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General Category => Ask the Experts => Topic started by: Wrongly on August 31, 2011, 12:56:39 PM

Title: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Wrongly on August 31, 2011, 12:56:39 PM
Are you kidding me!  



\"In response to the feedback from our customers and in an effort to provide you with the best experience possible, we are enhancing the process for our online ticketing sales.

Visitors will now have the unique opportunity to select preferences for their seating locations for the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby and Oaks.

On Monday, November 7, 2011, you will receive an e-mail and Seating Preference Request Form that describes available seating options and pricing.

A deposit in the amount of $100 is required to be paid by credit card at the time you submit your preferences. If your request is filled, your $100 deposit will be applied toward the price of the tickets being purchased. If we are unable to fulfill your request, $50 of your deposit will be refunded to your credit card and the remaining $50 will be retained as an administrative fee. If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to sales@kyderby.com.

Churchill Downs will accept completed Seating Preference Request Forms for Kentucky Derby and Oaks seats from November 7, 2011, through Sunday, November 20, 2011.

If we are able to fulfill your request an electronic invoice will be sent by January 31, 2012. If we are unable to fulfill your request an electronic refund notice will be sent by January 31, 2012.

Requests will be filled in order of time received, subject to ticket availability and based on the ticket preferences you select.\"
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: P-Dub on August 31, 2011, 02:08:44 PM
Disgusting.

What a-hole thought up this plan??
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: SJU5 on August 31, 2011, 02:30:48 PM
Can\'t be legal ???
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Beau on August 31, 2011, 03:02:28 PM
Yet, they see nothing wrong with it! UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Boscar Obarra on August 31, 2011, 08:55:52 PM
Only $50?  I told them to charge $100, they\'re leaving big bucks on the table.

 Hey, maybe this is an anti scalping mechanism, that\'s the ticket.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: RICH on September 01, 2011, 06:25:50 AM
send an email to them, and let them have it
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: sighthound on September 01, 2011, 06:35:40 AM
$50 to enter a lottery for Kentucky Derby tickets?   That\'s exactly what it is.  I wonder if they are entitled by state law to run such a lottery.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: sighthound on September 01, 2011, 06:48:50 AM
Oh, and I sent a little opinion e-mail to sales@kyderby.com

And another to Jack Conway, KY Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division
consumer.protection@ag.ky.gov

BTW:  Conway has TB horses and races in KY with his family.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: miff on September 01, 2011, 07:30:39 AM
Sight,


How about a plain old NY style e-mail to CD, \"F--k you\"

Mike
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: MO on September 01, 2011, 08:16:24 AM
That\'s pretty much CD\'s attitude in a nut shell. Haven\'t you learned, their shit doesn\'t stink?. You wanna hear first hand horror stories how CD treats people from out of state - people they promise jobs to over the phone and then when they drive 1500 miles to show up at the interview, CD again says \"FU, we already hired someone and we are not paying your travel expenses as promised\"? Send me an email.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Topcat on September 01, 2011, 08:33:21 AM
Given the number of tickets which are already tied up/spoken for on an annual basis, what\'s left isn\'t worth much.   I\'ve sat virtually everywhere in that building excepting Millionares\' Row, and there\'s plenty of high-priced stuff I wouldn\'t touch.
The entire 100 level offers horrendous perspectives, and the club turn\'s anything but a bargain, even at the 300 level.   Sounds like they\'re offering bad and worse, and if you\'re fussy and ask above your station, they\'re going to snatch half your deposit? An epic grab, if true.   Correct me, if I\'m wrong.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Wrongly on September 01, 2011, 10:00:31 AM
Couldn\'t agree more.  Those us of who don\'t have a season box at Churchill (Live in another state) or don\'t own horses, are left with few options for Derby Day seating.  This past year, in order to purchase 300 level tickets I was forced to buy Secretariat Lounge passes.  It was an obvious money grab, paying a premium for the lounge in addition to the tickets.  It is a flat out shame that it\'s easier; maybe even cheaper, to buy tickets from scalpers.  This latest money grab has just sent me over the edge.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: moosepalm on September 01, 2011, 10:15:42 AM
This is the kind of mindset which seems to operate in many sports businesses.  When you have the choice between exploiting the customer base or cultivating it, they choose the former.  Then, when the tide turns, as it inevitably does, they wonder why fan loyalty had dwindled.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Rick B. on September 01, 2011, 10:38:39 AM
I hear all of your complaints, and I\'m with you to a degree, but...the Derby is little more than a DrunkFest these days, IMO. I\'m don\'t mind going to the Derby, or being there -- it\'s the \"leaving\" part that scares the shit out of me. Too many amateurs with a snootful getting behind the wheel, and 3/4ths of them aren\'t from L\'ville.

Have your own Derby party instead.

Do a blind draw on the field, charge X dollars per horse, pay 60%/25%/15% for WPS. (Get 20 people to throw in 50 or a hundo, and there will be some nice prizes!)  

Drink your asses off, if you are so inclined, and stay put until sober.

The next day, send the letter Miff suggested to Churchill Downs.

FAR more entertaining...cheaper...safer. You\'re welcome.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: sighthound on September 01, 2011, 03:34:23 PM
Yeah, did that first
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: JR on September 01, 2011, 06:34:06 PM
Boycott the race.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Boscar Obarra on September 01, 2011, 08:50:36 PM
CD is a public company, so some bad press might not be taken lightly by the stockholders.
Title: Re: Churchill's new Derby ticket swindle!
Post by: Wrongly on September 02, 2011, 05:31:24 AM
Who in the media is going to cover this?  Not DRF, not Bloodhorse and ESPN please.  

CD provided some numbers: roughly 20,000 tickets will be made available to the general public.  17,000 people have registered for those tickets and those chosen few can purchase up to 6 tickets.  Let\'s say a couple of thousand get pissed off and drop out, leaving 15,000.  Maybe 5,000 get the \"opportunity\" to purchase tickets.  Leaving CD with a cool half million dollars.

Little if any bad press versus a half million, lets extort our customers.