Seat selection -- still amateur hour in the Department

[bonwich]

Some of y'all might recall that my seats had been in my dad's name for some 40 years or so, and that, according to the stated new rules, I went ahead and started my own Billiken Club membership and got points in my own name. (Remember the whole "name on the check must match the name on the account" stated criterion?)

Well, came picking day and we got seat about 4 rows behind the similar endzone seats we had at Kiel. I went to check out, and the kid says, "William Bonwich?" even though my picking letter says "Joe Bonwich." I say, no, William died two years ago, I have my own account now. He enters my seats into the computer.

Comes billing time and a bill arrives for my four seats addressed to "William Bonwich."

I call the season ticket office and point out that the name is wrong. I ask if the point accrual for the new tickets is being credited to my account or my dad's account. Ticket dude says he doesn't know, that's a separate office.

First result: Clearly, I could have simply opened a Billiken Club account in my dad's name and used his accrued 400 or so points toward my new seats. No big deal -- we probably would have ended up in the same section anyway.

Second result: When I did open a Billiken Club account in my name, I enclosed a letter noting my dad's point total and offering to make a donation that would bring my point total up to the same level. I was never contacted by anyone in the athletic department. Hey, it was only four or five Gs, apparently not enough to merit a response.

We continue to be a low-rent operation in what's now a very high-rent facility.

[brianstl]

This wouldn't happen if they were allowed to park next to the building.

[Clock_Tower]

Believe the problem is that AD Chris May was not in the building at that time in that left work to cash his paycheck.

[cheeseman]

You know instead of bitching on this site why don't you call AD May and have a reasonable conversation with him about your situation and experience. If he does not respond effectively then you can ***** on the site. Just because some student who is getting paid minimum wage and working part time screws something up, you still have to give May the chance to know what is going on. Nothing burned me more when I was supervising people who worked with the public when one of my employees made a mistake and the person who had the bad experience just bitched to others without letting me know what happened. I used the opportunity to teach the employee the correct way to respond and to resolve the issue for the client. So, ***** all you want but first let May know so he can at least correct it or screw it up.

[Clock_Tower]

You know instead of bitching on this site why don't you call AD May and have a reasonable conversation with him about your situation and experience. If he does not respond effectively then you can ***** on the site. Just because some student who is getting paid minimum wage and working part time screws something up, you still have to give May the chance to know what is going on. Nothing burned me more when I was supervising people who worked with the public when one of my employees made a mistake and the person who had the bad experience just bitched to others without letting me know what happened. I used the opportunity to teach the employee the correct way to respond and to resolve the issue for the client. So, ***** all you want but first let May know so he can at least correct it or screw it up.

Cheese. Good points as to the part-time student and phone call. At the same time, Bonwich's post ALSO includes:

"When I did open a Billiken Club account in my name, I enclosed a letter noting my dad's point total and offering to make a donation that would bring my point total up to the same level. I was never contacted by anyone in the athletic department. Hey, it was only four or five Gs, apparently not enough to merit a response."

For goodness sake, donations to the Athletic Dept are small, requests for account changes are few and donor initiated contributions are most likely even fewer. We only have 2,000 or so accounts so how many donations, change requests, etc. can there be? Also, they have worked on this new system for 3 years. This is small time stuff for which CL, AD May and Mark Wright should have personally reviewed every account. This is not 80,000 season tickets for Michigan football games. At SLU, basketball is our only real revenue sport - no offense intended to soccer and the women's programs. If part-time students are opening letters such as what Bonwich sent (which I doubt), then heads should roll for such a poor system.

As a personal example, there are 4 season ticket holder groups in my family. Taking my suggestion, each group did personally call prior to the point deadline to make sure SLU properly credited the accounts. Good thing because 2 of the accounts were wrong. SLU greatly under-reported the amount of points. SLU personnel were friendly, courteous and did get it corrected but still... Changes need to be made.

[Major Majerus]

As a personal example, there are 4 season ticket holder groups in my family. Taking my suggestion, each group did personally call prior to the point deadline to make sure SLU properly credited the accounts. Good thing because 2 of the accounts were wrong. SLU greatly under-reported the amount of points. SLU personnel were friendly, courteous and did get it corrected but still... Changes need to be made.

I've learned through long experience that if you take the trouble to show up in person, smile, and tell them you're there to help them correct their records, people will respond in a friendly, or at least courteous, manner.

[bonwich]

The suggestion to call May and/or to show up in person oversimplifies a very long sequence of screw-ups by the athletic department -- and let's remember that May had nothing to do with the original mandate that accounts were not transferable upon death except to spouses.

As noted, I sent a letter with my Billiken Club application. This letter was specifically addressed to someone in the athletic department, not a part-time student. Moreover, when I dealt with the part time student today, I was quite courteous, and he fixed the account inasmuch as he could.

May has nothing to fix now in my immediate situation. (That's not a deprecation of him, merely a reflection of reality.) I offered to donate money; they ignored me. Seats are now selected, so any donation now would have no benefit to me.

I put an account in my name as requested; they billed me in my father's name. The ticket dude fixed the name on the account; when Billiken Club statements come out, if my points are wrong, I'll call Margot and have her fix them. But that, too, is somewhat meaningless until we pick again.

In any event, calling May would only accomplish the same that would be accomplished if he simply read what I just wrote. Posting it out here, on the other hand, alerts others who may have encountered the same substandard service -- plus we all know that someone in the athletic department or administration reads this stuff.

[davidnark]

Bonwich, while it may seem unfair that ticket accounts cannot be transferred to anyone but your spouse, that policy has been in place for well over a decade. Because of that policy, I have been buying my own tickets since the late 90's rather than buying tickets through my father who has been a ticket holder for about 30 years. I know of at least four other people who have made a similar decision. It would have been unfair to those of use who made this decision years ago if they changed it going forward.

If you were really interested in making a $4,000 - $5,000 donation, why didn't you just complete the simple online donation form or call the appropriate person at the athletic department rather than include a separate letter with the application? If you had done either, there would have been no issues.

[brianstl]

Bonwich, while it may seem unfair that ticket accounts cannot be transferred to anyone but your spouse, that policy has been in place for well over a decade. Because of that policy, I have been buying my own tickets since the late 90's rather than buying tickets through my father who has been a ticket holder for about 30 years. I know of at least four other people who have made a similar decision. It would have been unfair to those of use who made this decision years ago if they changed it going forward.

If you were really interested in making a $4,000 - $5,000 donation, why didn't you just complete the simple online donation form or call the appropriate person at the athletic department rather than include a separate letter with the application? If you had done either, there would have been no issues.

David he wasn't trying to pull anything by transferring an account. He kept on trying to tell them his dad has been dead for two years and they kept on trying to let him buy tickets through his dad's account.

On the money thing............. anytime a letter arrives offering to donate $4,000 - $5,000 dollars a phone call should be made right away to that person. They should not make that person work to donate the money. It is not Bonwich's fault that he didn't donate the money, but rather the athletic department's fault. This has kind of stuff has happened for to many times over the past two decades.

[davidnark]

David he wasn't trying to pull anything by transferring an account. He kept on trying to tell them his dad has been dead for two years and they kept on trying to let him buy tickets through his dad's account.

On the money thing............. anytime a letter arrives offering to donate $4,000 - $5,000 dollars a phone call should be made right away to that person. They should not make that person work to donate the money. It is not Bonwich's fault that he didn't donate the money, but rather the athletic department's fault. This has kind of stuff has happened for to many times over the past two decades.

I wasn't accusing Bonwich of trying to pull anything. I know Bonwich is an honest guy. I just don't think Chris May should change this policy despite the hardship it has caused Joe and his family.

I also agree that the department should have followed up on the letter, but I am certain Joe had access to the form to purchase an extra-large brick with enough characters to throw-in some witty latin quote or restaurant reference.

[bonwich]

To clarify, I wasn't saying that May or anyone else should change the policy -- I was only saying that the policy was put in place, and they made a big deal about how the name on the check would have to match the name on the account (and other safeguards intended to keep everyone honest). But in my sample-size-of-one experience, they totally screwed up everything they said they'd do.

Also, when I sent the letter in, I asked specific questions for clarification on how points would be totaled, and asked for a specific amount that I'd need to donate to get my account up to the point total that dad had had. (Had had had. There's either a Dr. Suess or a Firesign Theatre joke sitting there somewhere.) I got bupkis in response. So I didn't donate. Call me petty or petulant, but if I can't even get a phone call for $4K, I choose to donate my money elsewhere.

[moytoy12]

FYI - Bonwich, feel free to get in contact with me if you are looking for places to donate $4-5k.

[Major Majerus]

Bonwich - you are right; you've already gone the extra mile. I was just saying how I would handle it if I was getting screwed and my correspondence had gone into a black hole. In your case, it would have been tempting to take over your dad's account, since they were clearing the way, looking forward to that day when the general public recognizes that those seats back under the basket where you can see all the elbows, blood & gore, etc. will be recognized by the general public for the best seats in the house. Then you will need all those extra BCPs.

[Major Majerus]

I also agree that the department should have followed up on the letter, but I am certain Joe had access to the form to purchase an extra-large brick with enough characters to throw-in some witty latin quote or restaurant reference.

He could have used the famous quote where Julius Caesar asked Brutus whether he had also eaten...

[cheeseman]

What is still being missed here is that Joe never did let AD May know that his letter and phone calls went ignored. Joe, I know your problem is now apparently solved kind of my accident but unless you let May know that things like this are happening then he will never know that there is a problem - that is the point I tried to make the first time.

[bonwich]

What is still being missed here is that Joe never did let AD May know that his letter and phone calls went ignored. Joe, I know your problem is now apparently solved kind of my accident but unless you let May know that things like this are happening then he will never know that there is a problem - that is the point I tried to make the first time.

I understand and can agree with this -- but at the same time, I've never met the guy, and I wasn't really thrilled about calling him out of the blue for the first time to ***** at him. The story stays the same regardless of whether I tell him now or whether, if it can come up normally in conversation after I meet him, I tell him then.

[kevinfootes]

I understand and can agree with this -- but at the same time, I've never met the guy, and I wasn't really thrilled about calling him out of the blue for the first time to ***** at him. The story stays the same regardless of whether I tell him now or whether, if it can come up normally in conversation after I meet him, I tell him then.

I'm with Bonwich on this one. Geez, let's make the boosters do all of the work...let's make it difficult to donate...let's make it difficult to follow the rules.

[bonwich]

For the record, I just got a call from Chris May following up on the situation. Another sample-size-of-one observation, but my personal experience is now that the athletic director is absolutely committed to being responsive to everyone from the Chaifetzes to the Bonwiches, which bodes well for the future.

[thetorch]

For the record, I just got a call from Chris May following up on the situation. Another sample-size-of-one observation, but my personal experience is now that the athletic director is absolutely committed to being responsive to everyone from the Chaifetzes to the Bonwiches, which bodes well for the future.

Did he return your call or read about your situation here?

[bonwich]

He called me. I was walking through the newsroom when he called and didn't figure out who it was until about 30 seconds into the conversation, but I think he said someone had e-mailed him about the thread on the forum.

[Cowboy]

He called me. I was walking through the newsroom when he called and didn't figure out who it was until about 30 seconds into the conversation, but I think he said someone had e-mailed him about the thread on the forum.

people in the adept read this forum, they certainly do

[Quality Is Job 1]

people in the adept read this forum, they certainly do

We have people who work in the athletics department who post on the board. Plus, I wouldn't put it past cheeseman to have e-mailed May about Bonwich's post; he seemed to care enough to do so.

[1SLUFAN]

May needs to know about any and all situations. He is a very diplomatic and reasonable man. He is obviously in a period where he is evaluating all aspects of the department and once he does his evaluations will make the appropriate changes. At least I surely hope he will. But if he doesn't know where the problems are he can't fix them.