This is my second season as a season ticket holder. Although the team has been plagued with injuries...the team has been quite fun to watch. This makes going to the games that much more fun. My wife (7 months prego) and I love coming to the games. Haven't missed a single game for the past two seasons. Last year, the Rockets provided upgrade coupons as part of their renewal rewards. Basically you get to upgrade your seats for three games of your choice during the season and the upgrades are on a first come first serve basis. Or so i thought! I was pretty excited when i used my first upgrade. Went from lower corner to the club and got closer to the court than my season ticket seats. We waited outside 30 minutes before the doors open so we could get to the ticket service desk first and get the best seats. I thought that maybe the game was conisderable full and that the tickets were sold and these would be the next best available. So didn't think much of it and enjoyed the game. The next game we got around to talking to some of the season ticket holders that we usually sit around and found out that the couple next to me...who said they showed up about 30 minutes after the doors opened ended up sitting right behind the visitors bench for the same game. I'm a pretty patient person, so I didnt think too much of it then and planned to pick a low profile game (no giveaways and a crappy team) next to use our next upgrade coupon hoping to get really good seats. Negative! Arrived 30 minutes before the doors opened...rushed to the ticket service table to be given tickets for the second to the last row in the club section. These seats ended up crappier than our regular seats. I was not happy. But I had a lot of fun watching the game and Rockets played terrific. I had one coupon left...determined not to get screwed. I did a bit of investigating. We usually show up early because we eat dinner at the toyota center before the game. This day I decided to go and stand by the ticket service desk and asked for ticket service rep...who wasnt there and got a chance to see the crooked operation in action. Apparently...first come first serve is not how they operate. I saw the initial group of tickets being delivered to the reps. They immediately went thru the stack and divided the tickets into two stacks. Then they pulled out envelopes and placed a few set of tickets aside for specific people (assuming this because the envelopes were named). Then as people walked up...some received tickets from one stack while others received tickets from another stack. Does sound like first come first serve to me! So I thought i'd have one up on the rep the next time i decided to upgrade. Cue last night: Got there early and ran to the service desk. Flashed my voucher and got handed a pair of tickets. Row 17. I respectfully declined and mentioned that I would try again next game for better seats. They made me wait a second and handed me row 11. At this point this is the best upgrade that i've gotten and I was so frustrated that I just wanted to get this ordeal over with. I grabbed the tickets and went to grab a bite. We ended up catching some people from our section who showed up after we did...maybe 10-15 minutes...and compared our upgrades...They sat Row D. Row F*&^ing D. I was fuming. This was absolutely the last straw. I walked over to the table asked them why this just happened to me. The response I got: "Sir the tickets are placed in a random order." "We just pick from the top." BULL****. I had watched them in action and knew first hand this is not how they distributed tickets. I was about to turn their table over and decided to walk away instead. As a sat in my seat...i can see the couple who got better upgrades sitting directly in front of me and I could not handle it. They had me and my 7 months pregnant wide standing in line for 30 minutes and then rush to their desk to get the best seats and they **** in our faces. We walked out before the game even started and on the way out I walked by their table. They had obviously talked amongst themselves because they all saw me coming. I walked up to the table...slammed my upgrade tickets down and said "this is not how anyone should be treated...what you guys have done is completely wrong." and walked out of the arena. Boy did they have a scared look on their face when I was walking up. Tonight is the Rockets play day that I am definitely planning on attending. I wonder how its gonna turn out... I have been trying to get a hold of a couple of managers to complain to but havent been able to as of yet. I had told myself that I would try my very best to continue to renew my season tickets for as long as I could afford it and had already saved up for next season...but at this point WHY WOULD I? Sorry for the rant....just thought i'd share and take this opportunity as a form of "getting something of my chest".
You sounded like a bit of a <s>prick</s> dramatic figure and I'm sure your lack of charisma effected your dealings. oh and:
Hmm all this for something that was an incentive? I think a letter to their PR or sales department would be more ideal than a thread about it on here. But I think I see where you are going with this..
Also...I completely understand that these rep do favors for some of their clients and thats not what I am complaining about. i want to be treated fairly. If you are gonna say first come first serve then make sure you do. My little investigation was very accidental. But it def showed me everything I needed to see.
I agree this would frustrate me as well. They need to treat their customers better. At the very least they owe you an explanation as to how the process really works.
That freaking sucks dude. I read the whole thing and don't know why those bastards would run a scam like that. Have you called the customer service line to see if anyone can help? Maybe get a different ticket rep?
I think its a losing battle to talk to another rep because they were all there at one point or another. I am trying to get a hold of the Sales Manager to file the complaint and get an explanation.
I can think of ways you might have been able to handle it better, but then you shouldn't have to -- they should have it right the first time. Someone tweet a link. Rockets will see it and hopefully will address it. I'd tweet it, but I think only 3 people follow me, lol.
I understand your frustration due to the circumstances on how the other people got better seats but your emphasis on "first come first served" makes me think that you assume that since you got their first, you'd get the best seat. But in reality, isn't "first come first served" just basically mean that you'll get an upgrade of some sort, as long as they upgraded your seats? Sure there might be favoritism going on in the back w/ the employees but your seats WERE UPGRADED nonetheless (TWICE in fact). Again, like I said, I understand your frustration and it sucks considering you had your wife with you as well, but like famicom said, maybe the best course of action is to write a complaint to their ticketing/sales/PR rather than 1. throw a huge tantrum in front of their employees and 2. start a thread here that will most likely not get anything done.
Season Tickets for me this year, too. I had three vouchers. So, a couple points in response to you. 1. I've been in three different locations and I've never been there when the door opens. The first time I sat in Row C on the floor across from the Rockets bench next to the tunnel where they came out - was awesome. Second time, I was Row C behind the visitor's bench - was also awesome. Third time, I was in row 8 in the club behind the Rockets bench, and again, it was awesome. 2. I got another upgrade and a signed Yao basketball because they screwed up our season ticket order, so I've been one of the people with tickets set aside. 3. Whenever I've gotten tickets, they've reached into a little stack without looking and pulled two out. So I don't know what you're asserting here. You're saying they specifically gave you crap upgrades? To what end? You're saying they saw YOU, and said... let's give him the crap seats? Did you consider they're in multiple stacks because it's a lot of F'n tickets and human beings occasional break down large groups of items into smaller groups to make them more manageable? OR... and I'm just thinkin' out loud here, but don't you think if a VIP, large sponsor or other large monetary contributor to the team shows up with an upgrade, that they'd rather keep that person happy with floor seats than you? I'm not arrogant enough to assume that I would or should get better treatment than that. An NBA team doesn't keep big money people throwing cash their way by putting them up in BFE. If and when those people don't show, they release those upgrade seats to whoever shows up. Maybe THAT is why I show up thirty-forty minutes AFTER the doors open and get a floor seat, and you show up as they open, and you don't. Did you consider that? 4. You were about to "turn the table over"?? REALLY?? Dude, as honestly and plainly as I can say it.... they don't owe you s**t. Just sayin'. Grow up and be thankful they gave you anything at all.
I take first come first serve meaning that if you show up first you get the best of what's available. Sounds like the relationships between the ticket reps and their clients come first though.
No first come first served in any situation means that you get served first before the supply is gone. It doesn't mean you get preferential treatment just because you're #1 in line. As long as they did their job of upgrading his seats (which they did), the employees are not in the wrong in any way. If they upgraded his seats TWICE, they are not in the wrong in any way. If the OP did not like his upgraded seats due to other ticket holders getting better seats, there are more diplomatic and rational ways to get his complaint heard rather than If anything, he should have requested upper management that night to take care of the situation.
