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Bournemouth away (Carabao Cup) - on sale on Thursday for those with 217+ points



Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!
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Apr 30, 2013
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Herts
At some point clubs will need to get together and deal with this. I'm assuming that other clubs have this potential issue now. Given they all scan tickets it can't be rocket science to bring this all together in some way can it? Loyalty should really only be for attendance.

Yeah, I think it would require a few clubs (at least) to club their data together in order to persuade others to join in. I'm unclear where they'd stand legally in terms of privacy/data protection though...
 




Bozza

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Jul 4, 2003
55,719
Back in Sussex
Fair point. Well at the very least the club are going to have to find a way to only allocate points to people who actually attend. It's a matter of time.

If the club couldn't be bothered with the Barnet game at the Amex (can anyone definitively say?) then they're not showing any concern in trying to police the system at all.
 


Bozza

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Jul 4, 2003
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Back in Sussex
The Barnet game is the first time the club would ever have been met with this situation though. The loyalty scheme is new and the short-cuts are only just becoming clear to most people. I would be amazed if the club are not already looking at this and how to prevent points going to non-attendees.

But the Barnet ticket selling info stated that attendance was required for points. To then ignore that and issue points to all ticket purchasers regardless of attendance would be poor form.

(Note: I'm not stating that did happen, but some are suggesting it did)
 


nail-Z

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2003
2,969
North Somerset
But the Barnet ticket selling info stated that attendance was required for points. To then ignore that and issue points to all ticket purchasers regardless of attendance would be poor form.

(Note: I'm not stating that did happen, but some are suggesting it did)


You managed to get your Barnet ticket scanned then? :thumbsup:
 






Carrot Cruncher

NHS Slave
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Jul 30, 2003
5,052
Southampton, United Kingdom
I can't argue with that. I suppose the only other factor that could be at play is that the Albion want to sell tickets for home matches as they get the money. So they'd rather get 11,000 paying (even if only 8,000 turn up) than a 7,000 crowd.

However, that only leads to an even bigger issue when we get an away game with limited tickets available. So it'll be very interesting to see what happens at Bournemouth.

There has been enough talk on this site about buying tickets purely for points so the club will definitely be aware of it and I'd be surprised if we do not get a Paul Barber interview that touches upon it in the next few weeks.

That can be the only mitigation for them not enforcing their own rule. Easy few grand.
 




studio150

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2011
29,611
On the Border
Full ID check outside Bournemouth gates for this game to ensure ticket hasn't been sold on, plus a tick against your name for loyalty points.
 












jonny.rainbow

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2005
6,606
How about not being a selfish fukka and not buying a ticket if you have no intention of going .

I won't. Tempting as it is as I may slip into the third tier for some upcoming aways, I just feel it is wrong.

The club have got this 'loyalty' system wrong.
 




Couldn't Be Hyypia

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Nov 12, 2006
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How about not being a selfish fukka and not buying a ticket if you have no intention of going .

That's the problem isn't it. I know people who bought Barnet tickets purely for the points because they feel they will slip down a level for away games. It's a poor system that encourages this kind of understandable (but objectionable) behaviour. Now that people expect to get points even if they don't use the ticket - more will do this. And thus the points system is irretrievably broken.
 




Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,137
Bexhill-on-Sea
If the Albion gave 15 points to Barnet non-attendees, which some are suggesting they did, then there's no way they'll be verifying physical attendance at Bournemouth itself.

I have seen a post somewhere (facebook) I think that somebody got points for Barnet who didn't attend the game. It should be easy for the club to allocate to those who attend, when the smart cards could be used to buy stuff you could log in and see to the exact second that you entered the ground for each match so the technology is certainly there.

I remember bringing the point up on a thread before about the away club providing the details but it was suggested that data protection would prevent this. Surely a csv file could be downloaded and emailed onto bhafc and an office junior import it into excel and cross match the attendees. Although that said it is plucky Bournemouth, not sure if computer have reached their ground yet.
 


TheDuke

Well-known member
Oct 28, 2011
1,212
Arundel
Doesn't mention how many loyalty points you get for attending? I hope it's no more than 5 as given those prices and the actually ridiculously low points threshold for this match I can see lots buying but not attending.

We will sell this out so why such a low starting points level which falls very quickly?
If you buy a ticket and don't attend, I thought you were not allocated points. Is that true please?
 




Giraffe

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Aug 8, 2005
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If you buy a ticket and don't attend, I thought you were not allocated points. Is that true please?

Officially this is what the club say. I've never done it so couldn't tell you if this is true. But some have said on here that they acquired for Barnet, didn't attend, but still got the points. No idea whether that is true either.
 


SUA Seagull

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2016
408
Stratford-upon-Avon
How about not being a selfish fukka and not buying a ticket if you have no intention of going .

Is actually the right answer.

I have some sympathy with the club in terms of the potential challenges/costs they face in policing this issue.

1. Any form of checking ticket scans would require (i) for home games, Albion to review a list of 10,000+ fans’ purchase records versus tickets actually scanned at the Amex, and (ii) for away games, the home club to provide Albion with a list of up to ~3,000 Albion fans’ tickets scanned which Albion would then have to check against fans’ purchase records. That’s all likely to take the club quite a bit of time (and cost) to monitor.

2. Such a policy may even deter some fans from buying tickets in the first place for some of the “less fashionable” games which both the Albion’s and away clubs’ sales teams will be keen to avoid.

3. What happens, for example, if there’s a genuine fan no show (illness, stuck on the M25, stuck at work, Southern Fail train stuck en route) as averse to someone simply harvesting loyalty points who has no intention of attending a game? The club won’t want to spend even more time (and money) becoming bogged down in individual disputes.

4. In theory, this problem should only ever arise in early round cup games where demand is low and Albion may not be fielding its A-team, which is only ever going to apply to a maximum of a couple of matches each season.

5. The club’s own LP T&Cs ambiguously state, on the one hand, that LPs will be awarded “when you make an advance ticket purchase” and, on the other, "for matches that you purchase and attend”.

On the basis of the above, one can perhaps understand why the club might feel disinclined to “get too involved” and so the current policy effectively leaves it to the fans to “do the right thing”, as [MENTION=12422]Taybha[/MENTION] rightly suggests.

A simplification of the system is perhaps needed which deters the potential for abuse. The tickets for some of these “early round” cup games are incredibly cheap (especially for kids) and then one gets decent LPs on top – and that’s what creates the issue.

Maybe one possibility could be to stick with the cheap tickets to create sales’ demand but only offer 5 LPs for such ties? It would be interesting to know what effect on ticket sales a low price/low LP combination would have versus the current arrangements.
 


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