Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Dave4471 on January 24, 2025, 05:23:35 PM
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Sorry, long post alert.
I wanted to get some opinions on here, just to see what people think.
I recently bought a stadium tour for my lad’s 10th birthday, which was meant to be a surprise. On the day of the tour, we arrived in good time as we wanted to take him the shop first and then surprise him with the tour of the ground afterwards.
However, just before were due to head over to the North Stand reception, my lad suddenly came down with an onset of what must have been a sickness bug picked up at school, and was violently ill in the car park, and in no fit state to go looking around the inside of Villa Park.
I did try to contact someone at the time, to see what could be done, but no one was around from the club to help. I went to the North Stand Reception where we were told the tour would start, but that was unattended, and the entrance was locked.
I tried asking at the club shop, but they told me they were unable to help, and with it being a Sunday, the ticket office phone line was closed.
There was another couple waiting for the same tour to start and they said they would let someone know if anybody from the club came along, but at that point all we could do was to get my son home. Unfortunately, the surprise had been ruined. Nobody’s fault, just awful timing and bad luck.
The next day I emailed the Villa to explain the situation and to ask if it would be possible to attend on a different day, given the situation we faced.
The response was...
"Hi,
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately, stadium tours are sold as non-refundable and non-transferable under our terms & conditions.
Kind regards,
Ticket Sales"
I completely understand the Ts and C about no refunds, but I thought I'd reach out to club in the hope that they would at least have some sympathy for our situation. I also made it very clear that I was not asking for a refund, just for my son to be able to go on the tour which we'd paid for, as a present for his birthday
I've emailed them back to say how disappointed I was with their response, but they don't seem bothered. They didn’t even acknowledge my son’s sickness or offer a “we’re sorry to hear that”.
I totally understand that they don't have to do anything, under the terms and conditions. I'm just incredibly disappointed that they haven't even considered our situation.
Surely, it's no skin off their nose to book us on a different tour date?
But, as it seems to be the way at Aston Villa these days, the club have had our money, so that's all it seems to care about.
I’ve spoken to people who think the club have dealt with this badly, some have even said I should put it out there on social media, but that doesn’t sit with me doing stuff like that.
Does anyone on here think I should bother pursuing it any further? Or just write it off? I’m not sure who I’d contact if I did. I’m assuming whoever dealt with my emails was probably just reading off the standard responses.
I think what’s bothered me the most is they way they don’t seem to care about the situation, that my lad was ill and then really upset and that he never got to go on the tour.
Like most of us on here, I’ve spent a lot of years and an awful lot of money supporting this club, and I was so keen for my son to become a fan, and for him enjoy this being his club too.
Anyway, I’d be really interested to hear what people on hear think.
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They don't care. They have their imaginary 25,000 waiting list ready to take everyone's places.
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Very shortsighted of the club, your son and his age group are our future.
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They don't care. They have their imaginary 25,000 waiting list ready to take everyone's places.
The first part I can perhaps agree with, the second part well, we know there's a waiting list. I'm on the bloody thing.
Anyway, in response to the first post, I'd have previously suggested Lee Preece, perhaps now you could go to the person in charge of the ticket office? Or complaints@
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What a dreadful response by the club. Do we still have a Supporters' Trust or anything like that?
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Very sorry to hear that Dave.
Have the club got shot of every employee that has a modicum of compassion or understanding for a one-off situation like this?
You were actually there, at the ground, when youre son became ill.
Not trying to mess them about and change your booking at the 11th hour!
How difficult can it be to just add him to a future tour that's a bit thin on numbers.
I really do hope that someone sees sense over this. Good luck.
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Contact the Trust and ask them to bring it up.
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Contact the Trust and ask them to bring it up.
Thanks Dave,
That's a good idea, how would I do that?
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I was going to suggest write a review on the TripAdvisor site as sometimes they get reviewed / replied to by the company, but it doesn't look like they do. Worth a try anyway as well.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186402-d3681597-Reviews-Aston_Villa_Stadium_Tour-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html
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Sorry to hear this poor experience dave. I dod the tour last year and they made us sogn in so in your case they would have seen you didnt come so they could at least provide a alternative date. That level of service is so poor. I genuinely feel its got so much worse under heck.
As others have said contact the trust they will bring it up on your behalf.
I would like to say this is a one off but the shambles of the pricing, the moving of fans from their seats and the despicable parking fiasco for the disabled recently, it appears they dont give a fuck about the fans.
They don't even offer free delivery if you spend £100 in the online shop. That shows you alone how money orientated this clubs now become.
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They don't care. They have their imaginary 25,000 waiting list ready to take everyone's places.
If you want to imagine it’s imaginary, at least get the figures right. Me and my kids are thirty-seven thousand and something, and there are two blokes at work numbered well over forty thousand.
Anyway - Dave: it might be an idea to tweet @villasupport (I think that’s the handle) on X. I hear they’re pretty good.
Edit: it might be @AVFCSupport.
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that's a heck of a disappoiment
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Chances are that the tour-guide might have shown a human-side in response if they had been nearby at the time and dealt with it appropriately.
Sounds like a classic case of someone junior/inexperienced/not arsed, handling a sensitive customer care correspondence that could easily be rectified as you say, by a bit of understanding and the offer for you both to tag-along at a future tour.
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That’s a rubbish response.
Have you used the complaints procedure?
Your 2nd email should have been escalated to the formal complaints procedure anyway but clearly has not been.
It’ll be interesting to see if that route goes through anyone more senior and the response changes.
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With each passing day, stuff like this emphasises what regular fans mean to the club. Fuck all.
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What a shocking response. The least they should do is acknowledge the situation but, to be honest, I’d expect them to put you on another tour and probably chuck in a free shirt as well.
Having said that, I don’t think this a Heck / revenue driving thing but a case of someone just going by the script and not using any common sense or initiative. Assuming that’s the case, I’d give the club a chance to make it right by pursuing it further. That doesn’t have to be a social media call out though but there must be someone worth contacting.
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For sure, go down the route of a formal complaint. This smacks of something which seems to be all too common these days, you have taken the time and trouble to set out a detailed explanation of what occurred, and the person receiving your correspondence has seen it but not read it, or at least hasn't bothered to read it properly, and has just sent out a stock response.
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Hi Dave4471 (there are a lot of daves on this platform).
Sorry to hear about that - it is disapointing. Things like this annoy me as it wouldnt cost the them anything to rebook you.
I would look to make a formal complaint if you can. At the very least its the kind of feedback the club needs. As we all know - the lifetime value of a fan is probably in the 10Ks so from a business perspective it is a no-brainer.
Sorry you have and your son have experienced this - it shoudlnt even be an issue
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Another reason why we should have an permanent onsite ticket office.
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Sorry that your son’s surprise was ruined.
Long gone are the days that security would take you around the ground for free if you asked nicely.
We’ve got (relative) success on the pitch at the expense of the community family friendly club we used to love.
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Another reason why we should have an permanent onsite ticket office.
100%. I couldn't agree more. Of all the things that Heck's done ruin the mood since his arrival this is one of the worst. It really feels like there's a disconnect between the club and the fans these days and the whole debacle with this lad having his birthday treat ruined brings it sharply into focus. I hate what Heck is being allowed to do to our club. I know his remit is to raise revenue but the way he's gone about it has been unnecessarily cold and completely lacking in empathy with the fans. I mean in the grand scheme of modern top flight football a ticket office with actual human beings to speak to would cost relatively peanuts.
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Hi, sorry about that experience, we did the tour for my sons birthday a few years ago when he was a similar age and it was good.
Its a different issue, but at a game before xmas, i was using the tap and go bar in the lower holte at half time. For those who dont know, you tap your debit card a barrier opens and you go in and pick up what you want and you are charged automatically. Anyway, some twat purposely followed me with no stewards watching and unbeknownst to me. He then picked up 4 pints and two portions of chips (big hands I guess) and i had £40+ taken out of my account.
The point of this ramble is that I complained to the club through the official complaints email. A women called Sarah Clements picked it up, was really helpful, she got me fully reimbursed and also sent me a couple of drinks vouchers for the inconvenience.
Might be worth trying her.
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Another reason why we should have an permanent onsite ticket office.
Would it have been open on the Sunday? I mean if they weren't paying to get the phone lines manned, why would they pay for people to man the ticket office?
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Just to add, I have emailed the ticket office about 3 times about this and the complaints email address twice, explaining the situation but I kept getting the same standard response. Thanks all for suggestions though and I'll give them a go.
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Contact the Trust and ask them to bring it up.
Thanks Dave,
That's a good idea, how would I do that?
By emailing here support@villatrust.org.uk
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It's things like this where Lee was a valuable link between fans and the club.
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Mind you, I think an example of the importance of fans is that Lee is still in the fans charter section of the website
https://www.avfc.co.uk/fans/fans-charter/consultation-information
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Is there a phone number you could call? you might have more luck when actually speaking to somebody.
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I wanted to add a few things, I am over from Canada for 2 weeks with my 12 year old to see a couple of games and show him around where we are from. My son has become a huge Villa fan and I wrote to the Villa in November when I learned we would be coming over asking if we could take a tour of Bodymoor. I finally got a response saying that they couldn't send me any merchandise as they get so many requests, so they completely ignored the request. I did a tour 15 years ago and it was very relaxed and friendly (no players were there) but this time there was nothing from the club. Lee Preece had just left and we heard we didn't have much chance but thought we might get some positivity from the club but sadly nothing.
We did the Villa Park tour last Thursday and it was great, the guide was very helpful and when I asked him a few questions he gave his honest opinion and it wasn't very positive about the administration. The tour was advertised as 1.25 hours but it lasted closer to 2 and well worth doing if you can.
We went to the ground yesterday early to give my lad the full experience and waited in the fan zone for the player's coach to arrive 90 mins before the game. Now the rain didn't help but the coach pulled right up to the player's entrance, the coach blocked the view for 95% of the fans that had waited to see the players and the few players that we did see didn't even bother acknowledging the fans. To say my son was disappointed is an understatement, especially as it wouldn't have been too much coach to stop a little way away and for the players to walk an extra 10-20 yards in the rain. I know the club sees the players as assets and they have lots of security to keep their assets safe but considering they play 90 minutes in the rain I don't think a few seconds of being in the rain would have hurt them.
So it just feels that the connection between the club and the fans is only getting wider, they don't want fans at Bodymoor watching the players come in and they don't want any engagement with us except spending our money at the shop or ticket office. Anyway these are just my observations and they won't stop us being their on Wednesday... it just leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, especially as we have flown thousands of miles to be there and taken time of school/work. UTV