Since Dundee United announced they were going to charge supporters again to see the replayed match, our chairman Monty, took them to task on this, and we sent an email to them asking, as we were entitled to do so within 14 days of the announcement of the new date of the match, for a refund of our original tickets.
He also got onto Glasgow Trading Standards, and we have received great assistance from them, and they believe we have a case.
Trading Standards have contacted the SPL, who have washed their hands of it as ticketing is down to individual clubs, but Trading Standards are suggesting they do something collectively for future reference as the cuurent position is challengable.
We are more than willing to take this all the way, with a civil action against Dundee United if necessary, and we have taken the decision today to let our fellow bears know of this position, in the hope that other bears, who retain proof of their purchase of a ticket for the original match, will also make Dundee United aware of their intentions to take them to court if they continue with their current policy.
The information we got from Trading Standards is that there is precedent with two cases involving the fans against Man United and Spurs. The Spurs one is most interesting to us, as it was about ticketing policy in light of postponement or abandonment. They had to back down, and have since changed their terms and conditions.
Trading Standards in Glasgow and Dundee have both contacted the OFT (Office of Fair Trading), who are the UK wide ruling body on such matters and are really the level above local trading standards offices, and have had positive discussions with them on this also.
It looks as if, if we can pressure United collectively through either a group action, or many hundreds of individual actions, we may have enough power to win this.
The correct email address for Dundee United is communications@dundeeunitedfc.co.uk. Please keep your emails polite and to the point.
For a hint, something like this would be suitable.
"Dear Sir,
I am contacting you to ask for a full refund of my ticket, purchased from you via Rangers FC, in accordance to your ticketing terms and conditions issued by you for this and every match.
My contact details are as follows;
Mr X
1 Main St
Anytown
G1 2BC
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Regards
Mr X"
Good luck to anyone sending this in, and I will keep you updated on how we get on.
PS - another user has suggested an alternative standard letter to use:-
Dear Sirs,
I have been advised to contact you by the Trading Standards Department.
As long as I can remember it has been the rule of thumb that if the second half kicked off then no refund or free admission was given otherwise free admission or a refund were offered.
As you have now decided to charge admission for the rearranged fixture on 15 December rather than offer free admission as stated at the time of the abandonment of the first match, it is incumbent on you to offer a full refund for the first match.
I have retained my ticket stub.
Please advise the procedure for applying for a refund asap.