[Albion] Club will be writing to those who purchased a ticket for Bournemouth [but didn't go]

[Wrong-Direction]

You've lived up to your name there... if everyone else cheats why shouldn't I!!! Sheessshhh...

Dog eat dog from the bottom to the top

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[Neville's Breakfast]

This is an utterly ludicrous post. Barber's mismanagement of tickets and the loyalty system has created the situation. That his fix is to try and hard ball loyal, paying customers (and let's be clear, you have to have been loyal for a long time to have enough points to get away tickets this year) really is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

What he should spend his time doing, seeing as its his job and all, is create a system which is fair and allows ALL season ticket holders to get first dibs on all away games, and then sell the remaining tickets afterwards. Unfortunately he's created a totally convoluted system that demands that loyal, paying customers take advantage in order to get to the games they really want to get to.

And the worst thing about it is that by creating such a stupid system, he's stopped other loyal, paying fans that could have gone to such games from actually going. So no, you silly silly person, the buck doesn't stop with fans, it stops with him.

Tony Bloom devised the loyalty points system. Are you still so keen to condemn bearing in mind the millions he has pumped in to the club ? He has done a lot more for the Albion than you or I and FWIW I think his loyalty points system is a pretty good one. It ensures that season ticket holders who have supported the team away in some pretty unattractive places get priority over those who have suddenly decided to come along now we are in the Premier League.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Yes, but what if you buy a ticket with every intention to go, but then have good reason not to (change to work rota, sickness, etc etc)? In such cases it would clearly be outrageous for the club to penalise someone (and indeed in such cases, giving the ticket to another BHAFC fan would be an entirely reasonable response - you can't go, but another fan is there to support the team), but I really can't see the club setting itself up as judge and jury of what's a reasonable excuse for not using a ticket you've bought and demanding evidence (sicknote, letter from your mum....??)...

You are ill and can't go, fine. The club is not forcing you to go, they are simply saying they will not give you loyalty points. What's the problem ? Why do you think you should be rewarded when you haven't been to the game ?

 

[el punal]

Sledgehammer. Nut.

Maybe, but nipping it in the bud n'all that. (Notice the connection with nature there?)

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

You're barking up the wrong tree. You should be asking why such a system is in place that can so easily be taken advantage of and that is to the detriment of so many other paying customers. I'm sorry, but the buck stops squarely with the club.

That they're compounding their initial mistake with a, quite frankly, childish response is a bit pathetic.

And FYI, I don't think any Brighton fan owes any other Brighton fan anything. If you think otherwise you're living in a world other than the one the rest of us are inhabiting.

Very sad last paragraph. Mrs Thatcher was right then; there is no society. I would class myself as living in the same world as people like [MENTION=14365]Thunder Bolt[/MENTION] as I do think there is moral obligation to our fellow citizens and in this case fellow Brighton fans. Maybe though that sense of community is dying out in your consumerist, individual rights world.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I don't blame them, we live in a selfish world, if there's a way around something people do it, like tax dodging and benefit cheats, you'll never beat them so you might as well join them

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If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Dog eat dog from the bottom to the top

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Life does not work like that. People form collaborative networks to increase their position.

If you perceive yourself to be at the 'bottom' then there may b a good rason for that

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Life does not work like that. People form collaborative networks to increase their position.

If you perceive yourself to be at the 'bottom' then there may b a good rason for that

No I'm at the top [emoji23][emoji106]
And I haven't had to eat any dogs..

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[el punal]

Exactly this. Very unreasonable to penalise people who cannot attend for genuine reasons - not only do they miss the game, they also get docked points because of it!

But they're not are they? (As I read it.) They're asking for a valid explanation as to why you didn't attend. If you fell ill, or your car broke down, or your dog had incredibly bad wind etc., then those are legitimate reasons (well, not the dog one!) for non attendance. On the other hand if it's a case of I couldn't be arsed but I've bagged the loyalty points ta very much, then expect hell and damnation to come your way.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Very sad last paragraph. Mrs Thatcher was right then; there is no society. I would class myself as living in the same world as people like [MENTION=14365]Thunder Bolt[/MENTION] as I do think there is moral obligation to our fellow citizens and in this case fellow Brighton fans. Maybe though that sense of community is dying out in your consumerist, individual rights world.

Spot on. I think society is not so much divided by the Jezzas versus the Bozzers (Johnson, not our dear leader), since I know tories who are very much into the greater good (and 'socialists' who are just sad class-war weasels). No, I think society is divided up by the sort of people who, if they saw a tenner fall out the back pocket of the person in front, would tap them on the shoulder and hand it to them, versus the snides who'd just trouser it. We can very clearly see who, on here, fits into the latter category. And I hope they buy themselves some tasty metaphorical dog food with that metaphorical tenner.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

No I'm at the top [emoji23][emoji106]
And I haven't had to eat any dogs..

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Well you have just contradicted yourself then. Either it is a dog eat dog world or not. I get very bored by people who can't hold a consistent position on a black/white issue for more than five minutes.

 

[Wozza]

I have posted a suggestion for a new system - you just missed it !

So, to repeat...

- An away season ticket ( maximum 1000 of these ) with a waiting list.

How many matches would one be obliged to attend?

And what would be the process if you couldn't attend a game?

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Well you have just contradicted yourself then. Either it is a dog eat dog world or not. I get very bored by people who can't hold a consistent position on a black/white issue for more than five minutes.

No need to bring race into it is there

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[Neville's Breakfast]

I usually buy match tickets for several (eligible) people - guess I'm going to have to be careful to make sure that the assigned ticket gets given to the right person in future. At the moment I just hand them out at random. I bought multiple tickets for the Bournemouth cup game, most went, a couple didn't (one had to work late, one was genuinely ill). No idea which tickets were used though, so every chance someone who went will get 'the letter' because they scanned a a ticket that wasn't purchased in their name....

Just spent the last 10mins carefully reconciling the West Ham tickets against the order receipt, writing initials on the back of each ticket. Can't believe it's come to this, total over-reaction to an easily avoidable situation IMO.

I'm struggling to understand why writing initials on the tickets is such a hardship if it helps improve a system that rewards attendance at games.

 

[West Upper Seagull]

Following the abuse by some supporters of Brighton & Hove Albion's loyalty point scheme at the Carabao Cup match with AFC Bournemouth, the following changes to the scheme were agreed at yesterday’s club board meeting:

• terms and conditions of the loyalty point scheme will be amended so that loyalty points are awarded on match attendance - for both home and away games - and not simply on ticket purchase;
• the club now reserve the right to reconcile attendance data from host clubs with away match tickets sold; and loyalty points may only be awarded once this process is complete;
• where attendance data isn’t available from host clubs, the club reserves the right to use other pre and post-turnstile methods to measure and record supporter attendance at matches against tickets sold;
• identifiable abuses of the loyalty scheme will result in loyalty point deductions and may also result in possible further sanctions (including a further deduction of points or an away ticket ban);
• where away match tickets are purchased and passed on for use by other fans, not eligible for the tickets, supporters risk punitive sanctions including loyalty point reductions and an away ticket ban.

The above changes will be implemented with immediate effect.

The club’s board is committed to maintaining a loyalty point scheme that is fair and transparent for all fans.

Source >>> https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/2017/september/loyalty-scheme-update/

Personally I think this is a fair outcome, although the one aspect the club have overlooked and needs to be addressed is the options available to an individual who buys a ticket but then cannot attend for a very genuine reason. Likewise, that person may be going with someone else, so if they can’t go then it jeopardises the other person going as well if they do not wish to go on their own and the ticket cannot be reallocated to someone else the other person knows. Is there any way you could feed this back to the club Bozza to ask them to consider the options ?

As an example, I go to away games with my son, we are both season ticket holders along with other family members. However my other family members do not have as many loyalty points as me & my son so are never able to get tickets to come with us. If, hypothetically speaking I was unable to attend an away game after securing tickets due to illness or work commitments it would be terrible that my son is then penalised and couldn’t go - it would be good if the club could consider a process where in this situation I could officially get my ticket reassigned to another family member (on my Friends & Family list) who are also season ticket holders. Regardless of their loyalty point position it would ensure that another genuine supporter is going in my place, my son could still go to the game and my family member has a rare opportunity to add to their own loyalty points to increase their chances of getting tickets for future games. The key to this suggestion is that this ticket handover is managed officially through the club to authorise the switch.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

Spoke to a Liverpool fan yesterday, he said they all do it too and he's off to Newcastle tomorrow because a mate can't go etc. Personally I don't think the loyalty system is broke, it just needs simplifying. The only real issue is giving away loyalty points for cup games, stop that and it's fixed again. Seriously if a fan number has clocked up every home and away game in Premier league then surely that fan number deserves a ticket to Man United away in the quarter final of the FA Cup. It doesn't matter if it is four people working together as they only get one ticket per fan number. The only addition I would make is 10% of away games tickets on general sale in a lottery, similar to the Olympics, so everyone feels like they have a chance to go to an away game. But the simple solution is to just not give out loyalty points for cup games. How fans work together to keep up their loyalty points tally is up to them. Trying to Police friends lending someone their ticket is not the solution.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

But in every other situation you're not awarded loyalty points from the seller. Up to the club who they sell tickets to, absolutely right in my opinion that anyone buying tickets and not attending repeatedly should be prevented from buying further tickets. Your right to decide to go is only equal to the sellers right to have their T&Cs on sales. Glad the club have acted so swiftly, just wish they're realize high demand games don't need the reward of high loyalty points.

I think you need to re-read my post. I'm not debating the merits of points and game attendance; I said the club need to clarify what "identifiable abuse" is. One game, two, what if you're ill? Transport issues? Or have a change of mind and just can be arsed to travel x miles in a day?

But the club selling a ticket which you now must use, and which you already cannot re-sell, transfer or return in any way at all, doesn't sit well with me at all. That's not fair. If the club want to enforce these rules they have to give something back like enabling returns etc. It's too one sided. We've gone from fans, to customers, to being treated with contempt.

 

[Beach Hut]

I think you need to re-read my post. I'm not debating the merits of points and game attendance; I said the club need to clarify what "identifiable abuse" is.

But selling a ticket which you now must use, and which you already cannot re-sell, transfer or return in any way at all, doesn't sit well with me at all. That's not fair. If the club want to enforce these rules they have to give something back like enabling returns etc. It's too one sided. We've gone from fans, to customers, to being treated with contempt.

This does need addressing as I had one unused ticket for the Bournemouth league game as not allowed to upgrade or pass on to someone else - the only option was to hand it back

 

[Surf's Up]

The underlying question seems to be "who owns the seat once purchased "? The club clearly think they own the seat and rent it out on a temporary basis but retain the right to unilaterally set the rules on use, whereas some fans maybe think, once purchased, the ticket is theirs to do with as they please.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

Btw I believe in Liverpool, families have ST for decades, even though the actually owner of one may have passed away! They just pass them down the family. Not sure how that would pan out under our system, when the club realise that uncle bob has a perfect loyalty tally but is actually deceased.