Today was the day that all of the 41 game flex plan season ticket holders got to go down to the stadium and redeem their vouchers for tickets and/or upgrade their seats for a "premium" game and pay the difference. Sounds simple, right?

 

Wrong.

 

Today was an absolute f***ing nightmare. I wake up at 6:30 AM and leave the house at 6:45, get to PPS around 7:15 to make sure that I was one of the first people in line (it opened at 8:30 AM). I was the third person in line which was awesome. I had a conversation with the two guys in front of me and it was a good time waiting in line until 8:30 when PPS opened, but they were late and didn't open until aroun 8:50 which is no big deal. They only had 2 windows open and since you had to physically tell the person each game you wanted, where the seats you wanted, etc. one-by-one it took about 30 to 45 minutes PER PERSON. Around 9:30 it was my turn, I finally get up to the window and pick out 31 games that I wanted and got those tickets (all ROW 2 in the founders club which was awesome, last year I had row 5).

 

I had 10 vouchers remaining which I wanted to use for "premium weekend" games and opening day so I could pay the difference. When the time comes for me to do this, the guy tells me they aren't doing any upgrades for premium games or for opening day even though the letter that every single 41 game season ticket holder received explicitly said something along the lines of "Come on February 7th at 8:30 AM to redeem your vouchers for all monday through thursday home games and upgrade your seats for premium games including opening day." I showed the guy the letter, but he was just some low level guy working in the box office and couldn't do anything.

 

Word spread throughout the entire line that they were not letting people put their vouchers towards premium games and they can pay the difference and they said we had to come back during FAN FEST with 50,000 people to do it and it's basically first come first serve and we would have to fend for ourselves and hope we get the seats we wanted, absolutely absurd. Everyone in line was furious and a riot was about to start. Everyone on line immediately got on their cell phones calling the season ticket holder office complaining and eventually a guy from the season ticket holder office comes out and says everything will be fine and you can do the upgrades and get opening day tickets. The crowd calms down and everyone is happy.

 

Literally 30 seconds later I turn to the guy that's dealing with me in the box office (he heard everything) and say "so there you have it, we can do this" and the guy in the box office says he needs to "double check" and walks away, comes back about 10 minutes later and tells me and everyone else in line that the SAME GUY who just came out and told ALL OF US that you can do it just said he CAN'T DO IT? WTF?

 

About 3 hours have passed by now and everything was moving in slow motion it seemed like, just a horrible system they have.

 

A bunch of us went in to the season ticket holder office inside gate G and demanded to speak to someone, a bunch of monkies came out that didn't know jack s*** and were just saying things like "we understand" blah blah blah but offered zero help whatsoever. One of them told us that 41 game flex plan season ticket holders were the lowest on the totem pole, WTF? I said "so you're telling me that someone who just shelled out almost $5,000 for two seats in the founders club is LOWER on the totem poll than someone with a 20 game package in the fish tank?" and he tells me "that's just the way things are," what the hell? RIDICULOUS.

 

Eventually the group sales director (I think that's who it was) came out and told us that we WILL be able to get our tickets and everything should be fine in about 15 minutes. So all of us wait in the lobby for 15 minutes and that time comes and goes, eventually that 15 minutes turned into 30 minutes and he finally came back out to give us an update.

 

He explained to us that what's happening is the Marlins want to be able to offer these premium tickets and whatnot to their 41 game flex plan season ticket holders, but the box office which deals with the actual tickets is ran by the stadium and the Marlins organization has no control over it, so the Marlins group sales director was battling with the stadium box office director trying to get him to release these tickets to us.

 

Eventually we were told to come back at 1 PM and we would be able to get our tickets then. I went and had a falafel sandwhich at the Grapevine Cafe (absolutely delicious!) and arrived back outside of gate G at around 12:30 and the boxoffice didn't open till around 1:15, no big deal, at least we're finally getting somewhere, I was about 7th in line when I came back. It took TWO HOURS just for the people in the box office to get through the 6 people in front of me. It was finally my turn, I handed over the vouchers and paid the difference, in price, but the only way their system was set up to do the transaction was to charge the FULL TICKET PRICE to your credit card and then hand you CASH for the difference in price, so now I have an additional $1600 charge on my credit card for no apparent reason at all, yes I got the cash to make up the difference but who wants a $1600 charge on their credit card? Oh well.

 

So I finally got my tickets after an almost 8 hour ordeal and an enormous amount of stress. Last year I made a phone call, faxed over the list of games I wanted, and had all of my tickets in the mail later that week, why did they have to use this new horrible system? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I wasted an entire day on this bulls*** and so did countless others. When you increase the season ticket prices, the consumer expects a certain level of service and the Marlins failed miserably.

 

I do understand that If this is the way the Marlins are going to treat their loyal season ticket holders, screw them. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the team and i'm a diehard fan, no doubt about that, I don't know too many people who would spend 8 hours of a busy weekday to deal with this crap, but I absolutely hate and despise the business and public relations end of the organization.

 

And to top it all off, i'm sick today with a sore throat and all sorts of crap to make matters even more horrible than the situation already is, I thought I was going to be there no longer than 30 minutes.

 

Did anyone else go today? Share your story.

 

The Marlins bar none have the worst customer service in all of professional sports.

 

/rant

This is the problem when you have 2 fighting box offices selling the same product. The source to blame is the Dolphins Stadium box office. The Marlins would have been able to do it had they owned the ballpark.

The blame is 50/50. Yes, Huizenga's crew are total idiots trying to screw the Marlins over, but the Marlins should have had enough sense to get all of this sorted out last week BEFORE today so there would not have been any problems, but instead they procrastinated until the day of the event.

Sounds to me like Craterface is doing all he can to screw over the Marlins. I am sure he's jelous of what Loria has done with the team and that they're getting closer to a stadium deal.

I didnt know you could upgrade, maybe I will do that. How does it work, you just pay the difference? I hope the process isnt that long

The blame is 50/50. Yes, Huizenga's crew are total idiots trying to screw the Marlins over, but the Marlins should have had enough sense to get all of this sorted out last week BEFORE today so there would not have been any problems, but instead they procrastinated until the day of the event.

679443[/snapback]

 

 

You don't know if the stadum's management decided to do that today... just to mess with the Marlins and the fans.

That sucks about what happened. I despise it when a company can't give you one specific answer and everyone involved has different information about the same topic. I'm glad you finally got it worked out, it's too bad they changed it from the old method, it seems like a much more logical approach to doing this.

You cant blame the ticket takers, most of them dont know how to read

I think I will do what you did and upgrade. Is it possible to do that at the marlins store? None of the games I want are the big games like opening day or whatnot so it shouldnt be a problem to get seats?

I didnt know you could upgrade, maybe I will do that. How does it work, you just pay the difference? I hope the process isnt that long

679452[/snapback]

 

Just give them a voucher and you can upgrade to any seat location you want and all you have to do is pay the difference in price. Why the Marlins and PPS box office made this process so complicated is beyond me.

 

Anyways, if you're planning on doing this, I highly recommend going before Saturday which is FanFest, it's going to be a mobscene.

I think I will do what you did and upgrade. Is it possible to do that at the marlins store? None of the games I want are the big games like opening day or whatnot so it shouldnt be a problem to get seats?

679462[/snapback]

 

If you want to be guaranteed you'll get the seats you want, make sure you do it before FanFest.

Ya thanks. Can you get any of these plans at the marlins store or only over the phone?

btw

 

". One of them told us that 41 game flex plan season ticket holders were the lowest on the totem pole, WTF? I said "so you're telling me that someone who just shelled out almost $5,000 for two seats in the founders club is LOWER on the totem poll than someone with a 20 game package in the fish tank?" and he tells me "that's just the way things are," what the hell? RIDICULOUS."

 

Is a priceless line

This is the problem when you have 2 fighting box offices selling the same product. The source to blame is the Dolphins Stadium box office. The Marlins would have been able to do it had they owned the ballpark.

679440[/snapback]

 

I place the blame 100% on the Marlins lap. They should had this worked out with the stadium people and anticipated this situation well before it happend.

Ya thanks. Can you get any of these plans at the marlins store or only over the phone?

679466[/snapback]

I have no idea what you can and cannot do at the Marlins En Miami store, I was only there once after the WS.

One last question, is the upgrade price at individual game price or season ticket price? Cause I would want fish tank flex pack. Which is 6 dollars a ticket, so to upgrade to a saturday game I would just pay 2 dollars or 4 per ticket? Individual game price is 10 and season is 8.

btw

 

". One of them told us that 41 game flex plan season ticket holders were the lowest on the totem pole, WTF? I said "so you're telling me that someone who just shelled out almost $5,000 for two seats in the founders club is LOWER on the totem poll than someone with a 20 game package in the fish tank?" and he tells me "that's just the way things are," what the hell? RIDICULOUS."

 

Is a priceless line

679468[/snapback]

 

Winning ball club or not, it's disgusting how the Marlins treat their loyal season ticket holders and there is absolutely no excuse for the piss poor service I and many others have received.

One last question, is the upgrade price at individual game price or season ticket price? Cause I would want fish tank flex pack. Which is 6 dollars a ticket, so to upgrade to a saturday game I would just pay 2 dollars or 4 per ticket? Individual game price is 10 and season is 8.

679474[/snapback]

 

Season ticket price.

Dont put to much blame on the marlins because those guys were pro player stadium employees and not marlins employees. Anyways I would have flipped out if I was there.

One last question, is the upgrade price at individual game price or season ticket price? Cause I would want fish tank flex pack. Which is 6 dollars a ticket, so to upgrade to a saturday game I would just pay 2 dollars or 4 per ticket? Individual game price is 10 and season is 8.

679474[/snapback]

 

Season ticket price.

679477[/snapback]

 

Awesome, and I could do that for all sections?

 

You made my day telling me about the upgrades. I am calling tomorrow and getting my pack.

Dont put to much blame on the marlins because those guys were pro player stadium employees and not marlins employees. Anyways I would have flipped out if I was there.

679478[/snapback]

It was a mixture of Marlins season ticket office employees and PPS stadium employees.

One last question, is the upgrade price at individual game price or season ticket price? Cause I would want fish tank flex pack. Which is 6 dollars a ticket, so to upgrade to a saturday game I would just pay 2 dollars or 4 per ticket? Individual game price is 10 and season is 8.

679474[/snapback]

 

Season ticket price.

679477[/snapback]

 

Awesome, and I could do that for all sections?

 

You made my day telling me about the upgrades. I am calling tomorrow and getting my pack.

679479[/snapback]

 

Yes, pending availability, all sections except for batters box and founders field, those are reserved for full season ticket holders only. I'm not sure how it's going to work or if you can even do this though since you haven't actually bought the 41 game flex plan yet.

 

Just call 1-877-MARLINS and ask, they're there right now.

I was planning on going tomorrow or Wednesday, hopefully they'll have things figured out by then.

btw

 

". One of them told us that 41 game flex plan season ticket holders were the lowest on the totem pole, WTF? I said "so you're telling me that someone who just shelled out almost $5,000 for two seats in the founders club is LOWER on the totem poll than someone with a 20 game package in the fish tank?" and he tells me "that's just the way things are," what the hell? RIDICULOUS."

 

Is a priceless line

679468[/snapback]

It's far easier to deal with customers when they've locked in their dates and seats.

 

That said, what a terrible story. Shoot an email to David Samson. He'll try to fix the situation.

This is the problem when you have 2 fighting box offices selling the same product. The source to blame is the Dolphins Stadium box office. The Marlins would have been able to do it had they owned the ballpark.

679440[/snapback]

 

I place the blame 100% on the Marlins lap. They should had this worked out with the stadium people and anticipated this situation well before it happend.

679470[/snapback]

 

I completely agree with this. Its the Marlins responsibility to take care of their customers, and this entire story is disgusting. I would have walked away and later demanded my money back for the whole plan. There's just no excuse for this.