Brown Paper Tickets Cheated Their Customers, Now They're Ignoring Them

In March, I reported on the very serious claims that Brown Paper Tickets (BPT) wasn’t able to pay funds owed to their customers. In some cases, checks they had sent out had bounced.

This was shocking because those funds should have been available to customers since BPT was simply collecting revenue on their behalf. A theatre company that was counting on receiving $14,000 in ticket revenue, all of the sudden was panicking because BPT no longer had it. An animal rescue center, Countryside Rescue Adoption Center, is waiting on $20,000 that was raised from a fundraiser that Brown Paper tickets initially told them they had paid, then admitted they hadn’t and now have put the center on a waiting list on getting their funds.

As I explained in the previous article, there are multiple ways this could have happened. But suffice to say, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that something is awry with the way BPT handled funds coming in from their customer’s events. And while I can understand to a certain degree how companies get themselves into this mess, the way that BPT has handled it is nothing short of atrocious.

According to cheated customers, BPT’s customer service is a mess. Phone calls and emails aren’t being returned. If there is a response, it’s automated and provides very little details. Questions over what happened to their funds aren’t being answered. BPT hasn’t made any updates on social media in over a month. And now, to top it all off, they’re shutting off their phones.

According to their website, BPT has decided to shut down its phone support. So the only way they can be contacted is through email. However, I’m told by several customers that none of their emails have been responded to.

One group waiting on funds, Cyclepaths, is waiting on over $4,000 that was supposed to go to critical life-saving HIV/AIDS services. They expressed their anger on social media over the lack of contact.

BPT states that the reason they did this was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That makes no sense and whoever thought of that idea should be fired immediately.

Thankfully, action is taking place and this issue is catching the eye of legal authorities. According to the Seattle Times, the Washington State’s Attorney office has gotten involved. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson told the Times that his office received almost 40 complaints from customers. His office has been able to resolve two of those complaints with BPT. “We take this very seriously,” he told the paper but did not say whether or not there would be a formal investigation into Brown Paper Tickets’ dealings.

As I said before, I put the blame squarely on BPT leadership which includes co-founder and president William Scott Jordan and I hope he resigns soon as well as the rest of the management team. While the COVID-19 pandemic has destroyed many businesses, it shouldn’t be used as excuse for terrible business practices which is exactly what Brown Paper Tickets is trying to do.