Taylor Swift Ticketmaster debacle: Tennessee AG investigating site after presale problems
In the wake of a Ticketmaster presale fiasco that cost fans thousands of dollars, Attorney General Herbert Slatery announced Tuesday that his office is exploring whether Ticketmaster is in violation of state law.
“This week’s events are evidence of how much consumers deserve protection from Ticketmaster’s ongoing consumer fraud,” Slatery said in a statement. “I will work diligently with the attorney general to ensure that the integrity of Tennessee’s consumer protection laws is upheld and to ensure consumers can have peace of mind that their money will be safe.”
Slatery has been tasked with investigating what may have happened after a presale ticket was sold to a person who appears to have given her credit card number rather than making a purchase. Slatery noted that several people may have been victimized by the incident, including Tennessee residents who bought tickets through the site.
Slatery’s statement said that the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is investigating why an account was opened for $1,000, that a name associated with the account appeared to have two middle names, and that the account was set up by Ticketmaster.
The company also sent the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office a copy of a letter allegedly sent to the attorney general from a person claiming to represent a fan, with an attachment containing the name of an account associated with the fan. “The letter attached is highly misleading and false. It contains the account number from an email that was never sent and has been reported to the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office,” Slatery said. “The attached letter also includes false and misleading information.”
Slatery described the letter as “potentially misleading at best and misleading at worst.”
“This matter is under investigation by the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office,” he said, “and we are hopeful that it will be resolved expeditiously.”
In response to the announcement, Ticketmaster said in a statement that “Ticketmaster is not aware of the alleged identity theft issue, does not hold Tickets for the alleged victims, and does not know of or have any information on the
