Is the club cutting back?

[Not Now Kato]

Just received the leaflet inviting me to renew my Silver Plus season ticket.
 
Looks like there's no more match day program included, and no replica shirt!
 
Doesn't look to be as good a deal it used to be!

[ravenrover]

Perhaps the recent fan survey has something to do with it

[knockers]

What are the results of the survey?
Who did they ask?

[ravenrover]

I got a survey as a Silver plus asking what was important to me, this included programmes, free half time draw tickets replica shirt car parking amongst others and to rank them. I assume all silver plus did?

[Not Now Kato]

I got a survey as a Silver plus asking what was important to me, this included programmes, free half time draw tickets replica shirt car parking amongst others and to rank them. I assume all silver plus did?

How strange, I didn't.
 
Did you suggest dropping the program and the shirt?
 
Doesn't seem to be a good way of retaining supporters at that level of membership, even less attracting new ones!

[ravenrover]

No it was a case of prioritising what you thought was important to you as part of Silver plus

[Not Now Kato]

Thanks rr.  I will be renewing anyway, but the Silver Plus deal looks to be simply paying for the car parking in advance and very little more.
 
I suspect that reducing benefits of Silver Plus is an attempt to persuade people to pay more to upgrade to Gold or Platinum - it won't work in my case!
 
I don't think it reflects well on the club either.

[keith79]

I remember the days when a season ticket got you a seat or a place on the terrace no more. How times have changed

[silent majority]

The problem was that some people complained that they were paying for things that they didn't want or need.

So the club decided to ask the question and then altered the package depending on the results they received. There was certainly no intention to 'cut back' nor to force people into paying extra.

It was simply a rearranging of the package to suit what the majority were asking for.

[Not Now Kato]

I remember the days when a season ticket got you a seat or a place on the terrace no more. How times have changed

Times need to change Keith, and the club needs to move with those times.  In a world where competition exists to extract peoples money, football clubs need to compete and offer packages that will attract people to spend their money there.  For the price of a Rovers season ticket I can, for example, play something like 30 or 40 rounds of golf - at a time of my choosing, avoiding bad weather and have around 4 hours of entertainment as opposed to 90 minutes, (in reality, less due to time-wasting etc etc).  Other examples exist.
 
Given our current home crowd gates the club should be looking to incentivise people to spend their money with Club Doncaster and not elsewhere.  People move Banks, Insurance Providers, ISP's etc when prices go up or when benefits are reduced.  DRFC should remember that it is easier, (and less costly), to retain existing customers than it is to attract new ones!

[Not Now Kato]

The problem was that some people complained that they were paying for things that they didn't want or need.

So the club decided to ask the question and then altered the package depending on the results they received. There was certainly no intention to 'cut back' nor to force people into paying extra.

It was simply a rearranging of the package to suit what the majority were asking for.

Thanks SM.  Have the results of the survey been published anywhere?  If not, and I've certainly not seen them, why not?

[Pancho Regan]

I remember the days when a season ticket got you a seat or a place on the terrace no more. How times have changed

 
Given our current home crowd gates the club should be looking to incentivise people to spend their money with Club Doncaster and not elsewhere.  People move Banks, Insurance Providers, ISP's etc when prices go up or when benefits are reduced.  DRFC should remember that it is easier, (and less costly), to retain existing customers than it is to attract new ones!

I don't think you can compare choosing to support Rovers with deciding which bank or insurance company to use.

I'm a fan first, and a customer second. If I don't like the catering at the Keepmoat, I might grumble and raise my concerns, but it wouldn't make me support Rotherham because their offer was better.

Obviously that shouldn't mean the Club can take people like me for granted, but I really don't feel that they do.
They seem to take seriously the views and opinions of supporters and try to act upon them. There are plenty of examples of that.

I think the Club is doing a good job in this respect.

[since-1969]

I remember the days when a season ticket got you a seat or a place on the terrace no more. How times have changed

Times need to change Keith, and the club needs to move with those times.  In a world where competition exists to extract peoples money, football clubs need to compete and offer packages that will attract people to spend their money there.  For the price of a Rovers season ticket I can, for example, play something like 30 or 40 rounds of golf - at a time of my choosing, avoiding bad weather and have around 4 hours of entertainment as opposed to 90 minutes, (in reality, less due to time-wasting etc etc).  Other examples exist.
 
Given our current home crowd gates the club should be looking to incentivise people to spend their money with Club Doncaster and not elsewhere.  People move Banks, Insurance Providers, ISP's etc when prices go up or when benefits are reduced.  DRFC should remember that it is easier, (and less costly), to retain existing customers than it is to attract new ones!

There is a price that the  board can run the club without reducing the player budget , the season ticket issue is a part of that forward planning so like you I believe that incentives are needed , Particularly when you are being asked to start buy for the next season before the current season has finished. They are only offering £15 early bird discount so things are definitely getting tight at the purse end of the board . Previous incentives of shirts , halftime draw tickets and match day programs, clearly didn’t do its work so they’ve ditched them in favour of more profits to spend on the team . With low attendances or static growth , the boards have little room to manoeuvre short of breaking fair play rules. L1 is our budget level imo !

[stuey]

The problem was that some people complained that they were paying for things that they didn't want or need.

So the club decided to ask the question and then altered the package depending on the results they received. There was certainly no intention to 'cut back' nor to force people into paying extra.

It was simply a rearranging of the package to suit what the majority were asking for.

Who did they ask?

[adamtherover]

is silver plus an extra membership beyond the usual season ticket,  i remember receiving a scarf 2 years ago, but never a shirt??

[silent majority]

I remember the days when a season ticket got you a seat or a place on the terrace no more. How times have changed

Times need to change Keith, and the club needs to move with those times.  In a world where competition exists to extract peoples money, football clubs need to compete and offer packages that will attract people to spend their money there.  For the price of a Rovers season ticket I can, for example, play something like 30 or 40 rounds of golf - at a time of my choosing, avoiding bad weather and have around 4 hours of entertainment as opposed to 90 minutes, (in reality, less due to time-wasting etc etc).  Other examples exist.
 
Given our current home crowd gates the club should be looking to incentivise people to spend their money with Club Doncaster and not elsewhere.  People move Banks, Insurance Providers, ISP's etc when prices go up or when benefits are reduced.  DRFC should remember that it is easier, (and less costly), to retain existing customers than it is to attract new ones!

There is a price that the  board can run the club without reducing the player budget , the season ticket issue is a part of that forward planning so like you I believe that incentives are needed , Particularly when you are being asked to start buy for the next season before the current season has finished. They are only offering £15 early bird discount so things are definitely getting tight at the purse end of the board . Previous incentives of shirts , halftime draw tickets and match day programs, clearly didn’t do its work so they’ve ditched them in favour of more profits to spend on the team . With low attendances or static growth , the boards have little room to manoeuvre short of breaking fair play rules. L1 is our budget level imo !

I'm never surprised by your lack of knowledge and yet your obvious desire to misguide people by offering your distorted opinion as fact.

[since-1969]

You just hate others opinions that don’t agree with yours

[RTID75]

I emailed the club to clarify what we are (aren't) getting with a Plus season ticket this season, having seen how they're selling it. Not heard back yet, but with others questioning it on here its clear I've not mis-read the renewal leaflet. It's a poor show for previous Plus members.

Sorry Rovers, I don't want to read a compilation programme two months after the game has been played, I would love to still get the shirt, and I can live without parking at the ground as the free for all to get out at the end is tiresome, completely ignored by stewards / the club (despite complaints), and also risks you getting your car hit by someone else (yes, I've seen this happen).

A lost Plus sale from me I'm afraid.

[5 on Tour]

I’m the same as the others on here unfortunately. I’ve renewed the season tickets but not the Silver Plus. The lady in the office looked like I wasn’t the first to do so that day.

I don’t really need to pay for parking in advance - let’s be honest if it’s sunny then parking further away and walking is usually more enjoyable. And the silver+ really doesn’t contain much more than that. Certainly not compared to last season.

Disappointing really.

[Not Now Kato]

Hmmmm, it appears to get worse!
 
According to the flier that came though the post Silver Plus members are supposed to 'get' the Purple Book as part of the package.  By 'get' I assumed that it was included in the price.
 
Nothing to the contrary on the card receipt they gave me, just the amount I'd paid; and they handed me a copy there and then.
 
But when I received my detailed email receipt I see I have been charged £25 for it!  That's £25 for something I'm hardly likely to use - money off kids rides and eating places no where near Doncaster  aren't much use for an OAP. And I can get better discount % at vouchercodes.co.uk. for places I do eat at!
 
Going to phone the Box Office and see what they say.  Not happy!

[silent majority]

I think there's quite a bit of misunderstanding here, so I'll attempt to answer most of the queries and questions.

Season Tickets = Silver Members
Categorised as A, B and C depending on where people sit – as has been the case for the past three years.

There has been a price freeze on season tickets, this lasts until the first week of April.  Then they will go off sale and the full price decided once we know our divisional status – nothing new here we have done this for the past few years.

The £5 to £15 the club are offering on top of that if people buy before next Saturday is in addition to the standard early bird – not a case of us cutting our cloth –the club are offering people an increased discount for buying early.  Again nothing new here we sometimes do this – we offered 5% a few years back and a couple of years ago offered 500 prizes to the first 500 people who bought.  It’s nothing more than an additional sales incentive and to offer people who know they are coming next year (regardless of division) chance to save a little a bit more.

Purple Vouchers & DNA Cards
Are included in season ticket packages for anyone over the age of 18+.  The books retail at £25 and consists of hundreds of poundsworth of savings.  We’re giving them to season ticket holders for free.  This is us giving season ticket holders more for the same as what they paid last year (or if they buy before February we’re giving them more for less than what they paid last year).  If people don’t want them – that’s fine – it’s personal choice but if you eat at Taco Bell, Subway, Dominos, Giraffe, Frankie & Bennies or a dozen other places you can save money via the book.

Silver Plus
Is an optional add-on for those that want to buy it.  Last year it cost £140 (we reduced the price because of our 140 year anniversary) , the previous two years it cost £150.  This year we have reduced the price to £120.
The price reduction reflects the fact that the silver plus package doesn’t include as much as it has done in previous years.  The reason it doesn’t include as much is because in the IRWT survey showed we had silver plus members unhappy that they were paying £150 for a parking pass as they didn’t want the programmes, the shirt etc.
We then surveyed all silver plus members (over 100 of the 300 responded) and overwhelmingly they said they wanted the parking pass more than anything else but a % also said they wanted to have other things included rather than just buying a parking pass.  So we’ve compromised by adding DNA ¼ and half time draw for every home league game and reducing the price to £120.  With 23 home games plus DNA ¼ subscription and half time draw for every home league game that’s the equivalent of £154 worth of product for £120.  More so if we have cup games at home as they are also included (but obviously not guaranteed.

For the record DNA ¼ is not a compilation of programmes but a stand alone magazine.

Finally, Season ticket revenue has continued to rise over previous years, so they are obviously doing something right!!

[Superspy]

The £5 to £15 the club are offering on top of that if people buy before next Saturday is in addition to the standard early bird – not a case of us cutting our cloth –the club are offering people an increased discount for buying early.  Again nothing new here we sometimes do this – we offered 5% a few years back and a couple of years ago offered 500 prizes to the first 500 people who bought.  It’s nothing more than an additional sales incentive and to offer people who know they are coming next year (regardless of division) chance to save a little a bit more.

Hi, SM, could you, or anyone else in the know explain how this is being managed in practice please? I ask because I renewed a couple of days ago online and paid £299 per membership (the price on the leaflet). Should I have paid £284 or is it being refunded later or something?

[Donnywolf]

Already renewed SM but neverthless that was (is) a comprehensive explanation and should answer the questions raised totally

Even I cant think of anything not covered

[Donnywolf]

Hi SS

I renewed mine yesterday at Box Office and the discount was deducted there - if that helps

[silent majority]

The £5 to £15 the club are offering on top of that if people buy before next Saturday is in addition to the standard early bird – not a case of us cutting our cloth –the club are offering people an increased discount for buying early.  Again nothing new here we sometimes do this – we offered 5% a few years back and a couple of years ago offered 500 prizes to the first 500 people who bought.  It’s nothing more than an additional sales incentive and to offer people who know they are coming next year (regardless of division) chance to save a little a bit more.

Hi, SM, could you, or anyone else in the know explain how this is being managed in practice please? I ask because I renewed a couple of days ago online and paid £299 per membership (the price on the leaflet). Should I have paid £284 or is it being refunded later or something?

I'm not sure, but happy to find out for you, or just ring the box office and I'm sure they'll refund the difference.

[silent majority]

Hmmmm, it appears to get worse!
 
According to the flier that came though the post Silver Plus members are supposed to 'get' the Purple Book as part of the package.  By 'get' I assumed that it was included in the price.
 
Nothing to the contrary on the card receipt they gave me, just the amount I'd paid; and they handed me a copy there and then.
 
But when I received my detailed email receipt I see I have been charged £25 for it!  That's £25 for something I'm hardly likely to use - money off kids rides and eating places no where near Doncaster  aren't much use for an OAP. And I can get better discount % at vouchercodes.co.uk. for places I do eat at!
 
Going to phone the Box Office and see what they say.  Not happy!

You haven't been charged £25 for anything, the receipt just explains the value of things. Your season ticket will be exactly the same price whether you take the purple voucher book or not.

And to answer your previous point, the IRWT survey results haven't been released yet, but I understand the club are close to doing so. The survey of Silver Plus members was carried out and of the 300 or so who were contacted 100 responded. The decisions to amend the Silver+ membership came from that.

[Superspy]

Thanks guys, I thought it a little strange that the discount wasn't applied but wondered if the club might do what they did with the Bury game - send a letter out asking if we wanted a refund or to make a donation...clearly not the case if you've already had the discount applied at purchase DW.

I'll give them a call on Monday.

[silent majority]

Thanks guys, I thought it a little strange that the discount wasn't applied but wondered if the club might do what they did with the Bury game - send a letter out asking if we wanted a refund or to make a donation...clearly not the case if you've already had the discount applied at purchase DW.

I'll give them a call on Monday.

In my membership pack, the letter entitled 'Our Heroes', it does mention donating the extra discount to The Foundation.

[Not Now Kato]

Hmmmm, it appears to get worse!
 
According to the flier that came though the post Silver Plus members are supposed to 'get' the Purple Book as part of the package.  By 'get' I assumed that it was included in the price.
 
Nothing to the contrary on the card receipt they gave me, just the amount I'd paid; and they handed me a copy there and then.
 
But when I received my detailed email receipt I see I have been charged £25 for it!  That's £25 for something I'm hardly likely to use - money off kids rides and eating places no where near Doncaster  aren't much use for an OAP. And I can get better discount % at vouchercodes.co.uk. for places I do eat at!
 
Going to phone the Box Office and see what they say.  Not happy!

You haven't been charged £25 for anything, the receipt just explains the value of things. Your season ticket will be exactly the same price whether you take the purple voucher book or not.

And to answer your previous point, the IRWT survey results haven't been released yet, but I understand the club are close to doing so. The survey of Silver Plus members was carried out and of the 300 or so who were contacted 100 responded. The decisions to amend the Silver+ membership came from that.

Firstly, thank you SM for a very comprehensive summary of the new ticketing prices, appreciated.   
 
However, in respect of my being charged £25 for the purple book I'm afraid you're wrong.  Here's the invoice I received by email this morning, (personal details removed)....
 

 
I paid £413.35 yesterday, that's £268.35 Senior Category A with Rovers Alliance discount and reduced by a further £2 for an unused ticket, (which they applied automatically - I didn't ask for it), £120 Silver Plus Membership and £25 Purple Voucher Book, clearly shown on the invoice.
 
So £263.35+£120+£25 = £413.35.  Try as I might, I can't get it to add up to anything else.  So, unless I'm missing something I've definitely been charged for the Purple Book.
 
I tried phoning the Box Office this morning but the answering system advised that it was shut.  I guess I'll just have to phone the Box Office on Monday - but I wonder how many other people this has happened to and who haven't noticed.

[Superspy]

Thanks guys, I thought it a little strange that the discount wasn't applied but wondered if the club might do what they did with the Bury game - send a letter out asking if we wanted a refund or to make a donation...clearly not the case if you've already had the discount applied at purchase DW.

I'll give them a call on Monday.

In my membership pack, the letter entitled 'Our Heroes', it does mention donating the extra discount to The Foundation.

Yeah I know, that's why I was expecting either some kind of choice on the website or a follow-up. I'll give them a call on Monday and see what they say. Thanks again.