TicketNetwork has had problems in its home town, with Better Business Bureau

By Alex Wood
Journal Inquirer
Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010 1:53 PM EDT

Today’s wired commercial world has given the Vernon-based TicketNetwork Inc. a platform for spectacular growth in recent years, but the company and its affiliates have faced a rougher time on the local stage in Connecticut and elsewhere.

In the company’s highest-profile local controversy, Vernon’s Planning and Zoning Commission in March rejected a proposal for an outdoor concert venue presented by a subsidiary, TicketNetwork Forest LLC. The proposal had encountered substantial opposition from neighbors concerned about noise and other potential problems.

TicketNetwork President Donald Vaccaro has said the company won’t appeal the decision to Superior Court but is considering moving out of Vernon over its dissatisfaction with the PZC.

The company has received offers of tax breaks from towns elsewhere in Connecticut and in other states that want both a concert venue and the company’s headquarters, Vaccaro has said.

In addition to the zoning troubles, a second TicketNetwork Inc. affiliate has had brickbats thrown its way by the Connecticut Better Business Bureau.

As of mid-April, a BBB Reliability Report gave a C-minus rating to Ticket Software LLC, which TicketNetwork describes as “the holding company for company assets.” The organization’s rating scale is similar to school grades, ranging from A-plus to F.

In addition, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram and Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Szuchman charge in a pending lawsuit that TicketNetwork and a Chicago-based company called Orbitz Worldwide LLC sold nonexistent tickets to concerts by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, held last September and October at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

The lawsuit also charges that the sales began before TicketNetwork and Orbitz could have obtained the tickets legitimately.

Charges denied

But TicketNetwork said in answers to written questions submitted by the Journal Inquirer that it has “completely denied” all the allegations in the lawsuit — including the claim that it sells tickets.

The company says “there is nothing wrong with offering tickets for sale prior to the public on-sale” because many tickets are available earlier from “season ticketholders, fan clubs, VIPs, and friends of the band, etc.”

An example of the nonexistent seats that the New Jersey officials’ lawsuit says were offered is Section 214, Row 30. It says Section 214 in Giants Stadium had only 11 rows.

Although TicketNetwork is fighting the lawsuit, two New Jersey-based ticket brokers have agreed not to sell tickets before “the initial on-sale date” — and not to make speculative sales of tickets they don’t yet own, the New Jersey attorney general’s office announced in October.

The Connecticut BBB says it has received 39 “serious complaints” against Ticket Software and that it has found “advertising issues.”

The BBB said it received 155 complaints in the last three years, its standard reporting period. It said 110 had been resolved and 44 “administratively closed,” with only one still unresolved.

But the BBB also said Ticket Software has failed to resolve its “advertising inquiry.”

The organization explained that it had questioned Ticket Software’s claim in online advertising to offer tickets “at the ‘cheapest’ prices and prices ‘lower’ than its competition.”

Face value is cheaper

“BBB pointed out to the company that, in some instances, consumers may purchase tickets at face value directly from the venues and that these venues are indeed part of the company’s competitors,” the organization continued. “BBB also informed this company that since it sells tickets above face value, it can neither offer the ‘cheapest’ prices nor ‘lower’ prices than all its competition on a continuous basis.”

Ticket Software isn’t a BBB-accredited business. The organization says in its explanation of its rating system that accredited businesses receive 4 points toward the 90 points in its rating formula.

The BBB explains that it has evaluated all accredited businesses and determined that they meet “the BBB Code of Business Practices, which sets high standards for integrity and good faith efforts in dealing with consumers. BBB Accredited Businesses contractually agree to abide by these standards.”

But TicketNetwork sees the matter differently.

The company says the BBB has refused “to publicly admit that BBB members who pay a fee get a grade bump automatically and get preferential treatment in terms of complaint adjudication.

“This is an unfair flaw in their rating system,” the company adds. “TicketNetwork is currently in negotiations with the BBB relating to this issue.”

The company also says it has been “wholly cooperative in providing the BBB much of the requested information.”

Based on the BBB’s explanation of its ratings, the four points for accreditation could move a business from a C-minus rating to a C or a C-plus.

The BBB rating system can also deduct up to 41 points for the type of business, based on the organization’s judgment and experience as to the likelihood of such businesses to generate customer dissatisfaction. The organization’s reliability report on Ticket Software doesn’t specify how it views the company’s type of business.