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Public Service Alert: A Warning to US Open Ticket Buyers August 27, 2008

Posted by mb in not necessarily the knicks, personal ramblings.
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Yesterday morning, my father bought tickets to the Evening Session of Friday’s US Open action.  Or so he thought.

Rather than scalping or purchasing from an illegal site, he went to the US Open website and used their official vendor, Tickets Now, the designated online retailer and reseller of US Open tickets.  He purchased four tickets for $17 each for his family, thinking he was getting a great short-term deal.  The total, with shipping, was more than $100.

As it turns out, what he got were something called “Restaurant Passes.”  Restaurant Passes entitle you to visit certain eateries at the US Open.  Unfortunately, restaurant passes are useless unless you have tickets to an event: something my father thought he had purchased.

How did this happen?

*  The Tickets Now website is a mass of confusion.  Clicking “View Tickets” brings you a list of tickets AND restaurant passes lumped together indiscriminately.   By contrast, parking passes are in their own separate section.  You know you’re buying a parking pass when you click one.
* Rather than saying “Restaurant Access Only,” the Section field on the website says whatever the ticket seller wants it to say.  In this case, “US OPEN CLUB,” which does not begin to hint at the possibility that you are buying something that, on its own, cannot get you into the Open at all.
* The “ROW” field similarly reads however the retailers want it to read.  The more responsible people who put their tickets up list “Restaurant” for restaurant passes so as to make sure that the difference is clear.  My father’s field was blank.
* The “Notes” field is similar.  My father’s read, “No grounds access.  Restaurant pass.”  However, for anyone who has ever gone to the US Open before, it is clear that “No Grounds Access” logically means no access to the grounds at large during the featured evening event — a standard configuration on Arthur Ashe Court only tickets.

A call to the US Open Tennis Center revealed that the Open has previously told its vendors, including Tickets Now, NOT to allow the sales of restaurant passes on its own.  Meanwhile, Tickets Now — a subsidiary of the generally reputable Ticketmaster — disclaims all liability, citing the “All Sales Final” component of its agreement.  The person who I spoke to there, Joanne informed me that they aren’t legally on the hook because of this clause.

As it happens, I’ve had some legal training.  The All Sales Final agreement stands assuming that the ticket sale was valid to begin with.  It is a matter of basic contract law that in order for such a clause to be honored, the sale must have been valid and understood by both parties, not a farce like this one.  Moreover, legal question aside, the manner in which these tickets made their way to the public seems an example of poor business practices and poorer ethics.  Meanwhile, Joanne and Tickets Now will not provide my father access to the vendor who put these tickets up to begin with, leaving him with no further recourse.

Now, Tickets Now is disclaiming responsibility.  The US Open is as well, saying that once the tickets leave their hands, they are now responsible.  Which would make sense, except that the vendor is THEIR authorized vendor.  My father is essentially being penalized for not scalping.  This seems counterintuitive.

Don’t let this happen to you.  Know that, apparently, “US OPEN CLUB” means the tickets you’re buying won’t even get you into the complex.  Know that it’s probably not worth using an official reseller like Tickets Now if they’re so eager to watch you get screwed over.  And know that the U.S. Open similarly doesn’t give a crap.

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