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May 31, 2005--I was pretty excited when I found out that Salt Lake was getting a professional soccer team. Going to a Real Salt Lake game has been on my list of things to do since the season opener. The coupon I got in the mail a couple of weeks ago was the motivation I needed. It had the magic word – “free.” It said that if I bought tickets to the May 28 match vs. the Chicago Fire I would get a free Real Salt Lake hat. I called up my brother-in-law John to see if he wanted to go. Last Monday I got around to working on getting the tickets. I was at work and didn’t have the coupon in front of me, so figured I’d start out by looking on the team’s website. I didn’t see anything on the site about a free hat promotion. I was afraid if I bought the tickets online I wouldn’t get the hat. I looked for a phone number so I could ask what I needed to do to get the hat, but couldn’t find a number anywhere on the site. When you click on the “buy tickets” link of Real’s site, you are redirected to the University of Utah ticket office (the team currently plays at the U’s Rice Eccles Stadium). I looked for a phone number on this site as well, but couldn’t find one. I was forced to do something that I hate – physically look in the phonebook for the number. I called the box office at Rice Eccles. “Hi, I want to get tickets for this Saturday’s game. I have a coupon for a free hat. How do I get the hat?” Just as I had expected, they had no idea what I was talking about. “Umm, I think you have to call the Real office to find out about promotions. Their number is 1-866-9SOCCER.” I thanked the person for his help and then called the number he gave me. Busy. I called again. Busy. That seemed weird for an 800 number. I called back a few hours later. Busy. Hmm. Maybe the phones were down. The next morning I dialed the number again. Busy. I was getting worried that maybe I didn’t really know how to spell soccer or something. I dialed slowly. S-O-C-C-E-R. Busy. I Googled the number. Yep, I was dialing the right number. I called a bit later. Busy. At this point I was getting pretty frustrated. I now had the coupon in front of me. I read it over a dozen times trying to figure out what I really needed to do to get the hat. The fine print said I had to buy at least two tickets and I would only get one hat per ticket. It also said that the coupon had to be redeemed prior to the day of the game. The big text said something “To get your hat, visit or call Real’s front office.” Since I couldn’t get through on that number I decided to go the Rice Eccles route again. I called the box office for a second time. I asked to buy two of the cheapest tickets - $14 each. The salesperson told me if I bought the tickets over the phone I would be charged an additional $11 in service fees, but I would only have to pay $9 if I ordered them online. (Is that a bit ridiculous or is it just me?) “How much do I have to pay for a $14 ticket if I come to the box office?” “$14.” Wow. A miracle! So on Wednesday afternoon I drove up to the U and bought two tickets. The Real Office is about 10 minutes away from the U and I headed there right after I got the tickets. I walked into the office and said to the secretary, “Hi. I just bought two tickets for this Saturday’s game and I’d like to redeem this coupon for my hats.” She looked at the coupon and then looked up at me. "You already bought the tickets?” “Yes, I just bought them. The coupon says that I have to bring it here to get the hats.” “Well, you have to buy the tickets here to the get the hats.” Getting frustrated, I responded “Um, I’ve read that coupon like a thousand times and it doesn’t say anywhere that I have to buy the tickets here. It just says that I need buy at least two tickets and that I have to come in or call to get my hats.” She gave me the expected response, “Well, let me go ask..” She came back a minute later and said, “Yeah, you can only use the coupon if you buy the tickets here. I’m sorry.” “Well, I’d like to talk to whoever you just talked with.” Another minute or two went by and I was explaining to worker number two how I had not been able to reach the office to ask about the promotion and how I had just gone to the U to pick up the tickets. The guy was anything but sympathetic or even courteous, “Yeah. There’s nothing I can do. You bought your tickets from the U and that’s completely separate from the tickets we sell here.” “Umm, you know, I work in marketing. I don’t really think that you can send these coupons out to a million people that don’t specify where they can buy their tickets.” He, of course, responded by telling me that he would go talk to his boss. He walked around the corner and I could hear him tell his supervisor about my situation. The boss responded, at full volume, “No. He can’t have a hat unless he bought the tickets here.” Because I could clearly hear every word he was saying, I walked around the corner and said, “You know, I can hear you. If you are going to have this conversation, I think you should have it directly with me.” “Oh,” the boss said, caught off-guard, “I didn’t know you were here. I thought you were on the phone.” “Nope. I’m right here.” He (his name was Chris) walked out into the lobby with me. He started out by telling me the same thing again – that I had to buy my tickets there. I countered by saying that there is nothing on the advertisement to indicate that was required. At this point I was extremely upset. “Here’s the deal,” Chris says. “I’m going to give you your hat. But let me break it down for you.” Oh, great. He was going to break it down for me. I couldn’t wait. “You can’t buy a ticket, and then get some coupon off of a pizza box and bring it in here and expect us to give you a free hat. And about you calling our office, I don’t really believe that you called and got a busy signal.” Okay, now he’s telling me that I am a liar. This is really going well. “First of all,” I respond, “you sent me this coupon in the mail. I’ve had it for two weeks. I bought the tickets to this game five minutes ago! I came straight here from the box office at the U! Secondly, I would love to tell you that I was lying about calling your office and not getting through, but unfortunately, I’m telling the truth.” “What game did you buy tickets for?” Chris asks. “This Saturday.” “Why don’t you buy season tickets?” I don’t know if my mouth dropped open or not. Why in the world would I buy season tickets if just getting to one game was such an enormous trial? I shrugged the question off and actually felt like I was making progress towards my hat. It turns out I was wrong. “You don’t really get the hat with this coupon,” Chris informed me. “We don’t actually have the hats. We haven’t got them in yet. [Spencer’s note: remember this was Wednesday and the game was on Saturday] You bring the coupon here and then we give you a voucher for the hat. You take your voucher to the game and get your hat.” Why not just have people bring the coupon to the game and cut out the step of having to go to the front office, which is at Trolley Square, where there is no parking? When he mentioned the vouchers the other people in the office starting doing the “uhhhh, ummm, well.” Yeah, apparently they didn’t have the vouchers, either. “I know the interns are working on the vouchers,” somebody said, “but I don’t know when they’re going to be here.” So here it was Wednesday, and not only did they not have the hats, but they didn’t even have the vouchers. At this point I was thinking that I was the first and only person who had come in for the hat. “Uh,” Chris says, “how ‘bout you give me your info and I’ll make sure that you get your vouchers.” I wrote down my name, my address, my phone number and my email address, so there would be no reason for them not to be able to find me. Knowing that the game was only two business days away, I was curious to how he was planning on getting the vouchers to me. They wouldn’t have made it in the mail by game day. “How am I going to get these vouchers?” I asked. “Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll have the vouchers at will-call for you. You can pick them up at the game.” I doubted it, but thanked him for his time and told him I’d pick the vouchers up at the game. Game Day Kickoff was at 7:30 p.m. John and I arrived at the stadium at about 7 p.m. We found will-call (we had to try to figure out what the difference was between “Real Salt Lake Will Call” and “Public Will Call.” I still don’t know what that was all about) and stood in line. When I made it to the front I asked, “Is there anything for ‘Sutherland?’” The woman thumbed through her file and said, “No, I’m sorry.” Huge surprise. On the way to our seats, I made John walk around the entire stadium with me. I was curious to know if there even were any hats. I looked at all the booths and stands to see if there was a place where I could see people redeeming their coupons. Nothing. As we took our seats, I looked around to see if I could see anyone wearing what could possibly be a free Real hat. Nothing. Last night I took another look at Real’s website. I found a staff email directory and found Chris’s address. I sent him the following note:
I was surprised by the quick response that I received:
I feel a little confused by this. First of all, I didn’t buy my ticket at their office. To have found out where I was sitting, I imagine they would have had to call the U and track down my info. Seems unlikely. The bigger question, however, is why they couldn’t find me if they really did visit my seat. I was in my seat from the National Anthem until the whistle blew to end the game. I didn’t even leave during half time. So I will wait to see if I receive a voucher in the mail. If not, I guess I will start another round of emails and letter writing. If Chris can’t make the voucher happen, I guess I’ll just have to talk to his boss. I don’t plan on giving up until I get my stupid free hat. It’s not about the hat, it’s about the principle. Don’t advertise something you’re not really doing. Don’t tell your “fans” that they are lying to you. If there’s a problem, fix it. I don’t think that giving people the runaround is the way to make fans - especially if you are a brand new team. Come on, fellas. Get your act together! As my boss Joy says,”What’s a brutha gotta do to get a damn hat up in here?!” |
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What’s a Brother
Gotta Do for a Free Hat? 