[Albion] Refund information for season-ticket holders

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Did it ? Weren't the club working on a refund scheme well before the announcement of the PPV plans (for which they had little advance notice). ?
Not denying negative feedback about PPV - I agree - the optics of it, and the costing - all worth kicking back about. And made even worse because a refund scheme wasn't quite there. But this idea that the club only considered and launched refunds *because* they were put under pressure to do so over the weekend. Thats not true is it ?

Maybe they were planning it, maybe they weren't - but the October 1st restart was postponed several weeks ago now, if refunds were coming then fan expectation could have been managed better with an immediate statement on the club site to say the club are reviewing refunds and will be in contact asap. I think that would have prevented an awful lot of the fallout tbh.

I guess we'll never really know for certain but I think a satisfactory conclusion has been reached here and the grumbling has stopped.

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[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Until very recently there was hope/expectation that we would be allowed back at games in limited number. It was only on the 22nd September that this eventuality was ruled out.

The Albion board meeting this week was the first one scheduled since then, and the first time what is a pretty significant change to the club's cashflow could be discussed at the level required.

You can choose to believe me or not when I say that I have it on very good authority that a refund, and the specifics of the mechanics of the return of cash, was on the Albion board meeting agenda long before the PPV news broke and people started sending angry emails.

I've had many disagreements with Paul Barber over the years, and I imagine I was removed from the Christmas card list some time ago, but I can find no fault in any of the way the Albion have acted around any of this.

I'll add one more thing: Paul Barber is not afraid of making unpopular decisions, and is not one to give in to pressure. There's no way on earth the club are returning, potentially, millions of pounds because of whipped-up social media frenzy and some emails from "angry of Brighton". Anyone who thinks so is being a little bit silly.

Fair enough.



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[chaileyjem]

Maybe they were planning it, maybe they weren't - but the October 1st restart was postponed several weeks ago now, if refunds were coming then fan expectation could have been managed better with an immediate statement on the club site to say the club are reviewing refunds and will be in contact asap. I think that would have prevented an awful lot of the fallout

Well [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] has confirmed the timeline - and tbf Barber did say exactly that! on Saturday and that refunds were being worked on and imminent in the QA published on the club website.

Importantly, season-ticket holders will not end up out of pocket. We have already made it clear, several times now, we will be refunding or rebating any matches fans are unable to attend; whether the match is behind closed doors, or limited capacity and they miss out in any ballot. As well as payment holidays last season, we have already frozen payments to season-ticket holders after six monthly payments this season. We appreciate the issue of personal cashflow is understandably becoming an increasing problem for some of our supporters. We have a board meeting early this week to review this again, as we have done periodically throughout the pandemic, and if there is any change to our existing policy we will update fans as soon as we are able. via https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/1859764/pay-per-view-qa-with-paul-barber

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Well [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] has confirmed the timeline - and tbf Barber did say exactly that! on Saturday and that refunds were being worked on and imminent in the QA published on the club website.

He says buried in an essay 'if there is a change we will let you know'. So, not exactly that refunds were imminent.

Some reassurance was probably all that was needed to stop the fallout, tbh.

As an aside, I am very surprised how infrequently the board meet in an ever changing Pandemic, especially with the transfer window situation.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in those meetings!



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[chaileyjem]

Some reassurance was probably all that was needed to stop the fallout, tbh.

Ha ! if only . That entire paragraph is literally reassuring fans that the club is going to refund their season tickets, remind them they already have taken steps to do so last season and potentially going to let you know more details - after a board meeting and a QA with fans. When they did. But did it stop the fall out ? no - it did not.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Ha ! if only . That entire paragraph is literally reassuring fans that the club is going to refund their season tickets, remind them they already have taken steps to do so last season and potentially going to let you know more details - after a board meeting and a QA with fans. When they did. But did it stop the fall out ? no - it did not.

Sorry, an immediate refund, rather than a refund at the end of next season, is not mentioned. That's where clear reassurance was needed imho, but it's done now.

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[dazzer6666]

Shame some of the "Mr Angey" on facebook decided to also send abusive emails to the club

Yep.....club are a soft target for the offended, entitled and hard of thinking.......some of the language I saw was way OTT (worse than on here).

Anyway, vast majority seem to be ok with the outcome now so hopefully we can move on to celebrating beating Palace [emoji16]

 

[e77]

I wasn't comfortable paying for PPV for home games while the club held ST money. However as they have offered to return it, which for the moment I won't be taking the offer up, I have no problem paying to watch games on PPV if they appeal to me and are convenient, etc.

At no stage did I feel the urge to vent my spleen on Social Media or e-mail Paul Barber.

 

[Stat Brother]

How much interest are the BHA Building Society paying on our savings?

I might be tempted to top up my account.

 

[ozzygull]

Sorry I have not read all the thread, I had not reaslided people were getting upset regarding refunds. I guess it is understandable if people are feeling financial presures this could make a big difference to their finances. I have been lucky so far and not really thought about it, I just assumed if we did not get to go to games then the club was issue a refund or roll it over to next season or like the end of last season be given a choice as to what we do with it. I had enough trust that they would do the right thing when they could.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Sorry I have not read all the thread, I had not reaslided people were getting upset regarding refunds. I guess it is understandable if people are feeling financial presures this could make a big difference to their finances. I have been lucky so far and not really thought about it, I just assumed if we did not get to go to games then the club was issue a refund or roll it over to next season or like the end of last season be given a choice as to what we do with it. I had enough trust that they would do the right thing when they could.

Not really the point. Many people wanted refunds. The club at the time was saying they would roll it over to the following season. There was no indication they would offer a refund until it actually happened.

 

[keaton]

Until very recently there was hope/expectation that we would be allowed back at games in limited number. It was only on the 22nd September that this eventuality was ruled out.

The Albion board meeting this week was the first one scheduled since then, and the first time what is a pretty significant change to the club's cashflow could be discussed at the level required.

You can choose to believe me or not when I say that I have it on very good authority that a refund, and the specifics of the mechanics of the return of cash, was on the Albion board meeting agenda long before the PPV news broke and people started sending angry emails.

I've had many disagreements with Paul Barber over the years, and I imagine I was removed from the Christmas card list some time ago, but I can find no fault in any of the way the Albion have acted around any of this.

Would it not have been wise to have said they were going to release details on refunds shortly when the PPV was announced? That would have put a stop to all issues. I get that they say it's all last minute (but pretty odd no-one had discussed contingency plans for it all to be such a last minute surprise) but a simple statement would have chatted everything up.

 

[dazzer6666]

Would it not have been wise to have said they were going to release details on refunds shortly when the PPV was announced? That would have put a stop to all issues. I get that they say it's all last minute (but pretty odd no-one had discussed contingency plans for it all to be such a last minute surprise) but a simple statement would have chatted everything up.

Likely that anything like that needs board approval....so wouldn’t happen before the board meeting. Unfortunate timing - with hindsight I’m sure it would all have been communicated a bit differently.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Are dd payments suspended? My previous email from the club said my last one was 2 Nov, so I'm assuming I'll still pay this and then have opportunity for a refund? (which I'll take).

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Are dd payments suspended? My previous email from the club said my last one was 2 Nov, so I'm assuming I'll still pay this and then have opportunity for a refund? (which I'll take).

If they are, they need to tell us PDQ to give us 10 working days notice as per BACS procedure. I hate to be "that guy" but I have spent the last few months trying to ensure "that guy" can't complain about our company procedures.