Tickets Gaffe Reveals Growing War

Updated: Tuesday, 03 Jan 2012, 5:50 PM CST
Published : Tuesday, 03 Jan 2012, 5:50 PM CST

HOUSTON - The Houston Texans are hot, and every one knows it.

That's why Loretta Johnson paid double the face value for tickets to attend the last game versus the Tennessee Titans.

"Just as soon as the game started, the other people came up and they were like, ‘Y'all are in our seats,” and I was like, ‘No these are our seats’," Johnson said.

Imagine what that must've felt like. She spent $319 for two tickets and was attending her first Texans game ever.

"It was very embarrassing, and I was really upset," she said.

She bought her tickets through a third-party vendor called Stub Hub.

We've now learned those tickets were somehow sold twice by a seller, once through Stub Hub and then Ticketmaster.

"They told me I was the one who was gonna have to move, and then they told me at the Reliant Stadium, ‘Watch who I buy my tickets from’," Johnson said.

John Shrievert is with the Texans. He agrees with that statement.

Because the Texans are in the playoffs, it is especially important to be careful where you drop your cash for game passes, Shrievert said.

"It's where you get your tickets from,” he said. “They need to either get them from the team, Ticketmaster.com, or the NFL Ticket exchange. That way, you know your tickets are valid."

But local ticket broker Malcolm Robinson runs Myticketin.com.

Robinson said the third-party vendors are reputable and the Texans have a good reason to try and shut them out of the ticket action.

"They're definitely are going to try and take as much business from local ticket brokers,” he said. “National ticket brokers … they want a piece of the pie."

But what happens when NFL tickets are double sold by third-party vendors in the case of Loretta Johnson?

Robinson said he, like many other ticket brokers, offers a guarantee:

If the ticket is somehow double sold on their site, they will offer a client a refund and/or a replacement ticket on site at the same game.

"We have an area where we stay to handle customers’ problems, situations,” Robinson said. “We also do drop-offs there where the customer can pick up the ticket."

That's exactly what happened to Johnson with Stub Hub.

When the company realized the ticket was double sold, Johnson was granted a full refund plus more tickets to that same game.

"Even though we sat in the other spot, it still felt a bit out of place,” Johnson said. “I was uncomfortable."