Jack Army Membership Scheme - Concerns

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K

Kent Swan

New Member
Jan 23, 2012
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Hello!

I am a new member to the forum living in Kent and wanted to get some feedback on the following message that I sent the club by e-mail. Disappointingly to date I have had no response. The contents are hopefully self explantory and I wanted to gain some feedback from other fans to gain opinion as to whether I have a point which should be addressed. What disappoints me further concerning the lack of reply or total indifference is that in many respects the club are so well run both off and on the field!

"I write to complain about the ticket allocation for home games through the Jack Army Membership Scheme.

As a non season ticket holder I joined the scheme with my two children with a view to buying tickets for home and away games. We have been largely successful through our membership in obtaining tickets. However we were unsuccessful and very disappointed in obtaining tickets for two home games namely Man Utd and Arsenal.

My complaint centres around Jack Army season ticket holders being given priority for home games at the same time as non season ticket Jack Army members. I thought that the purpose of the scheme was to provide access to tickets for those fans who do not already have a ticket for the games. To focus on this point I would ask the following question:

As Jack Army season ticket holders already have a ticket for home games why are they allowed the opportunity to buy tickets at the same time as non season ticket Jack Army members who do not?

This results in Jack Army season ticket holders having two tickets (one season ticket, one bought) for the game and unsuccessful non season ticket Jack Army members having none. The points accumulation system further increases the bias toward season ticket holders who automatically accumulate points for home games.

To illustrate this point at the Aston Villa game I spoke to several Jack Army season ticket holders who confirmed that they buy tickets for home games and sell them on to non Jack Army members.

Surely this goes against the spirit of the scheme which is designed to allow genuine fans who have paid £25 for access to tickets for games.

I do fully understand the supply and demand issues for the high profile games but feel allowing season ticket holders to have two tickets for the same game to be totally wrong. I discussed this matter with friends who are associated with other clubs and they confirmed that season ticket holders are dissallowed from purchasing further home tickets until they are on general sale.

I would be grateful if you could escalate this issue to whoever is responsible for running the scheme so that they can consider the point I am making with a view to changing the distribution criteria in future for home games to exclude season ticket holders initially.

I understand that season ticket holder have an importance to the club but so do other fans who have paid £25 to be members of the Jack Army with the specific aim of being able to support the Swans playing live."
 
HI Kent, you have touched on a raw nerve when it comes to tickets with the swans, i dont know many jack army members that are happy to be honest. we may be top of the fair play league but when it comes to fair ticket allocation then we are at the bottom....
 
Unfortunately, the Swans have a foul reputation for the way they have treated the fans over the years regarding the sale of season tickets etc. Particularly thinking of our last time in the top flight. The plastics swarmed out of the woodwork and many loyal fans were basically told to sod off.

My then brother in law was a case in point. Spent most of his time sneering at us in the lower divisions and never, ever went to a game. As soon as we were promoted he snapped up 3 season tickets in the East Stand whilst I, who was an existing season ticket holder who had supported them for years, missed out on the seat that I had occupied from the old 4th Division days. Won't bore you with the details of how that happened but the off-hand, totally disinterested attitude of those in the club still rankles to this day - and that from people within the club that I had previously regarded as friends. They certainly regarded themselves as high and mighty and the only consolation I got from our subsequent relegation was that some of those arseholes lost their jobs. Good enough for them.
 
The rules and operation of the Jack Army web site are nuts. As is the fact that the club operates no ticket exchange so that unsued tickets could be recycled to "members" of the club - all the top clubs have something like this. This is why, for the first time ever, I am going to see the Swans more away than at home - and I will be getting those tickets direct from the away club ticket operations.
 
Kent, I'm in the same boat as you. I joined the Jack Army membership with my teenage son, I can't get to loads of games as he plays football on Saturdays so difficult in getting to games.

In years gone by since moving down south I get to see about 10 ish games a year. After gaining promotion I fully understood what would happen with demand outstripping available tickets. I even contemplated buying two season tickets but it would be a complete waste of money, but in hindsight I should have done as I would have sold the games I couldn't go to, I know this really shouldn't happen and not in the spirit etc.

I have tried to tickets for a number of home games but the points system is so biased, take and example you need around 80 points (Don't quote me on this) for 1st dabs on WBA tickets. To get that many points you would have had to go to every game home and away. (again don't quote me on this) Tried for Arsenal tickets away and we had the debacle of the system crashing most annoying. Then not posting on the web site when other ticket sales are released, wanted Bolton tickets nothing to say when on sale, not even on the online tickets for sale, can't remember where it was but they'd been on sale two days and all gone. Luck enough a friend of mine was going away and we had his tickets.

Wanted Villa tickets, but again not enough points and they weren't available until the Thursday before Christmas and as I was going away to Birmingham for Christmas there was no way I would get tickets to me in time over the festive period. Eventually went into Birmingham and bought tickets from the Villa shop.

My point being, I have resigned to the fact that this year will be a case of not visiting the Liberty as is impossible I feel to get tickets. To me away tickets will be the bet opportunity, but they must stop this stupid points system, join the scheme then it's first come first served basis, if that happened I could accept this.

What I will miss, is that I haven't missed the last game of the season for nigh on 15 years, and this year will be my first as it's Liverpool and there is no way I'll have accumulated enough points for this. I like to make a long weekend of this.

I'm sure we could come up with a better system of allocation of non-season tickets.

Sorry to bore you all.
 
Kent don't wast your time, I've not bothered with this Jack army membership Scheme, seemed to me at the time nothing more than a money making scam, I get to see every game down my local, and I'm not ripped off with the price of beer at the liberty either, so I think that these issues will not be addressed until extra seating is found, my Swans cash has been diverted to my Greek Island holiday fund! As long as I see the games live every week I'm happy, and it's the clubs fault that they are losing out on thousands of pounds from fans like ourselves, this all goes back to how the club miss handled the season ticket stampede after wembley, I get the feeling the VIP Plastic have taken over, I know of one executive at the Liberty that regularly gives out 20 to 30 tickets every week to friends and mates up his club watering hole!.................
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Yea, it is a very raw subject.
There are a lot of fans out there who have supported the club for a number of years, and now are not able to go to the games because of the extra demand.
Everyone has got their individual reasons.
I think the price of a ticket is ridiculous!
But this point system is crazy...It's like the rich get richer and the poor go to the dust! The people who have managed to get tickets keep racking up the points, but for those who can only make the odd game, can't, because they don't have enough points....And If they can't make any games, they will never get any points!


The only way this will resolve is when either the stadium expands, or the new fans get bored when it comes crumbling down for us....
i would prefer the first option, the bigger the club the better.
 
Again the ticketing issue really rankles with me as well, especially having to renew my season tickets before March.The club hasn't, in my humble opinion, show any loyalty to the many long term season ticket holders, who have supported the club through thick and thin. They have lumped us with the johny come latelys, who came out of the woodwork when we got promotion to the Prem, and they want to make sure they get the money out of us for next year in case the unthinkable happens. The true fan is STID and will turn up whatever happens, and to treat us as such is annoying to say the least as I, and no doubt many Swansea fans are finding the present financial times extremely difficult. No our Club, and it is our Club haven't covered themselves in glory but hopefully they will tae a more balanced view of things and do the right thing in future, and Aswan Dr Who?:wink:
 
I hate the membership scheme. I feel that I along with everyone else has been forced to join in order to watch then Swans live. I am a season ticket holder so away games was my problem. I have not bought tickets for home games because I don't need to but I do agree it's madness that I could do so and then either sell on at an inflated price to a plastic for glamour games or to at best sell to a non member at face value.
What really gets to me is the fact that for using the service these fcuckwits provide I am charged £1.50 per ticket for an admin fee. Fair play they really do a lot for this £1.50 per ticket after all it's me who has to log on, use my Internet provider, enter my bank details and complete it all under 5 mins. For the Bolton cup game I ordered 5 tickets. These ****ers added £7.50 on just to buy a bloody stamp to post the tickets to me. And another thing, I paid £42 for a Liverpool ticket with an unrestricted view. When I got there I found I was right at the back and because of the stand above it was like watching a DVD with the letterbox effect on. When I went to the ticket office to complain and I showed then photos on my phone they blamed Liverpool and politely told me to fcuk off. The whole thing is a shambles.
 
Thankfully I've got a home season ticket and an away one too but it does seem unfair to me that I have the right to buy another home ticket (as a jack army member) which obviously I could sell on to anybody, not that I have done this as it's not right. Surely this is something that will have to be addressed by the board for next season (if we are still in the prem) otherwise the membership scheme will just become a complete closed shop and many true fans will miss out on ever getting to see us at the Liberty.
 
So long as the Swans are in the PL and getting full houses, they will treat the fans like ****e. We might get a modicum of consideration should the team be relegated and there are empty seats in the ground; then they will come crawling to us begging for our support again. Thing is none of us wants relegation so we have to grin and bear it.
 
I currently live in Portsmouth and will be until some point in July. So I find it hard to get back for games and when I can get back for a game there's no chance of me getting a ticket to sit on the stand which I've done for years and years. I'm fortunate to have contacts which means I can sit in Hospitality which is lovely. But for the fans who aren't so lucky I really do feel for them as there are so many people who have followed the team through thick and thin and should be able to get a ticket ahead of these people who are just coming around to realising what a great team we are (until something goes wrong).

We may of course extend the stadium and its capacity which should make it easier for tickets to be come by. However these newly found fans might get bored of the Swans and we might find it hard to fill these seats? And I'd rather a capacity full stadium of 20k rather than a 30k stadium with 25k in it. It's a bit of a gamble either way.

I hope you get a reply to your letter!
 
Got the exact same problem! I didnt buy a season ticket as i cant go to every game. but i try and make as many as possible every season. i know a couple of lads who have supported liverpool and utd for as long as i can remember who have season tickets, they have no interest in going to a game unless it's the big teams. also both of there first swansea games were the play off final!! If i know a couple im sure we all will know a handful and thats the reason why myself and every other jack army member without a season ticket can't go to any games! Actually managed to get tickets for the fa cup game this saturday, thats only because its not a big team and its away. I don't really mind not seeing the big boys to be honest, I'm happy to see any home game. I've noticed the norwich tickets go on sale on monday, cant see that it requires any loyalty points? so be quick and you may well get tickets!!
 
I remember having a season ticket in the North Bank and trying to go in - before being told by a steward they had sold out the North Bank and I had to sit in the South Stand!! The club has always been the same.

I have always had a season ticket in the Liberty so never had a problem but I wasnt aware us season ticket holders could go and buy tickets with our Jack army membership as well - that sounds a bit daft surely?
 
Stid said:
If you think its bad now, wait till everybody realises that any season tickets that come up for grabs as they havent been renewed will be distributed using the jack army points system too

http://www.swanseacity.net/page/SeasonTickets/0,,10354~2520499,00.html
Click to expand...



I wondered when someone would spot this, the fact is your locked out, until the stadium expansion, which according to Huw Jenkins will be at the end of this season, should we stay up, but the way I see it, it will be put on the back burner until we've reconciled the 8 Million overspend, so the only way you'll get to see games is on the road, which is what my son and I have decided, even if you want to be an Arsenal fan for the day!.................. <laugh>
 
May thanks for your feedback on this subject. It seems that there are common themes coming through here which are of concern and if anyone knows to who these can be directed to at the club please advise and I will forward the communication thread to whoever is the most appropriate.

My annoyance with the whole issue of ticketing arose last year when we reached the play offs. Last season, which was not untypical, my two sons and I went to 9 away games from Kent. We were pleased when the club issued a five away ticket priority for the Millwall away game. I spoke to the ticket office and asked did they actually want ticket stubs as surely our information was recorded on a database and was advised yes they did! Anyway I duly complied and we had our usual annual harrowing experience at the New Den included being pelted with lighters and coins etc at the final whistle following a pitch invasion by the Millwall faithful. Interestingly we were sitting near to Fabio Borini's mum and sister who seemed totally bemused by the whole experience!!

Later we were to find that there was no concession for loyalty in respect of the play off games v Forest and the play off final at Wembley. I was faced with the very real prospect of not gaining a ticket for the play off final despite travelling to 9 away games as far as Barnsley and Burnley and brainwashing my two sons since birth into becoming ardent Swans fans despite the distractions of living in the Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham and Man Utd heartland of Kent! I wrote to the ticket office to complain that it was unfair that we were in the same category as those who had never even attended one game. I had no reply and then decided to write to direct to Huw Jenkins, again with no reply. Fortunately we did get tickets and the very real problem did not arise but so nearly could have!

Throughout my correspondence I was always positive and understood there were unusual circumstances for the club but did explain the Swans are in the customer service industry and explained the value of the customer to the business and the need for a courteous reply even if it was what the writer did not want to hear. But to my bitter disappointment and amazement I have heared absolutely nothing whatsover from the club! Interesting by comparison on page 64 of the Aston Villa programme they have a complaints procedure for fans to make their complaints know. The Swans do not have such a procedure and do not even have the courtesy to acknowledge any correspondence going right up the Chairman!

The current Jack Army scheme which I and others have paid good money for needs specific review with regard to home ticket distribution. How anyone can justify the current system whereby existing season ticket holders can buy another ticket before me and anyone else who has paid £25 for a priority priviledge is completely beyond belief to me and others.

On a positive note the Norwich game requires no points which at least places me and others in the same category on a level playing field with season ticket Jack Army members who want to buy yet another ticket! Lets see what happens when we play Man City and the remaining home games of the season!
 
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