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Post by Marked Ox on Aug 2, 2010 17:20:57 GMT
We only had 3 days to get Burton tickets and there was no prior notification of this on the official site. If I hadn't seen they were going on sale on here I wouldn't have known. It's hardly apathy. Also, what makes you think season ticket holders don't contribute to the club like you? We buy shirts, contribute to the 12th man, buy programmes and 50-50 tickets for 23 home games, and also pay for pre-season and cup games. You are twisting my words. The response was to a comment that ST holders give more money to the club than non ST holders. I don't think that's necessarily true for everyone - we're all different. Anyway, if it was purely on money, box holders should be first, then ST holders, then the thousands of us left! I think the difference is when the money is given, and the risk involved, as opposed to the most as some go to most home games, ultimately giving more if paying in advance of the day or on the day. The difference being that ST holders take the chance paying up in full (regardless of how the season turns out) whereas non-ST holders can pick and choose which games they go to, especially if the season is poor. That is what the benefit is for, imo, and 3 days is hardly unreasonable length of time considering there is still a whole week to go. I do agree that a greater length of time should be given to the members. I hope the club do give more thought to the members so they have longer but as others have said there may be factors which affected the Burton's game ticket sales and its timing this time. |
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Post by Ricky Otto on Aug 2, 2010 17:59:59 GMT
OK, I'll not ask for opinions on the current system, and if it could be improved for us and the ticket office in future then! If club membership offered more time to purchase tickets, I'd buy in, giving more revenue for the club. Going down the route of 'ST holders give more money' is unfair. If I added up the 10+ home games I go to at full price, programmes, the shirt (I have bought one this year), 12th Man, I'm probably up to being close to giving the club a fair amount of money per match attended compared to an ST holder. So be it. I've not argued that ST priority be taken away at all - just that the timing be looked at as well as the deal for membership? Perhaps a system where you tell them you;re more loyal that season ticket holders because you THINK YOU MAY have spent more money but can't prove it? Im not really sure what you think the system should be. Either way you seem to have raised it a few times now and nobody seems to agree with you. |
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Post by Notts Yellow on Aug 2, 2010 18:09:57 GMT
Perhaps the season ticket holders go on holiday just before the start of the season and come back in time to see all the action and therefore they were actually away when they had the opportunity to buy their tickets. Some may have a shock if they come back from their hols on Tuesday and all tickets gone for a Burton.
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Post by whatever on Aug 2, 2010 20:04:32 GMT
I agree with yelloexile on this one. S/T holders know when these type of games come up,and 2 days is ample time to get thier @rses into gear. And now we all know that its only a small fraction of ST holders that actually want to bother going to away games then may-be the club should have another look at the ticketing policy. That they should be able to purchase an extra 'guest' ticket. This would solve a lot of problems.
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Post by slappy on Aug 2, 2010 20:16:34 GMT
I agree with yelloexile on this one. S/T holders know when these type of games come up,and 2 days is ample time to get thier @rses into gear. And now we all know that its only a small fraction of ST holders that actually want to bother going to away games then may-be the club should have another look at the ticketing policy. That they should be able to purchase an extra 'guest' ticket. This would solve a lot of problems. What if I am a ST holder, and want to go to the away games, but find that having to spend an hour on the phone during critical working hours just isn't really on? Or should I just shrug my shoulders and let the three times a season fans take my place? Of course it is right that season ticket holders take priority, and have plenty of time to do that too. |
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Aug 2, 2010 20:23:16 GMT
Firstly - if ST holders could buy 2 tickets that would make it worse not better! The ST holders bought roughly half the Burton tickets before they went on general sale. Allow them (us) to buy an extra ticket each and there would be none left for non ST holders. OK if you've got a ST holding mate - not so good otherwise!
Secondly - why on earth can't the online ticketing system cope with away tickets? It knows I am a ST holder - why can't I buy away tickets online? That would make the life of the people in the Ticket Office a bit easier I would have thought, at least they wouldn't have to keep answering the phone so much. And people at work (at least those in an office) might find it easier to do it online than use the company phone or sneak out to keep trying to get through on their mobiles...
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Post by whatever on Aug 2, 2010 20:36:44 GMT
I also had to wait on phone for about 2 hours before I could book our two S/T places. But, if we were allowed 'guest' tickets those people would'nt have to wait till they was on general sale cause they would have already been accommodated. So less demand when they went on general sale. And we could all sit together!
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Post by Ricky Otto on Aug 2, 2010 20:43:26 GMT
Season Ticket holders got three days.
Non season ticket holders got three days.
I can't actually see what argument yellow exile is making?
He wants less time for Season Ticket holders? Why?
Because he has an agenda that he wants them to have less time to get a ticket so he has more chance. Thats my guess.
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Post by yellowscooby on Aug 2, 2010 21:12:53 GMT
Perhaps the season ticket holders go on holiday just before the start of the season and come back in time to see all the action and therefore they were actually away when they had the opportunity to buy their tickets. Some may have a shock if they come back from their hols on Tuesday and all tickets gone for a Burton. that was my situation, just managed to get a ticket on friday after coming back off holiday. bit more info would have helped,a text maybe then i could have rung from abroad,also the system crashed on friday so had trouble booking anyway. have they got a new system? hope they get it sorted soon |
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Post by yelloexile on Aug 3, 2010 8:22:04 GMT
Season Ticket holders got three days. Non season ticket holders got three days. I can't actually see what argument yellow exile is making? He wants less time for Season Ticket holders? Why? Because he has an agenda that he wants them to have less time to get a ticket so he has more chance. Thats my guess. Your guess is partly right, if you mean me, as in 'non-ST holders' - which includes membership holders. I do not hold a membership, but I am also (poorly) attempting to argue for them. It's honestly not a personal agenda - I got tickets via an ST holding mate, so I'm OK! Overall, we are not given enough time to buy tickets - ST holders might even have extra time if we actually had more than six(?) working days effectively to buy them. Using my initial example of Birmingham City - they've been selling tickets for their first game for over THREE WEEKS, an allocation of 2,000, and they have a larger ticket office. I agree with the comments concerning on-line ticketing as well - I don't agree with their charges, but fans may feel it's worth it, rather than spend 2 hours of their time on the phone? My agenda is to try to open the debate, and I wonder if there are any other ideas? E.G. How about if (and the figures are only to illustrate the system, rather than percentage split) we had a system where ST holders had first shout. They could also purchase 1x guest ticket (a grumble of some), but they had a fixed percentage of tickets available - when that ran out, the turn of members had a fixed percentage (or after a certain time if there's a low take up) we were all in in together on open sale? As it stands, I could have paid for membership, and had it all sold out to ST holders, I wouldn't get a ticket. It's not a massive issue at the moment, as we're looking at a handful of games affected (saying that, I don't know the away allocation for Cheltenham / Hereford / Stevenage / Wycombe etc), but it could get worse for the future. I can't see the system changing, but I wondered if there were options to reduce stress had have a more staggered release of tickets. Key to this though is the club getting off their behinds and pushing clubs for tickets - Wycombe (and Burton I know did) will have been selling their tickets for our game for a while now... |
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Post by Ricky Otto on Aug 3, 2010 8:51:56 GMT
So if season ticket holders could take a mate, lets imagine Wycombe. I imagine 2000 ST holders would want to go. We will get about 1400 tickets. It could mean only 700 of our most loyal fans get a match ticket along with 700 randoms.
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Post by yelloexile on Aug 3, 2010 9:44:06 GMT
So if season ticket holders could take a mate, lets imagine Wycombe. I imagine 2000 ST holders would want to go. We will get about 1400 tickets. It could mean only 700 of our most loyal fans get a match ticket along with 700 randoms. For the example I won't dispute your figures - but as Luton showed, the ST holders don't go away that much - I did think we'd sell out for that one. I'll not comment on your phrasing of of 'most loyal fans' or 'randoms'. I'd guess that a lot of ST holders go with other ST holders, so guests would certainly not be on a 1:1 basis. It's perfectly possible to limit the number of 'guests' on a first come first served basis - so for example, 1,400 tickets 1,000 for ST Holders to include 100 guests (if taken up) 200 for members 200 open sale plus any not sold above Only an example. You could even do the open sale on a ticket stub basis - something I would think would be fair if we made it to the playoffs (can you imagine the demand?). Trouble is that it all starts getting flipping complicated and you need to be Carole Vorderman to work it out. Like I said, I'm just trying to chuck some ideas out there, and I do think the club needs to make the membership scheme more worthwhile - I'd be interested to know the actual take up. In the end, we have the system we have, which I'm sure has evolved naturally and to the best fit in the circumstances. I just wonder whether with online ticketing there may be different or original options. I'm not out to start a riot! |
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Post by YellowJ on Aug 3, 2010 9:50:40 GMT
I think the real problem for some exiles is that they can't get a season ticket for home matches because the distance they live from Oxford, coupled with work and family commitments, means they would not get full usage and value for money.
However, when an away match is 'on their doorstep', and they could enjoy the benefits that fans nearer to Oxford can enjoy every other week, they can often miss out. I know I would find that frustrating.
I don't know what the answer to this problem is, and you can't take away the ST benefits. The membership scheme that people pay for should give them at least some benefits over 'open' sale.
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Post by Marked Ox on Aug 3, 2010 15:48:21 GMT
i don't disagree that membership should have a benefit considering they have paid for it and holding a % back for them for the Wycombe (as an example), say 20% (again as an example) would be reasonable and workable. Season ticket holders would still have access to 80% of the tickets. There could be an overlap between the end of the season ticket sale period and the start of the membership sale period to help control pressure on the Ticket Office. Members would also get 1st chance on any remaining tickets not sold to season ticket holders once that period actually ends. Any tickets then remaining go to open sale. This guarantees a real value to the membership scheme, I know partners offer discounts but imo, the main reason to buy a membership is for the access to ticket priority.
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Post by edgecam on Aug 3, 2010 16:24:55 GMT
i don't disagree that membership should have a benefit considering they have paid for it and holding a % back for them for the Wycombe (as an example), say 20% (again as an example) would be reasonable and workable. Season ticket holders would still have access to 80% of the tickets. There could be an overlap between the end of the season ticket sale period and the start of the membership sale period to help control pressure on the Ticket Office. Members would also get 1st chance on any remaining tickets not sold to season ticket holders once that period actually ends. Any tickets then remaining go to open sale. This guarantees a real value to the membership scheme, I know partners offer discounts but imo, the main reason to buy a membership is for the access to ticket priority. I have a problem with your first suggestion regarding percentages. I am a season ticket holder and lets for argument say, due to being away with work I catch the last day they are on sales to season ticket holders only. I call the club and they tell me that the season ticket percentage has all sold out. Now my benefit as sold to me by the club as a season ticketholder “I will get the opportunity to purchase tickets before any other group” has been removed and I have to join the members group. Let’s not forget they have had all my cash up front, in my case since the 1st week of April. Is this fair? It is immaterial if we think it’s fair or not, the club cannot change anything this year 2010/11. They can though look at making changes next year. My only suggestion is to word the incentives carefully if they are thinking of making changes. |
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Post by one trick Raponi on Aug 3, 2010 16:32:49 GMT
In an ideal world I'd like to see the club give priority tickets first and foremost to the fans who go to the most away games.
I like the idea of the club giving out an allocation of ST +1 guest tickets - especially for away games where they are hot on restricted seating.
The group I travel to away games with are an odd mixture of St holders and non-ST holders. It's not often going to be possible to sit/stand together at away games this season.
I wish there was an answer to please the exiles but short of suggesting they get in toufch with non travelling ST holders I can't think of any way to help.
The current system works well enough. If we progress up the FL as we hope as a club we will need to bring in some form of points system to seperate the non-away travelling ST holders from those that go away.
I've never understood why the club doesn't introduce some sort of away season ticket. Other clubs would be in favour of it, they'd be guaranteed income early on from away fans.
Our club should be in favour of it too because they'd surely add some sort of administration charge to it. Plus it'll take a lot of the workload off the ticket office staff throughout the season. They'd have more time to concentrate on selling home tickets.
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Post by oxymoron on Aug 3, 2010 19:51:56 GMT
I think that many of the clubs that operate an Away Season Ticket scheme (mostly Premiership I guess), require you to be a Home Season Ticket holder as well.
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Post by edgecam on Aug 3, 2010 19:57:45 GMT
I think that many of the clubs that operate an Away Season Ticket scheme (mostly Premiership I guess), require you to be a Home Season Ticket holder as well. Great idea. Why can we not install this. It would make it so much easer on season ticket holders that want to go to every away game. It will also free up the phone lines when away tickets first go on sale. I'm in. |
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Post by whatever on Aug 3, 2010 20:36:57 GMT
Here's another thought then. Why not give first dibs to members. Reduce the membership to say £20. Then the exiles,non ST.H all have an equal chance of gaining an away ticket.- Brilliant! Why did'nt I think of that before?
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