Season Tick Renewal - What's Going On!

[RoyalBlue]

If people want to make their point to the club, there are creative ways to publicly show their dissatisfaction, which are perfect protests for an issue like this which which isn't really that big a thing to many people.

For example, go along to the ticket office on April 28th and pay for season tickets in cash - all in pound coins.

The time taken to count these coins out plus the extra cash handling costs will be a significant pain to the club, and the protest will be made nicely - even better to have the local media outside taking pictures/filming people with their bags of pound coins. I'm sure they'd come along nicely, and the club would hate such bad publicity.

It's a proactive way for supporters to show that they are unhappy with what the club is doing but have to go along or risk losing their reserved seat, and it will make the point a whole lot better than whinging on internet message boards ever will.

And before someone says "why not pay in pennies?" - the club are legally obliged to accept any sum in £1 or £2 coins and notes since these are "unlimited legal tender", but there are legal limits on how many coins they have to accept, as these are "limited legal tender". The limits for each denomination are : £10 in 50p & 20p coins, £5 in 10p & 5p coins and 20p in bronze coins. Although the club might accept sums greater than these, they are not legally obliged to accept them - they are legally obliged to accept £1 coins up to any limit.

Nice idea Svlad but I suspect the club actually has a coin counting machine. They are comparatively cheap to buy, very quick and effective. Most clubs would hate the bad publicity but I'm not sure RFC really care that much (there have been several pretty passionate phonecalls regarding this matter broadcast on BBCRB recently without reaction from the club).

[weybridgewanderer]

palace announcing today that their fans had until Monday Feb 28th to renew their season tickets and obtain the "biggest" level of discount

[Royal Lady]

palace announcing today that their fans had until Monday Feb 28th to renew their season tickets and obtain the "biggest" level of discount

Yes - see prices on link below. But also note Don’t forget the sooner you submit
your application, the quicker your seat is guaranteed. Existing seats will be
held only until 30th June 2011

Why couldn't we do that? The club don't appear to have done as much research as they could have done.....

http://www.cpfc.co.uk/staticFiles/c5/5f/0,,10323~155589,00.pdf

[paultheroyal]

For example, go along to the ticket office on April 28th and pay for season tickets in cash - all in pound coins.

The time taken to count these coins out plus the extra cash handling costs will be a significant pain to the club

That is so old hat and for me someone that does that is a bit of a idiot to be honest.

No hardship for the club, dont you think they have tons of coins to bag up after each matchday? If its anything like our organisation the club will count the cash in front of customer (and be a pain to them) and literally bag it up and send to a banking / security cash company to bank and count on their behalf.

Like many on here, i dont see why the club has taken this stance with season tickets, and it would of really worked if they applied an additional discount. I fully expect them to make a concession in the coming months leading up to end of April, where they will extend it for a further 4 weeks.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

palace announcing today that their fans had until Monday Feb 28th to renew their season tickets and obtain the "biggest" level of discount

Yes - see prices on link below. But also note Don’t forget the sooner you submit
your application, the quicker your seat is guaranteed. Existing seats will be
held only until 30th June 2011

Why couldn't we do that? The club don't appear to have done as much research as they could have done.....

http://www.cpfc.co.uk/staticFiles/c5/5f/0,,10323~155589,00.pdf

TBF there is a fee for the installment plan, as shown in the table, can't see the table tho!!

CP prices are a deal higher than RFC, perhaps that is part of the reason they get lower crowds these days.

[Royal Lady]

You should be able to scroll down and see the list of ST prices - yes, some are a lot more expensive - but the most comparable ones to ours are in the Holmesdale Stand:

£345 if you renew in Nov-Dec
£400 if you renew in Jan-Feb
£440 if you renew Mar-Apr


Now, if we had the option of getting season tickets some £95+ cheaper by renewing earlier, but with a guarantee that we could still have our seat until 30 June if we didn't - that would have put a totally different slant on things.

Besides the alleged "incentive" of getting our usual seat, we get £20 off a ticket, which ends up being £5 if you use their 4 months "interest free" payment option, due to the £15 "administration fee".

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Thats not strictly true tho, as we charge the same for all other than the Upper west. The Upper Holmesdale is £560, or £420 very early, for behind the goal views. Arthur Wait and main are like our east and west, 420 and 460 if renewed pre Xmas(ish, and 50 /575 if renewed b4 end of april, not sure that is comparable at all for the same views. No mention of price after April.

[Royal Lady]

That's as maybe, but my point is that they get far more incentive to pay earlier - look at the reductions in the ticket prices - if RFC had REALLY done their research, they'd have maybe done a similar thing - and I'm not saying people wouldn't have moaned about that either - but if there is an incentive, BUT you can still hang onto your seat until the end of June, at least they are offering more than RFC are. And that might be why "research has shown that the earlier you offer STs, the more success you get" in selling more season tickets. The way RFC have gone about it, I really can't see MORE people buying season tickets as a result of the earlier renewal window, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

[Wimb]

Very good points RL

But to throw another argument into the mix (apologies if it has been done) would be to suggest that instead of seeing it as 'losing' your seat, perhaps it rewards those who are prepared to gamble on next season and part of that reward may be a greater choice of seats.

Again I'm not saying that's the right thing to do, but it is one of the 'perks' of buying a ST.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I cannot agree that RFC should have falsely upped the price of ST to reflect a saving that is not really there.

Much like the supermarkets and many of their misleading sales promotions.

[Schards#2]

Tbf, they didn't up the price - it's the same as last year - but £20 more if you don't renew early. Or £35 more if you renew early and take advantage of their 4 months "interest free" offer - or a lot more if you pay 19.9% APR for the 10 month instalment option.

^^ and this is RL, not realising Schards was logged in!

[Sarah Star]

If people want to make their point to the club, there are creative ways to publicly show their dissatisfaction, which are perfect protests for an issue like this which which isn't really that big a thing to many people.

For example, go along to the ticket office on April 28th and pay for season tickets in cash - all in pound coins.

The time taken to count these coins out plus the extra cash handling costs will be a significant pain to the club, and the protest will be made nicely - even better to have the local media outside taking pictures/filming people with their bags of pound coins. I'm sure they'd come along nicely, and the club would hate such bad publicity.

It's a proactive way for supporters to show that they are unhappy with what the club is doing but have to go along or risk losing their reserved seat, and it will make the point a whole lot better than whinging on internet message boards ever will.

And before someone says "why not pay in pennies?" - the club are legally obliged to accept any sum in £1 or £2 coins and notes since these are "unlimited legal tender", but there are legal limits on how many coins they have to accept, as these are "limited legal tender". The limits for each denomination are : £10 in 50p & 20p coins, £5 in 10p & 5p coins and 20p in bronze coins. Although the club might accept sums greater than these, they are not legally obliged to accept them - they are legally obliged to accept £1 coins up to any limit.

If those that are going to renew pay on or around the deadline - which I suspect many will do - won't that inconvenience the club anyway? It would probably crash their system judging by previously popular buying times.

[TFF]

We should all turn up at 5 to 5 on the last day and riot if they try to close the ticket office.

[Gordons Cumming]

I don't understand why people need to know what the team is before they commit to a ST.

You're supporting Reading FC whatever the team line up.

Aren't you...................?

Or maybe I'm just a little old fashioned.....................

[SLAMMED]

^ 'greed.

[Row Z Royal]

I don't understand why people need to know what the team is before they commit to a ST.

You're supporting Reading FC whatever the team line up.

Aren't you...................?

Or maybe I'm just a little old fashioned.....................

Exactly. Not sure what the fuss is all about...

[Big Foot]

We have tried to offer a positive proposition by holding adult prices despite the VAT increase and reducing concession prices, keeping u16s at £99, including a free members pack and doubling the RFC voucher from £10 to £20.

When the VAT rate went down to 15% a while ago, I asked the club if I could have a refund on my season ticket for that service and got told no. So, if prices don't go down when VAT decreases then surely they don't go up when VAT increases? Unless - heaven forbid - it's a smokescreen of bullshit behind which the club can hide

[RoyalBlue]

I don't understand why people need to know what the team is before they commit to a ST.

You're supporting Reading FC whatever the team line up.

Aren't you...................?

Or maybe I'm just a little old fashioned.....................

Exactly. Not sure what the fuss is all about...

Things changed somewhat once clubs (not just RFC) declared they were businesses and started treating their supporters as customers - often without much customer service or care.

If you were a customer of another business, would you be happy to pay good money up front for a product if there was quite a strong likelihood that the business would change the spec and subsequently deliver you a product of significantly lower quality than that previously enjoyed?

However, for me and many others, that is the lesser issue. The bigger concern, as frequently repeated, is that the club are telling us that we have to renew a month earlier in order to keep the same seats that many chose at the time of the move to the Mad Stad.

As for the extra inducements/offerings, are they really going to be worth much?

[Gordons Cumming]

I don't understand why people need to know what the team is before they commit to a ST.

You're supporting Reading FC whatever the team line up.

Aren't you...................?

Or maybe I'm just a little old fashioned.....................

Exactly. Not sure what the fuss is all about...

Things changed somewhat once clubs (not just RFC) declared they were businesses and started treating their supporters as customers - often without much customer service or care.

If you were a customer of another business, would you be happy to pay good money up front for a product if there was quite a strong likelihood that the business would change the spec and subsequently deliver you a product of significantly lower quality than that previously enjoyed?

However, for me and many others, that is the lesser issue. The bigger concern, as frequently repeated, is that the club are telling us that we have to renew a month earlier in order to keep the same seats that many chose at the time of the move to the Mad Stad.

As for the extra inducements/offerings, are they really going to be worth much?

Forgive me but aren't you missing the point of supporting a football club?
It's not like any other business.

For me it's the Reading Til I Die scenario.........

[Wimb]

If you are that bothered about your seat then you'll pay up early. Just because you've happened to have it since we moved to the stadium doesn't give you a right to it next season. Maybe someone else wants it so badly they're prepared to pay up early for it.

If you want your seat and to secure it, the club are giving you the chance to do so by buying before April 28th. It's regrettable that the scenario/deadlines have changed but that's just the way it is.