Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1994)
Service charge put Ticketmaster in spotlight Rob Elder Ticket master, a large tit k»»t broker. is fat in# lawsuits and severe consumer criti cism for tacking what some say an* t*x< es sive serve a charges on the tickets it sells In a ret etit 80 event. 10-stale survey. Ticket master was shown to charge aver age service fees of 27 percent of a tx kefs fat o value The study was released by the United States Public Interest Research Group in coordination w ith OSPIRG. "Ticketnwister clearly rips off con sumers. said Maureen Kirk, executive director of GSPIRC"Tickotmaster charges outrageous, monopolistic | prices |." In addition, two-thirds of those Tit k etmaster agents surveyed said the serve e charges are not disclosed separately on tickets In other words, consumers are not always told what kind and how much of a charge they are paying. "This is an example of student lux tim ing aware of their position as con sumers.' said Matt Raimi, campus orga nizer of OSPIRG. "It s a sobering exponent e when the public realizes that they an* being ripped off in doing some thing to simple as buying a tit ket hllen Kiuthly. a University sophomore, said Tn.ketroaster is ( barging unrealistic pi It • ■ for its I kets I- - t if] . d the i oncert seat* that I want 1 think they are alienating the customers that they are try mg to attract." University sophomore Rachel Hewitt said. ! think Tit ketmaster has lost touch with the fact that they are doing a service for their consumers." At the I Diversity, the KMt Mam Desk Store sells tickets lor events on campus as well as at the VV<)W Hall and Hull ( enter Hut its service charge averages only 5 per cent per ticket "We are a servile for the students." said store manager Martha Hudspeth Wo try to keep the pru es down for stu dents and still make a profit." The tu kel agent, however, does not alw ay s determine the ticket price and ser vice charge "We do what the promoter wants." Hudspeth said "We either add .1 com mission to tiie to ket if tiie promoter wants its hu e value or dedm t from the gross sale. ‘Either way. we have to make fi per* l ent." stie said It used to tie that we would generally deduct from the gross t hen Tit ketmaster mine along and start ed 1 barging exorbitant tic ket prit es, so oth ers did too Hut that's how a company like that stays in business." Hudspeth said f u.ketmaster, a $1 billion a-vear busi ness, has been battling the word "monop olistic" sun e tout, when it iioiight out its main competitor. Tit kettron This summer. |eff Ament and Stone t.ossard of I’eari Jam went so far as to tes tify against I n ketmaster liefore a House (Government Operations Sul* ommittee Their appearant e was the result of a memorandum Pearl Jam filed with the Antitrust Division of the Department of fustii e The memo at 1 used Tit ketmaster of outrageous servu e fees and of having "a virtually absolute monopoly on the distribution of tu kets to com erts I n ketmaster executives have not cotn mtmted. hut spokesman l .am Suiters whs quoted ns saying. “What happened is, the computerized ticketing provided a tremendous i onveninnee People embraced that convenience, and it evolved into a ni*x*ssit\ Now the lawyers and the ai ts don't ft>el that the consumers should p.iv for that serve o " I ii ketmaster seemingly won a minor battle on June 2? when a New York state judge dismissed a i onsumer's antitrust lawsuit against the company The suit at t used Tit ketmaster of unfair business prat to es, including kicktwicks to t out ert promoters and concealed service fees l it ketmaster said it was t onfident that it would win not only the suits already filed but also any similar suits should they arise frustrating and nerve-wracking fight for subsistence With all the negative, high profile pub licity. Picket master is having trouble obtaining the distribution control t for the ') million tickets to he sold for the Olympic events in Atlanta Extension gives students more time to file sexual harrassment grievances Lori Bettineskl Oregon Da><y t rntnak1 Thu time line for filing sexual and discriminatory harassment grievances .it the University lias lieen extended to one v ear Students previously had lHO days to file either a formal or informal grievance with the Office of Affirmative Action and Kqual Opportunity “The primary reason that the change was made is that sexual harassment is such an emotion al event." said hen l.ehrman. director of the affirmative-action office. “Sometimes victims blame themselves or they won der if it was how they dressed, and this kind of unraveling of emotions can take a fair amount of time." Although the University has extended its filing times, l.ehrman said students must realize that the time line for fil ing with federal agenc ies hasn't changed. Students still have only lHO days to file a grievance at the federal level “The problem here is that peo ple may decide to wait nine months to file with the Univer sity. but in doing so, they will lose their time to file with the federal agency if they should decide they want to take it to that level." l.ehrman said Students who file an informut grievance with the University have until day dl>4 to change it to a formal one. hut the change must be made before the end of the year. The one-year time line begins the day the grievance is submitted to the affirmative action office. The deadline for grievances concerning "prohibited discrim ination" has not been extended. Grievances addressing disc rirn ination on the taisis of race, age. gender or sexual discrimination must be fded within 180 days Students who are uncertain about filing with the affirmative action office can speak first with a trained group of consultants on campus. The Sexual Harass ment Resource Network consists of faculty, staff and students who listen to students' concerns with confidentiality. JJ We reads want to convey the mes Mi ye tlnit the I nt versus does hike harassment very seriously tirtd w ill not sw cep anything under the carpet — Ken Lohrman aftiimaiive action oltice directcx According to lohrman, the number of sexual harassment reports at the University is start ing to decline, although this doesn’t net essarily mean sexual harassment occurs less often. I do think there is less sexual harassment, hut that's not to say that it's not going on," Lohrman said "The numbers will show that reporting is down slightly because there has been a num ber of highly publicized cases and harassors are recognizing that this university is taking this seriously. ' ll took some time to gut this message ucross, and the message is that it's not the '70s and you i an t harass people anymore.” l.ehrman said "People have bet ome aware that sexual harassment can ruin careers, and people are now more cau tious." l.ehrman also emphasized that students should never hesi tate filing a grievance with the University, even if the student was harassed by a staff or fac ulty member. "We really want to convey the message that the University does take harassment very seriously and will not sweep anything under the carpet," l.ehrman said. "It makes no sense to even contemplate sweeping some thing under tlie carpet because if it was found out. the liability could go through the roof. “It is not in the University's interest to do this," ho said. “The University wants to find out what's going on and take appropriate action immediate ly " t% 'AN'vtiiy ► ♦»<*» flQTW wafeh t»tFi # fir-** | Ami* i* ► *»«*» '««} t.wx*jf*. irw t J. I 1 i 1 ^foud Hava to go back pretty FA^ tofind Prices this good on film and processing. i J 3 a l I f I \ j i f 3 i x \ ! i maul* ac rum («■•} coupon t «!>»« s i<niw 554 OFF Any mil ,>l k.xUk color |wmi him Vain! >*«i> mi hint with i*n«4 g| Punhjw i s A Mtiltil l l»Nv! Ml k t >s.»! .<!>•, ha* guuauftif cokx pruii Mm vftU. k 4/*J wtuu *mJ |rfu4rvMximi hirn etx iucirti ■ I mut <*tr t. ^ipn*> pr» punh*** May not > ‘1*f4 tfamJrtml »* uurtj with «fy KixLik uiri You jtu*. jiiv apj** jfvir Ui kl (All I R ki*U» »d! rrimhunr y\na U thr fair vatut >)| dm, -.niptm f4m H«. mu, Handhnft aik h* jmh <• pftnidrd you fmiprrty friirrm w cm rrud \tir-. d dv tin* nbrd K,*L»k him I j**i irvjurw y**u mum hamuli pnuld punta* d wftom pnduu u>umi salt rrxIrmMkWH * **iuw U> dnrrur ahuvr tenm ttui w.d ai; oupur* uihtnmfd . * fraud UAH !<> I jrauun h.ulak ( ,mi{un, . M [ V|'n 417/1 Onr f a*,«! On%r tVI K*> |r*jt> /HB40 Rrpmdut t**unui *t.r|*rd Vtud »t*rrr (*duhttrd C aul) value 1/201 era (*H»d ndy m l rated Suit* aihJ fSarflo R* »> Kudik and Gold aw ynirmark-. TARGET FIIM DEVELOPING We do your pictures, too 'Mm *0 Q CjtxfMS* •my 41771 104 SO tAMUl fUU o* VI 1OMNG COUPON [ VP1UI ft t O'.) 11M SI OFF Qualex color film processing. I iu lov this coupon aild one roll of ! 10. tiisc or 35mm full frame color pnttt film ot single uv camera (C HI pnxcv, only) in .1 film devrlt iptng order envelope One coupon per order Mjv not be combined with any other offer We do your pictures, too.
