Settlement with MileyWorld.com
HARRISBURG - Attorney General Tom Corbett has announced that the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection has reached a settlement with the owner and operator of the official Miley Cyrus fan club, www.MileyWorld.com, as the result of consumer complaints about the fan club's members-only "pre-sale" of popular Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert tickets.
The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) was reached with Interactive Media Marketing, Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee, requiring the company to extend fan club memberships for nearly 1,000 Pennsylvania consumers. Interactive Media will also pay $10,000 in civil penalties and $10,000 to support future public protection activities.
According to the settlement, the Attorney General's Office began receiving complaints from Pennsylvania fan club members in September 2007, regarding ticket sales for Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus "Best of Both World" concerts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The majority of the complaints were from consumers who paid $29.95 for memberships in the MileyWorld.com fan club in order to receive special codes that would allow them to purchase concert tickets during a special "pre-sale," before tickets would be available for sale to the general public.
Corbett said the www.MileyWorld.com website failed to inform consumers that all "pre-sale" tickets were sold within the first 15 minutes of their offering to fan club members. The fan club website also allegedly continued to sell memberships to new consumers, and continued to provide "pre-sale" codes, after all tickets had been sold - without informing consumers that their membership codes would be useless.
The settlement requires Interactive Media to provide an additional four months of fan club membership benefits to a total of 996 Pennsylvania consumers who joined the club during the ticket pre-sale period and were unable to purchase concert tickets.
Additionally, the agreement requires clear disclosures on the Mileyworld.com website in the event of any future ticket pre-sales, so that consumers will have accurate information about the availability of concert tickets.
Corbett noted that a recent class action lawsuit in Tennessee provided an additional two months of benefits to all fan club members, but the terms of the Pennsylvania settlement require the benefits to be extended to four months for all eligible consumers from Pennsylvania.
Corbett said that all of the Pennsylvania consumers eligible for this settlement will be contacted directly by MileyWorld.com with information about their extended membership benefits.
The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance was filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jesse F. Harvey and Deputy Attorney General M. Susan Ruffner, from the Pittsburgh Regional Office of the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) was reached with Interactive Media Marketing, Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee, requiring the company to extend fan club memberships for nearly 1,000 Pennsylvania consumers. Interactive Media will also pay $10,000 in civil penalties and $10,000 to support future public protection activities.
According to the settlement, the Attorney General's Office began receiving complaints from Pennsylvania fan club members in September 2007, regarding ticket sales for Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus "Best of Both World" concerts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The majority of the complaints were from consumers who paid $29.95 for memberships in the MileyWorld.com fan club in order to receive special codes that would allow them to purchase concert tickets during a special "pre-sale," before tickets would be available for sale to the general public.
Corbett said the www.MileyWorld.com website failed to inform consumers that all "pre-sale" tickets were sold within the first 15 minutes of their offering to fan club members. The fan club website also allegedly continued to sell memberships to new consumers, and continued to provide "pre-sale" codes, after all tickets had been sold - without informing consumers that their membership codes would be useless.
The settlement requires Interactive Media to provide an additional four months of fan club membership benefits to a total of 996 Pennsylvania consumers who joined the club during the ticket pre-sale period and were unable to purchase concert tickets.
Additionally, the agreement requires clear disclosures on the Mileyworld.com website in the event of any future ticket pre-sales, so that consumers will have accurate information about the availability of concert tickets.
Corbett noted that a recent class action lawsuit in Tennessee provided an additional two months of benefits to all fan club members, but the terms of the Pennsylvania settlement require the benefits to be extended to four months for all eligible consumers from Pennsylvania.
Corbett said that all of the Pennsylvania consumers eligible for this settlement will be contacted directly by MileyWorld.com with information about their extended membership benefits.
The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance was filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jesse F. Harvey and Deputy Attorney General M. Susan Ruffner, from the Pittsburgh Regional Office of the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
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