Response to Springsteen ticket debacle called 'pitiful'

WASHINGTON - Investigations are being launched into the debacle involving tickets to the Bruce Springsteen concert at Verizon Center next week.

TicketsNow.com, a resale company owned by Ticketmaster oversold the concert.

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has launched an investigation.

"TicketsNow is not only in the business of gouging, but now they're selling tickets they don't have," says Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J.,

The D.C. investigation is not the first time such a probe has been brought up.

Pascrell has already written letters to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice calling for Ticketmaster to be investigated for breaking anti-trust laws.

Representatives of TicketsNow has been calling fans to tell them they don't have the premium seats for which they paid. Some fans paid two to three times the face value of the tickets to get the seats.

Refunds are being given. Customers also are getting free tickets, but they are in the 400 section of Verizon Center, nowhere close to the seats they thought they bought.

"It's a pitiful response. They're going to give tickets to the nose-bleed section," says Pascrell.

TicketsNow says the May 18 Verizon Center show is the only one with the problem.

On Wednesday afternoon, TicketsNow released the following statement to WTOP:

In response to your inquiry, TicketsNow is committed to providing an industry-leading safe and secure marketplace for buyers and sellers. In very rare instances, a seller cannot fulfill an order, which has happened in this situation. However, we staunchly stand behind every transaction on our site with a 100% money-back guarantee. In this case, we went above and beyond our standard policy to provide for hotel accommodations and gas credit to another nearby venue if a customer wanted to pursue that option or we provided a 200% refund.

Please know that this is a very unique occurrence and there are no other events on our site where this situation currently exists.

At TicketsNow, we will be announcing some exciting initiatives this year all geared around giving extra information and transparency to the fan - the fan who wants to see all of their options for going to live entertainment, while understanding everything they need to know to make a purchase decision. At TicketsNow, we are committed to evolving the resale buying experience to become "the way it should be" - and we'll have more information on that in the coming months.

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