Many West Ham supporters have learnt the hard way how much it can cost to call the Hammers 0871 premium rate ticket office number. Although the new ticket website from Ticketmaster is a slight improvement in some ways there are many functions that cannot still be done online, these include upgrading season tickets, finding out E-credit balances or using previous E-credits.
Shocked fans have received large mobile or landline bills of ranging from ten’s of pounds to over a hundred in some cases after spending a hour or more on the ticket hotline during busy periods. West Ham are just one of four remaining Premier League clubs who insist on using 0871 or 0870 premium rate numbers. These offenders are West Ham, Burnley, Palace and Sunderland.
Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Middlesborgh and Southampton all use the slightly cheaper 0844 or 0845 numbers but these are still regarded as Premium rate and calls can still cost up to 62p per minute from mobiles.
Chelsea, Bournemouth and Leicester on the other hand use 0344 and 0371 numbers for their ticket offices which are free on most call packages both on mobile and landlines.
Stoke City , Everton, Man City, Man United, West Brom, Watford and Hull City use their local geographical numbers which are free on mobile and landline call packages or local calls for those who pay for calls.
The cost of calling these Premium rate lines from landlines and mobile can be found on the table below:
These are some of the comments from angry customers on the petition so far:
William: “Calls charges are ridiculous. £33 was charged for a call which the call handler then gave me the wrong info so I had to call back.”
Michael :“£45 just to upgrade my sons ticket to an adult one for the Domzale game earlier this season. Absolute rip off.”
Martin: “I have had massive bills being kept waiting and then the line going dead. Over an hour waiting sometimes..”
Lesley: “On one occasion we paid £22 extra on our phone bill all attributed to West Ham. I don’t think this a way to treat loyal long standing season ticket holders. Or any supporter come to that.”
Pete: “Last month it cost me 38 pounds to upgrade a ticket, it shouldn’t be allowed.”
Terry: “Cost me over £15 to be told a match was sold out last season”
Jim: “I have cancer and now on benefits, I have a pay as you go phone and have spent well over £100 trying to get through, only for my credit to run out, then have to start the call again.expense I now cannot afford.”
Alan: “I had an extra £80 on my bill last season after calling for europa league tickets”
Roger: “I pay enough already for both mine and my grandsons season tickets, and I got really annoyed when i was on the phone for 35 minutes purchasing tickets for one of the europa league games – phone bill circa 35 pounds.”
Terry “£80 in charges for Mark Nobles testimonial. Daylight robbery!”
Rob: “£20 phone bill to book Juventus tickets as it wouldn’t let me log in online”
Last Wednesday I raised this issue directly with Karren Brady at the Supporters feedback meeting at the London Stadium.
The minutes from the meeting read: "It was generally suggested that Premium-rate phone numbers should be scrapped so fans without landlines
will not be penalised. Head of ticketing, Gavin Stanley said the Club are in talks with a telecommunications provider to put a new package in place so that Ticket
Office calls are included in certain landline packages. Karren Brady asked Gavin Stanley to escalate this process. "
However, what is not included the minutes is that the club are only really considering moving to a 0844 or 0845 number which can cost up to 62p per minute from mobiles therefore only a potential saving of 6p per minute. We are calling for an end to this premium number and ask for it to be replaced with a geographic (01 or 02) or geographic-rate (03) number which is included within most landline and mobile call packages
Over 515 supporters have signed the online petition so far. If you back this cause please spare a few minutes to sign it and add your comments. The petition together with the comments and research will sent to the West Ham board on 1st November.
Now is the time to lobby the club as they review the continued use of this unpopular telephone service.
www.thepetitionsite.com/809/708/558/say-no-to-0871-ticket-office-number/