Ticketek must love this time of year

[Strapping Young Lad]

Hawthorn and Swans fans have no doubt received an email from their respective clubs informing them to enter the ballot for Grand Final tickets, should their sides be successful in the prelim( I know I have).

The problem is, you have to enter this ballot before you know if you're side is going to play off in the big dance(tomorrow), and you'll be handing over $5.50 for each barcode you enter to the lovely people at Ticketek. Non refundable of course.

I'd be interested to know if Freo, Geelong, North and Port supporters have also been advised to enter the ballot? I assume so.

Even if we think about it very conservatively and presume that only half of these membership bases enter the ballot, Ticketek are looking at an influx of around $805,000.
Now, although I'm not great with maths we're talking about somewhere between 60-80% of those transactions being handed over for literally no service whatsoever(as only 2 teams will make it, in case I lost you somewhere).

If every member of every club contacted enters the ballot, Ticketek would stand to pocket $1.6million, without even printing out or selling a ticket.

It's a rort.

 

[fpm84]

I'd be interested to know if Freo, Geelong, North and Port supporters have also been advised to enter the ballot? I assume so.

Correct - members of the four clubs involved in the semi finals this week have been told that if their team makes the prelim, they will need to register for the ballot ($5.50 per membership as you said) next week.

You think that's bad - last year I paid $180 to upgrade my membership late in the season to guarantee myself a GF ticket if we made it... I was cursing my very generous donation the day we lost the QF.

 

[BC9_]

They use this money to upgrade their servers so it doesn't crash.


That was a lie.

 

[base615]

You only enter if your team is through to the prelim but your point is absolutely correct.

I had a mass panic this morning when I put my barcodes in (I have guaranteed tickets), hit next and my internet (or the site) bugged out. I reconnected and it was telling me that my barcodes had already been used. I then spent 40 minutes holding on the phone (having had to dial about 30 times before even getting into the queue) before they were able to sort it out. Not good for the heart.

 

[grimlock]

It's a rort and it's been a rort for a few years already. For example, for Swans members we could submit an entry as a group with a maximum of 8 eligible member barcodes per group. But they're charging a $5.00 fee per barcode rather than per group entry. Seriously? All that changed for each additional barcode was to enter the number in a new line in the text box. And I had to do it myself on my browser! That's $5.00! You're bloody kidding me!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Correct - members of the four clubs involved in the semi finals this week have been told that if their team makes the prelim, they will need to register for the ballot ($5.50 per membership as you said) next week.

You think that's bad - last year I paid $180 to upgrade my membership late in the season to guarantee myself a GF ticket if we made it... I was cursing my very generous donation the day we lost the QF.

Ahh of course, that makes more sense.

Ticketek pocketed upwards of $200,000 from Hawk supporters alone in 2011 when we fell over against the Pies.

 

[Blacky]

Massive piss take.

They don't even mail them out, it's pick up only

 

[Purple Suit]

I assume the AFL is getting a cut of the rort too.

 

[blue harvest]

They don't even mail them out, it's pick up only

The ballot isn't run until the weekend before the GF so there wouldn't really be time to print them all and mail them out, especially if you were from interstate and were coming down to Melbourne a few days early. Then you have the problem of lost mail etc.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

F***ing thieves.

 

[Blacky]

I understand that, was highlighting that there is no excuse for the surcharge

 

[blue harvest]

Yeah does seem a bit steep.
Could understand if it was $2. It does cost money to set it all up, run it, deal with problems etc. and they don't add any service/handling charges on top like the rest of the finals. I think some of it would also go towards paying for those letters we got posted, they probably cost $1 a pop all up.

 

[savagelunchbox]

I'd be ok with it if they used that $1.6m to develop an online system where you can choose where you sit before it randomly issues a ticket and then you have to go through the slow and poorly designed seating thing if you want to change your ticket all while trying to avoid the crash.

I'd also be ok with it if they used the money to design it so that all the stadium's tickets were released at the same time. Not sections here and sections there.

 

[Pessimistic]

Some ex bank tellers came up with the idea

 

[tazaa]

They provide a shit service
They dont allow you to choose your seats
They make you pay for having tickets emailed to you
They can go and get ****ed

 

[Leeda]

Some ex bank tellers came up with the idea

which bank and what are they tellin' ya..

sorry that is a baaaad crock of bogwash...

 

[The GOAT]

Yep. Sucks especially for lower priority hawks who won't get a ticket even if we win the prelim

 

[hench]

Go down to the TAB and put a wager on your opponent if you aren't confident in your team winning.

 

[blue harvest]

Yep. Sucks especially for lower priority hawks who won't get a ticket even if we win the prelim

For the Swans ballot today, after processing the priority 1 and 2 memberships they were able to calculate whether there would be any tickets left over for priority 3 members. Turns out there were was some standing room left so they went ahead with the priority 3 registrations. If there were none left they weren't going to bother with the priority 3 registrations and save people the $5.50 when they had no chance of a ticket. I wonder if the other clubs will be doing this? Last year no priority 3 Hawk members got tickets so this approach would save them all $5.50

 

[cammo78]

Been going on since at least 2008.

How the toothless tiger that is the ACCC hasn't done something about it, I'm not sure.

Having said that - the ACCC was until recently run by one Graeme Samuel. The same Graeme Samuel that at one time ran the AFL.

I'm sure you see where this is heading.

 

[grimlock]

For the Swans ballot today, after processing the priority 1 and 2 memberships they were able to calculate whether there would be any tickets left over for priority 3 members. Turns out there were was some standing room left so they went ahead with the priority 3 registrations. If there were none left they weren't going to bother with the priority 3 registrations and save people the $5.50 when they had no chance of a ticket. I wonder if the other clubs will be doing this? Last year no priority 3 Hawk members got tickets so this approach would save them all $5.50

For some unexplained reason the poor Cat 3's are charged $7.50 instead of $5 too.

 

[ManWithNoName]

For some unexplained reason the poor Cat 3's are charged $7.50 instead of $5 too.

Less likely to wind up paying for a GF ticket so ticketek charge the lowly peasants (in their eyes) extra upfront.

 

[Pessimistic]

For some unexplained reason the poor Cat 3's are charged $7.50 instead of $5 too.

Cos they actually have to do some ballotting ?

Not ideal but saves many many person hours queueing. We just make savings in pf tickets

 

[Underarm]

For starters, they do provide a service. If the clubs did this themselves they would struggle with processing it all. $5 worth of work is steep i guess.

I'd be ok with it if they used that $1.6m to develop an online system where you can choose where you sit before it randomly issues a ticket and then you have to go through the slow and poorly designed seating thing if you want to change your ticket all while trying to avoid the crash.

I'd also be ok with it if they used the money to design it so that all the stadium's tickets were released at the same time. Not sections here and sections there.

They occasionally have that service during the year at the MCG. It wouldn't work for a final as too many people want seats at the same time.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Just think, they are pocketing all this, without even selling a single ticket.

Would love to know what cut of each ticket they get on top of that.