" page:
---------------
"To find out more please email us at eventtickets.llc [at] gmail.com"
Sounds like the "My" in "Tickets My Way" refers to the company, not the purchaser.
So when they threaten to take you to court, go. Bring the terms and conditions and a judge should see you in the right, refunding your money and associated fee. Or you could countersue them for much more and they may settle.
if you requested the refund AFTER they failed to deliver paid for tickets, and waited until after the event has passed - how could anyone consider that cancellation? Chargeback! (and then small-claims for harassment if they send "the letter".)
@linus: no because at that point they just want butts in seats. there's even a line in nyc for broadway shows. you just kind of show up, stand in line, they have tickets for sale for like half off just so they have a full house. i mean you're never sure of what you're going to get or the show times (which are for that day) but they're helluva lot cheaper than just buying at the box office and often decent seats. same with airlines to a point. i got a round trip non-stop flight to heathrow from jfk for $700 with fees, at less than two weeks before the flight date and during the summer peak. yet a month in advance or two months in advance or six in advance the lowest i was finding was about $1000 before fees.
Wow, I'm impressed. What a scam this dude's got. Is this really legal?
First rule of scalping is not to be caught with extra tickets. Hard to sell a ticket for an event that took place the previous day. Hard, but not impossible. It happens.
Ah okay. That makes much more sense.
They should be contacting the Nevada Attorney General's Office about this. I have found that working with them that you can get a positive resolution to a situation, regardless of what state you are in... it is dependent on the state the business is operating in.
Get all of your documentation together and file a complaint... and encourage others to do it as well who were scammed by them
According to the NV secretary of state's website, the LLC is a Nevada "foreign" LLC, which means that they also operate in another state (Delaware).
Registered agent is some guy named JOHN DACORSI. The only officer listed is one guy...CURTIS M. GEBERS.
I'm sure it's no coincidence that said LLC is originating in Delaware and operating foreign in NV. Nevada has some of the most business-friendly rules for LLC of any state.
Hahaha...I actually know of someone who works for this company...It's too bad they work for a sketchball place...I guess I won't be going through them for any future ticket purchases...
/have no idea about the company business practices, etc.
Two words: Chargeback, bitches!
They have a fax number on the about us page, I think some black page faxing is in order after that 322 dollar shipping charge for paper.
@CharlieInSeattle: have to agree. This is EXACTLY the sort of thing they should be looking into. Of course, NY had a good AG, and they never seemed to go after the gray market scumbags like Broadway Photo...
A scammer? In Las Vegas?! Who woulda thunk it?
If the South ever secedes (and, please do!), can they please take Vegas with them?
Incorporate in Nevada!! Create an LLC (LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY), then steal and steal until someone stops you, never having to pay everything back that you've stolen.
I really hope we get to see some of those cease and desist letters this company is sending out...
@testsicles: Right and the prices go lower as the event approaches as scalpers want to unload whatever they can and not get stuck with worthless pieces of paper. Sometimes you can get lucky and even find some scalpers willing to sell for about face value (or less) just before the show.
Whatever happened to the good ol' days of the Interweb where people were skeptical of 'new' sites that didn't have a good reputation?
People these days blindly believe that everything is good online.