POLL: Deadline passed... what did you wind up doing?

[kc711]

I gave money last year to the diamondm band group and got badly cheated by them! Do NOT believe any promises from that group! Incidentally I wrote Prez Turner about it and was ignored. This will affect my future contributions.

Would you be so kind as to elaborate on how you were badly cheated by making a donation to the band? Except for name recognition on the Boulevard for sponsoring a lunch or being the guest "conductor" at a basketball game, I am not aware of any benefits for giving to the band. The benefit of giving is to support the band. It is a shame you had a bad experience, but it would be interesting to hear specifically about your bad experience.

I'm pretty sure I know what this is about. Arkpony was one of our guest conductors. We had different definitions of "courtside" seats. The seats we provide are near the band, and are considered "courtside." The expectation was the chairs like where W sits. There was no intentional cheating, and we certainly didn't purposely make any false promises. We have apologized repeatedly and will change the wording for the guest conductor package going forward. It's unfortunate Arkpony feels cheated, and we regret the misunderstanding. We have no interest and it does us no good to intentionally deceive donors.

Oh, good Lord, what did Arkpony think Turner should do about this? Go back in time and give him different seats at the game where he was the guest conductor?

I assume by his name that Arkpony lives in Arkansas. So perhaps he had never been to a game where someone had the guest conductor experience. Anyone who has been to such a game would know exactly where the seats are located.

[dalpony]

picked my seats - same seats as last year (2) - same donation level

[PonySnob]

Hated not getting Row 1 in 204 again, but was actually able to move closer to the court.

[Bishrag]

I’m curious to see how many people who only have two tickets are getting moved compared to those with 4+. Example to be on par with some who has 4 tickets at $500 donation per seat a person with 2 tickets would need to donated 2k (1k per seat). Seems since people couldn’t purchase more tickets than they had already they got punished a bit.

Your understanding of the process is not correct. You can decrease or increase the number of tickets you want to purchase. Below is a quote from a Mustang Club email about the selection process:

"CHANGING YOUR SEAT QUANTITY
If you would like to add or subtract seats from your order, please contact the SMU Athletic Ticket Office at 214-768-4263 prior to your appointment time. Reminder, there are maximums for the number of seats that can be purchased in the lower level/premium sections."

This is misleading and was brought up in the prior moody re-seat thread (see my post page 27 and responses page 28 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=85251&start=390). We contacted the ticket office and they informed us that the re-seat process is as follows:

All prior season ticket holders are guaranteed seats somewhere in the arena as long as they meet the minimum donation for the seat. You are able to purchase up to your current amount of seats. If you are requesting additional seats you must wait until after the moody re-seat (this week) and see what is available from those who either reduced the number the or purchasing or did not renew. We were told most likely the additional seats would not be next to the seats we picked. They felt this was the most fair process.

[SMUstangs22]

Had a stressful situation. Website did not load my options until 3 minutes after the start. Called the MC office and got voicemail. Finally loaded and selected seats. My wife wanted me to verify location in the section and they expired in the cart. Went back to select them and they showed unavailable. Bought next best seats. Called MC and got it worked out. Stressful though.

[Arkpony]

I stand by my statement. “Court side seat” is a seat at the edge of the court. Not halfway up in the student section. And what did I expect from the Prez? A simple “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding “ would have been nice.

[kc711]

I’m curious to see how many people who only have two tickets are getting moved compared to those with 4+. Example to be on par with some who has 4 tickets at $500 donation per seat a person with 2 tickets would need to donated 2k (1k per seat). Seems since people couldn’t purchase more tickets than they had already they got punished a bit.

Your understanding of the process is not correct. You can decrease or increase the number of tickets you want to purchase. Below is a quote from a Mustang Club email about the selection process:

"CHANGING YOUR SEAT QUANTITY
If you would like to add or subtract seats from your order, please contact the SMU Athletic Ticket Office at 214-768-4263 prior to your appointment time. Reminder, there are maximums for the number of seats that can be purchased in the lower level/premium sections."

This is misleading and was brought up in the prior moody re-seat thread (see my post page 27 and responses page 28 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=85251&start=390). We contacted the ticket office and they informed us that the re-seat process is as follows:

All prior season ticket holders are guaranteed seats somewhere in the arena as long as they meet the minimum donation for the seat. You are able to purchase up to your current amount of seats. If you are requesting additional seats you must wait until after the moody re-seat (this week) and see what is available from those who either reduced the number the or purchasing or did not renew. We were told most likely the additional seats would not be next to the seats we picked. They felt this was the most fair process.

Thanks for the clarification. However, that does not change the fact that your logic is faulty. Anyone (no matter how many seats they have) can contribute more to move up in priority to obtain better seats.

[kc711]

I stand by my statement. “Court side seat” is a seat at the edge of the court. Not halfway up in the student section. And what did I expect from the Prez? A simple “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding “ would have been nice.

So, why should he do that when he had nothing to do with the situation. It is between you and the the Diamond M Club.

[Blunt Pony]

It was a bit stressful because I had to reload the screen a few times, but all in all I wound up doing the same donation for 4 seats and moving back 1 row but moving one section over to 204 from 203. My old ones were taken but I did get 4 together instead of the 2 and 2 that I had so overall it was an improvement. Still disagree with the process and am sorry that we are going to lose as many season ticket holders as I think we are.

[mustang92]

I stand by my statement. “Court side seat” is a seat at the edge of the court. Not halfway up in the student section. And what did I expect from the Prez? A simple “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding “ would have been nice.

We never intended to deceive or make false promises. We understand and regret the confusion and will change the wording to prevent this from happening again. We sincerely apologize and hope you won't hold a misunderstanding between you and the Diamond M Club against SMU Mustang Band students.

I would love to offer you a game next year in the seats you expected, but we don't have access to them.

[mrydel]

Moral:

Don’t deceive a Judge.

[Mustangsabu]

I stand by my statement. “Court side seat” is a seat at the edge of the court. Not halfway up in the student section. And what did I expect from the Prez? A simple “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding “ would have been nice.

So, why should he do that when he had nothing to do with the situation. It is between you and the the Diamond M Club.

Because it is the correct thing to do. This seems like a minor issue, but clearly not to Arkpony. If SMU would pay attention to the few fans it has they would find themselves much better off.

[Bishrag]

Thanks for the clarification. However, that does not change the fact that your logic is faulty. Anyone (no matter how many seats they have) can contribute more to move up in priority to obtain better seats.

??? How is the logic faulty? I never said people can not upgrade. Lets say someone who already has 4 tickets wants to sit in the section that costs $500 per seat donation and decide to donate $2.5k. Their donation per seat would be $625. (I think this is minimum donation for one of the levels). They would be moved ahead of a person with only 2 tickets unless the person with two tickets donated $2.5k. Since that person can only choose two seats at the time of the re-seat they are paying $1,250 per seat. Only if that person selects to purchase two seats in a different part of the arena after the re-seat will it be closer to the same value.

I was just commenting on the fact that there will be people who are just trying to keep their 2 tickets competing with those who have 4 tickets and I don't think many would choose to purchase seats in different locations in Moody, so there is an unconscious bias in favor of those with more tickets and they will most likely be choosing ahead of those with lower ticket numbers. Do I think this makes a massive difference? No, but there will be instances this happens.

[mustang92]

Moral:

Don’t deceive a Judge.

Even accidentally

[mustang92]

Thanks for the clarification. However, that does not change the fact that your logic is faulty. Anyone (no matter how many seats they have) can contribute more to move up in priority to obtain better seats.

??? How is the logic faulty? I never said people can not upgrade. Lets say someone who already has 4 tickets wants to sit in the section that costs $500 per seat donation and decide to donate $2.5k. Their donation per seat would be $625. (I think this is minimum donation for one of the levels). They would be moved ahead of a person with only 2 tickets unless the person with two tickets donated $2.5k. Since that person can only choose two seats at the time of the re-seat they are paying $1,250 per seat. Only if that person selects to purchase two seats in a different part of the arena after the re-seat will it be closer to the same value.

I was just commenting on the fact that there will be people who are just trying to keep their 2 tickets competing with those who have 4 tickets and I don't think many would choose to purchase seats in different locations in Moody, so there is an unconscious bias in favor of those with more tickets and they will most likely be choosing ahead of those with lower ticket numbers. Do I think this makes a massive difference? No, but there will be instances this happens.

They are getting twice the revenue from those buying 4 instead of 2....