16 November 2012
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading fans asked for a way to sell back tickets when they couldn't make games. And the club delivered. Delivered something very unsavoury that is. Clearly Reading Football Club couldn't be bothered to set-up a scheme to enable fans to purchase unused tickets at face value, as would be the fair, and expected, thing to do. Instead fans may be charged way over the odds for popular games via the ViaGoGo website, which charges both sellers and buyers large commision on potentially well over priced tickets. ViaGoGo have had plenty of publicity after featuring in Channel Four's Dispatches programme: "The Great Ticket Scandal".
It's bad enough that these websites exist, forcing people to pay inflated prices for standard tickets. However the worst part is that the club are supporting such companies and openly promoting the practice of legal ticket touting in order to make a few extra quid from fans. It gets worse - the club are openly trying to sell spare tickets at inflated prices by removing them from general sale: "As part of this initiative, the club will also make a small amount of South Stand match tickets available for sale on the viagogo website, once tickets go to General Sale."
Of course it's possible the scheme may offer a small benefit to season tickets holders, once ViaGoGo have taken their cut and passed some money back to the club. However, for all other fans it stinks. So much for "Royalty points". That scheme has gone straight out of the window in exchange for easy money from a morally suspect website. Using the new system any fan can resell their ticket - so don't be suprised to see the season ticket holder who normally sits next to you replaced by a either a home or away fan who paid over double the price. Reading Football Club describe this as a "fantastic new initiative". Can't argue with that.
Fantastic:
Imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality.
Of extraordinary size or degree.
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