Bast*ds

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To cut a long story short I have lost voucher 6 in my season ticket. I knew I would have hassle getting a replacement. I knew the club would be funny. I expected to have to wait till kickoff and I expected an administration charge. What I didn't expect was to be told that it would cost me 31.00 for a replacement. More than the actual cost of the ticket. When I asked if there was someone I could complain to I was told I couldn't as rule 4 section blah blah clearly states etc. etc. Basically 'P*ss off Boney Lad - we've got your money'

Tomorrow row DD seat 31 in the Gallowgate will be empty. I spent all of my money last week going to West Ham. I have been left with useless Apex train tickets when fixtures have been postponed for Sky without so much as an apology. They are quite happy to accept my standing order for cup tickets - even though I know I will be working away for some of them. But when once in my life I need a bit of help from the club - I don't get it.

I've been told Rogan reads this BBs. Rogan - I know it would be difficult if 50,000 people lost their tickets every week. I know it is the responsibility of the owner. A fiver or even a tenner fixed payment would avoid that. But 31.00?

And you know what hurts the most? More than missing a game I've been looking forward to for ages?

MY CLUB DON'T FUCKIN CARE THAT THE SEAT WILL BE EMPTY.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

Answers

NEVER FEAR! I am here. I have a spare that no one is using. Its yours. You can pay me back whenever. Clearly no one else wants it so you're doing me a favour taking it. I'll be in the Strawberry from one onwards, with Softie et al.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

My club would have sorted you out...Champion :-)

You lot seem to have a right shoite of an administration!!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000


you are a lovely person lynda

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

Ginga,

You should be receiving an e-mail imminently from Russell Cushing of NUFC on this matter, following a discussion I've just had with him on your post.
As I understand it, the B#31 is a retainer that you will have refunded later, after the match.
Apparently, the situation was introduced some time ago to deter people from securing additional tickets against nominally 'lost tickets' and then flogging them. Then, when two people arrive for the one seat and there is mayhem in the stadium that the stewards have great diffuclty resolving - as both tickets are apparently legitimate.
Mr. Cushing has explained that prior to introducing this 'retainer' idea they were receiving 200 requests per game for replacements - a good proportion of which then lead to seating problems.
Mr. Cushing was at pains to point out that he is certainly not accusing you of intending to do this, and readily agreed to contact you at your e-mail address - which I hope you don't mind me giving him. Hopefully this can be amicably resolved.
Mr. Cushing pointed out that they are far from sure the present system is the best way of addressing the problem at hand, and it is one of the issues Steve Wraith is being asked to address in his fan liaison role.

BTW - Mr. Cushing had never heard of the Greenspun bbs! Well, he has now - look out for another password request Dunx!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000


I'm sure if the club had mentioned all this in the first place the matter could have been resolved amicably, yet the oafs couldn't impart the correct information when called upon to do so.

They should be given handouts to give to customers saying all the right things in a given situation, trouble is they would then have to recognise a given situation, oh well back to square one.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000



Well done Clarky, you are a gentleman!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

Oi Clarky - are you trying to usurp Steve Wraith? I hear he has friends in "strange" places - liek the East End of Lahndaan. Wasn't that name mentioned when Wotisname Kray came out of jail/hospital? Or was that a different Steve Wraith?

Anyway - good on yer Mr Clark. Well done.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000


Screach

What was MUs response when we spoke to them re 'those' tickets a couple of years ago ?

Josh

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000


Josh, I think it was FO. And that's nowt to do with the Foreign Office.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

Thought so. I suppose its coz we were from the Manchester area (only joshing LR honest).

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000


Class result Clarky......well impressed old son!

Big round of applause for the lad everyone.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000


I think the wrong man was hired as fan liaison. Great job, Clarky!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

The thread title says it all.

Why are people so keen to attack the club management? This retainer scheme of which Clarky speaks has been in place for a long time and I've used it myself more than once after travelling 300 miles to a game and forgetting my ticket.

A refund is given and you pay a nominal admin charge of something like a fiver. Fair enough surely as the club is incurring costs having to sort out this sort of problem every match.

The club is attempting to build better relationships with the fans. A lot of fans don't want to know.

What is needed is for everone (who doesn't wear a suit) to be given a ticket in the Milburn. This ticket will be free if you ever attended a game when Newcastle were in Div 2 (The badge of true support). The purchase of players and their salaries will be the responsibility of Sir John Hall, corporate people and people in suits who will not be allowed to attend matches because they are rich b*stards. Sounds reasonable?

Actually, now I come to think of it, it's not a bad idea ... :-))

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2000


Frankly gang, I'm waiting to hear the outcome of my efforts.
If Ginga doesn't get satisfaction I'll be back on to them. I'm fed up to the back teeth with this sort of cr@p, and the Club continually shooting itself in the foot.
Having said all that, Russell Cushing was very forthcoming, annoyed that the situation had clearly not been properly explained to Ginga, and seemed more than willing to get involved to sort it out.
Let's see if the action meets the words.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2000

Jonno - you seem to have been aware of this solution - and I agree with you that it sounds OK. However, from memory, I can't say if this is published on the paperwork. Certainly not on the ST booklet, but then again, if you've mislaid the book, then you couldn't read it. Doh! However, if it was on that, and the other formal parperwork ("contract"?), then folks would have a chance to read it before needing to use the facility. Simple communications, methinks.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2000


Amazing how many companies seem to forget the very simple concept of "communication". Something I've been finding horrifyingly common the past month or two. If this policy is indeed buried in the depths of a lengthy contract(or miniscule print in the back of the ST book) even more reason to realize people aren't going to remember it when the time comes. Who really reads and retains all that small print, other than when trying to cure insomnia? ;-)

Certainly a handout explaining the policy given with the replacement ticket at the time the fee is paid, just as clarky mentioned, would go a long way to soothing feathers before they get ruffled. It is a perfectly reasonable policy. I do hope the club do start taking these things into consideration. Even if the new folks in charge really are ready to make an honest effort at improving fan relations, they've got quite a mountain to climb. I certainly don't envy them the task. Time will tell.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2000


Thanks a lot for your interest Clarky and the offer of a ticket Dougal. Unfortunately I didn't become aware of

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2000

Thanks a lot for your interest Clarky - and the offer of a ticket Dougal. Unfortunately I didn't become aware of your responses until Sunday and have not been in a position to respond until now.

Although I don't think the 31.00 retainer idea is the best solution to my particular problem, it is a reasonable attempt to sort a difficult problem and I would have had no reservations about stumping up on Saturday. In fact I had expected to pay a small administration charge and so would have been both pleased and impressed that a better solution was in place for that eventuality. I would probably even have gone out of my way to praise the club and tell my mates that they were starting to get things right.

Problem is it didn't work that way. I phoned the box office and explained I had lost my voucher. I then asked if there was any mechanism by which I could still gain entry. It started off well. I was asked for my turnstile number and a check was made to see if it had been handed in in error at the previous match. Efficient I thought. I was impressed. I was then told that it hadn't turned up, but no solution was offered. When I asked I was told I would have to pay 31.00. I spend half my life on the phone with people of all levels and I can assure you the word "deposit" or "retainer" or an expression along the lines of "you get your money back" were never ever used.

This begs two questions. Was the box office person mistaken as to the correct procedure or did she just handle it badly. I would prefer the former as it is a far simpler training issue to address. Lets face it - to describe a deposit based system without uttering the word "deposit" takes some doing.

Also - nobody likes to have rules and regulations quoted to them. When I asked if there was anyone I could appeal/complain to she began to answer and then told me I couldn't do anything about it as it was covered by rule such and such which was in my book. I'm no expert but my rule of thumb is that any customer service type person should pass over the requested info and NEVER quote rules and regulations.

So unfortunately a good opprtunity was lost. Probably things like this have to happen before they can be put right and some good should probably come of this.

Although my original posting was a wee bit emotional (and believe me I was in the mood to hurt someone) it was borne out of the fact that I wasn't going to be able to give my team support. Clarky's response showed that there had been a communication breakdown of some sort. I think it a bit harsh to be accused of attacking management for the sake of it. Actually my track record is quite the opposite.

I'm going to reply to Russell Cushing now.

Oh and final footnote. As I didn't get net access until Sunday and therefore was unaware of Clarky's involvement - my seat was actually empty on Saturday - the first time since it came out of the mould. constructed

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2000


Bugger - I'm so disappointed that you still missed the match Ginga.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2000

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