KSL Investigates: How to avoid scam when buying tickets to ‘Hamilton’
Feb 6, 2018, 2:40 PM | Updated: Feb 9, 2018, 9:28 pm
The curtain rises on Hamilton in April at the Eccles Theater. Single tickets to the Utah shows sold out within hours Friday, but shoppers can already find them on online resale sites. Many cost more than a mortgage payment.
The KSL Investigators dug into how theatergoers can protect themselves as they try to buy the hottest ticket in town.
While Eccles box office charged $75-300, the Investigators found tickets being sold for $600, $800, even $1,400 per seat. All the tickets came from resale websites.
Pearce believes resale websites aren’t worth the price.
“Be really careful because they can be double or triple the value of the actual face value of the ticket,” said Pearce.
On one website, with service fees included, two tickets cost $2,715.
If consumers do score a ticket they’ll want to avoid a common social media mistake. Don’t take a selfie with the bar code showing. Clever thieves will copy it and turn good tickets into phony copies.
And if your only option is buying from a re-seller, choose a reputable one.
National Association of Ticket Brokers Director Gary Adler said, “There’s always going to be a demand and the price of a ticket is driven by how much supply there is.”
Adler offered three main tips.
“Always pay with a credit card or make sure they accept credit cards, you have some recourse,” Adler said.
A bank can help a consumer if the ticket is fraudulent. Second, make sure the broker offers a money-back guarantee as a fraud protection. And third, Adler said shop around. Prices will change, and may move in your favor.
ArtTix said it will only sell paper tickets to Hamilton. There will be no tickets sent to a consumer’s phone or tickets to print at home.
