The New York Yankees are worth approximately $3.4 billion dollars.
Yes, $3.4 BILLION.
That’s a lot of cash, right?
Most major sports franchises are worth a ton of money, but when talking about American sports, two teams really rise to those amazing values – the Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys.
But this is about the Yankees.
A couple of weeks ago, three of us made the trek to Yankee Stadium. It was the first time I was at the new stadium. As many of you know, I am part of a baseball passport program, where you get stamps at each stadium you visit. There are two versions of the passport for MLB – one I use for my first visit to each stadium, the other that I use when I go to any MLB stadium.
This is the “ticket” I was told I could get at Yankee Stadium. Dated and timed all funky.
I was excited to see the new stadium and also get a stamp here. And it was also Mariano Rivera Day, which is cool because he’s one of the few Yankees players I’ve truly liked over the years.
I also like to collect tickets from the games as they stay tucked in a pouch inside the passport. Unfortunately, there won’t be a Yankees ticket in that pouch.
Let me explain.
Usually when I order tickets online, I get them held at will call, thus guaranteeing an actual ticket. When I ordered the Yankees tickets (for three of us), there wasn’t an option for that and it was too close to the game to have them mailed. Heck, I chose the print out option and I ended up with eTickets.
So, it was left to fate and hope.
Game day was a hot one. Early in the game, one of the people I was with went for a stroll around the stadium. He decided to see if his e-ticket would get him a real ticket. It did. He went to one of the fan service spots and asked. They asked him to show the e-ticket and his ID and boom.
I went down a few innings later and got a fully different response. I talked to the fan assistance people, got my stamp, and asked about the ticket. We don’t do that, he told me. He explained there was a kiosk where I could print a receipt out. I did. It wasn’t a ticket. In fact, it was dated 1969 AND late at night – both inaccurate.
I went back and told him that a friend had just come down – to this spot – and got a ticket. He said not at that spot as they didn’t do that.
Apparently, there’s a ticket place at this same spot – that was the answer. I didn’t realize that. When we went back in the seventh – that had been closed. We asked the one person there, who said they didn’t do it. When my friend said yes, they did as he had it done, she backtracked and said the ticket office was now closed.
So apparently fan services does know they do this.
I was, obviously, a bit peeved.
I e-mailed the Yankees that night. And then responded to an e-mail I received the next day that asked for feedback. I received an email back but it seemed like a form response. I responded again and I got a phone number I was to call between 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
I call three times. The first was four about 5 minutes before I was disconnected. The next one was for about 25 minutes before I was disconnected. The third one went for about 30 minutes, which went beyond 5 p.m. and I finally hung up as I knew they were all likely gone.
Throughout each call, there was a message that constantly said that all customer service representatives were all busy and my call would be answered by the next available agent.
Never happened.
I tried to e-mail two more times after that, asking why something like this couldn’t be handled via e-mail. No answers.
So, I gave up. I didn’t get a ticket from that day. I realized how bad the customer service at Yankee Stadium was (a couple of other things that day made me think that) and I left with a bad taste in my mouth.
A twitter search showed others had bad experiences with customer service at the Yankees, so I know I’m not the only one. But hey, I’m sure the Yankees and their 3.4 billion don’t care about one guy in upstate New York.
In the end, no ticket is fine and I’ll deal. I just think customer service should be on the same page and maybe they should learn to answer the phone. If they have that many calls coming in each day, hire more people. They apparently have the money.
Just not for a ticket.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook!