Ticket transfer rejected! Doh!

[scottk964]

I got the email below from the OC today. I entered the tickets for transfer on Monday of last week, and by Tuesday, "transferred" showed in my customer self-service page, and my credit card was deducted the transfer fees on Wednesday. I thought everything was fine. My reason for the transfer was that I had to miss the first half of the tourney to care for my sick grandfather, and was passing the tickets on to my aunt and uncle, who live in Germany. Here's the email, in its original German and then paraphrased/translated in English by me:

Sehr geehrter Herr xxxx,

Wir nehmen Bezug auf den an uns gerichteten Antrag auf Übertragung
einer TST-Serie oder eines Tickets für die FIFA WM 2006 (TM).
Sie hatten als Übertragungsgrund einen Härtefall angegeben und hierzu
auch entsprechende Ausführungen gemacht.
Es tut uns außerordentlich Leid, dass wir Ihrem Antrag auf Übertragung
der Tickets nicht entsprechen konnten. Die von Ihnen vorgetragenen
Gründe können keine ausnahmsweise Übertragung der Tickets rechtfertigen.
Die abgebuchte Gebühr für die Übertragung wird innerhalb der nächsten
vier Wochen erstattet.
Gleichzeitig möchten wir Sie auf einen weiteren Service hinweisen:
Gerne können Sie die Tickets auch zum Wiederverkauf anbieten. Siehe
hierzu nähere Informationen im Customer Self Service unter
http://www.FIFAworldcup.com/06/de/tickets/rat.html (http://www.fifaworldcup.com/06/de/tickets/rat.html).
Falls Sie von diesem Service des Wiederverkaufes keinen Gebrauch machen wollen, wünschen wir Ihnen schöne und heitere Spiele bei der FIFA
Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006 (TM) in Deutschland.

Dear Mr. xxxx,
We are writing you in regards to your submitted transfer request of a TST-Series or ticket for the FIFA WC 2006. You had provided a case of hardship with accompanying comments as your reason for transfer.
We are extremely sorry that we cannot fulfill your request for the tickets to be transferred. The reasons provided by you do not justify a transfer of the tickets. The processed fees for the transfer will be refunded within the next four weeks.
At the same time we would like to direct you toward a further service: You can gladly offer your tickets for re-sale. Look at the information provided in customer self-service at (the address).
In case you do not want to make use of this re-sale service, we wish you pleasant and fun games at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany.

--

Obviously FIFA wants that 15% resale fee over the 10 euro per ticket transfer fee! The tickets were cat 3 o.v. to the opening match, so a decent chunk of change. I'm going to forward the email to my aunt and uncle and see how they want to proceed.

Any advice?

[generals soccer]

I wonder what their excuse would be for resale tickets. Sorry we would rather have empty seats or have you scalp the tickets than do it legally.

[ebeck88]

As far as transfers go, I wouldn't even give them a chance to review your case. Just select family or illness and it would be hard for them to say no. I think they read all the hardship cases where you write a reason, where as the other choices are standard selections.

[Celtic1967]

A few questions on transferring tickets

Is there anything to be lost by trying to transfer tickets, any risk? If your transfer is refused, does anyone think that that the chips/barcodes will trigger something in the system which on entering stadiums will lead to IDs being checked on these tickets? Or am I being paranoid?!

I have four tickets for one game, and none of the named applicants will be going. Do you think the OK look at each transfer on its individual merits, or will they look at the whole application together? Do you think they'll find it fishy if all 4 are transferred?

I know the answers will be mainly speculation as no-one really knows for sure how the OK operate!

[mm72]

had a look at the german site www.tooor.de and as far as my far less than perfect german could see, there's a lot of talk about denied transfers today.

apparently virtually every reason submitted under "other" has been rejected, including business trips, exams and working as a volunteer at the same match (!?). also, quite a few people were invited to submit further evidence under some of the other options.

some of the german fans also seem convinced ID checks will be carried out at the stadiums...

maybe someone who speaks fluent german could have a look at that forum and see what else they say?

[joamiq]

I wonder what their excuse would be for resale tickets. Sorry we would rather have empty seats or have you scalp the tickets than do it legally.

There's no reason for there to be empty seats or for people to scalp the tickets. If you put them up for resale then the real fans who spend all day refreshing get a chance to buy them. Transfering amounts to cutting those people in line. I'm sure FIFA would rather not have people just be given tickets when so many other people are trying so hard to get them. I'm not directing this towards this specific transfer, but in general I have no sympathy for rejected transfers unless there is a serious and legitimate reason for the transfer. If you put them up for resale, there will be no empty seats in the stadiums.

[Phase4Nightmare]

Don't you think FIFA is just playing Boogieman here.
Granting all transfers would create even more black market activity, so they are enforcing the rules quite strictly.

But IMO, sending a 'copy' of a doctors note should still be enough to get you through.

I actually think it's a good thing FIFA is bothering everyone with requesting extra evidence. Scaplers/brokers will be really pissed off if they have to make up a new excuse for every ticket they sell...

[Phase4Nightmare]

There's no reason for there to be empty seats or for people to scalp the tickets. If you put them up for resale then the real fans who spend all day refreshing get a chance to buy them. Transfering amounts to cutting those people in line. I'm sure FIFA would rather not have people just be given tickets when so many other people are trying so hard to get them. I'm not directing this towards this specific transfer, but in general I have no sympathy for rejected transfers unless there is a serious and legitimate reason for the transfer. If you put them up for resale, there will be no empty seats in the stadiums.

You can't resell resale tickets, so scalping is your only option...

[Celtic1967]

[QUOTE=wamiq]There's no reason for there to be empty seats or for people to scalp the tickets. If you put them up for resale then the real fans who spend all day refreshing get a chance to buy them. Transfering amounts to cutting those people in line. I'm sure FIFA would rather not have people just be given tickets when so many other people are trying so hard to get them. I'm not directing this towards this specific transfer, but in general I have no sympathy for rejected transfers unless there is a serious and legitimate reason for the transfer. [QUOTE]
A bit harsh there mate…I applied for Ireland TST tickets under my own name. Such is the demand for Ireland tickets generally that this was my only realistic way of getting tickets to see my team. As there was a good chance Ireland wouldn't qualify, I applied for a few other games under the names of family and friends so I'd at least get to see some games as a neutral. I now need to change these to my name (not such a problem for tickets in the names of my family members admittedly) and those of my friends. I resent being made to feel dishonest by FIFA for this.

[Fevernova99]

I was surfing last week and read some articles on the problems caused by the ticketing committee from the last world cup and was kinda shocked at how similar they were to this one...

Sorry dont have a link but basically two big problems were the misconception of names on the ticket will help stop scalping and the transfer of names to others due to having names on the ticket.

Some Japanese professor did some research and showed (not detailed in the article) it would take worst case - 8 hours to check each fan. And the transfer of names became so overwhelming that the committee just rejected everyone becuase they didnt have the time nor resources to verify each story.

I spoke to someone who went to 8 WC 2002 games and he informed me he was not checked at the entrance to any of the games...

[Celtic1967]

I was surfing last week and read some articles on the problems caused by the ticketing committee from the last world cup and was kinda shocked at how similar they were to this one...

Sorry dont have a link but basically two big problems were the misconception of names on the ticket will help stop scalping and the transfer of names to others due to having names on the ticket.

Some Japanese professor did some research and showed (not detailed in the article) it would take worst case - 8 hours to check each fan. And the transfer of names became so overwhelming that the committee just rejected everyone becuase they didnt have the time nor resources to verify each story.

I spoke to someone who went to 8 WC 2002 games and he informed me he was not checked at the entrance to any of the games...

I went to 3 games in 2002 and there were no checks whatsoever. But FIFA seem much more serious about it this time. Hopefully it's just scare-mongering.

[AGF Aarhus]

I actually think FIFA is right on this one (as much as it pains to say that).

In this case, you've stated that you cannot attend for whatever reason, and therefore someone else specific should attend in your place. But why should someone else get to cut the line when there is a resale option that you could just as easily use?

The only situation in which a transfer ought to be allowed is if one or more persons in a group is unable to attend. For example, you have tickets for your wife and yourself, but your wife cannot go for whatever reason. You should then be able to transfer her ticket and go with someone else.

If neither of you can go, that's what the resale is for. Maybe I'm being harsh, but that strikes me as the most fair.

[Fevernova99]

What you have said is valid but I think they just need to release some information to make this process easier... for example Ivory Coast vs Serbia - that is a game I'd like to see and would fit into my schedule - but all I saw were 4x cat 1 tickets - I only need 2 - didnt buy any of them now they are rarely on sale. So now when I see a game I'd like I'm tempted to buy the 4 game set so I can have 2 tickets - most were in packages of 3s instead of 2s so what can I do.

Its the same as the first few days of this phase - for the first 2 and half days there were no tsts- no info on tsts.... so on fri morning i got some games I dont mind seeing but def not on my shortlist - then the tsts popped up and I couldnt do anything about it... if they only mentioned there will be single tickets and tsts i wouldve waited... when it doesnt pop up for 2 1/2 days while the single tix were going crazy I along with some others all assumed there werent any availiable...

[scottk964]

had a look at the german site www.tooor.de (http://www.tooor.de) and as far as my far less than perfect german could see, there's a lot of talk about denied transfers today.

apparently virtually every reason submitted under "other" has been rejected, including business trips, exams and working as a volunteer at the same match (!?). also, quite a few people were invited to submit further evidence under some of the other options.

some of the german fans also seem convinced ID checks will be carried out at the stadiums...

maybe someone who speaks fluent german could have a look at that forum and see what else they say?

Hey mm, thanks for letting us know about tooor.de. I read all 14 pages of posts and it appears that a transfer "within the family" is the only reason that FIFA accepts without further proof, and people have transferred tickets to family even with different last names. The only "hardship" condition that has been accepted is pregnancy. But sicknesses have to have proof provided - what that proof is still up for debate.

People are mighty pissed about the whole thing. One guys says he's trying to start a campaign to burn untransferrable tickets outside the stadium!

So now the next step for those who have been rejected (and don't want to re-sell) is to see if they can re-apply for transfer...

[scottk964]

I actually think FIFA is right on this one (as much as it pains to say that).

In this case, you've stated that you cannot attend for whatever reason, and therefore someone else specific should attend in your place. But why should someone else get to cut the line when there is a resale option that you could just as easily use?

The only situation in which a transfer ought to be allowed is if one or more persons in a group is unable to attend. For example, you have tickets for your wife and yourself, but your wife cannot go for whatever reason. You should then be able to transfer her ticket and go with someone else.

If neither of you can go, that's what the resale is for. Maybe I'm being harsh, but that strikes me as the most fair.

AGF, haven't you tried to swap tickets? What if you agree on a swap but FIFA doesn't let you transfer your tickets? Are you saying that all the swaps that have been going on should just be put up for re-sale?

[generals soccer]

[QUOTE=AGF Aarhus]
In this case, you've stated that you cannot attend for whatever reason, and therefore someone else specific should attend in your place. But why should someone else get to cut the line when there is a resale option that you could just as easily use?
QUOTE]

I agree to a point. What about the resale option though? If someone has tickets and then can not go for a real reason, what should they do?

[generals soccer]

What you have said is valid but I think they just need to release some information to make this process easier... for example Ivory Coast vs Serbia - that is a game I'd like to see and would fit into my schedule - but all I saw were 4x cat 1 tickets - I only need 2 - didnt buy any of them now they are rarely on sale. So now when I see a game I'd like I'm tempted to buy the 4 game set so I can have 2 tickets - most were in packages of 3s instead of 2s so what can I do.

Its the same as the first few days of this phase - for the first 2 and half days there were no tsts- no info on tsts.... so on fri morning i got some games I dont mind seeing but def not on my shortlist - then the tsts popped up and I couldnt do anything about it... if they only mentioned there will be single tickets and tsts i wouldve waited... when it doesnt pop up for 2 1/2 days while the single tix were going crazy I along with some others all assumed there werent any availiable...

We were in the same situation. We wanted to see Czech-USA. Could not get tickets and then finally struck gold but only had a pack of 4 available. We decided we could not pass on the situation. Would be happy to resell the other two but it is not allowed so we have to resort to a transfer.

[AGF Aarhus]

I agree to a point. What about the resale option though? If someone has tickets and then can not go for a real reason, what should they do?
Simple. If you are a party of four, but two people cannot attend, you should be able to transfer two tickets to someone else.

If you are a party of four, and four people cannot attend, you should be forced to sell them back.

If you bought four tickets in the resale knowing that you would only use two of them, you shouldn't have bought them in the first place.

I agree with this harsh policy, BUT Fifa should have made things more clear and explained it better. There is a lot of confusion, and that is Fifa's fault, and I'm willing to concede that in light of that confusion, they ought to ease up a bit.

[MarNic]

What if someone get's sick the day before a game and can't go?
The whole name on ticket issue is petty and futile and there will be thousands with tickets that do not match their names.
If the Germans want a peaceful world cup they will honor anyone with a ticket. I believe that the German authorities know this and will oblige unless there is a suspicious reason to check a ticket with an ID.
There is scaremongering everywhere. Even of these boards aarhus said that passport # will be printed on tickets which is nonsense.
I am in a similar position to Celtics and believe that common sense will prevail.

[Celtic1967]

Hey mm, thanks for letting us know about tooor.de. I read all 14 pages of posts and it appears that a transfer "within the family" is the only reason that FIFA accepts without further proof, and people have transferred tickets to family even with different last names. The only "hardship" condition that has been accepted is pregnancy. But sicknesses have to have proof provided - what that proof is still up for debate.

People are mighty pissed about the whole thing. One guys says he's trying to start a campaign to burn untransferrable tickets outside the stadium!

So now the next step for those who have been rejected (and don't want to re-sell) is to see if they can re-apply for transfer...

That's very useful info Scott.

Good taste in teams btw - I've met countless St Pauli fans on European trips with Celtic, and they are absolutely crazy, but a more decent clued-up set of fans you could not hope to meet. Hopefully I'll bump into a few in June.