Miasmatic Review

Rock River Raptors have angered me.

Tonight is the “second” Rock River Raptors home game of the season. And to be honest, I’m not sure if I am going to go or not. The management and front office have really angered me to no end. It all started last year when the Raptors made it to the playoffs.

To increase sales the management and front office offered a package deal. If you bought all the playoff tickets and the 2008 season tickets they would knock 25% off of the total package and if the Raptors didn’t make it to the next level of the playoffs they would refund the money for the tickets. It was a huge savings and well worth the money. I jumped on and purchased the tickets.

The Raptors were eliminated in the first round. Meaning that the second round of the playoffs and the championship tickets should be refunded to the ticket holders that purchased them. I kept waiting and calling about the refund only to never get it. The office would give me the run around about whose fault it is or just not return my calls. At one point I called the Raptors because I had heard that some of the season ticket holders that had pre-paid for tickets were not showing as paid.

When I called they told me they did have a record of my payment. I inquired about the refund and they told me they did not have me on the list for the refund. I was about livid. They added my name to the list along with the friends of mine and my father who had all prepaid. I still received a song and dance about when we will get the refund.

My tickets where paid for in June. The last playoff game was toward the end of July. It is now the beginning of March and I still don’t have my money back. They where quick to take the money out of the account, but they sure don’t want to give it back.

To make matters ever worse, they changed the league they play in from the UIF to the CIFL. When they did this they sent out a nice letter saying that they decided not to raise the cost of tickets this year, like they would have received another dime from me or I would have accepted anything short of the refund they owed me. I’m still fighting to get my money when the schedule comes out. They shortened the seasons from 8 home games to 6 home games. In the past they were all on a Saturday night, now some are on a Friday night. Okay, it’s a little annoying as no pre-game partying, but I can live with it.

When I questioned the raise of ticket prices, I was told they didn’t raise them. Yes they did! I paid for 8 home games, I got 6 home games. That’s when I was told that I still get two home games, but they are pre-season. Pre-season, that’s right. To add insult to injury, one of the preseason games wasn’t even held at the MetroCentre (The arena the games are normally played in). The night we were able to pick up tickets we had to go to this indoor sports center in Loves Park, fight with parking to get into a crowded arena to pick up tickets. Where they wanted me to pay an additional $5.00 for Clone (my four year old) to get into the game. Again, they are not getting anymore money from me.

This wasn’t even a pre-season game; it was an exhibition game against some local iron-man football club. You didn’t even get to see them play players of the same caliber. They had an away pre-season game against a rival team from the UIF. Then they scheduled a pre-season game on a Monday night. Monday night?!?!?! Hell, I’ve given up NFL tickets because it’s a Monday night game. I’ll be lucky if I get home before 11:00 PM tonight. Most of the people I know can’t go because they have kids and it’s a school night, they have to work, they have weekday obligations or it’s just not feasible.

As for the regular season games, I’m going to miss half of them because they are scheduled during re-enactments. That’s not their fault, but when you only have 6 home games, it decreases the chances of you being able to get to one if you have any other hobbies, kids or plans.

Needless to say I’m a bit annoyed. I do know that I’m not spending one dime more than I have to this year on this team until I get my money back. I also know that I better get a huge apology for the treatment I’ve received. There are a lot of other fans out there just like me, I bet you see their support drop off this year. You don’t treat your fan base like this and expect to keep them.