Recently, the curtain dropped on hiding infamous “order,” “service,” and “convenience” fees. A new state law requires all businesses -- especially ticket sellers -- to now disclose your full price (minus tax) up front. No. More. Hidden. Fees.
“There’s no reason for hidden fees, other than to lure in potential customers with prices that simply are not true,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The new law kicked in July first. So, are ticket sellers still hiding fees?
NBC Bay Area just spot-checked more than 25 San Francisco Bay Area venues. We followed the normal public process of purchasing tickets for recent events, knowing the new state law says there should be no price surprises.
So, what did we find?
Many popular ticket sellers like the Giants, Shoreline Amphitheatre, SAP Center, the San Francisco Symphony, and Concord Pavilion were disclosing all fees up front.
But several others were… not.
Local
Most organizations I know don’t like imposing fees. They’re a necessary evil.
Chris Frye, Lyric Theatre
For example: Stanford’s popular Frost Amphitheater advertised $40 for a lawn seat to enjoy a summer quintet. But at checkout, a $12 “online processing” fee suddenly appeared. Our $40 seat became $52.
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The California Attorney General’s office told us that this kind of price advertising is not compliant with the new state law.
We saw similar fees still tacked onto the end of ticket purchases at places like: Symphony San Jose, California Theater in San Jose, San Francisco's The Midway venue, the Oakland Ballers, and Lyric Theatre in San Jose.
At checkout, Lyric's website was tacking on a $2 fee for its summer festival, which includes Fiddler on the Roof, a Cole Porter concert, and the comedic musical Red Mill. So, we contacted Lyric.
“I was completely unaware of it until you brought it up to me,” said box office manager Chris Frye. “We strive to be compliant and straightforward. And be sure everybody knows what they’re getting… and what they’re paying.”
Frye says he immediately looked into the law.
“Originally, I thought I had to change our whole pricing structure," he said. "But no, I can just change the wording and make it transparent and make sure how much they are going to pay from beginning to end.”
And he did. The company now discloses the $2 fee, up front. Frye even made a special sign for the first Fiddler performance.
“We are now, thankfully, compliant,” Frye said.
What about the other places we mentioned? We contacted them all and showed them the hidden fees we found.
Stanford Live just updated its ticketing – so you see your full ticket price up front.
The Oakland Ballers also just updated their website.
San Francisco’s Midway venue did not respond to us, but its website did change.
California Theater in San Jose said: “We are in communication with our clients to make sure that they are aware of the law change and that they address all compliance needs in their ticketing.”
Symphony San Jose said: “We are actively working with our ticketing platform to ensure the fees are displayed correctly in compliance with the law.”
If venues and promoters don’t start disclosing fees up front, don’t expect a big law enforcement crackdown. The law wasn’t written for that kind of accountability. Instead, it’s up to you. The new law gives ticket buyers who find hidden fees a green light to sue the ticket seller for at least $1,000, plus legal fees.
The law’s author, State Senator Bill Dodd, told NBC Bay Area he expects that kind of cash penalty will motivate ticket sellers to follow the law.
