Away ticket access for Disabled supporters

[ClaretAL]

Hi all,

Apologies for this rant but I just want to see how many others are affected by this. As many know my son is autistic and on many occasions this season with high profile games being more prominent my so has had to miss out on away games because of the online purchase system. The club have moved to tickets going on sale on line from 5pm and also at the ticket office the next day in person, which is great, apart from when you try an purchase disable tickets online there is no option, so the only way you can get the disabled tickets is to visit the club shop the next day, which due to the 16 hour online window already being used invariably they sell out so no tickets available. the only way to circumnavigate this is to pay the full price at 5pm and try and get in with everyone else, but the point is he should have the same availability access as everyone else. We have 2960 points, so just short of the 3000 so have to wait for the season ticket holder allocation which again is only fair and i believe the points system is fair, but it does mean slim pickings.
I discussed this with the ticket office before the match on Sunday and they said call back Tuesday ad we will see what we can do as it doesn't seem right at all. So this morning I did exactly that, and got a guy on the other end of the phone with an attitude that beggars belief and I cant believe we have this attitude as a club. I advised him of the above and why it was an issues and his answer was it is the way it is unfortunately and there is nothing the club can do about it, and that it was this way because fans abused the disabled supporter prices when there was nothing wrong with them, to which straight off the top of my head i explained all season ticket holders had clarets numbers and if they are disabled they are registered with the club as being disabled which in itself requires proof to be given of the disabling condition. He said well it is what it is and its not going to change, and anyway the Manchester UTD match will not reach season ticket holders category before it sells out so the conversation is not relevant. This really got my blood boiling so i asked dont you think its being a little discriminating that disabled supporters dot get the same window as anyone else, his answer was its out of our control and i have explained to you it is what it is, i asked him for his name or to be put through to the ticket office manager and he said the manager is not in and your not having my name and I am ending this conversation now.
I get that some will say we pay the same price if you want the same access to tickets and in some ways I agree but clubs offer this service to disabled supporters at a price and it was the whole attitude of a club representative towards dealing with a situation/system that is flawed that I could not believe what i was hearing. I presume many other disabled supporters are having the same problem if at the lower end of the points spectrum, and to me it just doesn't seem right especially with the attitude of "it is what it is"

Rant over.

[ClaretAL]

Does anyone know, Are there a designated amount of ambulant/Disabled tickets sent to the club to sell? If so I would be interested in how they were purchased considering there is no option for it on the online system?

[UpTheBeehole]

i asked him for his name or to be put through to the ticket office manager and he said the manager is not in and your not having my name and I am ending this conversation now.

That's disgraceful

[pureclaret]

I had same problem with trying to get tickets for Huddersfield 3 of us all adults all 6ooo pts each but 1 is an ambulant and 1 helper cant get on line so have to go in person. So far I feel ok with that but then online should no commence before ticket office opens to be fair to all.
Did not get any tickets sold out 6 people before me

[thatdberight]

i asked him for his name or to be put through to the ticket office manager and he said the manager is not in and your not having my name and I am ending this conversation now.

That's disgraceful

I had the same experience recently when having a ticket office problem. I wrote to the Chief Exec. My breath is not bated expecting a response.

I don't doubt Ticket Office staff (particularly the front line staff who are, literally, just doing as they're told) get some crap that they don't expect or deserve. I do doubt that it works well all the time. It is better than it used to be. Gone are the days of disappearing loyalty points, tickets that don't turn up, tickets that have had the bar-code removed so you get to the gate at an away match and can't get in, wrong tickets, wrong charges. That was the norm at one stage. I'm not exaggerating - it was more normal to have a problem with an away ticket order than not. That's a long way from the case now. But in terms of interface with the fans, I still think there's much work to do.

ClaretAL - talk to Harriet Harbidge about this concern. I know she'll help if she can at all.

[claretrobo1]

It has affected us to. It's ridiculous and you'd think a Premier League club would sort this issue out but I doubt we will see much change.