EVENKO FACES FINE
Overcharged for event tickets
Two more Quebec ticket-selling services, including major Montreal promoter Evenko, have been fined for charging more than the advertised price for event tickets.
The charges were brought by Quebec’s consumer protection office.
In the case of Evenko, the infractions related specifically to a pair of concerts in 2014 by Charles Aznavour and Enrique Iglesias. Charles Tanguay, media spokesman for the Office de la Protection du Consommateur, said the listed prices for those shows on Evenko’s website should have incorporated a charge of $5 to email the ticket or $7 to have it mailed, since consumers did not have the option of picking them up for free at the ticket counter. Evenko pleaded guilty and was fined $10,056.
Under Quebec law, the listed price for any show ticket or sports event must include all costs except taxes.
Billets de qualité Inc. of Montreal was fined $2,514 after pleading guilty to selling tickets for hockey games at the Bell Centre in 2013 for $17 to $90 more than the listed price of $152 to $263. While it’s not illegal in Quebec for companies to act as intermediaries for ticket transactions between two individuals, Tanguay said they can’t sell tickets themselves for more than the listed price without authorization from the event promoter.
Last month, two other companies, Billets.com of Montreal and 514-Billets of St-Eustache, were fined $5,014 apiece for the same infraction, also dating from 2013. In their case, the tickets in question were for Céline Dion concerts in Quebec City. They were charging anywhere from $20 to $223 more for tickets originally priced at $70 to $300.