[Albion] Club cancelling ST due to non-attendance

[tedebear]

You raise the single point of “passive aggressive emails threatening to take your season ticket away”

We can debate the tone, but surely we can’t debate the content, i.e. preference for supporters to stick their ticket on the exchange if they can’t make the game? This is all that’s being asked. This means more tickets available for fans who want to buy on a per-game basis, you get some dollar back if it sells, the club gets some extra revenue win, win, win. It’s so easy to do, one guy (I have to assume it was a guy) said he did it whilst he was having a dump on Boxing Day.

I appreciate there might be some “edge cases” where folk have more pressing issues than worrying about their season ticket, but you only have to attend 5 games to ensure you don’t lose your ticket anyway. Whilst the wording of the email wasn’t sub-optimal, I feel the club have stuck a reasonably balance here.

Not sure thats the angle here though. I completely agree the club should remind people if they can't attend to put the ticket on the exchange, its easy to do as many have pointed out, you the ST holder, gets a refund and the club gets another ticket sale. Everyones a winner.

However the OP has advised his mates tickets were put on the exchange without his knowledge by the club. For matches he was intending to attend. When queried the response was he didn't meet attendance criteria and if he wants to attend he now has to purchase different seats as his have sold.

My question remains at the point of purchasing a ST, where does it state that if you don't attend a certain amount of games that season, the club will take the ticket back and resell it for you. There are subsquent emails around a minimum attendance (not at point of purchase), there is langauage around not auto renewing with a less than 25% attendance, language around being suspended, but I couldn't see anything about in season attendance where neither of those clauses apply. If it were me in this situation, I'd be asking the club to demonstrate where that clause is that permits them to do this at the point of sale.

I think its a fair question...If you want to go to a game on your ST and found your ticket was listed and sold I think you'd be a little unhappy?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Not sure thats the angle here though. I completely agree the club should remind people if they can't attend to put the ticket on the exchange, its easy to do as many have pointed out, you the ST holder, gets a refund and the club gets another ticket sale. Everyones a winner.

However the OP has advised his mates tickets were put on the exchange without his knowledge by the club. For matches he was intending to attend. When queried the response was he didn't meet attendance criteria and if he wants to attend he now has to purchase different seats as his have sold.

My question remains at the point of purchasing a ST, where does it state that if you don't attend a certain amount of games that season, the club will take the ticket back and resell it for you. There are subsquent emails around a minimum attendance (not at point of purchase), there is langauage around not auto renewing with a less than 25% attendance, language around being suspended, but I couldn't see anything about in season attendance where neither of those clauses apply. If it were me in this situation, I'd be asking the club to demonstrate where that clause is that permits them to do this at the point of sale.

I think its a fair question...If you want to go to a game on your ST and found your ticket was listed and sold I think you'd be a little unhappy?

I thought we’d all found out there is nothing in the T&Cs which allow this, and there is more to this story than originally posted?

 

[tedebear]

I thought we’d all found out there is nothing in the T&Cs which allow this, and there is more to this story than originally posted?

Did we? I know we got to the nothing in T's and C's, what was the more to this story? Sorry if I missed it...

 

[chaileyjem]

My take on this when it’s all stripped back we still only have 10-12k loyal fans who would turn up in league 1 if it all goes to shit again, which it might one day. Some of those wouldn’t attend every game either. The club would do well to remember this.
It’s been that way for as long as I can remember. As the saying goes don’t piss of those who supported you on the way up because who will definitely need them on the way down.

Why do you think the club is "pissing off" fans in the last 15 years ? Really ?

Anyway this predicition is pretty bleak and i'm sure was being made 10 years ago ha ! - Bolton (who were last in the PL 30 years ago) , have an average crowd in L1 this season of 22K. Plenty of L1 clubs - with similar profiles to Brighton - have had 20K+ average crowds in L1 in recent seasons.

 

[WATFORD zero]

The club doesn't want seats going empty while there's still fans wanting to go and every league game is sold out. So they want you to list your seat if you can't go and don't want to transfer it, so you get some money back and a fan who couldn't have gone otherwise can go.

They will contact you and tell you this with whatever contact details you have given them. If you continually leave your seat empty, they will contact you with whatever contact details you have given them, telling you your ticket is at risk. If you continue to ignore this warning then don't be surprised if it's escalated.

 

[chaileyjem]

I thought we’d all found out there is nothing in the T&Cs which allow this, and there is more to this story than originally posted?

Yes. Its @DarrenFreemansPerm 's mate over on the similar thread and he insists that there's nothing more to the story than this - non attendance of games this season, communication pointing this out going to spam folders or not replied to and hence the games v Brentford put on the exchange without fan's permission or awareness - although following contact further games that were listed have now been delisted. .

There's also a report (via an Albion Fan FB group) of a fan who has shared something similar . (could be same ST holder ? )

Any further context come to light on either of these ? because as you say there's nothing in the Ts and Cs - unless you're ST is suspended - that suggest this is a routine sanction.

(this seems separate to the newish comms this season reminding users to share / list their ticket on the exchange or else. (ie: possible non renewal of ST, or conversations with the club when personal circumstances change in mid season due to health, finances etc) .

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Did we? I know we got to the nothing in T's and C's, what was the more to this story? Sorry if I missed it...

We haven’t been told any thing further by the OP. But most people have now inferred, there must be more to the story as 1) There is nothing in the T&Cs 2) This seems to be an isolated case. Others have been missing games but no one else has had their ticket, in effect, cancelled.

I think this is where we’re at anyway.

 

[tedebear]

We haven’t been told any thing further. But most people have now inferred, there must be more to the story as 1) There is nothing in the T&Cs 2) This seems to be an isolated case. Others have been missing games but no one else has had their ticket, in effect, cancelled.

I think this is where we’re at anyway.

Ah yes, agree! Thanks...

 

[Hugo Rune]

The club doesn't want seats going empty while there's still fans wanting to go and every league game is sold out. So they want you to list your seat if you can't go, so you get some money back and a fan who couldn't have gone otherwise can go.

They will contact you and tell you this with whatever contact details you have given them. If you continually leave your seat empty, they will contact you with whatever contact details you have given them, telling you your ticket is at risk.

I can’t help but feel that the people moaning about this forced selling of unused seats are the ones who also moaned about the ‘pretendance figures’, people leaving early or empty seats in the stadium.

 

[tedebear]

The club doesn't want seats going empty while there's still fans wanting to go and every league game is sold out. So they want you to list your seat if you can't go and don't want to transfer it, so you get some money back and a fan who couldn't have gone otherwise can go.

They will contact you and tell you this with whatever contact details you have given them. If you continually leave your seat empty, they will contact you with whatever contact details you have given them, telling you your ticket is at risk. If you continue to ignore this warning then don't be surprised if it's escalated.

The point being made is there is no clause in the contract for this "risk"...

 

[Beach Hut]

There is no pleasing some, everything would change when we moved to the Amex and many other things have to change again once in the Premier League quite a lot mandatory.

Still if you don't want to watch some fantastic opposition, a season in Europe and players we are purchasing for north of £40m now perhaps being a season ticket holder is not for you.

 

[LamieRobertson]

There is no pleasing some, everything would change when we moved to the Amex and many other things have to change again once in the Premier League quite a lot mandatory.

Still if you don't want to watch some fantastic opposition, a season in Europe and one player we purchased for north of £40m (fair amount of dough on others) now perhaps being a season ticket holder is not for you.

Amended for accuracy

 

[drew]

Why is that the go to response though?

So we have to charge a fiver to print an A4 piece of paper or £30 to share your own season ticket of face league 2 football? With all due respect, that's utter nonsense. These charges and others like them are unnecessary. Is going to football not expensive enough for fans without your own club desperately trying to claw what it can out of you. I really shudder to think what's next.

I really don't think it's that hard for us to compete in the premier league and not take the piss out of the fans everyway they can. Nobody for one second is saying there should be £100 season tickets, £2 burgers and a free shirt each season, just don't forget our history, our path and the fans that battled to keep us going and sadly that's been lost with every little move they've made over the last 10 years.

There's clearly a balance to be struck & in my opinion it's gone way beyond where it should.

You're right, there is a balance and as premier league clubs go I think we are treated far better than most. Free transport area, food that is better than pukka, a selection of drinks that is superior to Carlsberg, the option to drink in the ground after the game, interest free payments scheme for season tickets and probably a few more things. And as for costs, what you are asking is for TB to dip his hand into his pocket a little bit more.

You also make the mistake of thinking that, as a season ticket holder, you own that seat for the season. Wrong, the season ticket comes with terms and conditions which have been pointed out numerous times. You think you should be able to give anyone your season ticket so you don't think the club should know who is coming into their ground. What's to stop you passing it on to people who have been banned for example, or a friend who happens to support the away team.

And lastly, to use your phrase, 'the go to response'. Do you really think TB has forgotten our history?

 

[drew]

Perhaps this story is getting to the point where the FAB need to contact the club to get as much of their side of the story as they can and perhaps an indication as to how many cases, if any, there are like this one. Or the club could issue details of the protocol they apply, ie the method and how many times they try to contact someone before going down the route of reselling the seat.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Perhaps this story is getting to the point where the FAB need to contact the club to get as much of their side of the story as they can and perhaps an indication as to how many cases, if any, there are like this one. Or the club could issue details of the protocol they apply, ie the method and how many times they try to contact someone before going down the route of reselling the seat.

Club selling the seat from under the, eh, seat of a STH would clearly be an absurd precedent. We're clearly being told a small fraction of the story here

 

[drew]

Club selling the seat from under the, eh, seat of a STH would clearly be an absurd precedent. We're clearly being told a small fraction of the story here

I don't disagree but at the moment we only have one side of an argument that many are suspicious of!

 

[Justice]

Why do you think the club is "pissing off" fans in the last 15 years ? Really ?

Anyway this predicition is pretty bleak and i'm sure was being made 10 years ago ha ! - Bolton (who were last in the PL 30 years ago) , have an average crowd in L1 this season of 22K. Plenty of L1 clubs - with similar profiles to Brighton - have had 20K+ average crowds in L1 in recent seasons.

Forget Withdean did you attend games at the Goldstone?

 

[chaileyjem]

Forget Withdean did you attend games at the Goldstone?

I had a season ticket in the West Stand with my Dad .

 

[Justice]

I had a season ticket in the West Stand with my Dad .

So you know the average attendance was around 8-10k occasionally promotion or a big cup game would obviously attract more sometimes 30k although they weren’t regulars.

 

[chaileyjem]

So you know the average attendance was around 8-10k occasionally promotion or a big cup game would obviously attract more sometimes 30k although they weren’t regulars.

Yes. 30 or so years ago it was 8000, 40 years ago it was 15K, 45-50 years ago it was 22-25K - and of course at the Withdean it was max 8K (in that time though we took 40K+ to Cardiff) .

Albion have now had 20K+ , and in last decade 30K + attendances for nearly 15 seasons in a row. Most likelty we're in PL again next season. Not sure this idea that there is only a hardcore of 12K fans still holds up. Seems incredibly pessimistic to me.

England historical attendance and performance

There must now thousands and thousands of 20somethings for example who have been watching Albion all their lives at the Amex.

Nearly anyone who has seen the Albion at the Goldstone must now be in their 40s or older.