Season Tick Renewal - What's Going On!

[PieEater]

If there were incentives for renewing early I don't think anyone would have a problem, it's the threats of renew early or potentially lose your seat that I have a problem with. There is no delay option.

[weybridgewanderer]

And still no response to my letter - which, I think, tells me everything I need to know about what the club thinks about its fans. And after 30 years of supporting RFC both home and away, the majority of those years having paid in advance for a season ticket, it really does stick in the throat.

As of this morning, 43% of those who answered the poll said they would not renew. 34% said they were and 13% said they were undecided. You can't transpose this across the whole fan base, but even if only 20% of fans do not renew by 28 April, with us currently having 11,000 st holder (I think that's the number anyway), the club would need to find over 2,200 more people deciding to get a ST before deciding that this early renewal scheme has brought them "success". Even if that does happen, the club will have alienated those fans who have expressed an opinion and been dismissed by a bog standard response or ignored altogether, all for the sake of, at most, a couple of hundred new renewals.

you wrote to the board of directors rather than an individual on the board?
as i said earlier, they do not write back the next day
you should expect to hear back in a few weeks, potentially after a board meeting has been held.
at the board meeting I would expect an agenda item, "correspondance received"
they will discuss the themes, rather than individual leters and then respond to them all accordingly

[Royal Monk]

Make your mind up !!!!

Royal Lady wrote ...

Not had a reply to my letter. Not going to lose any sleep over it though

and then

And after 30 years of supporting RFC both home and away, the majority of those years having paid in advance for a season ticket, it really does stick in the throat.

[RoyalBlue]

If there were incentives for renewing early I don't think anyone would have a problem, it's the threats of renew early or potentially lose your seat that I have a problem with. There is no delay option.

Yep, it's bleedin' damn obvious. Yet still the club and the likes of West Stand Man fail to grasp it.

[West Stand Man]

If there were incentives for renewing early I don't think anyone would have a problem, it's the threats of renew early or potentially lose your seat that I have a problem with. There is no delay option.

Yep, it's bleedin' damn obvious. Yet still the club and the likes of West Stand Man fail to grasp it.

Which bit of the price incentive are you missing?

[Royal Lady]

It's the "losing the seat" bit that is the most annoying tbh.

There are no "real" incentives - and tbh, if people don't renew by 28 April, I don't see the point of them renewing afterwards if they are going to lose their seat, although people who sit on their own may not be that bothered, people who sit with other family members/friends will.

And I'm not losing sleep over it - but I'm sure it really wouldn't have hurt for someone to acknowledge it. But there you go. I'm just in a "minority" of ST holders who have responded, so they probably won't bother anyway.

[Schards#2]

And still no response to my letter - which, I think, tells me everything I need to know about what the club thinks about its fans. And after 30 years of supporting RFC both home and away, the majority of those years having paid in advance for a season ticket, it really does stick in the throat.

As of this morning, 43% of those who answered the poll said they would not renew. 34% said they were and 13% said they were undecided. You can't transpose this across the whole fan base, but even if only 20% of fans do not renew by 28 April, with us currently having 11,000 st holder (I think that's the number anyway), the club would need to find over 2,200 more people deciding to get a ST before deciding that this early renewal scheme has brought them "success". Even if that does happen, the club will have alienated those fans who have expressed an opinion and been dismissed by a bog standard response or ignored altogether, all for the sake of, at most, a couple of hundred new renewals.

I can't believe that this thread has gone on for so long.

Of the 43% who say they won't renew I would bet that a fair proportion will. Maybe they will wait until after this deadline, for whatever reason, but I'll bet most do come back to the fold. This isn't a 'you must buy before this date or you can't have a ticket. It is a pretty simple marketing plan to get some early sales in. If you don't want to buy now (and I think those who genuinely can't afford to are in a minority of the complainants) then that's fine, just pay the premium for delaying.

It is, however, a case of 'you must buy before this date or you can't have the ticket of your choice'. Many people sit with family and friends and wouldn't want to sit on their own elsewhere.

[Jackson Corner]

I have recieved a letter today from the club asking me to renew my parking space. Being disabled I have no option as I need the parking space. Are the club that hard up they are now pressuring the vunrable to part with there money a full 6 months before the next season starts.

[West Stand Man]

[

It is, however, a case of 'you must buy before this date or you can't have the ticket of your choice'. Many people sit with family and friends and wouldn't want to sit on their own elsewhere.

Not quite. It is 'you need to buy before this date if you want to guarantee keeping the same seat'.

I don't recall anything saying that you can't keep that seat after that date - if it hasn't been taken up by someone else. Mind you, as the weight of opinion here is that no-one is going to renew in this timescale and neither is anyone going to buy a ST anyway(given how 'poorly' they have been treated) it is pretty certain that those seats will be available after the closure date so there is no rush is there? You can't have your cake ......

[Royal Lady]

Well, well, postman just delivered me a letter from Nigel Howe

"Thank you for taking the time to write to us concerning the season ticket renewal deadline.

As you have already been made aware, the basis for our decision to bring the renewal deadline forward by 5 weeks is that research shows that the earlier season tickets go on sale, the more supporters take up the offer, which we believe is better for all concerned, every supporter wants to see crowds as high as possible. We always advocate sensible financial management of the club and this also sits with that approach.

We do understand it's not easy for anybody at the moment and do sympathize with supporters' concerns about bring the closing date forward. However, we have held ticket prices and given 11 weeks to renew, as well as offering two separate payment schemes to spread the cost.

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.

We are aware that both you and your husband have been season ticket holders now for many seasons and would like to take this opportunity to thank you both for the loyal support you continue to give to Reading Football Club."

[Royal Lady]

And still no response to my letter - which, I think, tells me everything I need to know about what the club thinks about its fans. And after 30 years of supporting RFC both home and away, the majority of those years having paid in advance for a season ticket, it really does stick in the throat.

As of this morning, 43% of those who answered the poll said they would not renew. 34% said they were and 13% said they were undecided. You can't transpose this across the whole fan base, but even if only 20% of fans do not renew by 28 April, with us currently having 11,000 st holder (I think that's the number anyway), the club would need to find over 2,200 more people deciding to get a ST before deciding that this early renewal scheme has brought them "success". Even if that does happen, the club will have alienated those fans who have expressed an opinion and been dismissed by a bog standard response or ignored altogether, all for the sake of, at most, a couple of hundred new renewals.

I can't believe that this thread has gone on for so long.

Of the 43% who say they won't renew I would bet that a fair proportion will. Maybe they will wait until after this deadline, for whatever reason, but I'll bet most do come back to the fold. This isn't a 'you must buy before this date or you can't have a ticket. It is a pretty simple marketing plan to get some early sales in. If you don't want to buy now (and I think those who genuinely can't afford to are in a minority of the complainants) then that's fine, just pay the premium for delaying.

Maybe they will, I've expressed that already, the poll was "WILL YOU RENEW BY 28 APRIL".

[Royal Lady]

And still no response to my letter - which, I think, tells me everything I need to know about what the club thinks about its fans. And after 30 years of supporting RFC both home and away, the majority of those years having paid in advance for a season ticket, it really does stick in the throat.

As of this morning, 43% of those who answered the poll said they would not renew. 34% said they were and 13% said they were undecided. You can't transpose this across the whole fan base, but even if only 20% of fans do not renew by 28 April, with us currently having 11,000 st holder (I think that's the number anyway), the club would need to find over 2,200 more people deciding to get a ST before deciding that this early renewal scheme has brought them "success". Even if that does happen, the club will have alienated those fans who have expressed an opinion and been dismissed by a bog standard response or ignored altogether, all for the sake of, at most, a couple of hundred new renewals.

you wrote to the board of directors rather than an individual on the board?
as i said earlier, they do not write back the next day
you should expect to hear back in a few weeks, potentially after a board meeting has been held.
at the board meeting I would expect an agenda item, "correspondance received"
they will discuss the themes, rather than individual leters and then respond to them all accordingly

Shows what you know then.

[West Stand Man]

Maybe they will, I've expressed that already, the poll was "WILL YOU RENEW BY 28 APRIL".

Too true it does, but the general thrust of the comments here are that people won't renew at all, in protest. Anyway, I will be renewing and I am content that this is a valid marketing ploy. It may or may not prove to be a good one - we shall see!

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Quite honestly for a long time my view of RL and Schards(less so) is I'm alright jack, now we have a new person to take the mantle step forward West Stand Man.

Standing up for yourself and fellow followers costs nothing, a letter here and there, comment to the club when you see something you are unhappy with.

I now hope in all seriousness that RL Schards and family now walk away from having a ST and attend games as and when they see fit, it is a fecking shame that after so many years, especially for the older relatives that RFC have acted in such a manner. They will all have enough points to attend all games they choose, and should they take this course of action I hope a follow up letter to Mr Howe follows.

However tho they may have enough points, when push comes to shove getting 4 or more decent seats together for the more popular games could prove difficult, which was why we were not selling out all games when we should have, as only single seats wereusually available.

We shall see.

[Royal Lady]

Oh really? I've never thought I'd given an "I'm alright Jack" attitude towards anything to do with the club. As it happens, if we want to renew our season tickets (and probably my son's as well - though his dad usually buys it) we can afford to - doesn't mean the way the club have handled this is right though. I'm not making a stand for me, per se, I'm making it to show the club that even some of the "I'm alright Jack's" think it's wrong.

[West Stand Man]

And, for completely different reasons, I am not saying 'I'm alright Jack' either.

I will renew because I want to keep my seats. I will not make an unnecessary (for me) protest about it. I am happy to fight the good fight when it is worth the effort - but this isn't one of those events (for me).

All power to you who do think this is a major issue, just can't see it myself.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Call to BBC Berks talking about it now. Gooding and Dellor having trouble which side of the fence to go for, Gooding more open IMHO.

[westendgirl]

It's the "losing the seat" bit that is the most annoying tbh.

There are no "real" incentives

I am not saying they are right but the incentive is not losing your seat, and it seems a crucial one to a lot hence the outcry.

[Svlad Cjelli]

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.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Big difference between offering a sweetener to renew, and giving a threat as to what will happen if you do not in the deadline period.

Having seen the N Howe reply I am still sure they have made a mistake, IMHO ST's are not bad value now, and the club seem to want to keep prices low, an alternative would have been to offer renewals at a discount(£375 sounds fair-£16-30p a game) , but any renewals and new ST holders after April Deadline could have been dearer (£425, 18-50p a game), but with seats saved till June. With single games at £23 in advance it is a signifigant saving IMHO. ANd as we have seen ST holders have been getting a good deal on Cup games as well.

Once again they have not taken a chance to offer a family area, or from what is on the official site trying to move the flash point of Y26