Ticketmaster is … not a lovable company, and today the Canadian government won a legal victory over the service that every Ticketmaster customer can rejoice in a little. After an investigation by the Canadian Competition Bureau, it was determined that the huge live-event company must pay a $3.4 million penalty for carrying out misleading marketing and charging customers “mandatory fees during the later stages of the purchasing process.†But how much was Ticketmaster gouging people for? “More than 20 percent and, in some cases, over 65 percent†of initially advertised prices. The company must also reimburse the Bureau for $380,000 to cover the cost of its investigation.
Ticketmaster has reportedly already implemented changes across Canada as a result of the inquiry into “the advertising of unattainable prices online.†The prices were “unattainable†because Ticketmaster was adding many extra fees throughout transactions, and the company has agreed to establish a compliance program “to ensure their advertising complies with the law and will implement new procedures to prevent advertising issues in the future.â€