What would convince you to increase donations to athletics?

[charsibb]

Soembody needs to get this fixed.

 

We need this Doctor on the Bus!!!

[Doc]

 

Sad story there Doc. Whenever I call 1-800-GOBULLS they are always very pleaseant to speak with and seemed to be more than happy to help me with anything I needed. Had you voiced your concerns about not receiving the lapel or jacket? (I know that's not a big deal to you but you'd think it would be to others). Or what about the tourney seats? Did you call them ahead of time and voiced your concern about snagging a ticket? I know if I got a "sorry" from that question I'd immediately want to be on the phone with their supervisor and be very upset.Sometimes you have to get audibly pissed at these people for them to realize what's going on and see what you contribute to this University (which also is unacceptable within itself). If you had, then it looks like they really dropped the ball on a great donor/alum. Sorry to hear about your bad experience

 

Just trying to figure out what went wrong there....

 

I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Doc

[KB]

Sad story there Doc. Whenever I call 1-800-GOBULLS they are always very pleaseant to speak with and seemed to be more than happy to help me with anything I needed. Had you voiced your concerns about not receiving the lapel or jacket? (I know that's not a big deal to you but you'd think it would be to others). Or what about the tourney seats? Did you call them ahead of time and voiced your concern about snagging a ticket? I know if I got a "sorry" from that question I'd immediately want to be on the phone with their supervisor and be very upset.Sometimes you have to get audibly pissed at these people for them to realize what's going on and see what you contribute to this University (which also is unacceptable within itself). If you had, then it looks like they really dropped the ball on a great donor/alum. Sorry to hear about your bad experience

 

Just trying to figure out what went wrong there....

Not a good excuse, but the ticket office was under going a change about that time.  Stuben can probably better answer this, but that is about the time they were going from in house to out source, right?  You were dealing with a ticket office that had never been through and bball NCAA run or a softball WS.  Now these new tickets guys haven't seen a bowl game either. 

 

I hope it was just growing pains, but sounds like the ticket office screwed up here.  Could it be lack of communication between the ticket office and the Bulls Club?  Did Doc call the ticket office and they didn't realize he was a Scholar Bull?  Either way, Doc needs answers and USF needs Doc on the bus!

[Hem]

 

Sad story there Doc. Whenever I call 1-800-GOBULLS they are always very pleaseant to speak with and seemed to be more than happy to help me with anything I needed. Had you voiced your concerns about not receiving the lapel or jacket? (I know that's not a big deal to you but you'd think it would be to others). Or what about the tourney seats? Did you call them ahead of time and voiced your concern about snagging a ticket? I know if I got a "sorry" from that question I'd immediately want to be on the phone with their supervisor and be very upset.Sometimes you have to get audibly pissed at these people for them to realize what's going on and see what you contribute to this University (which also is unacceptable within itself). If you had, then it looks like they really dropped the ball on a great donor/alum. Sorry to hear about your bad experience

 

Just trying to figure out what went wrong there....

 

I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.

That's just bad then. I can see why you'd be so upset, I'd be absolutely livid. Have you given them a shout recently? I mean heck...I butt dialed them the other day on accident and they called me like 3 times to make sure everything was OK. Hope you give them a chance to make up for their mistakes, if not then I can totally understand why as well. Good luck Doc...let us know if we can help too, I'll send a nasty email on your behalf! lol

[Triple B]

 

Sad story there Doc. Whenever I call 1-800-GOBULLS they are always very pleaseant to speak with and seemed to be more than happy to help me with anything I needed. Had you voiced your concerns about not receiving the lapel or jacket? (I know that's not a big deal to you but you'd think it would be to others). Or what about the tourney seats? Did you call them ahead of time and voiced your concern about snagging a ticket? I know if I got a "sorry" from that question I'd immediately want to be on the phone with their supervisor and be very upset.Sometimes you have to get audibly pissed at these people for them to realize what's going on and see what you contribute to this University (which also is unacceptable within itself). If you had, then it looks like they really dropped the ball on a great donor/alum. Sorry to hear about your bad experience

 

Just trying to figure out what went wrong there....

 

I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.

 

If you weren't dealing with Eric on the Bulls Club stuff, I'd try that ... Would be curious to know if/how any other out of town GJ level donors got their jackets. I got a coupon to take to Kirby's here locally.

As far as the softball tickets, did USF get a set number to try and sell to fans in a certain amount of time?

[Doc]

For the NCAA basketball tourney, I wasn't the only one inconvenienced by the sudden downgrade in seats for the Ohio game (things were perfectly fine for the Cal and Temple games) -- the story I got was that the school sold out to a powerful donor who made a special request and got special treatment (hunting for that one big donor, I guess). For the softball CWS, the first person I dealt with didn't know me personally but once I hit resistance I made it clear that I make yearly contributions and travel for softball on a regular basis to Louisville and Chicago. Further complicating matters was that it was Memorial Day weekend and I didn't hear back until Tuesday when general tickets were already scarce. I've had ticket difficulties previoulsy, and brought these up earlier (most recently in Chicago at the DePaul BBall game). I was assured that these were being taken care of, and so DOUBLED my donations. Since then, the problems only got worse. If this is a result of out-sourcing their ticket mgmt, well then it serves the school right and that's the price they'll have to pay -- and only more reason to give my money to a scalper on the street corner instead.

[Doc]

 

 

Sad story there Doc. Whenever I call 1-800-GOBULLS they are always very pleaseant to speak with and seemed to be more than happy to help me with anything I needed. Had you voiced your concerns about not receiving the lapel or jacket? (I know that's not a big deal to you but you'd think it would be to others). Or what about the tourney seats? Did you call them ahead of time and voiced your concern about snagging a ticket? I know if I got a "sorry" from that question I'd immediately want to be on the phone with their supervisor and be very upset.Sometimes you have to get audibly pissed at these people for them to realize what's going on and see what you contribute to this University (which also is unacceptable within itself). If you had, then it looks like they really dropped the ball on a great donor/alum. Sorry to hear about your bad experience

 

Just trying to figure out what went wrong there....

 

I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.

 

If you weren't dealing with Eric on the Bulls Club stuff, I'd try that ... Would be curious to know if/how any other out of town GJ level donors got their jackets. I got a coupon to take to Kirby's here locally.

As far as the softball tickets, did USF get a set number to try and sell to fans in a certain amount of time?

 

The guy I spoke with about the Green Jacket said he just needed my size and would get it taken care of. Had I not brought it up, I would've never known about a coupon or anything else. For a while, I had no idea there was even an actual jacket. I do make it to Florida several times a year and was more than happy to show up in person if needed.

As for the softball tickets, it seems that the school was not attempting to "sell" its allotment. My take is that if you weren't an athletics dept employee, family member of player/coach, or former player yourself, you wouldn't have access. Just the traveling entourage -- an attitude of "why on earth would anyone ELSE make the trip for softball?" that I encounter all too often for sports other than football. The leftover tickets just never got used/distributed. I can certainly understand being in line behind families & former players, but after that, the school needed to make an effort to accommodate donors and other traveling fans. Even a simple "don't worry, just buy any ticket and sit in one of our empty leftover seats" would have saved me several hundred dollars.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Doc

[Triple B]

 

 

 

Sad story there Doc. Whenever I call 1-800-GOBULLS they are always very pleaseant to speak with and seemed to be more than happy to help me with anything I needed. Had you voiced your concerns about not receiving the lapel or jacket? (I know that's not a big deal to you but you'd think it would be to others). Or what about the tourney seats? Did you call them ahead of time and voiced your concern about snagging a ticket? I know if I got a "sorry" from that question I'd immediately want to be on the phone with their supervisor and be very upset.Sometimes you have to get audibly pissed at these people for them to realize what's going on and see what you contribute to this University (which also is unacceptable within itself). If you had, then it looks like they really dropped the ball on a great donor/alum. Sorry to hear about your bad experience

 

Just trying to figure out what went wrong there....

 

I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.

 

If you weren't dealing with Eric on the Bulls Club stuff, I'd try that ... Would be curious to know if/how any other out of town GJ level donors got their jackets. I got a coupon to take to Kirby's here locally.

As far as the softball tickets, did USF get a set number to try and sell to fans in a certain amount of time?

 

The guy I spoke with about the Green Jacket said he just needed my size and would get it taken care of. Had I not brought it up, I would've never known about a coupon or anything else. For a while, I had no idea there was even an actual jacket. I do make it to Florida several times a year and was more than happy to show up in person if needed.

As for the softball tickets, it seems that the school was not attempting to "sell" its allotment. My take is that if you weren't an athletics dept employee, family member of player/coach, or former player yourself, you wouldn't have access. Just the traveling entourage -- an attitude of "why on earth would anyone ELSE make the trip for softball?" that I encounter all too often for sports other than football. The leftover tickets just never got used/distributed. I can certainly understand being in line behind families & former players, but after that, the school needed to make an effort to accommodate donors and other traveling fans. Even a simple "don't worry, just buy any ticket and sit in one of our empty leftover seats" would have saved me several hundred dollars.

 

Understand your frustration completely ... Hopefully, someone that can help will read this and contact you.

[BDYZR]

Doc,

I printed a copy of your posts and frustrations. I WILL deliver them to someone at the signing party Wednesday.

I'm nobody but a BULLS fan, have no pull or say so at all. I'll post what I hear.

 

GO BULLS!

[Hem]

I'll link it up in an email to one of the guys I speak with.