Photo credit: Vishnu R Nair
Ticketmaster and concert promoter OCESA are facing a significant class action lawsuit led by Mexico’s Attorney General for Consumer Affairs, PROFECO.
Mexico’s federal agency PROFECO has announced that a judge in Mexico City has allowed a class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster and concert promoter OCESA. The class action lawsuit stems from multiple violations, including the unilateral cancellation of tickets and a refusal to refund the total amount paid by customers.
On April 26, Guillermo Campos Osorio, the Civil Judge for Mexico City’s Ninth Circuit, declared the lawsuit filed by PROFECO reasonable and allowed the class action lawsuit to be reviewed. So far, the number of customers represented in the lawsuit is 521, and it will continue to grow – PROFECO has urged consumers to come forward if they are affected by the cancellation of tickets, denial of access or a refund for the cancellation of a cultural event, entertainment – or sporting event from 2021 to today.
“The class action lawsuit resulted from multiple consumer complaints that have piled up since 2021 and into the present day,” PROFECO said in an official statement.
Thousands of fans were denied entry to Bad Bunny’s performance at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium in December, leaving much of the venue empty. Ticketmaster Mexico, which was acquired by Live Nation in 2021 as part of the concert giant’s acquisition of OCESA, tried to pin the blame on counterfeit tickets. Still, regulators have revealed the company outperformed, causing chaos at the gate.
A few months later, PROFECO said it had already received more than 1,600 complaints from fans who were denied entry to the stadium. PROFECO boss Ricardo Sheffield has publicly expressed his doubts that the problems are related to counterfeit tickets, as the agency had received numerous similar complaints in the past about Ticketmaster denying entry.
According to PROFECO, the Attorney General’s Office initially filed a class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster and OCESA on behalf of 434 consumers in December. Together, the two companies control 64.5 percent of entertainment services in Mexico.
“These situations reflect widespread non-compliance in the provision of the entertainment service related to various musical, cultural, sporting, artistic and recreational events and violate consumer rights,” says PROFECO.
Several consumer lawsuits led to the filing of the lawsuit, including, among others, the unilateral cancellation of tickets, a breach of the terms originally offered by the providers, and a refusal to fully refund the amount paid by consumers.
Ticketmaster apologized in December after an “unprecedented” number of fans were sold “fake tickets” and denied entry to the stadium for Bad Bunny’s 2022 concert. The company promised full refunds to those who bought legitimate tickets, but they were also denied entry to the venue.