Angel Season ticket Customer Service (My diatribe)

[Nowani]

Just posting to get other peoples impression of the Season Ticket customer service that  others are receiving.

 

My own impressions is that there has been a big degradation in customer service the last few years. I used to have Matt Swanson as my rep and he was awesome.I was shocked when I found out he was let go last year because of down sizing. I have had bad experiences with my new season ticket rep and I complained to a VP within the organization and was very surprised that there really is no effort at the higher levels to work out issues for customers like me. Her resonse of we can't help you is actually perpetuated from the top based on his reply.

 

Previously, I have had issues with ticket exchange as I can't list all my tickets together. One shows as a single and the other 4 are grouped. I tried to get all 5 grouped together as they are consecutive seats and should be sold that way. Asked if I can get help the answers is  no because I added a single seat to my account this year and it can't be group with my other 4 from last year. Made no sense but since TicketExchange is a bust anyway so I didnt persue it.

 

What really took me over the edge was my latest issue. I have a group of 14 seats that I sell to help pay for my club seats. For low priority games I often give these away. Next week I wanted to give the tickets away to the kids on my sons little league team. We are going to get the parents and kids together for this. My 14 seats are in the third level section 427. One of the Fathers is wheelchair bound and there is no handicap seating in the upper levels.I contacted my season rep and asked if I can swap them for seats in the top level of the family section (P258) near the wheelchair access only so we can include this father. It's a low priority game and currently there are hundreds of seats available out there. She said it's not possible to do that and I would have to purchase tickets out there but in fairness did offer me group rates. I emailed a VP and got the same response. His answer was this "we do not extend special benefits, such as exchanges,to these customers for risk of alienating the balance of our base.". He is talking about people like me who carry extra tickets to "subsidize" other seats.

 

Anyway, I probably over reacted to this and maybe it's fair for the Angels to do this but I do get one clear message in that response, the Angels do not want customers like me and it was very clear in the way he responded to my email. They want to kill the secondary market. I have no doubts they will have succedded in doing that next year.

 

A sports season ticket in someway is like a stock. There is value in it for resale that changes over time. Next year that will no longer be the case with the Angels and there probably will be a mass exedous of Season ticket holder who resale and also those who are dissapointed in this years performance. That will leave the Angels with a lot of seats to sell on their own market at their price. Question is will people pay those prices or we will we see all time low attendance at the Big A next year (Below 20k?).

 

I commented to the VP that I though you would be doing everyhing in your power to try and keep season ticket holder happy but I got no response on that. I am very dissapointed in how this organization is now being run at all levels.

 

 

 

[halobob]

Defintiely weak sauce on the Angels part there.  If its a low priority game they wont end up coming close to selling out the left field pavillion.

[ScottT]

TicketExchange is a joke.

 

Next year will be interesting.

[T.G.]

I used to have Arthur Felix as my ticket rep and he was awesome - but he took another job.  I don't really interact with my current rep.  I'll leave it at that. 

 

I'm not a fan of the ticket exchange at all. Some of their policies don't make any sense what-so-ever, but I don't really have the energy to dive into specifics.  Overall, they're just okay... not great... not horrible.

[YouthofToday]

In doubt there is an exodus of season ticket holders.

[Aaronkv]

I still sell my seats on Stubhub, just sucks not being able to do it last second. Although this year I haven't eaten one game that I couldn't attend. I include the parking pass since I send UPS and maybe that's why they sell better. The Ticket Exchange is horrible, not user friendly at all like stubhub was with its tools to see whats selling when where and how much.

 

I've had 3 different reps in 6 years and never had a bad experience dealing with any of them. Even asked about field passes for the Saturday concerts and gotten some for free, at the time I asked I had no clue you could buy them, I just asked how to get them and got a reply that they're under your name at will-call. They've always responded fast to my questions since I've had tickets.

[Nowani]

I still sell my seats on Stubhub, just sucks not being able to do it last second. Although this year I haven't eaten one game that I couldn't attend. I include the parking pass since I send UPS and maybe that's why they sell better. The Ticket Exchange is horrible, not user friendly at all like stubhub was with its tools to see whats selling when where and how much.

 

I've had 3 different reps in 6 years and never had a bad experience dealing with any of them. Even asked about field passes for the Saturday concerts and gotten some for free, at the time I asked I had no clue you could buy them, I just asked how to get them and got a reply that they're under your name at will-call. They've always responded fast to my questions since I've had tickets.

 

 

Nice! Well I'm convinced my season ticket rep just hates me. We just had another interesting exchange today, Since they won't swap out my 14 seats for nosebleeds that include handicap access, I asked if I can bring a group of 25 to the knothole restaurant. She said no we can't do that. I asked her if 4 families on their own (in my group) can make reservations for 6 and we just end up sitting wherever she said no we can't do that. This is what she emailed me verbatim

 

 

"No, I cannot give you a pass for 25 people, nor can I give you multiple passes for smaller amounts of people.  Knothole Club pass requests are only available to Season Seat Holders, not to the general public.  Having your families call to make pass requests and reservations individually would not be permitted.  I understand you are a Season Seat Holder, and you are more than welcome to request a pass, but not for 25 people.

 

The only solution at this point is to buy a reduced price group, or to sit in your season seats separately and purchase the additional you need.

 

Please let me know if you would like me to help you with the group purchase. "

 

 

Again we are not sitting in my seats as a group in order to accommodate a handicap father on our little league team as 427 has no handicap access. I am really dismayed how this is being handled.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Also don't forget that according to the club, the tickets you hold are still theirs, that you are only renting them and they can revoke them at their whim.

 

Customer service is truly dead with the Angels.

[pattimelt]

Go to the stadium ticket lobby (that green door next to the home plate entrance), and my fellow employees in the regular ticket office can help you and we will switch the seats for you to something where all can go together. Can give you 4 in the actual "wheelchair row" and the rest in the row in front if they are available. 

Just posting to get other peoples impression of the Season Ticket customer service that  others are receiving.

 

My own impressions is that there has been a big degradation in customer service the last few years. I used to have Matt Swanson as my rep and he was awesome.I was shocked when I found out he was let go last year because of down sizing. I have had bad experiences with my new season ticket rep and I complained to a VP within the organization and was very surprised that there really is no effort at the higher levels to work out issues for customers like me. Her resonse of we can't help you is actually perpetuated from the top based on his reply.

 

Previously, I have had issues with ticket exchange as I can't list all my tickets together. One shows as a single and the other 4 are grouped. I tried to get all 5 grouped together as they are consecutive seats and should be sold that way. Asked if I can get help the answers is  no because I added a single seat to my account this year and it can't be group with my other 4 from last year. Made no sense but since TicketExchange is a bust anyway so I didnt persue it.

 

What really took me over the edge was my latest issue. I have a group of 14 seats that I sell to help pay for my club seats. For low priority games I often give these away. Next week I wanted to give the tickets away to the kids on my sons little league team. We are going to get the parents and kids together for this. My 14 seats are in the third level section 427. One of the Fathers is wheelchair bound and there is no handicap seating in the upper levels.I contacted my season rep and asked if I can swap them for seats in the top level of the family section (P258) near the wheelchair access only so we can include this father. It's a low priority game and currently there are hundreds of seats available out there. She said it's not possible to do that and I would have to purchase tickets out there but in fairness did offer me group rates. I emailed a VP and got the same response. His answer was this "we do not extend special benefits, such as exchanges,to these customers for risk of alienating the balance of our base.". He is talking about people like me who carry extra tickets to "subsidize" other seats.

 

Anyway, I probably over reacted to this and maybe it's fair for the Angels to do this but I do get one clear message in that response, the Angels do not want customers like me and it was very clear in the way he responded to my email. They want to kill the secondary market. I have no doubts they will have succedded in doing that next year.

 

A sports season ticket in someway is like a stock. There is value in it for resale that changes over time. Next year that will no longer be the case with the Angels and there probably will be a mass exedous of Season ticket holder who resale and also those who are dissapointed in this years performance. That will leave the Angels with a lot of seats to sell on their own market at their price. Question is will people pay those prices or we will we see all time low attendance at the Big A next year (Below 20k?).

 

I commented to the VP that I though you would be doing everyhing in your power to try and keep season ticket holder happy but I got no response on that. I am very dissapointed in how this organization is now being run at all levels.

[pattimelt]

THIS is where MY department is better than the SSH reps.. we can fix stuff like that because my boss believes in giving EXCELLENT customer service..  Nowani, PLEASE let us fix this for you..  Anybody in the office can actually do it. If I was there in a window, I could get it fixed for you, but I'm off all weekend..

[Nowani]

THIS is where MY department is better than the SSH reps.. we can fix stuff like that because my boss believes in giving EXCELLENT customer service..  Nowani, PLEASE let us fix this for you..  Anybody in the office can actually do it. If I was there in a window, I could get it fixed for you, but I'm off all weekend..

 

Patti, I appreciate this but I took this all the way to the top (VP of Sales). God I hope that is not your boss (R.A) His response to me was they would not move my seats and I would have to purchase new ones for the whole group of 25. I definitely don't want to get you in trouble so please don't  help with this. If a direct report to Arte is supporting this policy then do not do something different than what they dictate.

 

His response to me focused on the risk I take as a SSH whom purchases extra seats in order to subsidize another location (which is exactly what I do). I could tell by his response that the Angles really frown on this so he was willing to do zero to help me. If I was a season ticket holder with 4 seats I'm sure it would be different but because I have 16 seats I am looked upon as competing with Angels Sales since I resell 14 of them.

 

Thanks anyway but please do not help me as I value your kindness for reaching out and I don't want to jeopardize your job.

[mancini79]

Nowani, tell the rep that the handicapped father is a Yankees fan. That should get it done...or might even upgrade your seats to Field Level.

 

 

You are welcome.

[Nowani]

Go to the stadium ticket lobby (that green door next to the home plate entrance), and my fellow employees in the regular ticket office can help you and we will switch the seats for you to something where all can go together. Can give you 4 in the actual "wheelchair row" and the rest in the row in front if they are available. 

 

By the way Patti this is exactly what I asked in my first communication to my SSH rep and I did this many days in advance so as to not hit up the front lobby with this on game day as I know they would be busy. I also asked to purchase 10-15 additional tickets from the angels directly instead of on the secondary market where I know I could get them cheaper. In the last few days my SSH, and I assume this is supported all the way to the top, has done everything in their power to block this including my suggestion to allow us to eat in the knothole and then have half the group leave and go sit in my season seats.

 

So now I will just buy the rest on the secondary Market and I do my best to get this handicapped father include in our activities.

[mancini79]

This idea might be the best. Hamiltown has been getting great deals from 714 Tickets. Call them and let them know what you are trying to do. They could swap the 14 tickets to the 500 level then give you a great deal for the remaining tickets you need.

 

I've also made reservations to the Knothole without being a SSH.

[pattimelt]

But we actually do this on a regular basis for guests that come to the windows, if they need to switch. And at the inside advance ticket windows if you are already in the stadium..   That's what I don't get..  

By the way Patti this is exactly what I asked in my first communication to my SSH rep and I did this many days in advance so as to not hit up the front lobby with this on game day as I know they would be busy. I also asked to purchase 10-15 additional tickets from the angels directly instead of on the secondary market where I know I could get them cheaper. In the last few days my SSH, and I assume this is supported all the way to the top, has done everything in their power to block this including my suggestion to allow us to eat in the knothole and then have half the group leave and go sit in my season seats.

 

So now I will just buy the rest on the secondary Market and I do my best to get this handicapped father include in our activities.

[2002_halos_II]

Do the SSH Reps get commissions?

[The God of Runs]

There will definitely be a substantial decrease in season ticket holders.  I was one until 2010 season which was when they started to jerk around with the pricing.  The kinds of things they've doing now is beyond ridiculous, and even more so with the team performing well below expectations

[pattimelt]

Do the SSH Reps get commissions?

Yes, they do..

[katie]

They get commission during renewals. The rest of the year they don't because they're customer service and not selling anything (unless they can get you to buy group tickets). The pay isn't great and in sports people don't stay at a job very long.

[DowningRules]

Give Patti a giant star for offering to help on this.  She deserves a shout out.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Give Patti a giant star for offering to help on this.  She deserves a shout out.

 

Definitely. She proved that at least one person in the Angels ticket office cares about the fans.

[mancini79]

Give Patti a giant star for offering to help on this.  She deserves a shout out.

 

Very true. She is trying to find a way to make it happen besides the usual "no"

[RenoHalo]

This kind of shit really sucks to hear. Everybody in this org should be kissing every fan's ass this year for showing up to drop a couple hundo to watch this awful baseball team.

[pattimelt]

But see, this is one of those situations that my boss is TRYING to fix.  YES, the BIG BOSS is Robert Alvarado. But MY direct boss is Johnny. He was hired to make customer service a priority in our office.  And there are those of us in the windows that try to help as much as we can.  Some people have been there forever, and, to me, at least, are just there for the hourly wage, and they don't care anymore. For me, it goes back to working at Disney and trying to "make magic".  No, I can't work miracles.  But within our rules, I can do some things.  I exchange tickets for people on a daily basis.  I had a customer yesterday that came with 4 tickets to one of these Yankee games, and she needed to exchange them. She had Sunday tickets, but needed Friday tickets because her son was going to be in a tournament.  Her tickets FACE VALUE was $85 each.. I got her the same TYPE of tickets (she was in 132, I put her in 131)- AND she had an extra $100.. since there are no refunds, I asked her if she would like tickets to another game, so she didn't have to lose that money.  She ended up with more tickets, and only lost $4 from the original cost of her 4 tickets. 

[mp170.6]

They need to outsource all ticket sales to Pattimelt, Inc.