Ticket tax reaches a new low

[up and away]

Surely the point here is once again the clubs communication has not been up to scratch, if they had informed those buying family tickets in ticket news that limited free parking was available then the gentleman could have requested that at the same time as buying his tickets.

I wonder if those of you slagging him off actually go that much and pay these fees themselves? Because leaving your customer feeling like they have been ripped off is not good customer service. I've stopped buying other things at the club like programmes, food etc as I'm fed up with the way they try and milk every penny from loyal fans, parking reduced to 15 mins to catch more people out, I can understand why people get ****ed off with it.

 

That is a very fair point and one I would agree with. What I do not know is whether the club knew beforehand and failed to advertise the fact, or something that came along with the ticket from Cardiff?

 

The club has a policy of of charging for services to cover costs, with the free option if you care to collect. Now if you can't see past what is being put into the club to make supporting Saints such a pleasure at the moment, you really are missing the point. The fact we are spending several millions in excess of our income does not register, or that the £3 booking fee does not even make a dent in it? Anyone who cares to look into their everyday purchases with far greater detail will find far more adrift than what is happening at Saints. If anyone can be looked upon as getting ripped off here it has to be the Liebherrs, whereas "fans" expect it all for nothing.

[adrian lord]

Yep, so the club don't have to send an email or similar to Cardiff to ask for one, that happens automatically, no need to pay someone to do that or to pay for the overheads of the Internet connectivity etc. Or maybe they can print it straight from the internet site, which will take no time, won't cost anything in consumables for printers etc.

 

Oh and has anyone checked to see whether Cardiff will mail them free of charge? Do they send them first class or via courier? How many passes are they sending down?

 

Then of course, no time at all to find an envelope to put it in.

 

Look I don't CONDONE or defend the Ticket Tax OR the Parking Fees, and I think the Comms by the club are appalling (sorry Jordan Sibley, but Marketing and Communications is a hell of a lot more than being about Twitter & an OS and it is fecked up at the moment)

 

BUT to post inane "I don't understand how things work" doesn't help either side in the argument.

 

I understand perfectly how things work thank you. Almost all the "overheads" you mention are fixed and pre-existent. Do you not think there might just be a teeny weeny bit of profit in that £3 for every 'free' voucher?

[JRM]

That is a very fair point and one I would agree with. What I do not know is whether the club knew beforehand and failed to advertise the fact, or something that came along with the ticket from Cardiff?

 

The club has a policy of of charging for services to cover costs, with the free option if you care to collect. Now if you can't see past what is being put into the club to make supporting Saints such a pleasure at the moment, you really are missing the point. The fact we are spending several millions in excess of our income does not register, or that the £3 booking fee does not even make a dent in it? Anyone who cares to look into their everyday purchases with far greater detail will find far more adrift than what is happening at Saints. If anyone can be looked upon as getting ripped off here it has to be the Liebherrs, whereas "fans" expect it all for nothing.

 

I agree we are fortunate for the investment and are lucky to have it, but the club will generate a great return on their investment if promoted they could sell for a hefty profit. Much of the expenditure on players has been offset by incoming £12M and rising for chamberlain, £400k for Gobern and any cash we get for Puncheon and Mills.

[COMEONYOUREDS]

Got my Cardiff tickets today. Inside there is a letter from Cardiff saying they have a limited number of FREE parking spaces available at the ground for families. These will be available through your own ticket office. So I phone up the TO, after much umming and ahhing the girl finally finds the parking vouchers, which are FREE, then tries to sting me for a £3 booking fee!

 

nobody cares

[Whitey Grandad]

nobody cares

 

I care.

[This Charming Man]

Let's be honest, it's hardly deserving of a 2 page thread. In fact, it barely deserves one at all.

 

The OP should contact The Echo. You should be able to get on the front page, as long as you hold up the parking ticket and look sad.

[up and away]

I agree we are fortunate for the investment and are lucky to have it, but the club will generate a great return on their investment if promoted they could sell for a hefty profit. Much of the expenditure on players has been offset by incoming £12M and rising for chamberlain, £400k for Gobern and any cash we get for Puncheon and Mills.

 

Great return on investment? Greek Euro bonds look far more attractive than a football club.

 

Football is not an investment, it's a place where if you want to end up with millions, you start with billions, it's a financial black hole. If you take all the money ploughed into Saints by the Liebherrs and look at the current value, you may be lucky to be about break even allowing for the exception sale of Oxo. Then compare that original outlay with the kind of return Liebherr had been getting in his other businesses and it does not make sense as a business proposition.

[Chez]

nobody cares

 

IMO allowing the club to bring in these charges without comment just encourages it to increase the fees and the prices going forward - if no one complains why wouldn't you increase them and bring new ones in? When the booking fee is £6 for everyone to buy each ticket will you care then? What about if the ticket prices are £40 next season, will you give a **** then? How about £1000 for a season ticket?

 

As I have already said, the club makes money from away tickets. Why the **** then are they charging a booking fee to buy them over the phone or on the internet?

The club benefits more the more fans go to away games, both in terms of support and commission. Charging a tax to buy away tickets certainly doesn't encourage me to buy one. Advertising things like free parking can only help to encourage fans to go to games, so why on earth would you try and charge for it?

 

I hear the term `run well' a lot these days. But is annoying fans by charging them to park at the ground whilst they travel to an away game actually running the club well? If those fans slowly disappear, the long term future of the club is being put at risk for relatively short term gains. Instead of looking at how the ticket office can turn a profit perhaps the club should be looking at how it can provide THE best service for its supporters (club members). We won't win games all the time over the next 50 years so maybe it's worth treating current fans with the utmost respect, and if need be cut the wage bill a fraction rather than bleeding every last penny from its supporters.

 

If football clubs in general don't wise up soon that fans are not cash cows, and that they need to feel like they are part of a club, a society, a group, all pulling together, then they are going to lose more of them until we have empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Who wants to be part of that club?

[capitalsaint]

Final straw for me. I'm off to follow Bournemouth.

 

Bye.

[The Kraken]

If football clubs in general don't wise up soon that fans are not cash cows, and that they need to feel like they are part of a club, a society, a group, all pulling together, then they are going to lose more of them until we have empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Who wants to be part of that club?

 

And yet, despite all the posturing and complaining, attendances at SFC have continued to rise since Cortese and all of his evil dastardly plans came through the door to start milking the customer dry.

 

Any fan who doesn't feel part of the club because he's asked to pay a small amount of extra money to get match tickets posted to him, or because he's asked to pay a pound for parking longer than 30 minutes at the stadium, is a little bit too sensitive IMO. The ticket tax in itself is a good idea, if arguably a pound or so too expensive in my view; but the amount of toys that have been thrown out of the pram about it is just plain ridiculous. Especially given that there are plenty of ways to avoid paying it, or to minimise the cost of it.

 

As to the OP, yeah he probably had a point that the ticket office could have let him know about parking when he booked the tickets. But if he didn't directly ask about it at the time, it's perhaps a forgivable oversight, and certainly didn't need all the gushing and wailing that the club has sunk to new, never seen before depths with this latest appalling infraction.

[JRM]

Great return on investment? Greek Euro bonds look far more attractive than a football club.

 

Football is not an investment, it's a place where if you want to end up with millions, you start with billions, it's a financial black hole. If you take all the money ploughed into Saints by the Liebherrs and look at the current value, you may be lucky to be about break even allowing for the exception sale of Oxo. Then compare that original outlay with the kind of return Liebherr had been getting in his other businesses and it does not make sense as a business proposition.

 

we could be here all day discussing this, but you have to look at how much they actually spent to aquire an asset of the club including the stadium and the land, it was an absolute bargain picking up the club in league one at it's lowest point.

IF we were to secure promotion this season with the guaranteed millions coming in from SKY and the additional TV revenue they would have no problem finding a buyer paying more than what they have invested.

Quite clearly buying a football club is not a way to make money, look at the mess others like Mike Ashley have got themselves into , but in the case of Saints it was an excellent investment opportunity. The sale of Chamberlain has distorted it, but make no mistake, with the crowds we have the club are naturally positioned for competiting towards the top of the championship based on income alone without additional owner investment.

The previous poster had made reference to "if anyone is being ripped off it is the Leibherrs" which is clearly not the case.

 

I hope they do stay involved with the club and see the potential and willing to invest more, hopefully the ownership will become clearer this season

[Sour Mash]

IMO allowing the club to bring in these charges without comment just encourages it to increase the fees and the prices going forward - if no one complains why wouldn't you increase them and bring new ones in? When the booking fee is £6 for everyone to buy each ticket will you care then? What about if the ticket prices are £40 next season, will you give a **** then? How about £1000 for a season ticket?

 

As I have already said, the club makes money from away tickets. Why the **** then are they charging a booking fee to buy them over the phone or on the internet?

The club benefits more the more fans go to away games, both in terms of support and commission. Charging a tax to buy away tickets certainly doesn't encourage me to buy one. Advertising things like free parking can only help to encourage fans to go to games, so why on earth would you try and charge for it?

 

I hear the term `run well' a lot these days. But is annoying fans by charging them to park at the ground whilst they travel to an away game actually running the club well? If those fans slowly disappear, the long term future of the club is being put at risk for relatively short term gains. Instead of looking at how the ticket office can turn a profit perhaps the club should be looking at how it can provide THE best service for its supporters (club members). We won't win games all the time over the next 50 years so maybe it's worth treating current fans with the utmost respect, and if need be cut the wage bill a fraction rather than bleeding every last penny from its supporters.

 

If football clubs in general don't wise up soon that fans are not cash cows, and that they need to feel like they are part of a club, a society, a group, all pulling together, then they are going to lose more of them until we have empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Who wants to be part of that club?

Unfortunately most fans don't give a f**k until it starts to directly affect them.

[Sour Mash]

Great return on investment? Greek Euro bonds look far more attractive than a football club.

 

Football is not an investment, it's a place where if you want to end up with millions, you start with billions, it's a financial black hole. If you take all the money ploughed into Saints by the Liebherrs and look at the current value, you may be lucky to be about break even allowing for the exception sale of Oxo. Then compare that original outlay with the kind of return Liebherr had been getting in his other businesses and it does not make sense as a business proposition.

We'll probably never know for certain, but I'm pretty certain that Ml and NC knew they got an absolute bargain with Saints and if we were sold now, would break even at an absolute minimum, if not a decent profit, which would definitely be the case if we were to be back up in the Prem in the next couple of years.

[doddisalegend]

Unfortunately most fans don't give a f**k until it starts to directly affect them.

 

Or while things are going well on the pitch (not that this one particularly upsets me I have to say)

[Appy]

Judging by the thread title I was hoping to hear it had gone down from 3 pounds.

[Dig Dig]

IMO allowing the club to bring in these charges without comment just encourages it to increase the fees and the prices going forward - if no one complains why wouldn't you increase them and bring new ones in? When the booking fee is £6 for everyone to buy each ticket will you care then? What about if the ticket prices are £40 next season, will you give a **** then? How about £1000 for a season ticket?

As I have already said, the club makes money from away tickets. Why the **** then are they charging a booking fee to buy them over the phone or on the internet?

The club benefits more the more fans go to away games, both in terms of support and commission. Charging a tax to buy away tickets certainly doesn't encourage me to buy one. Advertising things like free parking can only help to encourage fans to go to games, so why on earth would you try and charge for it?

 

I hear the term `run well' a lot these days. But is annoying fans by charging them to park at the ground whilst they travel to an away game actually running the club well? If those fans slowly disappear, the long term future of the club is being put at risk for relatively short term gains. Instead of looking at how the ticket office can turn a profit perhaps the club should be looking at how it can provide THE best service for its supporters (club members). We won't win games all the time over the next 50 years so maybe it's worth treating current fans with the utmost respect, and if need be cut the wage bill a fraction rather than bleeding every last penny from its supporters.

 

If football clubs in general don't wise up soon that fans are not cash cows, and that they need to feel like they are part of a club, a society, a group, all pulling together, then they are going to lose more of them until we have empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Who wants to be part of that club?

 

Bit far fetched considering we're talking about a very small fee. Are you seriously suggesting that because fans are paying these "taxes",it will lead to astronomical rise in season tickets? Tickets/season tickets will rise in accordance to where we are in the leagues and is all relative to on field success, supply and demand and external economic factors. It has nothing to do with what the club think they can get away with based on these fee's.

 

Anyway, none of this bothers me as I'm so stinking rich I'm always looking for an opportunity to offload some small change

[COMEONYOUREDS]

IMO allowing the club to bring in these charges without comment just encourages it to increase the fees and the prices going forward - if no one complains why wouldn't you increase them and bring new ones in? When the booking fee is £6 for everyone to buy each ticket will you care then? What about if the ticket prices are £40 next season, will you give a **** then? How about £1000 for a season ticket?

 

As I have already said, the club makes money from away tickets. Why the **** then are they charging a booking fee to buy them over the phone or on the internet?

The club benefits more the more fans go to away games, both in terms of support and commission. Charging a tax to buy away tickets certainly doesn't encourage me to buy one. Advertising things like free parking can only help to encourage fans to go to games, so why on earth would you try and charge for it?

 

I hear the term `run well' a lot these days. But is annoying fans by charging them to park at the ground whilst they travel to an away game actually running the club well? If those fans slowly disappear, the long term future of the club is being put at risk for relatively short term gains. Instead of looking at how the ticket office can turn a profit perhaps the club should be looking at how it can provide THE best service for its supporters (club members). We won't win games all the time over the next 50 years so maybe it's worth treating current fans with the utmost respect, and if need be cut the wage bill a fraction rather than bleeding every last penny from its supporters.

 

If football clubs in general don't wise up soon that fans are not cash cows, and that they need to feel like they are part of a club, a society, a group, all pulling together, then they are going to lose more of them until we have empty stadiums with no atmosphere. Who wants to be part of that club?

 

Cortese said he wants to be as transparent as possible, and has said the £3 tax is there to cover administration costs. You don't have to pay it, you could collect your tickets from the ground. I know this is not an option for some people (including me), but thats life. As long as I see serious continued investment in the team, I couldn't give a toss about my £3. A lot of other clubs charge booking fees, if the ticket 'tax' had been there before the takeover would you all be clamouring to have it removed? No.

 

The ticket prices were nearly £40 when we were last in the Premier League, and I didn't hear anybody whining about it then either. The ticket tax may **** a few people who then go and make a lot of noise about it, but have crowds gone down since it was implemented? Again no.

[once_bitterne]

[latter day saint]

Edited 15 September, 2011 by latter day saint

[Norm]

That's alright, Ticketmaster charge you (near) £6 handling fee per *TICKET* (not transaction) and then another (near) £7 to post the tickets to you.....

 

 

More fool those that use Ticketmaster.

[Norm]

 

This should come with a warning,

 

'Young children should not view this photo, as they could have nightmares for weeks after viewing'

[Thedelldays]

just curious..how much was it for a ticket in the northam in 2007 compared to now (inc £3 charge)

[COMEONYOUREDS]

in the 07/08 season it was £26

 

Tickets are now £27 + £3 booking fee)

Edited 15 September, 2011 by COMEONYOUREDS
Previous was bull ****

[Big Bad Bob]

More fool those that use Ticketmaster.

 

Sometimes you just don't have a choice....

[Thedelldays]

in the 07/08 season it was £26

 

Tickets are now £27 + £3 booking fee)

 

so, it is a £3 increase as such (that some can avoid if wish)

 

does this increase seen a a trend across an all the top 10 NPC clubs...??

 

be interesting to know what the price of the following teams in 2007 and now

 

Derby

Forest

Leicester

Cov

Cardiff

Leeds

Ipswich

[COMEONYOUREDS]

so, it is a £3 increase as such (that some can avoid if wish)

 

does this increase seen a a trend across an all the top 10 NPC clubs...??

 

be interesting to know what the price of the following teams in 2007 and now

 

Derby

Forest

Leicester

Cov

Cardiff

Leeds

Ipswich

 

I agree, I think we are priced competitively compared to the rest of the league, even when you include the £3 fee on top of just 1 ticket.

 

Worth noting you can buy a ticket in the family stand for £23 + booking fee if you are really tight

 

Derby have a complicated pricing structure, most tickets are over £30, although the cheapest is £25 for the lowest category matches. All of there tickets are £3 more on a matchday and charge a booking fee of £1 PER TICKET

 

Forest charge top category games - £33 and £28 (family stand), lower category £27 or £22 (family) booking fee of £1 PER TICKET and handling fee £1 per transaction. There is also a £2 matchday surcharge.

 

Leicester charge anywhere between £25 (family stand) and £40 for 'PLatinum' games and £20 and £38 for 'Gold' games. Doesn't say anything about a booking fee

 

Cov charge £22 or £27, which goes up £2 on matchday. Can't see anything re booking fee

 

Cardiff charge either 24, 26, 28 or 30, based on wehere you sit. Goes up £2 on matchday

 

Leeds is pretty complicated, 3 categories of games. Cheapest family stand ticket is £20, most expensive in the 'Bremner lounger' is £40. They charge £1.50 booking fee PER TICKET

 

Ipswich has the most complicated structure, about 20 different prices. Ranging from £25-57. They charge £1 per transaction

 

Sorry DD can't help you with 2007 prices!

[The Kraken]

The "£3" extra also needs to be broken down, as it's only true in a percentage of cases:

 

Some people only buy tickets from the ticket office (zero charge).

Some people buy tickets for a group of people (£3 shared between a number of people).

Some people buy single tickets but for a number of upcoming home games (£3 shared between a number of tickets).

 

So the actual £3 extra per ticket is only relevant to a handful of cases, and only where the tickets are being mailed out. I think the idea of a booking fee for telephone sales is entirely fair; although I'm not sure about the £3 cost, £1.50 would seem a fairer cost to me. I also agree with the charge for online sales, as it covers the cost of staffing, postage etc, but again I think the cost is too high. But in theory it is a fair system, as those that buy from the ground are not punished by an inclusive price for mail outs.

 

I also think our seating prices are pretty fair too, no complaints there.

 

I do think the prices for the corporate areas need addressing though; as highlighted by the huge swathes of empty seats there this season.

[Chez]

so, it is a £3 increase as such (that some can avoid if wish)

 

does this increase seen a a trend across an all the top 10 NPC clubs...??

 

be interesting to know what the price of the following teams in 2007 and now

 

Derby

Forest

Leicester

Cov

Cardiff

Leeds

Ipswich

more in line with the original post, how many of those clubs charge a booking fee to obtain a free family parking ticket from Cardiff City?

[teamsaint]

so, those who don't care about this stuff are prepared to pay whatever is asked for a service, however good or bad the service, and won't question additional rises and fees, whatever happens?

Personally, even with the Saints, the team I have followed through thick and thin for over 40 years, (including around 20 years almost never missing a home game) there comes a point where I stop paying.

A £3 admin charge for a football ticket is too much IMO. Won't stop me buying yet, but it doesn't help.

and if we get back the the PL...??tickets at £40+? someone else can pay that, because I won't, at least not very often. Shame, but there it is.

[The9]

The free parking tickets are already at Saints' TO so there's no cost at all to the club of giving them out other than a stamp and an envelope.

[Turkish]

 

That picture still cracks me up. They really do look upset dont they. 'ckin' hell, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

[The Kraken]

That picture still cracks me up. They really do look upset dont they. 'ckin' hell, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

 

Just imagine the photographer. "Now, could you scowl a little bit more? That's better, you look nice and miserable. OK, big nose at the back, if you could just squint your eyes a little bit more to make it seem like you've been crying, that would be great".

 

Dicks.

[manji]

Let's be honest, it's hardly deserving of a 2 page thread. In fact, it barely deserves one at all.

 

The OP should contact The Echo. You should be able to get on the front page, as long as you hold up the parking ticket and look sad.

LOL helps if you are butt ugly,overweight and badly dressed as well.

[dune]

Yet another Cortese tax on top of all the others. Fair enough charge for p+p, but 3 pounds is a disgrace. Slowly but surely we are ceasing to be a local club with local values and turning into a cold and sterile machine. Cortese can do this and get away with it (to an extent) while we are winning, but the fact is that peoples disposable incomes are being squeezed and these stealth taxes are enough to act as the straw that breaks the camels back when it comes to saying enoughs enough. I for one sincerely hope the national decline in attendance continues and that the same happens at Saints because this is just what the game needs.

[Frank's cousin]

Here we go again...Why dont fans see it as it is? We have a budget to pay for players and wegaes and all teh stuff we need to progress... given we are in the NPC approx 90% of the income to reach our budgetary needs comes from the fans pockets... now whether you charge it all in one go as a high ticket price, or split over various commercial revenue generating option is the choice the club makes...Spliting it makes sense as it means fans have more choice on what they spend their money on... what would you prefer in life - a single income tax, or a system we have now where VAT is added to things and you chose to buy what you want so pay the tax you want? same concept. As with government, they need the revenue to provide the service, less tax, crappier service (which teh tories dont mind as they have enough to go private), same with Saints, pay less 'tax', crappier side... You cant have one without the other so plaese for the love of.... cease this insestant moaning unless you are prepared to say catagorically you would be happier staying mid table in the NPC to keep things cheaper...

[Frank's cousin]

Yet another Cortese tax on top of all the others. Fair enough charge for p+p, but 3 pounds is a disgrace. Slowly but surely we are ceasing to be a local club with local values and turning into a cold and sterile machine. Cortese can do this and get away with it (to an extent) while we are winning, but the fact is that peoples disposable incomes are being squeezed and these stealth taxes are enough to act as the straw that breaks the camels back when it comes to saying enoughs enough. I for one sincerely hope the national decline in attendance continues and that the same happens at Saints because this is just what the game needs.

 

 

H Ha ha ha.... do you not get the Thatcherite mentality of all this, thought you love those tory ******s?

 

Simple: Just as the anti-christ Thatcher did (and that limp feckwit Cameron who was obvioulsy shat out of her back side) - Cortese is merely gioving choice to his cutomers on how they chose to fund the club and its success... but you tories are always the same, only support and action when its suits you and have have no self awareness when it comes to slagging the very principles that they defend when its one of their own... LOL