OTTAWA - Opposition parties are calling on the federal government to protect Canadian concert-goers and sports fans from Ticketmaster practices they say are "appalling."
"Canadians are being taken to the cleaners by this monopolistic monolith," said the NDP's consumer protection critic, Glenn Thibeault.
Liberal consumer affairs critic Dan McTeague suggested the Competition Bureau should probe Ticketmaster's "bait and switch" operation. But the federal consumer watchdog said it has not launched an investigation because there's no evidence Ticketmaster is abusing its position.
Masood Qureshi, a senior officer with the Competition Bureau, said Ticketmaster is allowed to "charge what the market will bear."
Bruce Cran of the Consumers' Association of Canada said his group has received several hundred complaints from "suspicious" Canadians. They say tickets that were sold out within seconds online at Ticketmaster were immediately available at the company's resale site TicketsNow.com -- but at a much greater price.
That's what happened to Henryk Krajewski when he tried to buy two tickets for the Smashing Pumpkins in Toronto last fall. He wound up paying $533 for two tickets that were worth $66.50 each, said his lawyer, Jay Strosberg.
Krajewski is the lead plaintiff in a $500-million class action lawsuit filed in Ontario against Ticketmaster. The Windsor law firm Sutts, Strosberg LLP has also started actions in Alberta and Manitoba.
Ticketmaster's senior vice-president said the company has "done nothing illegal." Joseph Freeman said consumers must understand that "10,000 tickets can sell in a minute."
The company is aggressively fighting back against the complaints.
"It's an extremely rare thing" when Ticketmaster owns any tickets on its TicketsNow site, said Freeman. In Ontario, where scalping is against the law, Freeman said no tickets on TicketsNow are ever owned by Ticketmaster.
Ontario's Attorney General announced Monday he's launching a probe into Ticketmaster's practices. Saskatchewan is also considering legislation to counter what it calls "perceived double-dipping."
Heritage Minister James Moore said yesterday no one has raised the issue with him yet but if Canadians do, he is "prepared to examine it."
