HOUSTON — It’s the hottest ticket in town. One week from tonight, Taylor Swift will take the stage at NRG. The rush on tickets has led to soaring prices and a lawsuit.
“It was like Christmas morning and I didn’t have presents for my babies," said Jenn Landry of Katy.
She said she waited 10 hours online last November when tickets were first released. She even had a presale code. While she was desperately trying to get tickets, she was watching them pop up on resale sites for hundreds of dollars more.
“It’s just more money lining their pockets and nobody is doing anything about it," said Landry.
Her husband eventually snagged two tickets, but Agathe Dawson, also of Katy, was left with none.
“It was a fiasco, total fiasco," said Dawson.
The head of Live Nation, who owns Ticketmaster, was called to testify in D.C. in January.
“We apologize to fans, we apologize to Ms. Swift," he said, adding they were hit with three times the bot traffic they had ever experienced.
However, Swifties weren’t satisfied.
More than 300 fans are now suing Ticketmaster. They're represented by attorney Jennifer Kinder, a self-proclaimed Swiftie herself.
“We see fees that are a third of the ticket price, half of a ticket price, we see bots that are buying up $10,000 of tickets at a time,” said Kinder.
She said it’s not about winning compensation for damages as much as it is about providing equal access for consumers.
“A monopoly that owns almost the entire market on live entertainment exploits, rips off and steals from consumers in order to increase their profits," said Kinder.
Dawson said that finally in February, she got an email from Ticketmaster and was able to buy two tickets.
“No, it did not make me feel better," said Dawson. “Something needs to be done”
Landry said she just wants it to be fair to fans moving forward.
“Most of us are on the same page, we don’t want to settle, we want to know what happened that day so we get laws that are better in place – like they have in other countries," said Landry.
KHOU 11 News reached out to Ticketmaster, but we have yet to hear back. The company has released past statements citing unprecedented demand for Swift's shows as a cause for ticket issues. She will be in Houston performing on April 21, April 22 and April 23.
