Watchdog: Be careful when going to a website that you don’t get sidetracked. It’s easy

Terri Martin of Dallas spent $283 on two tickets to Hamilton at the Music Hall at Fair Park. But when she tried to claim them off the internet as directed, somebody else had snared them.

She tried to get the reseller — Tickets Center — to give her a refund. She started out politely, and then in each successive complaint letter she got rougher (threatening exposure with federal and state regulators) until it finally culminated with her writing back in desperation and anger, “Go straight to Hell. I am just getting started.”

How did this happen? It’s all too common. You look up ticket sales for an event, and you’re trying to buy them from the theater box office. But a web search leads you to knock-off websites that, as Martin found out, may be untrustworthy.

“Did you try it yourself?” she asked me. “I searched Winspear Opera House and Hamilton and results showed thumbnails with Hamilton. It looked like the real box office.”

It’s like somebody stuck their hand in her purse and pickpocketed $283. Could The Watchdog help her get a refund?

Easily fooled

It is so simple to get victimized, but also so easy to avoid. The Watchdog has reported similar schemes when you want to check your credit report. Type that in search and you may find knockoffs willing to charge you for the information.

You can get it for free at AnnualCreditReport.com.

The same thing happens in retail electricity shopping. Most Texans know that the state-operated shopping site is PowerToChoose.org. When you do a search on those three words, a dozen or more electricity companies and brokers appear in search results. They have incorporated “power to choose” as keywords. That confuses those trying to get to the real site.

Citibank favors merchants

To make her situation even more perilous, Martin used a Citibank credit card to make the purchase. As I previously reported, Citibank isn’t a big fan of helping aggrieved customers get their money back. Citibank appears to favor merchants in disputes.

A Citibank rep explained to me that if the complaining customer gave a merchant permission to use the card, Citibank doesn’t always reverse the charges.

For this case, a Citibank rep said they would talk to Martin – and not me.

Ticket Center

In response to her complaint, Ticket Center’s “senior customer care specialist” Michael Angelo wrote Martin, “We understand that you want to have this order refunded or you will take this further with a lawsuit. We know how you value your money and need it back since it is a product of your hard work.”

But no refund. Not yet. She should have read the fine print, she was told.

Broadway Dallas and Broadway Across America, which brings Hamilton to Dallas, says on its website, that they “do not support the reselling of our tickets at a price above the printed face value.”

Customers should only purchase tickets from Broadway Dallas or Ticketmaster, it says.

“Neither can guarantee the authenticity of tickets bought from any other reseller,” it says. “The tickets may not be valid and may not allow you access to the show. Tickets may be doubled in price or more.”

Broadway Dallas CEO Ken Novice said in a statement: “Broadway Dallas is as frustrated as our customers when it comes to fraudulent ticket resellers. Patrons make plans many months in advance.

“When they arrive at our events with fraudulent tickets, we do our best to work with them to remedy the situation. We also work to educate consumers on these issues. My best advice is always buy via BroadwayDallas.org, our official website.”

Payback?

She bought more tickets, went to Hamilton and loved it.

I kept calling and writing Ticket Center and its Delaware-based owner, Internet Referral Services. I finally received an answer from Ticket Center.

The company wrote to me in an email that its website is clear about the nature of its business.

“However, we at Ticket-Center.com greatly value each of our website users and take pride in providing a safe and secure means of ordering secondary event tickets online.

“So, as a one-time courtesy, we would like to offer a full refund for the tickets. There is currently a chargeback investigation being handled by Terri Martin’s financial institution. Should the investigation not resolve itself in Terri Martin’s favor, a refund will be issued.”

When I called Martin and read the note to her, she replied, “That’s amazing.”

Watchdog tips: Check the URL address before clicking on it. Don’t click on a result just because it’s on page 1. On Google, it’s not hard to buy top ranked search results by paying high prices for sponsored links that look like real ones.

This applies to all online searches: see if the website has any complaints against it. Ticket Center has many complaints that are easily found online. There’s also a settlement in a lawsuit brought against the company by the New York attorney general for this kind of foolery.

Martin says she learned her lesson. Oh, and she’s canceling her Citibank card.

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