[Albion] Cancelled Season Tickets

[Bozza]

It`s not policed me and my 18 year old daughter have used each others tickets by mistake a few times, the stewards never look at the lights

It is policed so it's not a case of "never". Myself and someone else on this thread have already indicated that we've seen it.

So maybe it's "rarely policed". Maybe you just got lucky. Maybe the steward(s) in question when you entered realised you were with your daughter, noticed she had an adult light and you had a child light and just used common sense.

Regardless it's not "never".

And I know the club have briefed stewards to be more vigilant on this.

 

[twowheelsbest]

I started a similar thread a few weeks back, and at the same time I contacted Paul Barber by e-mail. I am reposting the response I got, which shows that although we may not agree with the policy all the time, the club do listen and respond well



Here is the response from the Club - excellent quick response, and does seem to clarify things.



Dear Richard

Thank you for your recent email addressed to Paul Barber.

I understand that you contacted Supporter Services today in order to upgrade your wife’s season card and you were concerned to hear that you are limited to upgrading up to 6 times a season.

The policy to restrict upgrades is standard practice at a lot of clubs with some clubs not allowing upgrades at all, as strictly speaking the season ticket is for the use of one named season ticket holder. We try to offer a degree of flexibility, especially considering the number of night fixtures and young season ticket holders we have. By way of example Derby County allow supporters up to 4 times a season to upgrade and we allow upgrades up to 6 times a season. This allows fans for more than a quarter of matches which should be more than sufficient. Once supporters reach the sixth upgrade they can then opt to upgrade the whole of the season ticket for the remainder of the season or retain it at its current age break.

Looking at your wife’s record I see she has upgraded for 2 games so far and Oliver has upgrade for 3, so hopefully you will find that 6 games a season is sufficient for you. If not you can always choose to upgrade the whole season ticket for the remainder of the season.

I hope the above clarifies the situation and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Supporter Services on 0344 324 6282.

Kind regards

Jenny Gower
Head of Ticketing & Supporter Services
Email: supporter.services@bhafc.co.uk
Supporter Services: 0344 324 6282 (no sales)
Albion Booking Line: 0844 327 1901 (calls cost 7ppm plus your network charge)

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club
American Express Community Stadium, Village Way, Brighton BN1 9BL
Seems sensible to me and good they replied so quickly.
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[The Oldman]

It`s not policed me and my 18 year old daughter have used each others tickets by mistake a few times, the stewards never look at the lights

WSL stewards do check the lights. I'm in my 70's and have the Senior concession. Last season I was pulled over and had to prove I was over 65. I was both annoyed and pleased at the same time!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I wonder if the club would of been so hasty in ditching a season ticket holder had we been relegated last season?

He's ditched himself.

 

[Mutts Nuts]

It is policed so it's not a case of "never". Myself and someone else on this thread have already indicated that we've seen it.

So maybe it's "rarely policed". Maybe you just got lucky. Maybe the steward(s) in question when you entered realised you were with your daughter, noticed she had an adult light and you had a child light and just used common sense.

Regardless it's not "never".

And I know the club have briefed stewards to be more vigilant on this.

There were no stewards checking the light system at the last 3 home games in the North stand I check as I go through .

 

[Dirk Lehmann's Python]

There were no stewards checking the light system at the last 3 home games in the North stand I check as I go through .

I saw them check the last 2 games in the same stand

 

[Mackenzie]

I completely agree and made the point on the previous discussions on this very subject.

The ludicrousness comes in that the old ticketing system worked exactly like this.

I've just found a receipt from an upgrade for the Donny game in April 2014. The upgrade charge was £22. (Today that would be £23.50 as an additional £1.50 fee would also be due).

The ticketing system 'upgrade' seemed to bring about two functional downgrades in relation to ticket upgrades:

1. The old system upgraded the smart card for the one-off fixture. The new system requires a paper (incl. print at home) replacement.
2. The old system permitted full match day value for the ticket. The new system doesn't seem to permit this (as I can't believe the club wouldn't be doing this if they could).

Seems to me that the new system is a downgrade on the old one.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

But you didn't stick with us at Gillingham? This has been done to death. If you have already upgraded 7times by xmas you should have the correct age band, not buy a cheap ticket and choose when to upgrade. Club are right imo

this! also if so loyal why abandon the club in its darkest hours at Gillingham, sounds to me you're the kind of "fan" the big "Corporate monsters" are targeting!

 

[Mutts Nuts]

I saw them check the last 2 games in the same stand

Not going to get into a game of tit for tat over this it probably depends on which of the turnstiles you use

 

[Triggaaar]

I have supported the Albion for 40 years and I have held at least two season tickets since 1984, with the only break being the Archer years at Gillingham. I have held a season ticket for myself and my twins boys since moving to the Amex; my boys are now aged 7. I had hoped, over the years for my children to attend more and more matches but alas they are not keen. I upgrade my sons tickets when they do not attend and bring guest, some of whom have since become Albion fans. However, this season the club have limited me to 7 upgrades per season and this is a problem as I cannot now use my sons tickets when they do not attend. I approached the club to reconsider this position. I tried to explain to my predicament and they refused to help.In the end I was left with no choice other than to cancel all the tickets and now have the club threatening to take me to court. A sorry tale and I now no longer attend matches and in light of my treatment as a point of principle I will never go again. This is another example of the club being a cumbersome corporate entity with no regard for their real fans and I know other feel like this, if you feel this way too I strongly recommend you let the club know.It is a shame as if we go up and the club find themselves at the wrong end of the table with dwindling crowds, I would have be one of he ones to stick with them; I wonder how many of the new Amex fans would do this?

Sorry you're not happy Shabba. The club limit the amount of times we can upgrade to stop people abusing the system (basically having an adult ticket, but getting money off for games they miss), so even if we don't agree, they do have an understandable reason.

Re your twins not being keen - my kids always want to come, but not because they love football (they don't), but because I try and keep them entertained (maybe reading to them at half time, taking sweets, talking to them throughout the game etc). If I just watch the game as usual, they wouldn't be interested. Is there anything you can do to make them more keen?

 

[atomised]

We have a similar situation to that in that we have disabled and companion tickets. One lights up green the other orange. If I go.through on the disabled.persons.ticket. The steward glances over to check the disabled person is.present

 

[Ernest]

We have a similar situation to that in that we have disabled and companion tickets. One lights up green the other orange. If I go.through on the disabled.persons.ticket. The steward glances over to check the disabled person is.present

Same as mine does, it's never a problem

 

[BensGrandad]

Bens mate changed jobs so couldnt attend Saturday matches and it was touch and go for midweek so he tried to cancel and was old that the agreement to pay for the ST monthly was a normal credit sale the same as buying anything else on credit and if he didnt pay he would be taken to court for the money. He was fortunate another one of Bens mates went with him and just paid the money into his 1st mates account each month. Probably not 100% permitted but it got over 4 months payments. As it happened last year when we were bad neither renewd this season.

 

[dazzer6666]

It is policed so it's not a case of "never". Myself and someone else on this thread have already indicated that we've seen it.

So maybe it's "rarely policed". Maybe you just got lucky. Maybe the steward(s) in question when you entered realised you were with your daughter, noticed she had an adult light and you had a child light and just used common sense.

Regardless it's not "never".

And I know the club have briefed stewards to be more vigilant on this.

Seen people picked up on this/checked in WSL a few times. Stewards are looking some of the time at least.

 

[Dirk Lehmann's Python]

Seen people picked up on this/checked in WSL a few times. Stewards are looking some of the time at least.

Exactly, spot checks as you'd expect.

 

[Colonel Angus]

I have mixed views on this situation.

The policy on upgrades is fairly clear and so the trigger for the situation shows the club more in the right. The counter to that and where I do have sympathy with the O.P. is that the club have a very short-term focus on bringing in maximum revenue and sometimes fail to consider the longer term consequence. I can see that in this case the O.P. has shown great loyalty to the club and now whether rightly or wrongly as a point of principle this person now feels alienated from the club and may not return, which will lose more revenue in the long term.

I can certainly look at 2 futures for our club, one where we get to the premiership, stay there and the TV money will see us right and the need for fan loyalty is secondary. A more realistic future is one where we have some premiership time, but like so many other clubs we will spend more time in the Championship / League 1, possibly with crowds of 10-15k and in that scenario retaining the loyalty of genuine fans will be hugely critical.

In the second scenario, the outcome is that we may have lost 20-30 years of income from a previously loyal fan which as a minimum of £500 per season for ticket alone is £10k - £15k lost.

The club would do well to consider this from a business perspective as well as a fan relationship perspective.

 

[Acker79]

And what about the genuine situation of people with children who can't attend evening matches?

As of right now, there are 8 evening games out of 23:

Forest - Fri 7 Aug - Friday night school next morning not a concern (and during the school holidays)
Rotherham - Tue 15 Sep
Bristol - Tue 20 Oct
Ipswich - Tue 29 Dec - during the school holidays
Brentford - Fri 5 Feb - Friday night school next morning not a concern
Wednesday - Tue 8 Mar
Fulham - Fri 15 Apr - Friday night school next morning not a concern
QPR - Tue 19 Apr

Even if the concern over children going isn't about having to get up for school after a late night out at football, 6 games being upgraded leaves two evening matches that can't be used by the children for whom the tickets were bought (they can still be used by other children - nieces, nephews, friend's kids etc).

Season tickets for under 10s in the family stand were £70 A match ticket for an under 10 is £5 in the family stand, If you were to buy them individually every game it would cost you £115 you save £45, or the equivalent of 9 matches.

In the north/south/west upper, it's £10/8/5 (for cat A/B/C). Based on the split of cat a/b/c games last season, buying individually would cost you £184, a season ticket cost £125, a saving of 59, or the equivalent of almost 6 cat A games, or 8 games (2 Cat A, 3 Cat B and 3 Cat C), or almost 12 cat C games.

The savings themselves can account for midweek games missed, even before you factor in that you can still upgrade 6 games.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Not going to get into a game of tit for tat over this it probably depends on which of the turnstiles you use

And dependant on the time that you entered the ground too.

 

[Hastings gull]

I have mixed views on this situation.

The policy on upgrades is fairly clear and so the trigger for the situation shows the club more in the right. The counter to that and where I do have sympathy with the O.P. is that the club have a very short-term focus on bringing in maximum revenue and sometimes fail to consider the longer term consequence. I can see that in this case the O.P. has shown great loyalty to the club and now whether rightly or wrongly as a point of principle this person now feels alienated from the club and may not return, which will lose more revenue in the long term.

I can certainly look at 2 futures for our club, one where we get to the premiership, stay there and the TV money will see us right and the need for fan loyalty is secondary. A more realistic future is one where we have some premiership time, but like so many other clubs we will spend more time in the Championship / League 1, possibly with crowds of 10-15k and in that scenario retaining the loyalty of genuine fans will be hugely critical.

In the second scenario, the outcome is that we may have lost 20-30 years of income from a previously loyal fan which as a minimum of £500 per season for ticket alone is £10k - £15k lost.

The club would do well to consider this from a business perspective as well as a fan relationship perspective.

I do fully see what you are saying and the need to retain fan loyalty is clearly crucial, as you suggest. It must be hellishly difficult keeping everyone happy, and in trying to reduce abuse by introducing a different rule, it can then cheese off those who feel they are innocent and adversely affected. I am not in any way suggesting that any fan can get lost - far from it - but ever since I have been supporting the Albion, some 60 years, there has always been someone saying that they will never return, but given success, they presumably do. This should not mean that the club takes its support for granted, just that it is easy for folk in a moment of temper to say to the club that they will never be back.

 

[BensGrandad]

Would it cause too many problems if theey scrapped the upgrade regulations and bought ina supplementary ticket as an upgradeable one that can be used as many times as wanted provided it is upgraded to the levle being used and perhaps charge £50 a year for this facility for children, OAP tickets etc. If you have no need to use this you stick with the priginal but if uou have people who cant always attend this may be a godsend.