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Vivid Seats Sued Over Alleged “Bait-And-Switch” Tactics

IndustryLegal

March 22, 2019
TicketNews Staff

A class action lawsuit was filed on March 19 in Illinois alleges Vivid Seats LLC uses “bait-and-switch” tactics to dupe consumers into thinking they’ll be able to score tickets for one price, only to find more expensive tickets as the only option, according to a post on Classaction.org.

The lawsuit, brought by Howard Derdiger on behalf of others similarly situated, argues that offers located both on the Vivid Seats website and in emails sent to consumers promising a percentage off of tickets only to charge them “the original price” constitute unlawful deceptive practices that violate Section 2 of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. It is filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Vivid’s Chicago base of operations.

The specifics of the complaint relate to the purchase of four tickets to Bob Seger in December of 2018. The advertised 10% discount implied that tickets would cost $220 each, but the actual purchase price came to $245 per ticket, before taxes and fees were applied. It points out a number of online reviews of Vivid Seats which outline similar complaints from other consumers throughout the country.

Such practices are “essentially a bait and switch scheme,” the filing reads. “It lures consumers to purchase tickets to concerts and sporting events by offering them a percentage discount but then charges them the original price, making such purchases no bargain at all…” Such representations “made it more likely that consumers would purchase event tickets from [the] Defendant,” and therefore deceived the Plaintiff and other members of the class.

Damages suffered by the class are not outlined due to the potentially sprawling nature of the class, but the lawsuit requests actual damages, treble damages, attorneys’ fees and interest. Derdiger is represented in the filing by Sweetnam LLC, a Chicago firm which specializes in class action and commercial litigation, per its website.

The full complaint is available here: https://www.classaction.org/media/derdiger-v-vivid-seats-llc.pdf

 

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Vivid Seats Sued Over Alleged “Bait-And-Switch” Tactics