Ticketmaster class-action that could see 1M Canadians reimbursed for deceptive fees reaches final stages

A $6-million settlement that could see around a million Canadians eligible for a credit with Ticketmaster reached its final stages in Regina on Friday.

Lawyers for Ticketmaster and Crystal Watch, who led a class action lawsuit against the company in 2018 alleging shady business practices, appeared at the Court of King's Bench in Regina.

The two parties reached a settlement on Aug. 8, 2024. Live Nation Entertainment, which owns Ticketmaster, denied wrongdoing but agreed to pay just over $6 million for customer credits, minus legal and administrative fees.

The settlement agreement, which still requires final approval, would offer Canadian users a credit of up to $45 with Ticketmaster. In order to be eligible, customers need to have purchased tickets through Ticketmaster for Canadian events between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2018. If approved, notifications to collect the credit will likely be sent in early 2025.

This week, Judge G. G. Mitchell agreed that the settlement will go forward, but stated he wanted a few weeks to review the files before making the decision official.

"I will hopefully get it to you before Christmas," he said during the hearing.

The class action case claimed that Ticketmaster engaged in unfair "drip pricing," where unnecessary fees outside the regular ticket price were deceptively added to the total price. This practice, the lawsuit says, breached The Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act.

The lawsuit was led by Regina lawyer Tony Merchant. He believes that up to 100,000 people in Saskatchewan and about 1 million people across Canada could be eligible for a credit.

"These charges were unfair," he said after the hearing. "They were charges like 'stagehand fees,' which is the same as just charging extra for going to the concert."

Merchant said that, in contrast to something like food delivery or Amazon, Ticketmaster users had to contend with real-time competition with other ticket buyers, adding unfair pressure to the transaction. In those other examples, customers can choose to exit a checkout process if they feel dissatisfied with the fees and decide whether to come back later. But if they left the checkout when buying tickets, the show could sell out.

Drip pricing isn't the only practice that Merchant has his eye on. He also cited Ticketmaster's Tradedesk feature, which is used by ticket resellers.

"Ticketmaster seems to encourage getting tickets into the hands of resellers, and then they get another fee," Merchant said. "That's a different case that we tried to pursue and will be pursued."

CBC reached out to Ticketmaster for comment on the settlement approval but received no response.

Once the settlement is approved, eligible recipients should receive an email from Ticketmaster with a link to receive their credit with the company. 

If a customer believes they are eligible but didn't receive an email, Merchant said they can contact his law firm.