Digital tickets

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OldDude
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Digital tickets

Post by OldDude »

I know this has been discussed before and is something being done at other universities.

Just talked to a very nice automaton masquerading as a ticket office customer service rep at McGugin . Expressed my frustration with having to deal with such a system especially if wanting to give my tickets to someone else. Was assured that it would be easy, but question that given my average comfort zone with technology. Of course pitched that the decision was for the convenience of the fans , ignoring what I believe is the true motive - saves cost. All tickets being digital is a potential nightmare but will give it a shot. Hope it works well. If not this may be my last season after about 50 years of season ticket status.


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Re: Digital tickets

Post by abvandy »

Sometimes I can load tickets to my cell phone, but all too frequently I get a message "Unable to complete your request at this time-- Try again later."

Frustrating.


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Re: Digital tickets

Post by VandyBias »

OldDude wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 2:09 pm I know this has been discussed before and is something being done at other universities.

Just talked to a very nice automaton masquerading as a ticket office customer service rep at McGugin . Expressed my frustration with having to deal with such a system especially if wanting to give my tickets to someone else. Was assured that it would be easy, but question that given my average comfort zone with technology. Of course pitched that the decision was for the convenience of the fans , ignoring what I believe is the true motive - saves cost. All tickets being digital is a potential nightmare but will give it a shot. Hope it works well. If not this may be my last season after about 50 years of season ticket status.
As someone who’s in the way younger age group of this board I know I should be fine with all digital tickets, but paper tickets were part of the fun about going to games, you get the book at the start of the year and they’re cool little pieces of art. A free keepsake from a fun game and a nice way to remember said game. This makes no sense for convenience sake as you could still access digital tickets before this switch with no problem. You’re completely right, it’s just another way to save money.

Will add this as a technology tip for any iPhone users, it’s much easier to just add the tickets to your wallet (click the add to wallet button on the page for the actual ticket page on the website) so that you don’t have to worry about bad wi-fi or any other tech errors and it’s just ready for you whenever on the wallet app.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by OldDude »

VandyBias wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 6:53 pm
OldDude wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 2:09 pm I know this has been discussed before and is something being done at other universities.

Just talked to a very nice automaton masquerading as a ticket office customer service rep at McGugin . Expressed my frustration with having to deal with such a system especially if wanting to give my tickets to someone else. Was assured that it would be easy, but question that given my average comfort zone with technology. Of course pitched that the decision was for the convenience of the fans , ignoring what I believe is the true motive - saves cost. All tickets being digital is a potential nightmare but will give it a shot. Hope it works well. If not this may be my last season after about 50 years of season ticket status.
As someone who’s in the way younger age group of this board I know I should be fine with all digital tickets, but paper tickets were part of the fun about going to games, you get the book at the start of the year and they’re cool little pieces of art. A free keepsake from a fun game and a nice way to remember said game. This makes no sense for convenience sake as you could still access digital tickets before this switch with no problem. You’re completely right, it’s just another way to save money.

Will add this as a technology tip for any iPhone users, it’s much easier to just add the tickets to your wallet (click the add to wallet button on the page for the actual ticket page on the website) so that you don’t have to worry about bad wi-fi or any other tech errors and it’s just ready for you whenever on the wallet app.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by Versus75 »

I have given away (and sometimes sold) Vanderbilt tickets for a LONG TIME because I live 3 hours away and miss the majority of the games.

You can TRANSFER the ticket to someone else, but the complication is that the recipient must also have a VU Ticket account. He gets an e-mail with a link and then uses that to ACCEPT the tickets, but that means the tickets are put into HIS account. He then must download the tickets and (optionally) save them to his "Apple Wallet" or "Google Pay" app.

All those steps lead to the "potential nightmare" you suggested, OldDude. Your recipient could: have an e-mail from Vanderbilt caught in SPAM; forget to "Accept" the tickets by the deadline to do so; have trouble setting up his VU Ticket account; arrive at the gate but realize he doesn't remember his account password; etc.

When all else fails, he could go to the ticket window and someone could figure it out for him.



I have found that the easiest way to transfer the tickets -- once you have them on your phone -- is to take a screenshot of each ticket and text the screenshots to your friend. That has ALWAYS worked for me, even back in the Stone Age of printed tickets when I would use a picture of the bar code from the original. You might try that first.


PS: Despite talk about "Only Digital Tickets," I always see plenty of fans passing through the gates with .pdf tickets. I don't know where they get them, but I suggest the VU Ticket Office be upfront about it. Instructions for using your digital tickets include, "Please note that we do not offer PDF or print-at-home tickets."
https://vucommodores.com/mobile-ticketing/

PPS: A friend of mine who is a long time (and big time) supporter bought tickets to the VU Baseball Regional earlier this year. He was still using a flip phone and wanted printed tickets. He told the ticket office that at the time of the purchase, drove to McGugin, and was given printed tickets.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by vutrain »

"I have found that the easiest way to transfer the tickets -- once you have them on your phone -- is to take a screenshot of each ticket and text the screenshots to your friend. That has ALWAYS worked for me, even back in the Stone Age of printed tickets when I would use a picture of the bar code from the original. You might try that first."

Are we going to be able to do it this way? Omaha would not allow us to do this earlier this year.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by Versus75 »

I don’t know what happened in Omaha — perhaps someone can weigh in on that — but I’ve used the screenshots for VU football this year and several times for VU baseball games.

Try it out: Download the digital ticket and screenshot it. Then show the screenshot at the gate. You still have your “wallet” ticket just in case.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by FayetteDore »

I'll add this: the instructions for the digital FOOTBALL 2021 season tickets explicitly said that screenshots of the downloaded tickets would NOT be acceptable. I don't know why not because once the barcode is scanned, it can't be used again.

I wouldn't have a problem with the digital ticket plan IF I could transfer them to family and friends WITHOUT them having to register for a Vanderbilt ticket account, which now is really a Ticketmaster account. And when I tried to create an account for my daughter, it asked some obtrusive questions that they don't need to know for ticketing purposes.

So, I ended up calling the ticket office twice and finally got someone to agree to send me printed football tickets that look like they always have. But they made it clear to me that this was the LAST year they were going to do that.

Finally, I have met some friends several times this season outside Gate 3 where the in-stadium ticket office is. They have a little desk set up for people who can't get their tickets downloaded. That little desk was always pretty busy when I was standing there waiting.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by buffy »

It sucks, but it's reality. Figure out how to get them to your digital wallet. Work on it way before you actually need the tickets.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by PeteFox »

I declined season tickets because of this, and will probably decline FB tix next year. I sent a letter to Candice, cc mark Carter (NCC director). I’ll let you know if I get anything other than a canned response.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by FayetteDore »

PeteFox wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:35 am I declined season tickets because of this, and will probably decline FB tix next year. I sent a letter to Candice, cc mark Carter (NCC director). I’ll let you know if I get anything other than a canned response.
Pete, I thought you were able to persuade the ticket office to send you printed tickets but I guess not. We had this discussion on the football board back in the summer.

I got them to send me printed football tickets on my second call to the ticket office, but they emphasized that this was absolutely the last (football) season that they would do that. OldDude, you might try calling them again. They certainly have the ability to print out regular tickets because that's what they sell at the ticket window to walkups. I know because I watched them do it outside Gate 3.

I repeat: my problem is NOT with digital tickets. My problem is that in order to transfer your ticket to a relative or friend or employee or boss, they require the recipient to set up a Vanderbilt Ticketmaster account (and setting up that account requires the recipient to answer questions that aren't needed; I know because I started to set one up for my daughter, who usually meets me at the games and sometimes arrives after I'm already in the stadium). They don't HAVE to do that but they do.

As for the discussion above about simply taking a screenshot of the digital ticket and texting that to whoever you're giving your ticket to, the instructions explicitly said that wouldn't work. So I never tried it.
Last edited by FayetteDore on Fri Nov 05, 2021 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by PeteFox »

I got paper tix for FB, and the same song and dance about “never again”. That combined with the nearly doubling of ticket prices, was the last straw for me.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by OldDude »

Just finished loading tickets to my wallet and a total pain in the keister. Have to load tickets and separately parking pass for (as best I can tell) each individual game. Will try to go by the A department Monday to express my disappointment personally. Will continue to attempt an open mind on this, but it's not feeling very positive.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by Starkiller »

OldDude wrote: Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:04 pm Just finished loading tickets to my wallet and a total pain in the keister. Have to load tickets and separately parking pass for (as best I can tell) each individual game. Will try to go by the A department Monday to express my disappointment personally. Will continue to attempt an open mind on this, but it's not feeling very positive.
I’m still trying to figure out what the procedure is going to be for the parking passes. Would mailing out a single parking pass for a full season really be such an imposition?
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by PeteFox »

AD Candice Lee personally via phone (my land-line) responded to my snail-mail letter about the future of digital tickets. She said they would address the need for paper tickets on a case-bay-case basis for anyone who did not have the capability for electronic tickets, and that in the near future, at least, there were no plans to completely dispense with the paper option.

I also spoke with Michael West (apparently he is in overall charge of the ticket office). If you can't get any satisfaction from the worker bees in the ticket office, he's the one to contact.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by MrMemorial »

PeteFox wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:39 am .... there were no plans to completely dispense with the paper option.
The opposite of what I was told last week in a phone call to the ticket dept.

They said if you walk up to the ticket window at Memorial to buy a single ticket in person, they would text one to your phone... but no paper ticket. I stated that was not acceptable.... to no avail.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by PeteFox »

Well, I was discussing season tickets. I have no idea about single game tix at the stadium.
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Re: Digital tickets

Post by commadore »

For all those complaining about digital tickets: Drove over to Opelika, AL, tonight (near Auburn) to see a high school playoff game. About half way there we found out you cannot buy tickets at the gate, you can only get them digitally. My wife found the app, bought the tickets for us and my inlaws in about 3 minutes. Was quite easy. Now only one thing ticked me off and that was the $6.00 fee added on for "convenience." They have a racket going there.
I learned that all high schools in Alabama have have gone to this system even for regular games. I guess if the high schoolers can do it, surely the Vandy fans should be able to.
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Download your tickets early...

Post by Versus75 »

... because all afternoon I've been getting an error message from my Vanderbilt Gameday App when I attempt to access my tickets:

ERROR
! Oops! We are experiencing technical difficulties
Try Again




If you wait until you get to Memorial, it might be too late.
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