Nationals' customer service representatives say thank you to a loyal season ticket holder.If you're trying to piece together a fan base for a baseball team that is not very good at baseball, it would make sense that customer service would be at the top of your list. The Washington Nationals have decided to go in another direction. At every turn this season, the Nationals seem determined to alienate and anger season ticket holders.
The latest slap in the face was the Nats' new Weekender Promotion. According to this wonderful promotion:
Why wait in beach traffic this summer when you can become a Nats Weekender! Buy any five (5) Nationals weekend home games and receive a ticket to the home finale (September 25) in the PNC Diamond Club* (a $135 value per seat) for FREE. This offer is limited to four (4) tickets per order. Act quickly, as this offer will only be around until August 14.
So let's get this straight -- some Johnny Come Lately can now pony up about six hundred dollars for Nats tickets to weekend games, and get free tickets to the Diamond Club for the home finale. Whereas season ticket holders who spent more than six thousand dollars on their seats for the year, get no offer to upgrade their tickets for the home finale. Way to say 'Thank you.'
This latest decision comes on the heels of some other wonderful customer service moments for Nationals Park's Inaugural Season.
Who can forget the big red tent that the Nats erected over the parking garage, blocking the Capitol view for thousands of fans in the upper deck?
Or the Nationals Yearkbook they're giving out to season ticket holders, and decided to let everyone know through word of mouth. If anyone has yet to receive notification of this promotion (without specfically asking about it), please let us know.
This team seems determined to bring new fans into the stadium by alienating the fans who are already there. Not exactly a recipe for long-term success.
7 comments:
Couldn't agree more.
Half Street, well said. from the begining this team has been loosely organized and it's just getting worse. they don't care about current ST holder cause they already HAVE their money.
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Whereas season ticket holders who spent more than six thousand dollars on their seats for the year, get no offer to upgrade their tickets for the home finale. Way to say 'Thank you.'
Any season ticket holder can upgrade his/her tickets for any game they'd like to by paying the difference between the value of their season ticket for that game and the value of the seat they want to upgrade to. So it's not free - big deal. If a gas station offers a free carwash today for everyone who buys 10 gallons of gas, do you think they should go back and wash the cars of everybody who bought 10 gallons last winter when they didn't have the same deal?
At the beginning of the season, people complained that the Nats didn't offer any six-game plans, weekend plans, pick-em plans or such. Now they're offering some plans like that, with an incentive to get people to purchase them, and people are still complaining. At the beginning of the season, people complained because the Nats weren't doing any marketing and seats were empty. Now they're doing marketing to put butts in the seats, and people are still complaining.
When you bought a season ticket (as I did too) you entered into a contract to get tickets for a certain number of games at a certain price, plus some other benefits that were spelled out at the time. Only an artificial sense of entitlement would lead anyone to be upset that they didn't get some freebie beyond what was promised, so quit complaining about it. If there are things you were promised that you didn't get (like the ceramic model of Nationals Park) then complain away. I'll be right there with you. But otherwise, give it a rest.
There's a ceramic model of nationals park?? I've never even HEARD of that!!
Bottomfeeder - you're now a Friend of Half Street.
Welcome and thanks.
Many have heard of the ceramic model of Nationals Park, but AFAIK no one has seen it. Every STH who paid in full before the deadline last winter was promised that they would receive one "sometime early in the 2008 season". Then it was changed to "by the end of June", and finally to "early in July". It's now the end of July, and no one has yet seen their ceramic model of Nationals Park.
an briosca mor-
Fair enough. You're right that there's a contract w/ season ticket holders. We give them money, they give us tickets. They're under no other obligation to me or any other season ticket holder for anything more than that.
But my point is that the team should be thinking of ways to provide extra value to season ticket holders. The on-the-field product is terrible, so how about looking at ways to make a better experience for people who already paid a lot of money?
Yes, there's no law that says they have to do that, but it'd be a good business practice. Because if season ticket holders don't feel like they're getting any value out of the purchase, they won't be back next year.
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