StuRomseySaint

Why? Someone is stating they applaud Mr Cortese for stealth charging customers, including himself and bullying people into having to pay premium prices. Who on earth would honestly applaud that? Seriously?!

If someone defaults they send an automated letter. Zebra will inform them of defaulters, in the first instance Zebra try and recover the arrears, only at the last resort is it handed back to the club. They stick a poster up in turnstiles of banned peoples names and season ticket numbers. If the customer fails to surrender their season ticket then they can report them for obtaining property by deception. There really is absolute minimal, almost zero cost of administering defaulters... the cost of a stamp, a bit of ink and some paper... that's it.

I assume that you are a PAYG customer? Happy with the booking fee etc if so? I only say this because it really is beggars belief how any Saints fan can applaud someone for costing them money, whether it be themselves or a fellow Saints fan. When I next go to fill my car up, if I see the petrol price has gone up per litre, I will stand on the forecort singing and dancing whilst applauding Mr Texaco. Thankyou Texaco. Thankyooooooo

Exactly. I am gobsmacked that fans are failing to notice that the club is actively trying to bully people out of being able to get a season ticket. They want 25,000 crowds of PAYG customers and quite frankly, couldn't give a toss how many STH's they get. Cortese has one thing in common with all of us. His arrogance that we will walk this league next season... if he didn't have that belief then you can bet that the pricing structure would be alot more fan friendly than it is.

Well done, pick one line out when you have just made yourself look like a right pleb trying to give advice on 0% credit cards and then in your very next comment show that you know nothing about obtaining credit. " You were declined one... how about you try more than one? " Anyway, abuse me by PM if you want, I am going to try and refrain from being reeled in by the likes of you on this thread only.

Jesus, I am not bored of the topic, or the aim of getting the club to offer an affordable payment plan for fans who have relied on it. What I am getting bored of is constantly having to remind people that less than half of the country would qualify for a 0% credit card, and the demographic of the people who rely on the payment plan, an even smaller percentage would qualify for it. And your post about 'applying for loads' suggest you know nothing about getting credit as that's the worst thing you could do. Before you call me a pikey, I have 2 credit cards thanks, I am not putting up this fight for me though, I just thing in general we need to take a stand for the sake of our club, our pockets and Saints fans who are not fortunate enough to have the cash or credit facility to enable them to get a season ticket. These people have been bullied out of getting one, you are naive if you think otherwise.

Why not? Do you pay your council tax monthly? What would you say if they sent you a letter saying they want the next years premiums in full and you have 30 days to pay. It makes sense for nothing other than paying back Marcus's loan to the club and shafting the fans for as much money as possible. If you are happy being taken for a mug then fine... I am not though. It's also a gamble and if we have a slow start , expect attendances to be significantly down.

They don't charge the club an administration fee... the charge the customer an administration fee. As I said, there has been interest of a premium attached to all previous payment plans apart from last season, I have never seen anyone moaning. As for this 'Credit Card' thing that keeps cropping up again and again, why do some people live on cloud cuckoo land? Well done if you have a credit card on 0%... not everyone does or can get one, and the demographic of the people who rely on the installment plan makes it even less likely that they can just pop online to get a credit card to cover the cost. I have no doubt people will jump on this thread acting all high and mighty and telling people it's their fault if they don't qualify for a credit card and giving it the billy big b*llocks.

Read it again, I didn't say is was a right, I said 'quite rightly' as in 'correctly' took it for granted there would be a payment plan... there has been one for the last 10 years or so and there was no prior warning there wouldn't be be one this year.... I wonder why.... To address another point about Cortese will have to sit up and listen when season tickets drop... he won't bat an eyelid because that is what he wants I believe and is part of his business model.

Nick... I don't know if you read my original post, but as I stated, I am not speculating, I phoned up the very people who adminster installment plans and was told that there needs to be absolutely no costs incurred by the club... and that is the case with most of their clients. I explained in quite some detail how Zebra go about recovering their costs...

The title says that the Installment plans cost the club NOTHING, and the installment plans cost the club nothing... so what exactly is misleading? The installment plans for the last 10 years have carried a premium every year, either in interest or prices not being available on the early bird... with the exception of last year... and I have never heard anyone moan. Just to repeat myself again, it's easy to sit and say 'get over it' if it doesn't affect you. If it doesn't affect you, don't get involved maybe?

Saints is a hobby of mine, one that because of the removal of the payment plan ( for no other reason than they want to make more money on PAYG customers ) a number of my friends who I have been going to football with for years, cannot renew this season as most relied on the payment plan and quite rightly, took it for granted that there would be one. It's easy to sit and snipe if it doesn't affect you Kippy... I might becoming more political, but you are becoming more like and old grumpy git.

They are not lending anyone the money, season ticket premiums are paid in advance... they are a premium, not credit... there is a difference. Premium Credit and Zebra Finance normally do the installment plans for things such as Car Insurance etc. They take an 'administration fee' each month either from the club direct or by charging interest on the premium. They administer the plan, not lend any money.

Exactly... it's all about squeezing as much money out of Saints fans as possible. I am absolutely amazed that nobody can see it. The club don't want season ticket holders, they want 25,000 people paying on a game by game basis = more revenue. Cortese is trying to build a 'RyanAir' model football club... I wonder how much our new 'in-house' catering will cost next season as well.... and the 'special 125th' shirt....

Button what? The club says that the reason they stopped the payment plan was because of the cost. I have found them one they can have for FREE I wonder if the club will change their reason for removing it now?

Where? I spoke to The Echo only an hour ago and they knew nothing about how the finance plans work and how Zebra Finance offer packages at no cost to the football club. My posh voice goes... "Hello, I am SRS, Sales Directorrrrrrr Yarrrrrrrrrrrrdy Yarrrrrrrrrrrrrr "

It's a gamble. Cortese would prefer 25,000 PAYG customers rather than 25,000 discounted ST customers. If we go straight to the top of the league and stay there, we will get 25,000 in the ground, regardless of the Season Ticket Holder to PAYG Customer ratio. Effectively each person who pays for each individual game is worth almost £10 per person per game in revenue more than a Season Ticket Holder ( allowing for the new stealth charges as well ) All very well if we are at the top, if we have another slow start to the season, expect to see crowds below 10k for a cold,wet game against Hartlepool in November.

I spoke to Zebra Finance today, I put on my posh voice and done some secret shopping about the season ticket plans they have available for ‘my club’ I was told that each Season Ticket plan is bespoke to the relevant club. I was also told that the most popular plans have no cost to ‘my club’ whatsoever. They recover their costs in a number of ways which effectively are done in the form of: • Charging interest – The finance company can charge interest on the monthly repayments, these costs are picked up by the customer and have zero cost to SFC to administer. • Charging an administration fee – This is another way that can be used instead of / as well as charging interest. Again, costs picked up by the customer as opposed to SFC • On Interest Free instalments the club can charge a premium price for payment plans, for example charging the new Season Ticket price as opposed to the renewal, they can then pass on the difference to the finance company in the way of commission. The finance company deal with all aspects of administration of the plan, including credit control/debt collection. They will build a bespoke design based exactly on the clubs needs. I am waiting to hear back from Premium Credit Ltd, who have worked with SFC in the past but yet to receive a response. I think if the club do not take up Zebra Finance’s offer of designing a bespoke package with no cost to the club, then the least they owe us an explanation as to why they will not take up the offer when it has not cost attached to them, seeing as that is the official reason we are being given. The ball is in Mr Cortese’s court now. I for one think we are owed the REAL reason they have removed the installment plan... it's not cost... if it was because of cost then I have found them a company who are willing to set it up at no cost to SFC, so surely they will accept this kind offer? I think I know what the reasons for the removal of the plan it, but I am happy to be proven wrong.

What that Cortese is making all the decisions? Do you not believe that then?

Well you must have money to burn... as the vast majority of English residents just won't use them and instead use one of the other cheaper and more reliable airlines.

w@nker w@nker

Wow, this thread is AMAZING

Will you be chuffed if they take industrial action on your flight date meaning you can't get over here? And I am sure your attitude will be " oh well, sometimes you gotta take one for the team... go team BA"

It's going to hit 1 million views by the end of today. Woop

And the first person to support the BA strikes......... lives in America. Excellent.