Discussion
ecsrobin said:
Graveworm said:
How long do you think it takes to work out and refund around 60000 tickets where, often they are different bundles and prices. Even at a pretty conservative, 3 minutes each I make that 3000 hours.
Now maybe they should have had something in place, to allow automation but, given they don't seem to have had, it's a lot of time involved, especially as its over and above their usual job. Other venues are not giving refunds at all, or partial refunds, which they are usually entitled to for weather, but Goodwood, out of the gate, said they would give full refunds.
The messaging and managing expectations hasn't been great though.
You go to your credit card saying you want a refund, for an event that was cancelled due to the weather and you will probably get a disappointing response. c.v. frustrated contracts.
Split that over a team of 3 and that’s a months work give or take. Now maybe they should have had something in place, to allow automation but, given they don't seem to have had, it's a lot of time involved, especially as its over and above their usual job. Other venues are not giving refunds at all, or partial refunds, which they are usually entitled to for weather, but Goodwood, out of the gate, said they would give full refunds.
The messaging and managing expectations hasn't been great though.
You go to your credit card saying you want a refund, for an event that was cancelled due to the weather and you will probably get a disappointing response. c.v. frustrated contracts.
The key bit is messaging. Like I’ve said previously a quick “update were 50% processed due to the complexities” would silence most. Ive got the same at the moment for my expenses incurred when my flight was cancelled no comms is infuriating but at least searching the internet tells me to expect a 3 month turn around just a shame they couldn't tell me that.
No arguments on the messaging though.
Graveworm said:
How long do you think it takes to work out and refund around 60000 tickets where, often they are different bundles and prices. Even at a pretty conservative, 3 minutes each I make that 3000 hours.
Now maybe they should have had something in place, to allow automation but, given they don't seem to have had, it's a lot of time involved, especially as its over and above their usual job.
They don't owe me anything, but...Now maybe they should have had something in place, to allow automation but, given they don't seem to have had, it's a lot of time involved, especially as its over and above their usual job.
How hard can it be?
They must have a list of puchasers and their payment details [they aren't asking for these in order to process the refunds]
They must know what was purchased [as above].
How hard can it be to 'script' that even in a spreadsheet.
The logic is pretty trivial.
Say a day's work to write and test a formula, a few seconds to process the 20k lines.
They then have a file they can then work with their payment provider [sponsored by MasterCard] to generate the refund.
Even to do it as a database script in (my)SQL wouldn't take a day.
They are also 'doing over' those who didn't buy their ticket directly. Wait one minute, not those that bought on the secondary market... what about those that were bought by mates, or given as a gift - maybe the 'giver' is no longer around. Those should be able to send their physical ticket in and get a refund.
It is of course quite a lot of cash to hold on to. 20k tickets * say £100. £2M gets a bit of interest over 2-3 months.
They can't be that bad unless chosing to do so for some reason.
No ideas for a name said:
Graveworm said:
How long do you think it takes to work out and refund around 60000 tickets where, often they are different bundles and prices. Even at a pretty conservative, 3 minutes each I make that 3000 hours.
Now maybe they should have had something in place, to allow automation but, given they don't seem to have had, it's a lot of time involved, especially as its over and above their usual job.
They don't owe me anything, but...Now maybe they should have had something in place, to allow automation but, given they don't seem to have had, it's a lot of time involved, especially as its over and above their usual job.
How hard can it be?
They must have a list of puchasers and their payment details [they aren't asking for these in order to process the refunds]
They must know what was purchased [as above].
How hard can it be to 'script' that even in a spreadsheet.
The logic is pretty trivial.
Say a day's work to write and test a formula, a few seconds to process the 20k lines.
They then have a file they can then work with their payment provider [sponsored by MasterCard] to generate the refund.
Even to do it as a database script in (my)SQL wouldn't take a day.
They are also 'doing over' those who didn't buy their ticket directly. Wait one minute, not those that bought on the secondary market... what about those that were bought by mates, or given as a gift - maybe the 'giver' is no longer around. Those should be able to send their physical ticket in and get a refund.
It is of course quite a lot of cash to hold on to. 20k tickets * say £100. £2M gets a bit of interest over 2-3 months.
They can't be that bad unless chosing to do so for some reason.
Here is the email they sent -
"Due to the high volume and complexity, all refunds need to be processed manually by the Ticket Office team, and as a result, this could mean that your refund may take several weeks to reach you. Rest assured, the team are working tirelessly to process these as soon as possible for everyone who has been affected by the cancellation."
Edited by Graveworm on Saturday 16th September 15:15
Graveworm said:
As I said, maybe with hindsight, possibly they should have something in place, to allow automation, but we are currently in a place after the event, where they haven't. If it could be automated, I am fairly sure it would be, so we are back to the reality, it's obviously being done manually, how long will something like that take.
Here is the email they sent -
"Due to the high volume and complexity, all refunds need to be processed manually by the Ticket Office team, and as a result, this could mean that your refund may take several weeks to reach you. Rest assured, the team are working tirelessly to process these as soon as possible for everyone who has been affected by the cancellation."
Sorry but you are being far too generous. There is no reason for this to be done manually on a case by case basis. As already said, they have a list of the people affected, the ticket/package they bought and they know what the refund amount should be. Money could and should have been returned within a week, a fortnight if we are being generous. Anything less is either incompetence or deliberate. Here is the email they sent -
"Due to the high volume and complexity, all refunds need to be processed manually by the Ticket Office team, and as a result, this could mean that your refund may take several weeks to reach you. Rest assured, the team are working tirelessly to process these as soon as possible for everyone who has been affected by the cancellation."
Edited by Graveworm on Saturday 16th September 15:15
wiggy001 said:
Graveworm said:
As I said, maybe with hindsight, possibly they should have something in place, to allow automation, but we are currently in a place after the event, where they haven't. If it could be automated, I am fairly sure it would be, so we are back to the reality, it's obviously being done manually, how long will something like that take.
Here is the email they sent -
"Due to the high volume and complexity, all refunds need to be processed manually by the Ticket Office team, and as a result, this could mean that your refund may take several weeks to reach you. Rest assured, the team are working tirelessly to process these as soon as possible for everyone who has been affected by the cancellation."
Sorry but you are being far too generous. There is no reason for this to be done manually on a case by case basis. As already said, they have a list of the people affected, the ticket/package they bought and they know what the refund amount should be. Money could and should have been returned within a week, a fortnight if we are being generous. Anything less is either incompetence or deliberate. Here is the email they sent -
"Due to the high volume and complexity, all refunds need to be processed manually by the Ticket Office team, and as a result, this could mean that your refund may take several weeks to reach you. Rest assured, the team are working tirelessly to process these as soon as possible for everyone who has been affected by the cancellation."
Edited by Graveworm on Saturday 16th September 15:15
I accept they will know who bought what package, each variation will mean different refunds some pro rata and some not refunded at all. They will know seperately, who wants a refund, a credit or a rollover, they will be able to find the full payment method, from the payment transaction, as that won't be stored with the ticketing or membership.
Pulling all that together then entering the refund wouldn't be trivial. As for sending a list on a spreadsheet to the payment processor, that's a new one on me, but you may know where that's happened.
Edited by Graveworm on Sunday 17th September 10:43
I have just recieved in the post, the GRRC Newsletter.
Also the shopping guide for the revival - which I thought was odd.
Then I noticed the Newsletter is on about the forthcoming Revival Meeting.
No reason to suspect my post, as everything else seems to be on-time.
Only placed in this thread as it seems that something very odd is going on with Goodwood and their organisational abilities.
Also the shopping guide for the revival - which I thought was odd.
Then I noticed the Newsletter is on about the forthcoming Revival Meeting.
No reason to suspect my post, as everything else seems to be on-time.
Only placed in this thread as it seems that something very odd is going on with Goodwood and their organisational abilities.
No ideas for a name said:
I have just recieved in the post, the GRRC Newsletter.
Also the shopping guide for the revival - which I thought was odd.
Then I noticed the Newsletter is on about the forthcoming Revival Meeting.
No reason to suspect my post, as everything else seems to be on-time.
Only placed in this thread as it seems that something very odd is going on with Goodwood and their organisational abilities.
Mine arrived a week or two before the Revival. Might've been they did batches and fell behind, or a random post-office issue. Also the shopping guide for the revival - which I thought was odd.
Then I noticed the Newsletter is on about the forthcoming Revival Meeting.
No reason to suspect my post, as everything else seems to be on-time.
Only placed in this thread as it seems that something very odd is going on with Goodwood and their organisational abilities.
No ideas for a name said:
They could keep people informed... say a weekly email.
"You are number 19,732 in the queue"
I think an individual email, might take up resources, that would be better used dealing with refunds. But a mailshot saying "For those of you, who are still waiting, thank you for your continued patience, so far we estimate we have processed XX% of refunds etc. should arguably be the least they could do. "You are number 19,732 in the queue"
Graveworm said:
I think an individual email, might take up resources, that would be better used dealing with refunds. But a mailshot saying "For those of you, who are still waiting, thank you for your continued patience, so far we estimate we have processed XX% of refunds etc. should arguably be the least they could do.
My comment was supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek 
"You are number 19,729 in the queue"
Every 10,000th refund ought to come with a golden Willy Wonka ticket.
Or maybe a spin the wheel option where you forgo your automatic refund for a chance of better prizes such as double refund, free tickets to Goodwood FOS for life, but also with the 50:50 chance of the needle landing on 'Nothing'.
Or maybe a spin the wheel option where you forgo your automatic refund for a chance of better prizes such as double refund, free tickets to Goodwood FOS for life, but also with the 50:50 chance of the needle landing on 'Nothing'.
Edited by The Gauge on Wednesday 20th September 15:59
nordboy said:
Has everyone who's asked for a refund received one yet? If so, how long are they taking for the money to be deposited? Does nearly 8 weeks after requesting a refund sound too long?
Nope, still waiting and radio silence. It's f
king appalling, at least they could publicise how far progressed they are.Jules Sunley said:
nordboy said:
Has everyone who's asked for a refund received one yet? If so, how long are they taking for the money to be deposited? Does nearly 8 weeks after requesting a refund sound too long?
Nope, still waiting and radio silence. It's fking appalling, at least they could publicise how far progressed they are.Sorry, I will stop now.
@SarahGoodwood has been very quiet of late? Funny how Goodwood jumps on the re-sellers but is found sorely lacking when it comes to the refunds, or lack of them?
££££££££££££££££ rather than any form of customer service. Long term, that's a great business model on how to go out of business.
££££££££££££££££ rather than any form of customer service. Long term, that's a great business model on how to go out of business.
Got an email from them on 29th Sept thanking me for purchasing my refund. It hasn't appeared on my credit card recent transactions yet, so I hope they haven't charged me instead of refunding me!!!
I had purchased tickets for two people with grandstand seating for the full 4 days, and camping for the full duration (obviously camping isn't refunded) and here is what the email says, and I'm not sure what they mean by 'programme', unless it's just generic language that means something to them? it seams I am getting a refund of £213.60 to be split between the two of us, £106.80 each..
I had purchased tickets for two people with grandstand seating for the full 4 days, and camping for the full duration (obviously camping isn't refunded) and here is what the email says, and I'm not sure what they mean by 'programme', unless it's just generic language that means something to them? it seams I am getting a refund of £213.60 to be split between the two of us, £106.80 each..
Edited by The Gauge on Sunday 1st October 16:17
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