That's actually pretty good news, as it's all but confirmation that there won't be close scrutiny of names and passport info.
That is some 'reply' by the organisation! First they make it almost impossible to get a ticket transferred, and then they say that! I have had a nightmare trying to get a TST-7 ticket transferred. -Wrote to them over 6 months ago, asking for a transfer...sent proof the lot. -Went thru the transfer process. Transferring due to a genuine case of hardship. My mate cant afford to go...bought house, has been orderred to work ect... -Whilst it said 'transferred', booked flights and secured accomodation thru a share in a camper van! -Received a reply by email...a rejection! For fu**s sake...how much more proof do they want for a hardship case?! -Phoned them direct about 5 times. -Sent an email to this 'ombudsman' last week...still no reply! If this doesnt work... 2 things... 1. Use the 3 group matches and take my mates passport with me as ID proof. 2. Then after the Group Stages, I drag my mate down to Hamburg, exchange the Vouchers for the 'real' tickets for the knockout stages...Carry on as normal. Why do they have to make life so difficult?!
Oh yes...and the German fella on the phone said the easiest way to transfer is by 'family'. They dont ask questions afterwards. grrrrrr
My situation: Have 3 tickets each for 2 games Applied for transfer for 1 ticket for both games Reason: Hardship Customer Service status = transferred Looking good, until got email asking for documents to substantiate the reason. Sent 17th April, wanting reply by 12th April. Hmmm...... Now, without doing anything else, have just received tickets, with correct transferred names. So, have all correct tickets, status looks likes it transferred, and fifa have asked for reason in a timescale that is impossible. Do I: a) do nothing, book flights etc and hope it doesnt get rejected later OR b) send off documents anyway, which could invalidate the transfer. You'd think they'd be a bit more professional with the email and dates!
do nothing. If you have tickets in hand for the people you want, I can't imagine a scenario in which you wouldn't get in.
Well, they have said in mail "Should we not receive any documents within the deadline set [albeit invalid!], we will assume that you no longer wish to apply for a ticket transfer and shall therefore consider your application as cancelled." I assume that they could still put a block on the ticket at the turnstile, so I could just send them something and if they then reject it I could complain to the ombudsman saying that their mail was invalid anyway.
It sounds more complicated than it sounded before. If I were you, I would call them. They sound very helpful and understanding over the phone...instead of email its better to speak directly with someone. Give them your order number and your DOB...and away you go!
Ticketing arrangements for this summer's World Cup were in chaos yesterday after a court ruled that a fan who bought tickets on eBay was entitled to use them, even though his name was not printed on the ticket face. The tournament's organisers had insisted that the German Björn Kracht had acquired the tickets unfairly, but a Frankfurt court decided against them. Although the court said its ruling applied only in his case, the judgment opens the way for thousands of England fans to try to acquire tickets on the black market. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andy Battson, the British embassy's football attache in Berlin, said: "Anything that puts tickets in the hands of genuine fans is a good thing. But it also allows people to exploit this desire for tickets by charging exorbitant prices. At the end of the day there are tickets going to people who are not football fans and genuine fans are missing out." Fifa, the sport's ruling body, contacted eBay last week to try to cancel all World Cup tickets sold on the site within the UK after legislation outlawing this was extended. EBay is cooperating but says the legislation does not apply to tickets advertised on sites based in other countries. It will permit auctions on eBay.com and affiliated non-UK websites to continue. Kracht, an engineer from Essen, applied for tickets during the first World Cup sales phase in April last year. After failing to secure any, he bought two €110 (£75) tickets from another fan via eBay, paying €880, for the quarter-final on July 1 in Gelsenkirchen. "I haven't done anything wrong. I simply wanted to go and see the game," Kracht told the newspaper Der Tagesspeigel. Fifa refused his request to have the tickets transferred, prompting the engineer to take legal action against Germany's Football Association. The Frankfurt court said its verdict only applied to those who had bought tickets on eBay before October, when Fifa announced it was setting up its own internet ticket site. Fans with tickets can transfer them to family members or sell them back to Fifa but are not allowed to pass them on to third parties. Kevin Miles of the England Football Supporters Association said: "We are dismayed all the talk about dealing with black market tickets has been targeted at end users. The one person in the chain whom Fifa seems determined to punish is the genuine fan who has paid through the nose." The Football Association is launching an online petition this week to try to increase tickets allocated to England fans. So far only 8% of tickets for the team's three group matches have gone to the FA.
Honestly to me this transfer portal is turning out to be one big tool to help ebayers in making a sale. I mean the second transfer phase requires you to send in your ticket to be changed - I would assume you send it in with you application then it will be reviewed. So someone who got it off ebay will charge the buyer in full then send in a transfer request - should that reason be rejected then the ticket will have to be picked up in Germany under the buyers name... so if the buyer doesnt go or even if he does there must be a transfer of tickets in a foreign country between two individuals who have never met.... that just increase the chance of someone making a sale and taking the money but doesnt pick up the ticket because one had no desire to go in the first place and wanted to purely profit off the event... Every ebay auction has the transfer option and is promising them the world... I hope they all did their research before they placed the bid...
I think FIFA made a mistake by not opening up a swap shop in the first plsce. I bought tickets in the first phase, assuming that you could swap tickets through legal means. I had no idea which teams i would be seeing. So now im left with a ticket to countries i have no passion on seeing, while my team plays on the same day in another city. I was unable to obtain Australia tickets through FIFA, and paid a premium price through other channels. So if i did sell my ticket allocated in the first phase, its hardly a profit...merely rebalancing the books.
I think that this refers only to cancelling the transfer and not the tickets - this may work in your favour as if a ticket transfer request is cancelled, you get your transfer fee back - as you already have the tickets with correct names it would effectively mean a free transfer! If they were to cancel the tickets I think they would have to send you another set of tickets with the original names on.
And don't forget that tickets purchased through the "resale" phase were only in packages, rather than broken up into individual tickets, and those could not be resold. I ended up buying four tickets to a couple games when I knew I could only use two, just out of desperation, and now I have a pair to two games that I can't legitimately transfer, sell, or even give back.
Same with me Branko, Id rather have bought 4 when i only needed 2, purely because i might not have the opportunity again. I did not know that the 2 'spare' tickets could not be resold on the FIFA site until after i had purchased the 4
Let me know how that goes. I'm basically in the same boat - I have 2 tickets that have been mailed to the orignal holder with the updated names on them and 2 separate tickets that have not been mailed yet (but hopefully they still will). In both cases they have requested documentation re: the reason for transfer and it has not been sent to them (it was due April 12th). So issue #1 is do I still need to send the info to them re: the documentation for the first two tickets and issue #2 are they even going to send the other two tickets?
I emailed the Ombudsman about 2 weeks ago, and yesterday I had a reply! A successful reply! They have overturned the original 'ticket transfer rejection' in my favour! Unbelievable. I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw it! I applied on a hardship case.
I actually purchased 3 tickets on ebay and we decided to try the "family" transfer option. The 3 names on the tickets were for 3 friends (assuminly, since none of them had the same last name). Of course, the 3 names that I provided that the be transferred to all had the same last name...but the transfer was successful without any documentation necessary. Received the tickets yesterday with our names on them! Here's to my....uh, cousin.