War on scammers won’t be won quick, but worth the fight
Proposed consumer protection bill would make tickets easier to get, cars safer to buy
The NDP’s Bill 31, intended to protect consumers from scammers at the cash register and online, is earning a positive response from industry. Cast as an update to laws that haven’t kept pace with technological changes in commerce, the bill presents a legal hammer to deter scammers, though the battle won’t be easily won.
Can Alberta successfully battle bots and stop scammers?
This isn’t the slogan for a new video game, but the philosophy underpinning new provincial legislation aimed at beefing up consumer protection.
The proposed bill is a multipronged approach to tackle some of the biggest issues facing customers at the cash register and, increasingly, those buying products online.
The bill will allow the government to create a consumer bill of rights and introduce rules to prevent an array of purchasing problems, such as online ticket sales.
It includes protection for Albertans who end up stuck with cancelled or counterfeit tickets to shows — entitling them to refunds from secondary sellers such as StubHub — and will ban computerized bots from snapping up tickets to concerts and sporting events.
There will also be licensing requirements for lenders in the high-credit sector.
For the auto industry, companies will have to disclose information on the history of a car or truck being sold — if it’s been used as a taxi or involved in a major crash — and it will require a standardized bill of sale.
Auto repair shops will have to provide written estimates to consumers who request them, and create minimum warranty protections for repairs.
Service Alberta Minister Stephanie McLean stressed the province needed to update legislation that hasn’t been overhauled in a dozen years.
“I think about the fact I’m now buying my clothes for work on my phone from my pocket … in this space, 2005 was eons ago,” she said Thursday in Edmonton.
“As things move quickly in the marketplace, our legislation hasn’t stayed up with the times.”
Despite the potential for increased regulation, most industry reaction was positive.
The Calgary and Edmonton chambers of commerce, the local Better Business Bureau and the Alberta Motor Association all applauded the bill’s lofty intentions.
“What we have seen looks fairly balanced,” said Zoe Addington with the Calgary chamber.
“Good business practices benefit the good players, and bad players often do hurt and can hurt the rest of industry.”
Some of the most significant changes will come on the ticketing front, where problems are growing. In the past 12 months, the Better Business Bureau for Southern Alberta and East Kootenay has received more than 550 inquiries about ticket sellers.
Individual organizations, from the Calgary Flames to live music promoters, backed the government’s attempt to crack down on automated ticket-buying software.
“This ban on bots will allow consumers more access to highdemand events,” said Rollie Cyr, vice-president of sales with Calgary Sports and Entertainment.
The bill will also require primary sellers such as Ticketmaster to identify, block or cancel tickets bought by these bots.
On Thursday, Ticketmaster issued a statement saying computer bots “subvert” getting tickets into the hands of fans, and it welcomed additional efforts to halt the practise.
The company is investing millions of dollars to block such software, “but we know that bots can’t be solved through technology alone,” the statement said.
Trying to stamp out such a complex issue is a noble pursuit, although it won’t be easy.
Many Calgarians remember how the Garth Brooks show during the 2012 Stampede sold out in just 58 seconds, with tickets reappearing on secondary sites within minutes at much higher prices.
The issue has become a tricky policy dilemma for governments around the globe, with similar attempts taken to stop the bots in Ontario, the state of New York and the United Kingdom.
Ron Sakamoto, president of Gold and Gold Productions, who has promoted popular country acts such as Shania Twain, Johnny Reid and Old Dominion, endorsed the province’s moves.
“The government is trying to curb scalping. The artist and promoters, we’ve been trying to do it for years without any success. The reason why we haven’t had any success is even if (scalpers) got caught, nothing would happen to them,” Sakamoto said.
“This is fantastic.”
Nick Blasko of Amelia Artists in Victoria, which manages artists Tegan and Sara among others, said ticket troubles affect everyone in the live music industry, from artists and promoters to legitimate sellers and fans.
He said legislation should help in the fight to block the use of bots, but is unsure if it will ultimately succeed.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know. There is so much yet to be understood about how bots operate,” Blasko said. “I see this as a step in the right direction. I don’t see this as a solution.”
On the vehicle protection front, Denis Ducharme of the Motor Dealers’ Association of Alberta said the bulk of the proposed changes are already being followed by dealerships and service departments.
For example, most give wouldbe buyers the history of a used vehicle, although Ducharme noted the legislation will make that mandatory.
He’s more concerned about changes to the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council, turning the province’s auto regulator into a public agency, and how proposed regulations will affect oversight of the sector.
“As far as we see things, the legislation is vague until the regulations are put in place. But we’re certainty in agreement with the majority of it,” he said.
The maximum penalty for violations under the legislation will be fines of up to $300,000, or two years in jail.
That’s unlikely to happen, but the threat of the legal hammer should act as a deterrent to some bad actors.
Alberta won’t win the battle against scammers and bots quickly, but the new bill should help — and at this stage, any action is better than no action at all.