UPDATED: The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally opened an investigation into Ticketmaster’s compliance with consumer protection law in relation to the sale of Oasis concert tickets.
The CMA said on Thursday that it is investigating whether “Ticketmaster has engaged in unfair commercial practices which are prohibited under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008”; “People were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ with prices changing depending on demand, and how this would operate, including the price they would pay for any tickets purchased”; and if “People were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time – at a higher price than they understood they would have to pay, potentially impacting their purchasing decisions.”
The CMA said that it will now engage with Ticketmaster and gather evidence to consider whether it thinks the company has broken consumer protection law. The CMA also adds that as it is at the initial stage of its investigation, “it should not be assumed that Ticketmaster has broken consumer protection law.”
The org has also called for evidence from Oasis aficionados who went through the ticketing experience.
PREVIOUSLY: Ticketmaster is set to face some tough questions in the U.K. after thousands of Oasis fans were left disappointed having failed to secure tickets through the site for the band’s long-awaited reunion tour.
U.K. culture minister Lisa Nandy has pledged to look into Ticketmaster’s use of “dynamic pricing,” which saw ticket prices shoot up by hundreds of pounds while fans were in queues online waiting to buy them.
Some fans reportedly abandoned their purchases having spent hours trying to get through after the prices went up by up to £200 while they were in line. Thousands more couldn’t get through to buy tickets at all, forcing them to resort to ticket-resale sites.
Nandy told the BBC she plans to end “rip-off resales” and make sure tickets are sold “at fair prices,” adding that it was “depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans.”
The government are set to hold a consultation on ticket resale websites this autumn. Dynamic pricing will now be included in the scope of the consultation, Nandy confirmed, saying ministers would look at “issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it.”
The BBC reported that one of Nandy’s colleague, Labour minister Lucy Powell, was among those left out of pocket after she ended up spending more than double the originally quoted cost of an Oasis ticket due to dynamic pricing.
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It’s not the first time Ticketmaster has found itself in trouble with government officials following a ticket fiasco.
Last year the U.S. Senate convened a hearing on lack of competition in the concert ticket industry after demand for Taylor Swift tickets resulted in a major service failure.
“The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve,” Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said at the time. “That’s why we will hold a hearing on how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike. When there is no competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences.”