TickPick leaves Upper Peninsula off its map, picks fight with Yoopers

Brian Manzullo | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Upper Peninsula History Conference set for June 23-25 A quick look at what the Upper Peninsula History Conference has planned when it takes place June 23-25. By Jennifer Dixon, DFP.

UPDATE: TickPick co-founder apologizes for Upper Peninsula snub, plans a visit

An online ticket marketplace brushed off the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, creating a social media firestorm from passionate Yoopers, and later apologized for its response.

TickPick - a New York-based events tickets website that was founded in 2011 - advertises itself as an alternative to other secondary market sites such as StubHub with "no hidden fees" and a place where "smart fans buy and sell tickets."

But one user noticed something odd about TickPick's map of the United States where you can select events near you: There's no Upper Peninsula.

Read more U.P.:

And when one Facebook user, Kyla Mae Vasseau, brought it up to TickPick in a Facebook message, she got this response: "Kyla - we got the important part of Michigan, isn't that good enough?"

Oh no.

If there is one rule when it comes to talking about the state of Michigan in any kind of conversation, it's this: Do not diss the Yoopers.

Naturally, the pitchforks came out, with many messages posted on TickPick's Facebook wall, such as this from Marie Peasley: "Hey, TickPick, looks like you opened a can of worms! We're not angry in the U.P., we're just a bunch of prideful Yoopers. If you haven't been here, come visit Marquette. I'd be happy to show you around. You'll see that there's more than just forests."

Another, Tony Beacco, said: "As a result of insulting the U.P. of Michigan, I will not use TickPick as a place of business. Ignorant and disrespectful."

Initially, TickPick's Facebook page doubled down on its stance on the Upper Peninsula, responding to one user with: "We're sure the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a lovely place to live, and I assure you we didn't intentionally leave it off the map. But seriously, it's just a bunch of forests...."

Yikes.

TickPick co-CEO and co-founder Brett Goldberg later issued an apology, saying the remarks were made by one representative who "thought they were being funny; they were not."

Goldberg said the company has an action plan for how to handle this situation, which includes addressing the map on its website and creating "guidelines and rules so that nothing like this ever happens here again at TickPick."

The full statement:

My name is Brett Goldberg and I am the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of TickPick. To say one of our customer support team members handled the initial outreach improperly would be an understatement. I'd like to apologize to the first person who reached out to us and was seriously just trying to help us. Now I am sincerely sorry to everyone else who was offended by this. When I was just showed the comments that one of our representative wrote I was shocked and appalled as well. Yes this person thought they were being funny: they were not.

Here's how we are addressing the issue:

1. Once management found out about the issue we addressed the map.

2. I personally am going to take the time to post a response to every negative review to show our sincere apologies for this mistake.

3. We're going to have a company wide meeting to create guidelines and rules so that nothing like this ever happens here again at TickPick.

4. We've engaged a PR firm to further ensure that we are taking all the right steps to make this wrong right.

5. We make 10% on a sale, we have gone ahead and created a promo code for 10% off, just use the code YOOPERS (expires 7/4/17).

6. I am encouraging people to respond to me directly at brett@tickpick.com or support@tickpick.com to provide feedback to let us know what else we can do to make this right.

In addition, Goldberg plans to travel to the Upper Peninsula tonight and meet with local residents sometime after 7 p.m. at Blackrocks Brewery in Marquette. He will cover drinks for everyone who attends.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Upper Peninsula, we have a few links for you to check out. While there may not be a lot of people up there compared to other American destinations, there's plenty of splendor.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.

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