'Swifties' suing Ticketmaster over ticket problems

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A handful of Taylor Swift fans from the Milwaukee area have joined hundreds of "Swifties" nationwide now suing Ticketmaster, claiming the way they sold tickets to the show was unfair.

Taylor Swift's in Chicago tonight, the first of three shows there. And even at 8:00 when Swift was scheduled to take the stage, her fans were online, still searching for tickets. It's not for a lack of trying.

Bad blood between Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift fans continues months after Eras tour pre-sale booted thousands of fans from a system that was supposed to work.

"They handed out 1.5 million codes as a verified fan to participate in the sale, but 14 million people were on the website," said Jennifer Kinder, attorney with Kinder Law PLLC.

Jennifer Kinder's leading the charge against Ticketmaster.

"What our actual intent is is to change the ticket purchasing experience for every live entertainment in the United States," said Kinder.

Three hundred and fifty five people filed individual lawsuits as a group, including a woman from Hubertus.

"I probably spent seven or eight hours that day trying to get tickets. I didn't sleep for days. I was so angry, frustrated," said Sherry Poniewaz, a 'Swiftie' from Hubertus, Wisconsin.

A longtime Taylor fan, Ticketmaster gave her a presale code, but she got booted from the system repeatedly, and now, starting prices from other ticket agents are hovering around a thousand dollars.

"I've had many hard times and it was her that pulled me out of the hard times, so especially when my daughter left to go overseas. But it was the Safe and Sound song that really pulled me out of that and I, she's like my therapist. I love her (giggles)" said Poniewaz.

This is the same scenario playing out in Swiftie households all over, two laptops and a cell phone on the Ticketmaster site, just waiting to be allowed into the que.

"I was put into a que and the que lasted over three hours. And every time there's another attempt to get the tickets, same thing, same thing," said Poniewaz.

"Even if you go on the Nike website you can't buy more than six pairs of sneakers. They have a software program in place because they don't want their sneakers resold. So, there's a limit that you can purchase. There's a way from IP addresses they can determine what's a bot and what's a scalper. This software is not in place at Ticketmaster," said Kinder.

In January, Ticketmaster apologized for the flaws, claiming a cyber attack shut down their system, but the same thing's happening again. We reached out to Ticketmaster and Live Nation and got no reply.