Spectator shambles at Blenheim...

grhands

grhands

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I'm really upset and cross at the shambles that was the seating arrangements at the SJ yesterday. I haven't been to Blenheim for sixteen years, and I got engaged last week so we thought we'd go to Blenheim to celebrate rather than have a party or the like. Anyway as well as the £19 entry we splashed out on seats for the showjumping for myself, my partner, my mum and my two under fives (one baby).

Anyway when we got to the stand the girls who were supposed to be showing everyone to their seats informed us that un-allocated seating had been sold and we could chose to sit where we pleased. So, as another family were in our seats that is what we did. Throughout the showjumping we had four sets of couples / families etc move us as they were demanding to sit in their own seats, and those in ours refused to budge! Anyway we ended up having to move three times (once by an official). When we were asked to move for the fifth time during WFP's round we gave up and I must admit I left feeling rather emotional as I'd been looking forward to the showjumping for weeks and ended up missing pretty much every other round.

Did anyone else have a similar issue in the uncovered seating? Block D I think it was. I just feel that for all the money we paid - round about £60 on top of the entry fee, that kind of shambles was un-acceptable. It wasn't only my family that were troubled either it was happening to a lot of people. I mean surely it could be distracting for the horses as well as upsetting for people having the same sort of issues as us.

Is it worth complaining? Who would I write too? What a nightmare. I'm still gutted!! :(
 
God, I would have been mad.

When the official told you to move, why didn't you tell him to help you move the family in your seats?

Too late now, but a very firm letter or email to the organisers might get you freebies next year??
 
I would definitely complain, that sort of treatment just isn't on.

I guess you can complain to the organisers, or whoever supplied you with the tickets (as they seem to be the source of the problem).

Good luck & hope you get some kind of reimbursement. Sounds like their cock-ups ruined what should've been a great day.
 
BonneMaman said:
God, I would have been mad.

When the official told you to move, why didn't you tell him to help you move the family in your seats?
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I felt bad getting them to move too as they had two little girls. The two ladies who demanded their seats didn't have the same kind of values though! I mean we had our buggies at the front by the rail too so we had to sit close to them which I explained when allocated our seats. We couldn't keep marching up and down the stands with all out clobber as we were right by the tricky blue double with no ground line and a slightly dodgy stride so I don't think the poor horses needed any distractions from us!!!

I would complain but to be honest what good will it do? I'd be more happy to know that this would not happen again to anyone else rather than get freebies as I know we will more than likely not be able to afford next year with the wedding looming.

It was such a lovely day other than that.
 
Have to say I think its pretty scandalous at the 3 days when you have to pay extra to watch the SJ - how ridiculous. Thats why I will always go to Bramham Horse trials, loads of SJ to watch (BS as well as the CCI/CIC) and you don't have to pay a penny extra. And there's the mix and match class on the sunday with an eventer doing some of the xc course, and a showjumper doing a round in the ring - hilarious every year :D

If you want a proper seat you can pay to go into the members tent, but having a picnic on the grassy banks is just as good (as long as its not raining!)

I would complain OP - get some freebies for next year, or a refund on your tickets :)
 
I was in the covered seating next to you, we were all sat in our correct seats ;) but the two girls above me only joined for the final session, there was someone else up there previously and had to keep moving along as they didn't have seat numbers and there were a family of 5 sitting on that row.

There were people being taken out of our stand and moved into the one across the corner at one point, it did all seem very disorganised surely all tickets should just have a seat allocation on them, they knew which seats they had sold. The stands seemed to be full for the last session and with families wanting to sit together allowing people to choose was surely never going to work!

Though as they went to start the SJ with no score sheets on Saturday ;) :rolleyes:

stencilface you can watch the SJ from the 4th side of the ring on the grass for free.
 
How annoying! After being moved myself I would have insisted that the people in my seats move whether or not they had children but then I am not the most patient person in the world and would have been pretty annoyed by that point!

I would also write and complain, they need to know that it didn't work so that they hopefully don't do it again next year.
 
grhands said:
I felt bad getting them to move too as they had two little girls. The two ladies who demanded their seats didn't have the same kind of values though! I mean we had our buggies at the front by the rail too so we had to sit close to them which I explained when allocated our seats. We couldn't keep marching up and down the stands with all out clobber as we were right by the tricky blue double with no ground line and a slightly dodgy stride so I don't think the poor horses needed any distractions from us!!!

I would complain but to be honest what good will it do? I'd be more happy to know that this would not happen again to anyone else rather than get freebies as I know we will more than likely not be able to afford next year with the wedding looming.

It was such a lovely day other than that.
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The only way that it won't happen again is if people complain. Otherwise the organisers won't know what went on, as only the steward would know..

Congratulations on your engagement by the way.
 
Complain.

When you complain make sure you say that the tickets were bought as a special celebration of your engagement and that it really ruined your enjoyment of the day and left you feeling very upset.

Complain to the organisers, copy it to BE and to whoever you bought your tickets from. It is unacceptable to pay for allocated seating and not get it.

However I do think you were daft for not speaking up when you were asked to move, you made things worse for yourself there. If you had spoken to the stewards you could have got things sorted so you could either sit in your proper seats or so that you were not asked to move again.
 
KristmasKatt said:
Complain.

When you complain make sure you say that the tickets were bought as a special celebration of your engagement and that it really ruined your enjoyment of the day and left you feeling very upset.

Complain to the organisers, copy it to BE and to whoever you bought your tickets from. It is unacceptable to pay for allocated seating and not get it.

However I do think you were daft for not speaking up when you were asked to move, you made things worse for yourself there. If you had spoken to the stewards you could have got things sorted so you could either sit in your proper seats or so that you were not asked to move again.
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Oh I did speak to the stewards, the two young girls moved us to the first lot of new seats (that they initially sat us in', then an older lady, an 'official' moved us the second time, we moved the third and fourth time ourselves but by then we were just fed up. Maybe i am silly for not digging my heels in but I can't undergo a personality transplant in a millisecond and people can be quite aggressive and intimidating sometimes.

We bought the tickets from the secretary's office by the VIP tent.
 
If you didnt get what you paid for and basically werent going to get what you paid for you were missold seats. Please complain and explain the exact situation.
 
I can understand that not everyone feels able to complain on the day. Just write a letter, it doesn't have to be aggressive, just factual. It must have been a nightmare having to keep moving with young children, and annoying for those around you too. Hopefully they will organise themselves a bit better next time then.
 
What an absolute shambles. I'd be writing to the organisers and demanding your money back. That's rubbish and they need to know about it, otherwise they'll think everything was running fine and dandy when it wasn't.
 
grhands said:
I'm really upset and cross at the shambles that was the seating arrangements at the SJ yesterday. I haven't been to Blenheim for sixteen years, and I got engaged last week so we thought we'd go to Blenheim to celebrate rather than have a party or the like. Anyway as well as the £19 entry we splashed out on seats for the showjumping for myself, my partner, my mum and my two under fives (one baby).

Anyway when we got to the stand the girls who were supposed to be showing everyone to their seats informed us that un-allocated seating had been sold and we could chose to sit where we pleased. So, as another family were in our seats that is what we did. Throughout the showjumping we had four sets of couples / families etc move us as they were demanding to sit in their own seats, and those in ours refused to budge! Anyway we ended up having to move three times (once by an official). When we were asked to move for the fifth time during WFP's round we gave up and I must admit I left feeling rather emotional as I'd been looking forward to the showjumping for weeks and ended up missing pretty much every other round.

Did anyone else have a similar issue in the uncovered seating? Block D I think it was. I just feel that for all the money we paid - round about £60 on top of the entry fee, that kind of shambles was un-acceptable. It wasn't only my family that were troubled either it was happening to a lot of people. I mean surely it could be distracting for the horses as well as upsetting for people having the same sort of issues as us.

Is it worth complaining? Who would I write too? What a nightmare. I'm still gutted!! :(
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Yes you should complain but really you should have insisted that those people moved out of your seats.
 
Not very well organised but after being told to move myself I would have shifted the people out of MY seats and sat there, no hassle then. Seems the sensible solution...
 
In addition to complaining to Blenheim, suggest you cc to BE and the marketing department of Fidelity Investments, the title sponsor.
 
This is one of the reasons I would never bother going to one of these events for the SJing - went to Burghley one year for the last day, had members tickets (we had been given them for free) and yet we couldn't get a seat to watch the jumping at all. We dd complain only to be told that at we could watch it in the members area on the TV screens!!! Hmm, I think i could do that at home thanks and save myself the pennies!!

I do not like these closed arenas at all there is just not enough room for all the people who they have taken an extortionate amount of money off (I am so glad I hadn't actually paid as it wasn't worth it at all!) Plus, there's nothing else to watch at all.

Bramham is local to me and is MUCH better in my opinion as EVERYONE can get to watch the action in the main arena as there is a nice bank all the want round. If you want to VIP it you just pay a little extra on the day at the VIP tent. I feel the bigger events are a total rip off and extremely prententious quite frankly.
 
It's the first year I have ever been and really enjoyed it attending on the Saturday and Sunday and kipping in a tent inbetween.

For sunday it cost me £4 over the admission price to get a seat (£22 total) I reckoned that was worth it!
 
ladyt25 said:
This is one of the reasons I would never bother going to one of these events for the SJing - went to Burghley one year for the last day, had members tickets (we had been given them for free) and yet we couldn't get a seat to watch the jumping at all. We dd complain only to be told that at we could watch it in the members area on the TV screens!!! Hmm, I think i could do that at home thanks and save myself the pennies!!

I do not like these closed arenas at all there is just not enough room for all the people who they have taken an extortionate amount of money off (I am so glad I hadn't actually paid as it wasn't worth it at all!) Plus, there's nothing else to watch at all.

Bramham is local to me and is MUCH better in my opinion as EVERYONE can get to watch the action in the main arena as there is a nice bank all the want round. If you want to VIP it you just pay a little extra on the day at the VIP tent. I feel the bigger events are a total rip off and extremely prententious quite frankly.
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I love Bramham, and went for the whole thing, but even though you could watch the sj for free, it was very very busy, and my legs were dead from standing in one spot for two hours. The bank that you mention wasn't that big really. They could do with a small grandstand on one side.

Burghley, I agree it is a pain to have to pay extra. We went for the whole thing there once as well, and didn't buy seats. There was a huge screen set up in Discovery Valley (right by the bar) which was also close to the warmup. TBH I enjoy watching how they warm up more than I do the SJ, so I found it all very interesting! So I watched them warm up, turned round and watched them on the screen as they jumped, then watched Claire Balding interview them as they came out!


Another thing re OP. If I was that other family that was sitting in your seat, and I saw you being moved from pillar to post I would have got up and said have your own seats back! Shame on them for being so selfish, whether they had kids or not!
 
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I have to admit I did feel a bit hurt that those occupying our seats didn't move, they could have even all budged up to occupy the three or four spare seats that were odd and left in between families etc.

Anyway i wrote a letter the day I posted on here and I called today to see if it had been received. I got a very abrupt lady on the phone who said they have to do things in order of importance and it's a far greater priority that they clear the ground first which can take up to six weeks. Then when they feel that is done to a satisfactory standard they organize a panel get together to review any 'correspondence' and decide how to act upon it. Sad really that the views of those who paid to attend seem to be viewed in such low esteem.
 
They would do well to remember that you were a paying customer. Whatever their priorities rudeness is unacceptable. Whatever happened to good old fashioned service eh?
 
Send them another letter or email stating things like "fit for purpose" in the subject - look up the consumer act and quote that too!

That should get them flustered!
 
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