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Full story from the TSN website :

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/about-vancouver/news/newsid=31819.html#athletes+grandma+among+those+caught+scam

Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Athlete's grandma among those caught in ticket scam

The Globe and MailBy Jane Armstrong, The Globe and Mail Posted Thursday, February 4, 2010 2:47 PM ET

Hundreds of would-be Olympic spectators could be left in the lurch after an Arizona-based ticket broker revealed that a major supplier has reneged on a deal to deliver tickets.

The seller, eSeats.com, has told 176 customers that the Olympic tickets they believed they bought aren't in the mail after all. Company CEO Bob Bernstein said his supplier - Atlanta-based Action Seating - failed to deliver about 1,200 Olympic tickets.

The eSeats.com customers represent only the tip of the iceberg of those believed to have paid for tickets they are not going to get. Mr. Bernstein said orders for up to 12,000 tickets worth about $3-million are unfilled. He said that figure was supplied to him by Action Seating owner Gene Hammet, who did not respond to calls and e-mails thursday.

Martha Hight ordered tickets to watch her granddaughter, U.S. snowboarder Elena Hight, in the Feb. 18 halfpipe competition at Cypress Mountain. Ms. Hight received a terse e-mail from eSeat.com on Wednesday saying the tickets weren't available.

"I was absolutely heartbroken," she said in an interview from Santa Maria, Calif. "It so deflated all the excitement of going to the Olympics."

In Vancouver, lawyer Wes Mussio ordered about $5,000 worth of tickets to figure-skating and speed-skating events from eSeats.com. The invoice said the tickets would be delivered in January. When they failed to arrive, Mr. Mussio called eSeats.com. On Monday, he got an e-mail saying his tickets weren't available and he would not get a refund. The note suggested he could buy other Olympic tickets from eSeats.com.

"No one in their right mind would go back on that site and buy more," Mr. Mussio said, adding that his two children are devastated that the tickets have vanished.

Mr. Bernstein of eSeats.com said he felt terrible for his clients who were counting on going to the Games. "It's hard because there's so much emotion going in right now and we're trying to do the right thing," said Mr. Bernstein, adding that his firm lost more than $420,000. On Monday, eSeat.com launched a civil suit against Action Seating in an attempt to recover the money.

Mr. Bernstein said he will do everything he can to refund customers' money or find new tickets. Action Seating, in a letter to clients last month, said it paid a supplier for tickets. "We learned that the tickets would not be forthcoming due to a failure by the ticket source to pay an alleged financing company in Hong Kong," reads the letter, according to a copy posted in an industry publication. "According to the ticket source, the Hong Kong company refuses to release the tickets and instead has claimed a right to hold and sell them."

eSeats.com isn't the only seller affected. Vancouver-based Showtime also ordered tickets from the Atlanta broker. Showtime CEO Mario Livich refused to say how many tickets it had expected to get, but promised to find alternate suppliers.

"This doesn't benefit anyone when there is ticket fraud," Mr. Livich said. "Not ticket sellers, not Vancouver, not the Olympics."

Meanwhile, the Vancouver organizing committee has urged ticket seekers to buy only from VANOC or one of its official partners, such as Roadtrips Inc., and Olympic sponsors Jet Set Sports and CoSport in the United States.

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