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SAFC - Fan Ban & Ticket Cancellations

SAFC2012 said:
The 50% of tickets not being used by the “correct person” in the away end is from feedback from a significant number of fans I speak to regularly at away games.

The views of a wide number of fans differ on the subject.

For example, at Bournemouth, the view of virtually everyone I spoke to (and my own view) was that there were loads more faces we didn’t recognise compared to previous away games. However, 1 member of the group was of the view that they saw more regular faces at Bournemouth than they had at the majority of other games this season.

At Bournemouth, for example, I was very surprised at how many young children (under 10 year olds) were in attendance as I wouldn’t have expected many people of that age to have acquired 55 loyalty points.

As people say, there’s no evidence one way or another, it depends where you’re at in the ground etc.

At Villa, there were people in the ground on wrong tickets as the ticket administration within the club didn’t allocate tickets correctly from the information provided by their “customers”.

Despite, not attending the game on Sunday, only coming in to contact with a relatively small number of fans compared to normal, I know of over 60 fans (the majority of regular attendees) who were not on their own tickets. A number of these don’t possess season tickets.
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And it's stuff like this that means I just can't get my head around the actions of the club.

I cam see there are issues with breaches of terms and conditions.
I can see how small numbers of tickets get moved around because of life stopping attendance etc and you don't want it to go to waste.
I can see that people who have points who want to go to more away days get really frustrated at what they perceive to be an unfairness in the system.

But I CANNOT get my head around the actions of the club.

If the world has changed then get to the end of the season and consult with fans groups, consult with fans and consult with branches.
Thank them for their support and explain the new world we live in.
Thrash out with everyone an allocation system / redistribution rules / simple returns process that works for (on the whole) everyone but allocates away tickets to people with the most loyalty points who do attend away matches.

I still struggle to understand why they've acted in this way and why now.
 

Keith S30S said:
Strangely my custome number has never been used by any one bar me in all the time since it was issued in 1998. Nobody randomly gives someone else their number. It is passed on to secure an away ticket.

Now the lines could be blurred as if say half dozen numbers are handed over by one person and that person allows them to be occasionally used going forward but doesn't inform all 5 other people of this. Over time things get forgotten and one match blurs into another etc. So unwittingly someone's number is being used without their knowledge BUT they did originally gain access to a ticket they may have not otherwise been entitled too. Grey areas.

That's why the club should have got all the branches together and and outlined what was and was not acceptable practices going forward and outlined the punishments for not adhering to the rules they were conveying. Then everyone has the same information and either abides by the rules or suffers the consequences if caught flouting them

The club should have also given branches and individuals the chance to return unused away tickets for a (potential at least) refund if they are resold. They regularly re-advertise sold out games so it is entirely possible if they wanted to help fans in terms of losing money and tickets not being used and cut down on the unofficial re-selling of tickets.
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I've got plenty of people in my ticketing account that I've bought tickets for previously, and i would never once even consider assigning a ticket in their name without asking them for that specific game. It's wrong. The person buying the tickets knows for a fact if they've got permission or if they haven't asked for that specifc game.
 
Disco_Pants93 said:
I've got plenty of people in my ticketing account that I've bought tickets for previously, and i would never once even consider assigning a ticket in their name without asking them for that specific game. It's wrong. The person buying the tickets knows for a fact if they've got permission or if they haven't asked for that specifc game.
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I'm aware of that but how does an exile who hasn't got a season ticket attend a game that's half a mile from his house?

It's never straight forward, people do favours for mates. We all do.
 
Zak's Dad said:
And it's stuff like this that means I just can't get my head around the actions of the club.

I cam see there are issues with breaches of terms and conditions.
I can see how small numbers of tickets get moved around because of life stopping attendance etc and you don't want it to go to waste.
I can see that people who have points who want to go to more away days get really frustrated at what they perceive to be an unfairness in the system.

But I CANNOT get my head around the actions of the club.

If the world has changed then get to the end of the season and consult with fans groups, consult with fans and consult with branches.
Thank them for their support and explain the new world we live in.
Thrash out with everyone an allocation system / redistribution rules / simple returns process that works for (on the whole) everyone but allocates away tickets to people with the most loyalty points who do attend away matches.

I still struggle to understand why they've acted in this way and why now.
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Too much common sense for the tatties in the ticket office
 
Keith S30S said:
I'm aware of that but how does an exile who hasn't got a season ticket attend a game that's half a mile from his house?

It's never straight forward, people do favours for mates. We all do.
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I'm confused about your point. You replied to me and said your number has never been used by anyone except yourself. I'm assuming that's because you've never given your details to someone to purhcase tickets on your behalf. There is no grey area in that. If you give permission to someone to purchase your ticket as part of a group or a few mates for a game then the next time they do it they should, always, ask your permission.

Me and my mate regularly purchase tickets for each other but we would always check first. There shouldn't be a situation where someone's number is being used without them knowing about it first in any scenario. The person buying the tickets knows whether they have permission for that game or not. Even if you know your ticket is going to be given to someone else, because of the ID checks in place you are now accepting that risk if you allow it to be used.

I'd be seething if a mate used my number without permission and got me banned
 
SAFC2012 said:
At Villa, there were people in the ground on wrong tickets as the ticket administration within the club didn’t allocate tickets correctly from the information provided by their “customers”.

Despite, not attending the game on Sunday, only coming in to contact with a relatively small number of fans compared to normal, I know of over 60 fans (the majority of regular attendees) who were not on their own tickets. A number of these don’t possess season tickets.
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Whilst having sympathy for the situation you find yourself in, I’m now getting vibes of you perhaps unwittingly providing the club of further evidence of wrongdoing, or is this your intention, surely you’re only causing possible grief for other fans, something that isn’t helping your case at all.
 
Disco_Pants93 said:
I'm confused about your point. You replied to me and said your number has never been used by anyone except yourself. I'm assuming that's because you've never given your details to someone to purhcase tickets on your behalf. There is no grey area in that. If you give permission to someone to purchase your ticket as part of a group or a few mates for a game then the next time they do it they should, always, ask your permission.

Me and my mate regularly purchase tickets for each other but we would always check first. There shouldn't be a situation where someone's number is being used without them knowing about it first in any scenario. The person buying the tickets knows whether they have permission for that game or not. Even if you know your ticket is going to be given to someone else, because of the ID checks in place you are now accepting that risk if you allow it to be used.

I'd be seething if a mate used my number without permission and got me banned
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You don't spend dozens of hours of your free time every other week sorting out tickets and transport for several dozen people. It's far more complicated and people cut the odd corner to make their lives easier.

There is nothing straightforward in this world. Shit happens, people do stuff to try to smooth things over.
Maxie said:
The technical answer is, unless they have the requisite number of BCP, they shouldn't be 👀
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I am aware of that but we all live in the real world no some eutopian nirvana.
He who is without sin cast the first stone.
 
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AC Mack said:
If they're your mates and you're buying the tickets for a Sunderland away game, you should be pretty sure you know that they're going to attend. Seems a bit strange that you wouldn't be sure.

You've said yourself that they have used them all season, why would they suddenly now just decide to not go and pass them on to someone else?

Sounds like you're just being a bit contrarian.
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You clearly don't live in the real world
 
Keith S30S said:
You don't spend dozens of hours of your free time every other week sorting out tickets and transport for several dozen people. It's far more complicated and people cut the odd corner to make their lives easier.

There is nothing straightforward in this world. Shit happens, people do stuff to try to smooth things over.

I am aware of that but we all live in the real world no some eutopian nirvana.
He who is without sin cast the first stone.
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I have done my fair share of organizing travel for big numbers to get to games and fully agree it’s very time consuming and often at personal cost due to people being dicks. That being said I have never and would never just use someone’s customer number for a ticket without asking their permission first. The very least you do is check that their number is okay to be used. Even before ID checks came in it’s just something I assumed everyone knew you don’t do.
 
Fishpie said:
Paul Collingwood seems to be popping up at several away matches.

Villa his latest and I'm sure he was at Newcastle.

Does he even have a season ticket never mind enough points for the mags?
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There is a corporate sub-allocation in all of our allocations. I was talking to a lad who's a corporate ticket holder who got a ticket for the mags, top and bottom you can 'express an interest' for any away game and it's by chance if you get one through the corporate scheme. Speculate people like Colly will have that..
 
Raich Carter said:
Talking to a lad on Sunday, doesn’t have a season ticket but hasn’t missed an away all season 😂
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Iv seen the same 3 people at 5 away grounds this year never had a season ticket in there life or do they work for the club. There absolute wronguns aswell into all sorts, sort of wanna be gypsys.
 
Keith S30S said:
Strangely my custome number has never been used by any one bar me in all the time since it was issued in 1998. Nobody randomly gives someone else their number. It is passed on to secure an away ticket.

Now the lines could be blurred as if say half dozen numbers are handed over by one person and that person allows them to be occasionally used going forward but doesn't inform all 5 other people of this. Over time things get forgotten and one match blurs into another etc. So unwittingly someone's number is being used without their knowledge BUT they did originally gain access to a ticket they may have not otherwise been entitled too. Grey areas.

That's why the club should have got all the branches together and and outlined what was and was not acceptable practices going forward and outlined the punishments for not adhering to the rules they were conveying. Then everyone has the same information and either abides by the rules or suffers the consequences if caught flouting them

The club should have also given branches and individuals the chance to return unused away tickets for a (potential at least) refund if they are resold. They regularly re-advertise sold out games so it is entirely possible if they wanted to help fans in terms of losing money and tickets not being used and cut down on the unofficial re-selling of tickets.
Click to expand...

It was lazy, cynical and incompetent.
What you detail is entirely logical.
What is it with this part of the club, it’s a real siege, them and us mentality
Zak's Dad said:
And it's stuff like this that means I just can't get my head around the actions of the club.

I cam see there are issues with breaches of terms and conditions.
I can see how small numbers of tickets get moved around because of life stopping attendance etc and you don't want it to go to waste.
I can see that people who have points who want to go to more away days get really frustrated at what they perceive to be an unfairness in the system.

But I CANNOT get my head around the actions of the club.

If the world has changed then get to the end of the season and consult with fans groups, consult with fans and consult with branches.
Thank them for their support and explain the new world we live in.
Thrash out with everyone an allocation system / redistribution rules / simple returns process that works for (on the whole) everyone but allocates away tickets to people with the most loyalty points who do attend away matches.

I still struggle to understand why they've acted in this way and why now.
Click to expand...

Little Hitlers …. Who don’t understand their purpose and think the fans are the enemy
 
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southside said:
Iv seen the same 3 people at 5 away grounds this year never had a season ticket in there life or do they work for the club. There absolute wronguns aswell into all sorts, sort of wanna be gypsys.
Click to expand...
Speaking of wronguns, i wonder what happened to the lad that got arrested at York on the way back from Villa? Someone said he'd pissed all over the floor on the train?
 
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