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Nonprofit Association Targeted by ticket Reseller Accused of Deceptive Practices
A local nonprofit organization, UMS, has found itself at the center of a controversy involving a ticket resale platform, ticket Squeeze, which is accused of misleading consumers and engaging in fraudulent ticket sales. The situation has led to office staff being confronted by concertgoers who were upset about exorbitant fees for what they perceived as subpar seats.
Adding to the confusion, the customer service phone number listed on resale websites for these events actually belonged to UMS, despite the nonprofit having no affiliation with the resellers.
“Patrons were saying these tickets are so expensive, and ‘why are you charging so much in fees?’ Our ticket office was saying it’s not us, we’re not doing that,” stated Billmann.
Court filings reveal that Ticket Squeeze allegedly sold seats that UMS had not yet released to the public. For instance, during the Marcel, Rami, and Sary Khalife: legacy tour stop at Hill Auditorium in April, Ticket Squeeze offered balcony seats for $252 each. according to the filing,UMS had not yet made balcony seats available for this particular show. In contrast, UMS was selling lower gallery tickets for the same event at $60 each.Billmann indicated that Ticket Squeeze did not appear to be purchasing tickets from UMS and then reselling them. Instead, the practice seemed to involve charging patrons frist and then acquiring tickets from UMS, sometimes resulting in customers receiving seats of significantly lower quality than expected.
“It wasn’t that they were buying the tickets and flipping them, they were posting the tickets they didn’t even have and scrubbing our website to see what seats were available,” she explained.
Selling resale tickets that are not in the vendor’s possession is a violation of Michigan’s Consumer Protection Act.
UMS is reportedly assisting customers who are attempting to dispute charges with their credit card companies. The Michigan Attorney General’s office advises consumers purchasing tickets from resale platforms to use credit cards, as this provides a stronger avenue for disputing illegitimate charges.
“Misleading customers into thinking they are purchasing tickets from a trusted source, while charging them excessively high prices is unlawful,” Attorney General Nessel commented in a statement.Contact Arpan Lobo at alobo@freepress.com.
