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Season Tickets

Lark

Vital Football Hero
Saw this post on KentOnline and thought it was a good summary of many season ticket holders’ current feelings, I believe WXGill is still waiting for a proper resolution having asked for a refund?

“Fans are regularly saying they missed the game on I-follow, and how pleased they are at saving 10...and who can blame them given the quality of entertainment on offer. Poor at best.
But what about the season ticket holders who parted with their money in advance and are currently paying more than 13 a game with no chance of saving anything if they miss a game? Us STH lost out on about 60 of games last season and if we watch all 23 home games on I-follow this season we will be another 70 plus out of pocket.
All this is completely taken for granted by GFC with not even a thank you or acknowledgment for our donation. Ive been a Rainham End STH for over 25 years
but am very, very seriously thinking of calling it a day due to the (in my opinion) total lack of respect being shown to me by the club. A refund is not required but a thank you is!”
 
I agree with the sentiment... ...but hasn’t Scally said “thank you” to season ticket holders very publicly and on several occasions? What does s/be REALLY want?

From Scally in Sept:
"I’d like to thank all those that bought their tickets during that period for remaining patient and understanding the huge significance and benefit those funds have been to the business. Your funds have been the difference between surviving or not surviving.
“It is no exaggeration when I say that had we not had the funds those sales achieved from our loyal supporters, we may well not be playing our first competitive game, albeit behind closed doors, this coming Saturday, nor would I have had the funds to allow (manager) Steve Evans to go out and sign the players we have brought to the club to add to the seven contracted players we had at the end of July.”
 
If you have ever needed a mate to bail you out financially (fortunately I haven't).You must get that money back to him or her .If the money was for a job that perhaps due to illness you could not complete so you had a over payment you would offer it to him back .He might need it more than you.In the fullness of time Scally might be able to return the funds without problems. But that could be too late for some people for various reasons.A small percentage of fans would have been in need enough to take funds .Feeding the kids for example is more important than football.
 
I agree with the sentiment... ...but hasn’t Scally said “thank you” to season ticket holders very publicly and on several occasions? What does s/be REALLY want?

From Scally in Sept:
"I’d like to thank all those that bought their tickets during that period for remaining patient and understanding the huge significance and benefit those funds have been to the business. Your funds have been the difference between surviving or not surviving.
“It is no exaggeration when I say that had we not had the funds those sales achieved from our loyal supporters, we may well not be playing our first competitive game, albeit behind closed doors, this coming Saturday, nor would I have had the funds to allow (manager) Steve Evans to go out and sign the players we have brought to the club to add to the seven contracted players we had at the end of July.”

If the OP was one of the comments on a KoL article, it might be an idea to reply to it with that same quote from PS.

But I doubt the poster really wants to hear that.

Having said that, I fully agree with those S/T holders about a general lack of communication from the club. Did I read that some portion of the handouts from the EPL were supposed to be for s/t refunds where required/requested?
 
We have covered this at length previously but my personal view is that the communication that eventually came out needed to be far earlier.

I don't want a refund and more importantly don't need one but others may not be so fortunate if they have lost their jobs during this last year. The option for a refund should have been there and then scally can rightly thank those who waived it.

Hes right that people not demanding refunds probably saved the club but as always I dont feel valued as a customer by scally.

That's always been the case with scally and I suspect always will.

Other clubs in our league did a much better job of handling this but no great surprise. I think one of the few things we agree on as a board is that his customer affinity is poor.

Next seasons offering will be interesting. A small discount to current ST holders would be a welcome gesture of goodwill.
 
Did I read that some portion of the handouts from the EPL were supposed to be for s/t refunds where required/requested?

From the few occasions I read the comments in places like KentOnLine I get the impression that most of the complaints are from people who don't intend to ask for a refund on the basis that they would have nothing to complain about upon the club actually fulfilling their request.
 
Next seasons offering will be interesting. A small discount to current ST holders would be a welcome gesture of goodwill.

From what price would you make the discount from as the last couple of seasons had massively reduced ticket prices as a marketing campaign. I don't know the success of the "Pack Priestfield" Campaign** but I suspect we ended up with a smaller income as the change in crowd sizes didn't seem to be sufficient to counterbalance the massive savings in ST price.

Depending on what happens with Covid over the first quarter of 2021, if next season is the same as this one, morally Scally should only be able to charge £230 to cover the 23 x £10 iFollow fees. Maybe he could add on a few extra £10s to cover a *reasonable* number of anticipated cup matches

If we are forced to watch next season's football via iFollow again then I don't think Scally necessarily has a lot of maneuver to do gestures unless he thinks everyone will give up their STs and pay iFollow on a match by match basis.

If the vaccine works and we can go back in significant numbers into Priestfield then he might have more options, although I suspect it will probably be 20% off the price of a shirt and 10% off all other products in the club shop.

But I predict whatever happens people will complain.

** those videos of Tom Eaves taking over the place and dictating to Scally what ST prices will be seem a memory now.
 
Next seasons offering will be interesting. A small discount to current ST holders would be a welcome gesture of goodwill.

I think a SUBSTANTIAL discount will be required. Let's not forget that some fans bought 2 year season tickets. So money they invested in next season has kept the club afloat this season.
Like many, having bought my ticket early I have accepted the Ifollow option as a trade for my investment. These are desperate times and I would dearly love The Gills to still be a viable football club when we come out the other side. I also expect the chairman to properly reward those fans who have helped it survive.
 
I bought a 2 year ticket. Really regret it now but mainly due to the thought of having to continue to endure the football on offer at the moment. I don't expect Scally will 'reward' me. Most of the friends for a fiver vouchers etc I get benefit others so it will likely be more of the same
 
We have covered this at length previously but my personal view is that the communication that eventually came out needed to be far earlier.

I don't want a refund and more importantly don't need one but others may not be so fortunate if they have lost their jobs during this last year. The option for a refund should have been there and then scally can rightly thank those who waived it.

Hes right that people not demanding refunds probably saved the club but as always I dont feel valued as a customer by scally.

That's always been the case with scally and I suspect always will.

Other clubs in our league did a much better job of handling this but no great surprise. I think one of the few things we agree on as a board is that his customer affinity is poor.

Next seasons offering will be interesting. A small discount to current ST holders would be a welcome gesture of goodwill.

I agree with your sentiment, Mark, and as you rightly say, there are a lot of others on here who share your view. But thinking about it, I just had a flashback to a long distance game I went to when PS actually came into the away fans area and personally handed out, in appreciation of the fans` support, free tickets for an upcoming GFC game - there were probably about 200 Gills there. So he`s not all bad !
 
I agree Lancs and I don't think he does it deliberately, its just ST holders are only really a priority when its time to sell us more.

Other clubs seem to value their fans more.

I went to one of his first "come and meet me in my office for a chat" meetings. Nice evening chatting about the Gills and even let us take photos with the trophy. He didn't implement any of the ideas we put forward but he was a decent host (didn't stretch to a cup of tea though ;-) ).

With little effort he could do more.
 
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I agree Lancs and I don't think he does it deliberately, its just ST holders are only really a priority when its time to sell us more.

Other clubs seem to value their fans more.

I went to one of his first "come and meet me in my office for a chat" meetings. Nice evening chatting about the Gills and even let us take photos with the trophy. He didn't implement any of the ideas we put forward but he was a decent host (didn't stretch to a cup of team though ;-) ).

With little effort he could do more.

Hi Mark - generally afternoon with most of the points that you make. But browsing Twitter and other teams’ fans forums - seems to suggest that most fans feel undervalued too and equally unhappy with the way that season ticket refunds are handled. I don’t think Scally has been and better/worse than the majority of other EFL chairmen/women.
 
It's a long running beef at our club and most others that fans are taken for granted. We know our man's priorities and just now I'm fine with them. If and when we get some idea of a season starting with fans attending and without expectations of an interruption then I will expect better. At that moment the club needs to acknowledge the fans that bought double STs, STs and ifollow passes, in that order, in words and action. Other fish to fry presently.
 
I agree with the sentiment... ...but hasn’t Scally said “thank you” to season ticket holders very publicly and on several occasions? What does s/be REALLY want?
That paragraph you quote from a 3-4 page letter was the first acknowledgment I believe and was a long time coming in September from when the previous season had been suspended in February.

There certainly haven't been public thank yous on several occasions.
I think in the same letter, (from memory so could be wrong), he mentioned something about giving season ticket holders some additional tickets for games when fans are allowed back - although this would not directly benefit the season ticket holder of course, but it wouldn't cost the club any money as they would likely have been unsold tickets anyway.

Scally was lucky in that the season tickets for this season were made available so early - wasn't it about this time last year? So he had the bulk of sales done (seen figures of 2k+ sold mentioned) for this season before football was suspended.

The issue of refunds of the £60 per ticket approx owed for last season's missed matches was ignored by those who asked, and this season it seems iFollow passes for home games have been deemed an adequate replacement for season tickets, with no alternative offered.
 
From what price would you make the discount from as the last couple of seasons had massively reduced ticket prices as a marketing campaign. I don't know the success of the "Pack Priestfield" Campaign** but I suspect we ended up with a smaller income as the change in crowd sizes didn't seem to be sufficient to counterbalance the massive savings in ST price.
I dont recall there being "massive" savings or "massively" reduced ticket prices for renewing early, it was more like the chance to renew at the same price as the current season rather than the increased price that would have come in the summer.
 
I dont recall there being "massive" savings or "massively" reduced ticket prices for renewing early, it was more like the chance to renew at the same price as the current season rather than the increased price that would have come in the summer.

Looking back at my old e-mails and credit card statements,

I paid £375 for my season ticket for the 2017 - 2018 season
I paid £380 for my season ticket for the 2018 - 2019 season

And then as part of the "Tom Eaves" Pack Priestfield campaign:
I paid £300 for my season ticket for the 2019 - 2020 season
I paid £300 for my season ticket for the 2020 - 2021 season

Personally I consider a 21% fall in ticket price to be "massive".
 
Looking back at my old e-mails and credit card statements,

I paid £375 for my season ticket for the 2017 - 2018 season
I paid £380 for my season ticket for the 2018 - 2019 season

And then as part of the "Tom Eaves" Pack Priestfield campaign:
I paid £300 for my season ticket for the 2019 - 2020 season
I paid £300 for my season ticket for the 2020 - 2021 season

Personally I consider a 21% fall in ticket price to be "massive".
I can only assume that your £375 and £380 season tickets were bought late when the prices had gone up significantly, missing out the early bird offers that would have been available for those seasons too.

This is assuming you didn’t previously sit in a more expensive area of the stadium ie the central blocks in Medway Stand Lower or the Upper Tier etc.

Ok I found the email. The £300 “Rainham End price freeze” was a “special leap year offer” only available from 21 - 29 February last year. Good offer if you had that money available quickly.

After that from March 1-31st it was the Early bird pricing of £330 plus the added incentive of 2 free tickets for friends and family to the Accrington game in April, which of course never happened.

From April onwards the price was to jump to £375 - this is the “standard pricing” though I doubt if many or any were sold in that period given what happened last year.
 
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I can only assume that your £375 and £380 season tickets were bought late when the prices had gone up significantly, missing out the early bird offers that would have been available for those seasons too.

This is assuming you didn’t previously sit in a more expensive area of the stadium ie the central blocks in Medway Stand Lower or the Upper Tier etc.

Always in the Rainham End and always bought the early bird ticket on my credit card. I knew I would end up renewing and that even if I delayed paying my credit card for a few months, the interest occurred wouldn't be anywhere near the extra £20 or so that the non-early bird prices would be.

As per the 2017/18 season, early bird was £375 and after that £400

1610443249373.png


I can't find the brochure for 2018/19, but as per the 2019/20 brochure:,

1610442752049.png

it refers the fact the prior year's early bird was £375. I suspect the figure of £380 I paid included a £5 card fee that they keep threatening but don't always take.

Post early bird, full prices raised to £350.

1610442987470.png

So if you paid for early bird you got a £75 reduction. If you didn't take advantage of early bird prices then you would have only saved an insignificant £50.
 

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