Ticket Exchange Non Use Penalty - £10 Per Printed Ticket "Policy Change" Now In Place

[upthealbion1970]

Ticket Exchange Non Use Penalty - £10 Per Printed Ticket "Policy Change" Now In Place

Do you understand that a season ticket is non-transferable? That is, it only gives YOU the right of admittance, not someone else of your choosing?

How come it's ok to upgrade a child's st to an adult ticket? Is that not transferring it to another person?

 

[dean66]

Do you understand that a season ticket is non-transferable? That is, it only gives YOU the right of admittance, not someone else of your choosing?

Why then would you expect the club to facilitate the cheap transfer of that ticket to someone else?

Non transferable!?!?! Bung us a tenner and then it's OK. That's this club's stinking policy. Sad times!

 

[Spider]

Sad times indeed.

However, it may already have been said, but perhaps those who transfer their season ticket regularly might like to consider the fact that last season when we were selling out regularly they were costing the club money, since they had bought a seat at a heavily reduced rate which could have been sold at full price if, as turned out, it was bought by someone who wasn't committing to going to all the games. I don't like to see the club profiteering, but in this case there still seems to be plenty of options, even if these options don't allow for someone to buy a season ticket and enjoy the rewards of lower prices without making the committment of using all their tickets.

 

[AZ Gull]

How come it's ok to upgrade a child's st to an adult ticket? Is that not transferring it to another person?

Yep; would you rather the club refused to do that in future?

 

[AZ Gull]

Non transferable!?!?! Bung us a tenner and then it's OK. That's this club's stinking policy. Sad times!

So you are asking for the club to refuse to print a paper ticket at all? As I said earlier in the thread, they have a strong case for introducing exactly that policy.

Is it more sad that the club charges a tenner to print a paper ticket, or that a season ticket holder expects the club to cheaply enable him to transfer his non-transferable ticket to someone else?

 

[trueblue]

Ticket Exchange Non Use Penalty - £10 Per Printed Ticket "Policy Change" Now In Place

The non-transferable argument is utter crap. In 33 years of watching football, I've never known that to be enforced. The law is to stop touting and hooliganism - and would never be enforced to prevent face value exchanges between family and friends. It's a convenient excuse for the club to bat away complaints but they really must take this issue seriously as this could be a watershed in relations between the club and fans.

I think the sharing of tickets has been one of the reasons The Amex has been such a huge success. So many people have gone to games because a mate or family member has passed on a seat. A lot of those simply wouldn't have bothered or thought of looking for tickets on general sale. I know several who through that casual introduction, have started going to matches despite having no real track record of watching football and they just loved the experience. Some have become STHs and others no doubt will in future - but many will have done that because they felt they could sell on their ticket easily, even if they couldn't make every match.

If the club persist with the inflated charges to prevent personal sales (which I can sort of understand) they should at least reimburse ticket exchange users at a level which covers the pro rata cost of that match. Even then, it would leave a lot of STHs that can't regularly attend out of pocket as they will only resale for complete sell-outs, but it would at least be a gesture of goodwill.

I'm sure the "they're non-transferable", "you should go to every game" etc über-fans will disagree. However, even season ticket holders that can only make half the matches ARE important. The fact is, they represent guaranteed revenue that the club can bank on for the year and they have committed to payments that will encourage them to maintain their support. Anything which discourages that in favour of more supporters deciding whether to stump up money on a match to match basis surely can't make business sense in the long term.

 

[Spider]

The non-transferable argument is utter crap. In 33 years of watching football, I've never known that to be enforced. The law is to stop touting and hooliganism - and would never be enforced to prevent face value exchanges between family and friends. It's a convenient excuse for the club to bat away complaints but they really must take this issue seriously as this could be a watershed in relations between the club and fans.

I think the sharing of tickets has been one of the reasons The Amex has been such a huge success. So many people have gone to games because a mate or family member has passed on a seat. A lot of those simply wouldn't have bothered or thought of looking for tickets on general sale. I know several who through that casual introduction, have started going to matches despite having no real track record of watching football and they just loved the experience. Some have become STHs and others no doubt will in future - but many will have done that because they felt they could sell on their ticket easily, even if they couldn't make every match.

If the club persist with the inflated charges to prevent personal sales (which I can sort of understand) they should at least reimburse ticket exchange users at a level which covers the pro rata cost of that match. Even then, it would leave a lot of STHs that can't regularly attend out of pocket as they will only resale for complete sell-outs, but it would at least be a gesture of goodwill.

I'm sure the "they're non-transferable", "you should go to every game" etc über-fans will disagree. However, even season ticket holders that can only make half the matches ARE important. The fact is, they represent guaranteed revenue that the club can bank on for the year and they have committed to payments that will encourage them to maintain their support. Anything which discourages that in favour of more supporters deciding whether to stump up money on a match to match basis surely can't make business sense in the long term.

It's got nothing to do with being an uber-fan. I'm not at all against the idea of moving around season tickets but I don't think the club have a requirement to facilitate this. I share a season ticket (so obviously I'm not saying only one person should ever sit in a STH seat), but crucially this is on the basis that the transfer of tickets is done without the club's involvement. Unfortunately this has become harder with the era of smart cards rather than paper tickets, but the options are still there for people who want to benefit from paying STH prices and not attending every match (share on trust, pay over the odds or risk), it's just that it won't be as easy to have it organised for you.

And I agree with you that the transferable aspect might bolster numbers. But the fact is that people using other people's season tickets are trying to attend a match at a vastly discounted price without having made any of the commitments that a season ticket holder has, which some might describe as a bit cheeky and others might think is simply unfair. The fact is that every one of those people who have benefited from cheap STH seats could have paid full price like others have to so it's not like it's the only way they could ever get there.

 

[trueblue]

Ticket Exchange Non Use Penalty - £10 Per Printed Ticket "Policy Change" Now In Place

the fact is that people using other people's season tickets are trying to attend a match at a vastly discounted price without having made any of the commitments that a season ticket holder has, which some might describe as a bit cheeky and others might think is simply unfair. The fact is that every one of those people who have benefited from cheap STH seats could have paid full price like others have to so it's not like it's the only way they could ever get there.

I get what your saying but I think there are probably thousands who've attended like that who wouldn't have bothered otherwise. A lot of them will come back and not always at the cheaper rate. Indeed, when there are really crucial games they will probably be the ones now filling the seats via the ticket exchange.

 

[trueblue]

Ticket Exchange Non Use Penalty - £10 Per Printed Ticket "Policy Change" Now In Place

the fact is that people using other people's season tickets are trying to attend a match at a vastly discounted price without having made any of the commitments that a season ticket holder has, which some might describe as a bit cheeky and others might think is simply unfair. The fact is that every one of those people who have benefited from cheap STH seats could have paid full price like others have to so it's not like it's the only way they could ever get there.

I get what your saying but I think there are probably thousands who've attended like that who wouldn't have bothered otherwise. A lot of them will come back and not always at the cheaper rate. Indeed, when there are really crucial games they will probably be the ones now filling the seats via the ticket exchange.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

If they are mates why not just give them the card?

I live in London they live in Sussex, can't be arsed... £3 for a paper ticket was fair to me... not pissing around with posting stuff, fair enough?

 

[seagulls4ever]

Sold my ticket for Sheff Wed via NSC - the guy who picked it up didn't get charged at all.

 

[Steve.S]

I agree with ac gull. £10 to print a ticket is a rip off. It's not always possible to hand over smart cards and get them back in time. All this rubbish chat about you shouldn't let a friend or family member have your ticket is very annoying. Some of us can't always get to every game. The club should be trying help supporters not charging ridiculous amounts of money. The attitude of the club and some NSC members is very disappointing.

Simple answer if you can not get to every game................Do not get a ST, get match day tickets.

It seems to me the only people this is going to effect is those they can not attend a number of games. I would expect to miss maybe 1-3 games over a season, due to holiday,illness or last minute emergency. I have 1 or 2 people they I would trust to give my smart card to and do not charge them anything, as they are close friends and what they do is give me a few quid to top up the cash on card, therefore I get my 10% and they always leave money on it for a drink. Thats what mates are for.

It seems to me that a lot of people want something for nothing, the travel system was abused last season, so they had to change that, people moaned on here. Now it seems the replacement ticket system is being abused and the club have moved plug that hole, so now people are moaning because of the admin for paper tickets. Give up your ST and PAYG.

 

[upthealbion1970]

Ticket Exchange Non Use Penalty - £10 Per Printed Ticket "Policy Change" Now In Place

Yep; would you rather the club refused to do that in future?

I didn't say that, I was merely pointing out that the club say on one hand tickets aren't transferable but on the other hand they are.

 

[El Presidente]

Simple answer if you can not get to every game................Do not get a ST, get match day tickets.

It seems to me the only people this is going to effect is those they can not attend a number of games. I would expect to miss maybe 1-3 games over a season, due to holiday,illness or last minute emergency. I have 1 or 2 people they I would trust to give my smart card to and do not charge them anything, as they are close friends and what they do is give me a few quid to top up the cash on card, therefore I get my 10% and they always leave money on it for a drink. Thats what mates are for.

It seems to me that a lot of people want something for nothing, the travel system was abused last season, so they had to change that, people moaned on here. Now it seems the replacement ticket system is being abused and the club have moved plug that hole, so now people are moaning because of the admin for paper tickets. Give up your ST and PAYG.

That's nonsense though. There are many STH who live far away, and struggle to make some games, especially those midweek. They like where they sit, they sit with their friends, and these are some of the benefits of being a STH.

£3 is a fair charge for a paper ticket, it only takes a minute to print one off, and this was a win-win deal for all concerned/ The STH did not have the problem of the plastic ticket being lost/delayed in the post, the person using the ticket often gets to sit with people he/she knows, and the club more than covers the cost of printing the ticket and makes money from food/beer/programme sales etc.

£10 is disproportionate.

 

[Steve.S]

The problem is one of trust. The club are introducing a £10 cost for printing paper ticket. Therefore it will effect those who sell to people they do not know. Now a few people said that the club encouraged this during last years presentations. My understanding was that it was more to do with sharing with friends and family, therefore you would give your smart card to them and they would return it to after the game. I do not think the club have a problem with this as they do not have to print tickets.
I think a better solution to this is to charge a ST holder £3 for at least 2 prints for a season, there after increase the cost to that ST holder as they require more prints. The third print could cost £10 and thereafter making it hard for the ST holder and force him to use the club TX or let the seat go empty

 

[Bozza]

I would expect to miss maybe 1-3 games over a season, due to holiday,illness or last minute emergency.

Please surrender your season ticket immediately.

Simple answer if you can not get to every game................Do not get a ST, get match day tickets.

 

[Steve.S]

That's nonsense though. There are many STH who live far away, and struggle to make some games, especially those midweek. They like where they sit, they sit with their friends, and these are some of the benefits of being a STH.

£3 is a fair charge for a paper ticket, it only takes a minute to print one off, and this was a win-win deal for all concerned/ The STH did not have the problem of the plastic ticket being lost/delayed in the post, the person using the ticket often gets to sit with people he/she knows, and the club more than covers the cost of printing the ticket and makes money from food/beer/programme sales etc.

£10 is disproportionate.

Where is it disproportionate, I lay out for a ST because I will attend almost all games and I get a discount because I pay up front. Why should I sit next to someone who manages to pay the same as me for a match, but is not a ST holder. The cost to you will mean that anyone attending on someone elses ST will have to pay a match day price. My advice to you is that if you sit in a large group, then surely someone most have a mate that you could pass your card onto at the same cost you pay for a match. ST holders have a discount for paying up front. all this means is that the person who you give your ticket to is paying the match day price. At the end of the day its up to you whether you pass that cost on for the printing or split the cost £5 each, you are still getting money back

 

[Steve.S]

Please surrender your season ticket immediately.

Funny, I asked for that. my point is that I make no money passing my card on. I would not expect my freinds or family to pay. having said that, if we play like we did on Friday, ticket demand will be up and the club TX might be the way to go.

 

[ac gull]

Just posted a sensible question on ask the club about this.
Bearing in mind the £3 charge was never properly enforced ( was quite happy to pay it when charged ) - the club does need to bear in mind that it's income from this "revenue stream" would have been about four or five times higher over the past twelve months, if it had actually trained staff and enforced it's own pricing policy.
Instead it never enforced its own pricing policy and it became common knowledge on here and you would guess it got loads more requests, that it never charged for, that cost it even more time and money etc.

Would guess the £3 to £10 decision is based on someone calculating the "revenue stream" is only about 30% of what they think it should be for the costs involved - actually if they had enfored their own pricing policy over the last twelve months and TRAINED the staff, the revenue would have been about FOUR or FIVE times what it has been.
You would hope that if the "revenue stream" had been the four or five times higher, then the current increase would not have been put in place

To all those on here calling be a bad fan - I have made the seven hour round trip to all three games so far, my partner can't make midweek games and my two nephews can only make 3pm Saturday games - of which when they or me are not away on holiday there are a sum total of two such games between the start of the season and next January, due to so many games being Friday night, Tuesday night, late kick off etc re all three of the Shef Wed, Birmingham and Leeds games being moved from a 3pm Saturday kick off - this does actually work ok for others who work Saturdays and use the seats for mid week games. Printed tickets at a £3 cost makes it easier than worrying about smart cards getting lost in post.

To any others still criticising me I can only apologise for donating to Alive & Kicking, having a Withdean season ticket and then several Falmer season tickets and generally spending a small fortune supporting "my club". Sorry its a disgrace I know!

More worryingly, given that its apparently ok now to increase such charges by around 250% with no prior announcement - what may be next on the list?

 

[Kumquat]

When I went for the presentation, the club made it clear that the cards were officially non transferable, but would probably tolerate it for a couple of seasons until technology changed. Was I the only one who heard that? Agree with what bozza says about the charter but nothing else comes as a shock to me. I was certainly under the impression use it while you can.