London Tykes

Just checked an old ST book

from 1995/96 and rule 5 states that:

The Club will not accept any responsibility whatsoever for Season Ticket books lost, stolen or destroyed and duplicate tickets will not be issued.


So it looks like the ruling has always been there but the policy of dealing with such issues appears to have changed. It does not mention anything about purchasing match tickets and then being reimbursed, less an admin fee, on presentation of the book.

I understand your concerns about losing books but can also understand the Club needing to check that someone else isn’t using it. Once this has been established then I see no reason why new books can’t be issued.

I have had a few dealings with members of the Football Club, from this and previous regimes and have always had positive outcomes and been spoken to politly and curteously. As I have always approached them in that manner that is how I expected to be treat.

Having said that I have read on here that many people have received negative Customer Service and the Club have not always acted accordingly when realising that it's a two way thing - fans need a Club but a Club needs fans.


Hopefully your reply from Mr. Shepherd will be a more positive one and will encourage you to continue giving your long standing loyalty to Barnsley Football Club.

 

I don't normally agree with the club BUT

I don't know the letter said BUT threatening legal action is just stupid.

However if a bunch of drunks - the middle aged gent admitted how much he drinks on match days - lose their season tickets, I'm sorry but it's their problem - they lost 3 between them last season! Surely they are responsible adults. But they think as they are "London Tykes" they deserve special treatment. Sadly have to agree with the club on this one.

 

Just got mine this morning

Now where did I put it when I got home? S)

 

RE: I still dont see why we cant just have a barcode system?

And what happens with anything else that you have nicked when you are mugged?

Do you go to carphone warehouse (or wherever) and just get issued with a new phone? Perhaps you go to the bank and just inform them of the £40 in your wallet and they'll hand over a couple of £20 notes!

 

well i wouldnt expect O2 to say

well you will have to get a new contract now as its your own fault, and continue paying the bill on that one wont you.

 

They could do with...

Adding Personal Possessions cover to their Home Contents Insurance Policy

http://www.legalandgeneral.com/home-travel/home-insurance/view-all.html

The relevant paragraph is:

Personal Possessions (for policies including Contents Insurance only) This provides cover for personal property and valuables away from the home. Cover applies anywhere in the UK and for up to 60 days elsewhere in any one year. You can choose to insure:
Unspecified Personal Property - Clothes, personal belongings and valuables individually worth up to £1,500. Loss of personal money up to £500 is also included.
Specified Articles - covers single articles valued at, near to or above £1,500.
Pedal Cycles - covers loss or damage to pedal cycles up to £500 per cycle. If the value exceeds this amount additional information will be required.

 

Season ticket insurance

The only way forward, the club gain money and supporters get cover if they lose or wash their season ticket.</p>

</p>

Say Season ticket is &pound;300 the club should offer insurance at &pound;12.</p>

</p>

 

RE: House insurance

If you lose your season ticket (or wash it away) you can claim on your house insurance assuming you are insured.

Perhaps again, because of a few people out to defraud the system by claiming to have lost a ticket and passing it to someone else, whilst getting a new ticket has caused this problem. And before anyone gets on their high horse, I am not accusing anyone, it just may be the reason for this.

I also think it has been a condition of the season tickets for several years but the generosity of the club have allowed a replacement, this year the few above have spoilt it for the rest of us. How many other clubs have the same terms and conditions for the season tickets

Perhaps next time I buy my burberry jacket and then leave it in the pub, I should go back to the shop and ask for a replacement as I had lost it? bet I get the response, get stuffed, you will have to buy another

 

RE: House insurance

Claim on your house insurance and they'll give you about a fiver as that is all that a season ticket book is worth.</p>

and your jacket analogy isn't very good either, perhaps if you'd said that you'd lost the reciept for the jacket then it might have been better as your season ticket is just a reciept, ie proof that you have bought something.</p>

 

RE: House insurance

Not True, Lose after the first match and you will get a full refund, you will have an excess to pay though, yours must be a big excess

 

Why would your house insurance give you a full refund when your contract still exists? All you have lost is one form of proof that your contract exists, you still have another 2 or three.

Sorry but if the club really want's to stop fraud and isn't just out to try to make more money by forcing fans to buy tickets twice if they are VICTIMS of theft then they would put a photo in each ticket, would cost an extra quid if that.

 

What kind of legal action can they take.

They have communicated information to you in a letter, therefore have placed that information in the public domain. If the letter is printed or disclosed you are not breaching confidentiality laws, because I'm sure that corespondance from BFC isn't covered by the Official Secrets Act. Sounds like bullying to me. Bring back Spinksy, at least he was a reds fan.

 

Not a very successful one, in my opinion!

But the crux of the matter is that the club felt it necessary to imply the threat of such action in their response.
The original communication from the London Tykes was not 'anonymous' - the club had names - so it's not as
though BFC's 'interweb' paranoia about anonymous comment should come into play.

In respect of some of the other points made in this thread, yes - it's clear there are other options the club
could adopt to get over this 'fraud' concerning lost/stolen ST books and we have no indication whether or not they
have investigated these options, and yes - it is up to them how they run their business and handle the problem. And
yes, the boys and girls in the Box Office are almost always very courteous and customer-focused - it's the managerial
element of the administration side that isn't.

As long as the new ruling is made clear to ST holders (e.g. do you still have to pay full whack if you wash/lose/have nicked
your ST half-way through the season? And if so, how do they justify that?) then we as fans, whilst maybe not
liking it, will have to accept it. What we don't have to accept however is being treated in a patronising and off-handed
way by those that run the club - who appear to consider, in my view, that fans are a hindrance more than an essential.
I doubt very much that the London lot are embarking on a 'club-bashing' exercise as that's not their style - they felt they
had a jusftifiable query about the ST books, raised it in a professional and polite way with BFC and were aggrieved by the
club's officious response. As a result of that response, the club have now lost income (albeit small in the overall scheme of
things) because of non-renewal, and that is a shameful reflection upon them and their customer relations.

Don Rowing is quoted in the Chronicle as being 'disappointed that they (London Tykes) felt it necessary to contact the press'
- well perhaps he should examine his own actions in this matter and ask whether he could have handled things better?

 

RE: Un chuffing believable

One of the real issues about this is the base reason for the club's decision. which appears to be about revenue loss linked to season ticket /ticket fraud .

I am personally dismayed that instead of focusing on this root cause and introducing some simple control measures as already mentioned eg photo cards, bar codes etc maybe even spot check indentity checks a couple of times a season at random gates if they really want to go over the top ( wouldn't like this latter one personally ). they have come up with a sledgehammer to crack a nut solution !

If you have lost your ticket genuinely then paying for a game or 2 then finding the ticket and claiming monies back is fine .

If you are saying you have lost your ticket but I guess have given it to someone ( am assuming that is what must be happening for this decision .Does anyone know this ? ) then paying for every game until you find it will soon stop this scam would it not ?

If same people lose tickets at the club all the time, or the club have a suspicion that there is fraudulent behaviour then they should do what the passport controls do, brief the gate stewards to look for the ticket book and number and stop whoever is using it there and then .It would only be a few gates .

This would really stamp it out quickly even without electronic readers.

As one of the dizzy london tykes whose season ticket was found in Scarborough on a train ( dropped it around York or Leeds ) and given to the police ( thank god I had filled in my name and address ) :

I am at a loss to connect the 2 things.

Those who lose tickets and flags in our london tykes contingent tend to be dizzy , had a few drinks ,forgetful or just plain daft lol . Apologies guys x

I cannot believe that the main cause of fraud is linked to season ticket lost books .

More likely to be linked to like Man utd where it is alleged that season ticket holders stand
outside the ground and tout their tickets for over £ 100 a voucher , maybe insider dealings ( a possibility only not accusing anyone ) at the club , dodgy turnstile operations ( I gained access to a few Celtic v Rangers games without a ticket as did many others although paid )


Every club has to deal with the issue of some fans transferring season tickets . Most clubs have used technology to minimise this revenue loss issue . Why cant we .


I find it very sad that at a time when we should all be focusing on next Championship season , our signings , fixtures, new merchandise for fans and finding ways to encourage as many fans as possibile to purchase season tickets, the club revert to its shortsighted, tick the box , mentality and manage to cause anger and frustration across its fan base over effectively something in the wider scheme of things is trivia and NOT its most important issue.

If there is fraud at the club get the experts in to sort it as any company would .

With regard to Don Rowing , I have always found him to be a pleasant helpful man as also Sharon and her team in the ticket office.

The issue is their roles are operational and they carry out club board decisions to the best of their ability .

The strategic marketing and communications at the club I am sorry to say is alsolutely dreadful .Correcting this alone would be a great decisions by the Board.

No mediocre let alone good Marketing manager would have allowed such a communication to be released by the club the initial policy decision or beyond. without altering words, explaining why and with Q and A s anticipating the likely reaction .

The legal action issue is unbelievable suggests :

arrogance beyond belief

Lack of understanding that media is instant these days and nothing is a secret.

no appreciation that the local football club is high profile for news and this issue would sure to be featured

no feel for the fact that this issue whilst seen as a tick the box issue for the club would be seen as an emotive lack of trust issue by its fans

no graps of fairness of the " punishment " fitting the crime ( assuming leaving season ticket on train when imbibing pinot grigio is a crime ( I guess it might be after the smoking ban, dustbin police and traffic cameras).

This is not simply a london tykes issue , it is a point of principle relating to the type of club BFC wants to be .

Hopeful of speedy resolution .

Freya.

 

RE: They Think They Cannot Ever Be Wrong

Hey you ,

you forgot the bit where you are sick over the dog and both you and dog in dog house until next game .

PS for the record can I record that FREYA has not been to the lap dancing joint !

Neither will you lot next season if have to pay twice or in Harrows case 3 times for season ticket "!



Freya .

 

What are people living in London doing watching football with us proles anyway? Shouldn't they be watching ballet or opera or something?

That said, agreed entirely. Just read the letter in the Chron. Absolute disgrace. And the general manager or whoever saying it was "answered in the manner it was sent" or words to that effect? Unbelievable.

 

RE: I don't normally agree with the club BUT

Casper, we all like a drink on Match day maybe you don't, but try travelling 400 miles every week to see some of dross that we have been served at Oakwell in recent seasons. It would turn a saint to drink! I personally have never lost a season ticket and 2 of the 3 tickets that were lost were not lost on match days (one was as a result of a mugging on a bus! It’s the principal that we are objecting to for all Reds fans not just us!

As for the London Tykes demanding special treatment yes we do! We demand special treatment for all Reds fans by the club because without us fans there would be no club. Senior members of the club have lost sight of this!

 

Totally agree with the Champagne Charlies.....no season ticket for me this year,its match by match,I should save afew quid

 

hence why I said "????"

cos i was unsure....

I know its not a brilliant piece of PR by the club, but I have had a season ticket for about 11 years or more, and never lost it or washed it etc....

just trying another side of it.

the club bringing in this rule will upset folk, but folk have to accept the belongings they have too

 

London Tykes............

should have had their queries listened to in a proper manner and not just dismissed straight up.