INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Millions of people who got in on a nationwide legal settlement involving Ticketmaster are now frustrated because they cannot redeem free ticket vouchers to attend a concert.
Last May, Ticketmaster released the terms of a $386 million settlement in the decade-old Schlesinger v Ticketmaster lawsuit. The case alleged Ticketmaster and Live Nation overcharged customers with "excessive and deceptive fees." As part of the settlement, Ticketmaster provided discount codes and "free ticket" vouchers to 50 million customers who made online Ticketmaster purchases between 1999 and February 2013.
But customers like Indianapolis resident Trisha Clark are angry because they cannot redeem their vouchers, making their settlement award nearly worthless. As part of the settlement, Clark earned 5 free pairs of concert tickets based on her previous Ticketmaster purchases. When she tried to use those vouchers to buy concert tickets in Indianapolis, Clark says she couldn't find any performances that would accept them.
She didn't stop there. Over the past nine months, Clark has repeatedly checked not only Indianapolis, but also Chicago, Louisville and St. Louis, looking for venues where Ticketmaster will accept the vouchers. She has yet to find one.
"It gets rather aggravating," Clark told WTHR, explaining her repeated attempts to find an eligible concert on the official settlement website. "When you go in there, you search for the city and basically nothing comes up. And it tells you that there is nothing available."
Clark isn't alone in her frustration.
As the summer concert season approaches and concert-goers look to snap up tickets, Ticketmaster customers across the country are voicing their anger on Twitter. Most are asking the same question: where can they redeem their vouchers for free tickets?
This week, 13 Investigates explored the settlement website, attempting to find a venue where the ticket vouchers can be redeemed. A nationwide search of more than 70 cities in all 50 states revealed not a single concert for which the vouchers are now being accepted.
Ticketmaster told WTHR its event list for free ticket vouchers is now closed, and the company is now encouraging class members to sign up for e-mail alerts to be notified if more voucher-eligible concerts are made available. Ticketmaster sent the following statement to 13 Investigates:
"Per the settlement agreement, Ticketmaster is responsible for making events available for ticket voucher redemption based on amount redeemed during the calendar year. To date, class members have redeemed nearly $15M worth of ticket vouchers, which is significantly more than required by the settlement in the 2016-17 term. At this time, the eligible event list is closed. We will periodically notify class members who have signed up for the e-mail subscription service when additional inventory becomes available, which will also be available on our microsite here: http://concerts.livenation.com/microsite/settlement. Please note, the [$2.25] Discount Code and [$5.00] UPS Discount Code vouchers can still be used on primary tickets on any event on Ticketmaster.com."
As part of the settlement, free ticket vouchers can be used only for concerts at Live Nation venues. Live Nation has 42 amphitheaters in the U.S., and free tickets can be redeemed only on a first come-first served basis.
To find out if you qualified for discount vouchers, just log into your Ticketmaster account.
Ticketmaster posted some Frequently Asked Questions about the settlement on their website if you have more questions.