Terrible Ticket Office Experience

• thePITman

  

  Tonight my girlfriend and I were at the Tribe's game against the Orioles, and I was also in charge of ordering 25 tickets for my group from work for a game we plan to attend Saturday, May 21st, which is free Choo jersey day. So, my girlfriend and I were going to get everyone's tickets tonight while we were near a team shop. Anyway, it sounded much easier than it ended up being. Haha!
  
  We got to the stadium around 6:20 PM for the 7:05 PM start. We decided to get the tickets before the game, so we went to the team shop to order tickets like they tell us to do on the phone and when I went into the Summit Mall team shop earlier this week. The tickets I was ordering were the all-you-can-eat seats, which are normally $32 but are $28 if you get 25 people or more. We got there, asked for the tickets, and he rung me up for $800. It was supposed to be $700 ($4 off x 25 tickets). I asked about it, and the worker was unaware, so we had to show him the deal in our Indians program. He said "Oh, that's a 'Group Sales' deal. I can't do that here. You have to go to Fan Services." So he called Fans Services on the phone and explained to them our situation, and he turned to us and said, "Yes, you can go to Fan Services behind home plate, and they can take care of you."
  
  At this point, we still had about 20 minutes until the first pitch, so we got in line at Fan Services. When we got up to the lady, we attempted to order the tickets, and again it came out to the $800 price. I told her about the deal, again had to show proof of the price break in the program, and she said "Oh, that's 'Group Sales'. You need to go to the outside window of Fan Services around the corner here (points to a window 5 feet from where she was standing, literally working back-to-back with the person at the other window)." We obliged, and got in THAT line (we were 3rd in line when we took the 5 steps to the end of that line).
  
  WE DID NOT GET UP TO THE WINDOW UNTIL THE TOP OF THE 3RD INNING! The lady had to have been new or something. The person in front of us had some confusing seat-exchange thing she was trying to do. But we, on the other hand, knew exactly what section, rows, and seats we were ordering since we had already gone through it twice... so we were confident it'd be quick. Yeah right. Anyway, we told her all our info very clearly, and THIS person also rings me up as $800. We show HER the deal, and she says "Oh, I can't do that. That is for 'Group Sales'." At this point, we had been in line for a half hour BEFORE the game started and also for the first 2 1/2 innings, so we were NOT happy. After some arguing and explaining the runaround we had been put through and the time it had wasted, all they could do was direct me back to the OTHER Fan Services window to take my personal information and promise to have a ticket sales person call me no later than MONDAY. At this point we were furious that TWO different employees had pointed us to the wrong place to do this and wasted SO much time going through the circus act.
  
  All in all, we missed the 1st pitch, the first 2 complete innings, and the complete top of the 3rd, and we were still walking back to our seats as the Indians put together their first rally to score 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. I'm glad my girlfriend was heads-up enough to get in the 40-person-long $1 hot dog line while I waited in the Fan Services line. She had enough time to order our hot dogs, and we were able to have a few hot dogs while we waited to order our tickets the “3rd" time. At least we could faintly HEAR the game, listening to Tom Hamilton's voice over the ruckus.
  
  In the end, we still DID NOT get our tickets ordered. Let me say this again - THREE times they had my tickets up, primed and ready for me to order... but at $32 per ticket. All they had to do was read the program, change it from $32 to $28, and we would have been on our way. But we went through the complete CIRCUS and never got our tickets ordered, and now have to wait for a ticket rep to call us to reserve our seats, which they could not hold for us.
  
  Sincerely,
  A seriously angry and frustrated fan
• bigkahuna

  Damn dude that completely sucks.
  
  I take it you're supposed to hear something this coming Monday?
• wes_mantooth

  

  Dolan must have relatives working the ticket windows.
• Nate

  I'm going to beat Modell to it
  
  "Only in Cleveland would they have retards working the ticket windows."
• queencitybuckeye

  If it's me, my work group is looking for another form of entertainment for that day. No way they're getting a dime.
• dazedconfused

  

  damn, no complimentary tickets to a game or something like that after all that hassle they put you through? indians ticket office needs to get it together (especially for someone willing to spend $700 right then and there)
• thePITman

  

  I have gotten a hold of VP of Public Relations for the Indians, Bob DiBiasio, and it appears he will be helping resolve the issue in a very kind way. It looks like this will have a happy ending. Thanks for all your comments. I'll keep you posted.
  

  dazedconfused;742619 wrote:damn, no complimentary tickets to a game or something like that after all that hassle they put you through? indians ticket office needs to get it together (especially for someone willing to spend $700 right then and there)

  
  They did offer 2 free tickets, but the restrictions were very poor, IMO, for what we endured.
• thePITman

  

  I just got a call from the Director of Fan Services, and he along with Bob have been very great with handling this issue. The all-you-can-eat seats which we thought we'd be getting last night are still available and have been reserved for us. They will be calling me again on Monday to finalize everything, but it seems to be set. Also, my girlfriend and I are getting 4 free tickets to the game of our choice. Obviously we are still frustrated from what transpired last night, but they seem to be doing all they can do to fix it. It's important not only to talk about the problems that occur, but also to make known the exceptional way they have gone about fixing the issue and making it right.
• tuskytuffguy

  I actually had a good experience with the Indians, but this was several years ago before the big sell-off and they've pissed me off to where I will not attend another game until Dolan sells the team. Anyway, I used to attend about 10 games a year, by getting tickets off a season ticket holder I know. We always would have dinner at the Terrace Club before any game we went to. Well, this one particular time we went, my wife went to the team shop behind home plate to get some lottery tickets, won $10 on one, and an entry into a second chance drawing for prizes. So, she entered her ticket, and bought a $10 ticket with the other one. We went to our seats, she scratched it off, and got a $500 winner. Later in the game, they announced the winners of the second chance drawing, and her name was scrawled across the jumbotron as the grand prize winner. We won 4 tickets to a game the following week, and she got to throw out the first pitch. We all(myself, wife, and her 2 kids) got to go down into the bowels of the stadium by the lockerroms, onto the field through the glass behind home plate. And to top it off, C.C. pitched a winner that night.
• BRF

  

  All this was probably because you were wearing purple! You shoud have had Ringz with you!
• dave

  I bet all their workers are new. Group sales are based on commission I believe, anyone who knew what they were doing was probably smart enough to know they weren't going to make many sales this year.
• sej

  

  Just to make sure I'm getting the full story, am I correct in my understanding that you didn't order them ahead of time and were trying to order the group rate there? Not that it excuses the employees who were completely unaware of the appropriate procedure, but some ticketing systems require special rate group tickets to be pre-ordered so they are already either printed or entered in the system. Because of this, I'm not surprised that they couldn't do it for you right there. However, the poor customer service is inexcusable. I'm glad to hear they're rectifying it for you.
• thePITman

  

  sej,
  My girlfriend and I already had our 2 tickets for the Orioles game, and we were already INSIDE the stadium. While inside the stadium, we went to the team shop and two different Fan Services windows to pre-order tickets for the May 21st game.
• j_crazy

  

  thats awesome that they fixed it for you.
  
  I'm ashamed to say that i've never been to a Tribe game. been to 3 Reds games, 1 Pirates game, 2 Rockies games and probably 15 Astros games. But have never seen my favorite team (the Tribe) play a home game (saw them vs. the Reds in Cinci).
• Fab4Runner

  

  j_crazy;743561 wrote:thats awesome that they fixed it for you.
  
  I'm ashamed to say that i've never been to a Tribe game. been to 3 Reds games, 1 Pirates game, 2 Rockies games and probably 15 Astros games. But have never seen my favorite team (the Tribe) play a home game (saw them vs. the Reds in Cinci).

  
  You need to go...the Jake is a great place to see a game even if the team itself is questionable. I didn't go to one last year and wasn't even that sad about it but I have to make it to one this year.
• Mister Twister

  I have gotten a very poor happy ending from VP of Public Relations for the Indians, Bob DiBiasio.
  
  
  
  Nice!
• Mister Twister

  thePITman;742659 wrote:I have gotten a happy ending from VP of Public Relations for the Indians, Bob DiBiasio.

  
  Nice!
• thePITman

  

  Yesterday the lady who I met at the first Fan Services window called me on behalf of the Director of Fan Services and had the all-you-can-eat seats ready, so I was able to purchase those at the $28 (correct) price. Also, she took my request for the game anytime this year that we'd like to attend, and they are sending me 4 tickets to that game. I don't know what section those 4 seats are in, so I'm kind of excited to find out!
• dwccrew

  

  thePITman;742659 wrote:I have gotten a hold of VP of Public Relations for the Indians, Bob DiBiasio, and it appears he will be helping resolve the issue in a very kind way. It looks like this will have a happy ending.

  
  Just make sure it's not Bob DiBiasio that gives it to you.