Is the club defrauding loyal supporters?

[Dubai Eagle]

I would imagine some of them just want to be able to say that whilst they were travelling / in the UK they were able to go to a PL game, less bothered about who is playing or just choose the home team for the day.

A bit like if we go to the States, we would probably investigate what the probabilities are of going to a game whilst you are there (Baseball, Basketball or NFL or whatever)

 

[Motspur Park]

I have been a gold member for years but after this season I am out! Have not been to Selhurst this year because unable to get a pair of tickets and that is the sole reason I buy my membership. Last season I managed to buy last minute spares a few times and ended up in the Arthur surrounded by groups of Northern Europeans or Americans. Hopefully I will still be able to get spares next season on Holmesdale Online without a CPFC client ref number ('client ref number' says it all!). It sounds like I am not the only Gold member that feels this way, so if the club does come clean and inform us on the number of Gold memberships sold this season it will only go down from next season!

 

[Isley46]

I have been a gold member for years but after this season I am out! Have not been to Selhurst this year because unable to get a pair of tickets and that is the sole reason I buy my membership. Last season I managed to buy last minute spares a few times and ended up in the Arthur surrounded by groups of Northern Europeans or Americans. Hopefully I will still be able to get spares next season on Holmesdale Online without a CPFC client ref number ('client ref number' says it all!). It sounds like I am not the only Gold member that feels this way, so if the club does come clean and inform us on the number of Gold memberships sold this season it will only go down from next season!

Same here but we've given up this year (didn't renew memberships) as it looked like something strange was going on towards the end of last season when you couldn't get two seats together.

I think you only need to download and register the app to be able to have digital tickets transferred to you so not a 'true' membership as such - so as you have indicated maybe we'll pick up a couple of games from ticket sales on here.

One thing we've found is that - even being local and not 30mins from Selhurst - by not being able to get hold of match day tickets you do start to lose interest in games and what's going on at the club

 

[Paaalaaace]

Same here but we've given up this year (didn't renew memberships) as it looked like something strange was going on towards the end of last season when you couldn't get two seats together.

I think you only need to download and register the app to be able to have digital tickets transferred to you so not a 'true' membership as such - so as you have indicated maybe we'll pick up a couple of games from ticket sales on here.

One thing we've found is that - even being local and not 30mins from Selhurst - by not being able to get hold of match day tickets you do start to lose interest in games and what's going on at the club

This in the long run is the most worrying thing about this whole debacle. Its so short-sighted, surely officials at the club can see this or are they just complete muppets.

 

[Phil’s Barber]

I have been a gold member for years but after this season I am out! Have not been to Selhurst this year because unable to get a pair of tickets and that is the sole reason I buy my membership. Last season I managed to buy last minute spares a few times and ended up in the Arthur surrounded by groups of Northern Europeans or Americans. Hopefully I will still be able to get spares next season on Holmesdale Online without a CPFC client ref number ('client ref number' says it all!). It sounds like I am not the only Gold member that feels this way, so if the club does come clean and inform us on the number of Gold memberships sold this season it will only go down from next season!

You will still retain your current Client Reference number even if you don’t renew your membership next season.

 

[Paaalaaace]

I have been a gold member for years but after this season I am out! Have not been to Selhurst this year because unable to get a pair of tickets and that is the sole reason I buy my membership. Last season I managed to buy last minute spares a few times and ended up in the Arthur surrounded by groups of Northern Europeans or Americans. Hopefully I will still be able to get spares next season on Holmesdale Online without a CPFC client ref number ('client ref number' says it all!). It sounds like I am not the only Gold member that feels this way, so if the club does come clean and inform us on the number of Gold memberships sold this season it will only go down from next season!

Yes the whole situation is ridiculous

 

[in-exile]

Yes the whole situation is ridiculous

Scandalous would be the better fit.

 

[Eagleman13]

I know this matter has been reported to CPISA, but has anyone reported it to the club directly? The more people that do that, the club will 'have' to take notice, if they don't then we all know where we stand.

 

[Penge Eagle]

I missed the Liverpool game as I was on holiday and put my ticket up for re-sale via the club website. Inside two minutes my ticket was sold (it was like it was bought by a bot, not a human). However, nobody sat in my seat for the game...

 

[Dubai Eagle]

I know this matter has been reported to CPISA, but has anyone reported it to the club directly? The more people that do that, the club will 'have' to take notice, if they don't then we all know where we stand.

Several on here (further back in the thread) have written directly to the club & through twitter (x) or whatever its called this week.

 

[Paaalaaace]

Several on here (further back in the thread) have written directly to the club & through twitter (x) or whatever its called this week.

Yes, and only silence back. Not even a no comment!

 

[Pierre]

I know this matter has been reported to CPISA, but has anyone reported it to the club directly? The more people that do that, the club will 'have' to take notice, if they don't then we all know where we stand.

We haven't met with the club since we put out a statement regarding 'Digital Ticketing' which if you haven't read is on our website. The club want to meet with the Fans Advisory Board (FAB) before arranging a meeting with us this month.
We are meeting jointly with the FAB next week. This subject is firmly on our agenda though when we next meet with the club and we intend to drill into the numbers so to speak to ascertain some facts and truths over ticket allocations, who has access at which various points and how many are left for sale to the finger twitching masses at the first 10 am ticket release session!

 

[est1905]

Am back from the match and outraged. Me and my dad have 2 season tickets in H block of main stand (same seats for 30+years). Have also purchased 2 Season Ticket Plus memberships for the season (And last season ) should we want to take other family members. In front of our tickets is a row of 6 seats which always have different folk in. These seats are always impossible to obtain even with logging in as soon as available with early memberships. Virtually nothing at all available almost immediately
So today I asked the folks sitting in these seats how they got them. Well well well, they had purchased them directly from Ticketmaster at £200 a go. What is the point of Gold memberships and season ticket plus if this is happening. In fact I would go as far as saying anyone who has purchased these memberships is being defrauded by the club. Am really f%$king outraged.

A pal of mine purchased 2x Gold memberships for him and his son at the start of the season. He is yet to be able to get hold of two tickets together for ANY league game. He was also given a 'voucher' for a free youth shirt for his son. when he entered the voucher code and chose a home youth shirt they insisted he add his debit card details (but no money would be taken). When he completed the transaction they took £50 off his card. He emailed and complained. They ignored him. He rang up and told them what had happened. A manager was said to be getting back to him. Last time I spoke to him was a couple of weeks ago. He still hasn't been given a refund and still hasn't been able to get tickets to a game.
Golden Eagle Membership. Massive con. Dont buy it.

 

[Johng]

emailed today.

'Dear Steve, Paul and Sharon

I am writing to communicate my dismay and anger at the current situation with my (and many others') Gold membership. A membership which I have had for many years. In previous seasons it has enabled me to purchase tickets for both myself, family and friends who are also Gold members on linked accounts. As I'm sure you know, tickets for Gold Members go on sale at 10am on previously announced days. This season however (despite having been at my computer and having logged into the booking page at 10am sharp on several of these days), it has become impossible to buy anything other than the odd single seat or restricted view seats. I have therefore frustratingly been unable to attend any games this season. All this renders the so called advantages of having this membership meaningless. It also gives the lie to the advertising you promote which states:

'Gold and Junior Gold Members can take advantage of 72-hour early access to every home Premier League match...'.

There is no advantage here. It doesn't make any difference if there is an advance window of 72 hours, a week, two weeks or a month if there are virtually no seats available. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the club are employing a questionable and potentially dishonest and even fraudulent practice by knowingly advertising a product that cannot fulfil its promise. This matter is compounded by the undeniable fact that many seats that should be available to members are to be found on third party sites at hugely inflated prices. There is clearly something underhand at play here. How are these tickets arriving there? What diligence and investigation is the club (who I am sure is well aware of the matter) conducting to counter this practice?

It is hugely disappointing and aggravating that many loyal supporters of this club have been disenfranchised by this situation but I hope this message and presumably others' might be instrumental in getting the matter dealt with speedily so that we can once again be part of the Selhurst Park experience. If, however, you are unwilling or unable to remedy this situation in good time then I must demand a refund for my Gold membership as currently it is clearly not fit for purpose. I shall be encouraging others to do the same.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely'

Today I have received a reply from the club. Not satisfactory in the slightest but at least we have some numbers to go on. I am told that there are 2500 matchday tickets available to 13,000 members who supposedly can use the 72 hour window to buy them. On the assumption that the vast majority of these members buy these memberships for the sole purpose of utilising the window then even if, for arguments sake, 75% of them want a single ticket then demand outweighs supply by nearly four times. If a member wants to buy any more then obviously the demand increases further. This clearly is a ludicrous situation and the club must have known that by selling so many Gold and related memberships (which they are still advertising!) there would be trouble.

None of this however explains the fact that at 10am at the opening of the 72 hour window there are nothing like 2500 tickets 'reserved exclusively' for these members. I'd be surprised if there were 200 and these are all single seats or restricted view.

I shall be responding to this response to the club and will report back.


Hi John,

Thank you for your email, and I sincerely apologise for the delayed response as I have been on annual leave.

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had difficulty purchasing tickets despite being a Gold Member. The first 72-hour buying phase for home games is reserved exclusively for Gold Members and Season Ticket+ holders. However, with a significant increase in Gold Memberships this season, securing tickets—especially for Category A matches like Liverpool and Manchester City—has become more challenging.

For each game, we typically have around 2,500 tickets available for purchase, while over 13,000 members (including Gold Members, Junior Gold Members, and Season Ticket+ holders) are eligible to buy during the first phase. This number increases to over 19,000 in the second phase, which opens up to Adult Members, Standard Junior Members, and International Members.

However, additional tickets do become available through our resale platform. On average, around 800 tickets per match have been resold, with between 20 and 30 remaining unsold for most games.

We are aware of the issue with tickets being sold at inflated prices on unofficial sites. This is a widespread problem across Premier League clubs, and we are actively working, alongside the Premier League, to find effective solutions. In the meantime, our Box Office team is diligently identifying and blocking touted tickets. For the Manchester United match, 300 tickets and corresponding accounts were blocked, and another 200 for the Liverpool match. We’re aiming to match or exceed these numbers ahead of the Tottenham game. Additionally, several season ticket holders were found selling their tickets on unofficial sites and have faced appropriate sanctions.

Please rest assured that we are committed to improving the ticket-buying experience for Gold Members. I completely understand your frustration and in response to similar concerns raised, we’ve restricted tickets to one per membership to ensure fairer access for all in the meantime.

All the best,

Nikki

Nicola Gibbons
Supporter Liaison Officer and Disability Access Officer

 

[Isley46]

Please rest assured that we are committed to improving the ticket-buying experience for Gold Members. I completely understand your frustration and in response to similar concerns raised, we’ve restricted tickets to one per membership to ensure fairer access for all in the meantime.

All the best,

Nikki

Nicola Gibbons
Supporter Liaison Officer and Disability Access Officer

So how does this help? Does she seriously think that adding more Gold Memberships is the solution?

Surely they can see how many gold memberships purchased more than one seat together for the Tottenham game and what were those membership numbers.

Or maybe the club is trying to sell even more useless memberships?

Maybe they just need to stop the Ticketmaster bots hoovering them up beforehand.

 

[Dubai Eagle]

Today I have received a reply from the club. Not satisfactory in the slightest but at least we have some numbers to go on. I am told that there are 2500 matchday tickets available to 13,000 members who supposedly can use the 72 hour window to buy them. On the assumption that the vast majority of these members buy these memberships for the sole purpose of utilising the window then even if, for arguments sake, 75% of them want a single ticket then demand outweighs supply by nearly four times. If a member wants to buy any more then obviously the demand increases further. This clearly is a ludicrous situation and the club must have known that by selling so many Gold and related memberships (which they are still advertising!) there would be trouble.

None of this however explains the fact that at 10am at the opening of the 72 hour window there are nothing like 2500 tickets 'reserved exclusively' for these members. I'd be surprised if there were 200 and these are all single seats or restricted view.

I shall be responding to this response to the club and will report back.


Hi John,

Thank you for your email, and I sincerely apologise for the delayed response as I have been on annual leave.

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had difficulty purchasing tickets despite being a Gold Member. The first 72-hour buying phase for home games is reserved exclusively for Gold Members and Season Ticket+ holders. However, with a significant increase in Gold Memberships this season, securing tickets—especially for Category A matches like Liverpool and Manchester City—has become more challenging.

For each game, we typically have around 2,500 tickets available for purchase, while over 13,000 members (including Gold Members, Junior Gold Members, and Season Ticket+ holders) are eligible to buy during the first phase. This number increases to over 19,000 in the second phase, which opens up to Adult Members, Standard Junior Members, and International Members.

However, additional tickets do become available through our resale platform. On average, around 800 tickets per match have been resold, with between 20 and 30 remaining unsold for most games.

We are aware of the issue with tickets being sold at inflated prices on unofficial sites. This is a widespread problem across Premier League clubs, and we are actively working, alongside the Premier League, to find effective solutions. In the meantime, our Box Office team is diligently identifying and blocking touted tickets. For the Manchester United match, 300 tickets and corresponding accounts were blocked, and another 200 for the Liverpool match. We’re aiming to match or exceed these numbers ahead of the Tottenham game. Additionally, several season ticket holders were found selling their tickets on unofficial sites and have faced appropriate sanctions.

Please rest assured that we are committed to improving the ticket-buying experience for Gold Members. I completely understand your frustration and in response to similar concerns raised, we’ve restricted tickets to one per membership to ensure fairer access for all in the meantime.

All the best,

Nikki

Nicola Gibbons
Supporter Liaison Officer and Disability Access Officer

I am glad the club has responded although there are a couple of points that I dont understand,

a) 2500 seats / 13,000 Gold/ international / Season ticket + etc - Clearly that's a lot of potential buyers for the 2500 seats - when they refer to season ticket + I assume that means season ticket + with enough Parish points - hence the mention of 19,000 members when they go to the second phase.

b) When they talk about accounts being blocked 300 against Man Utd / 200 against Liverpool etc, what happened to those accounts ? Were they then offered to the season ticket waiting list or entered onto the resale list ? or ?

Also for future blocked accounts for the same / similar reason ?

 

[Penge Eagle]

Watching Palace over all these years, I never thought we'd be in position where there is a waiting list to get in the stadium. Signs of progression but no easy solutions. I mean the club can't ensure there's enough chips or pies at halftime in Arthur Wait, so I wouldn't hold my breath at a fix.

 

[Dubai Eagle]

Watching Palace over all these years, I never thought we'd be in position where there is a waiting list to get in the stadium. Signs of progression but no easy solutions. I mean the club can't ensure there's enough chips or pies at halftime in Arthur Wait, so I wouldn't hold my breath at a fix.

My mate joined the waiting list in August 23 & got his season ticket in the August 2024 so clearly there is a waiting list of some description.

 

[Johng]

Today I have received a reply from the club. Not satisfactory in the slightest but at least we have some numbers to go on. I am told that there are 2500 matchday tickets available to 13,000 members who supposedly can use the 72 hour window to buy them. On the assumption that the vast majority of these members buy these memberships for the sole purpose of utilising the window then even if, for arguments sake, 75% of them want a single ticket then demand outweighs supply by nearly four times. If a member wants to buy any more then obviously the demand increases further. This clearly is a ludicrous situation and the club must have known that by selling so many Gold and related memberships (which they are still advertising!) there would be trouble.

None of this however explains the fact that at 10am at the opening of the 72 hour window there are nothing like 2500 tickets 'reserved exclusively' for these members. I'd be surprised if there were 200 and these are all single seats or restricted view.

I shall be responding to this response to the club and will report back.


Hi John,

Thank you for your email, and I sincerely apologise for the delayed response as I have been on annual leave.

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had difficulty purchasing tickets despite being a Gold Member. The first 72-hour buying phase for home games is reserved exclusively for Gold Members and Season Ticket+ holders. However, with a significant increase in Gold Memberships this season, securing tickets—especially for Category A matches like Liverpool and Manchester City—has become more challenging.

For each game, we typically have around 2,500 tickets available for purchase, while over 13,000 members (including Gold Members, Junior Gold Members, and Season Ticket+ holders) are eligible to buy during the first phase. This number increases to over 19,000 in the second phase, which opens up to Adult Members, Standard Junior Members, and International Members.

However, additional tickets do become available through our resale platform. On average, around 800 tickets per match have been resold, with between 20 and 30 remaining unsold for most games.

We are aware of the issue with tickets being sold at inflated prices on unofficial sites. This is a widespread problem across Premier League clubs, and we are actively working, alongside the Premier League, to find effective solutions. In the meantime, our Box Office team is diligently identifying and blocking touted tickets. For the Manchester United match, 300 tickets and corresponding accounts were blocked, and another 200 for the Liverpool match. We’re aiming to match or exceed these numbers ahead of the Tottenham game. Additionally, several season ticket holders were found selling their tickets on unofficial sites and have faced appropriate sanctions.

Please rest assured that we are committed to improving the ticket-buying experience for Gold Members. I completely understand your frustration and in response to similar concerns raised, we’ve restricted tickets to one per membership to ensure fairer access for all in the meantime.

All the best,

Nikki

Nicola Gibbons
Supporter Liaison Officer and Disability Access Officer

Reply sent. Watch this space.

Hi Nicola

Thank you for your reply although I don't believe it addresses the issues. You say there are 2500 matchday tickets available to 13,000 members who supposedly can use the 72 hour window to buy them and a further 6000 members thereafter. On the assumption that the vast majority of these members buy these memberships for the sole purpose of utilising the window as a purchasing advantage then even if, for arguments sake, 75% of just the 13,000 want a single ticket then demand outweighs supply by nearly four times. If a member wants to buy more,which is more than likely to be the case, then obviously the demand increases further. This clearly is a ludicrous situation and the club must have known that by selling so many Gold and related memberships (for which it is still advertising by the way) there would be problems and feelings of justifiable resentment towards the club from members.

However, all of this is immaterial as none of this explains the fact that at 10am at the opening of the 72 hour window there are nothing like 2500 tickets 'reserved exclusively' for these members. I'd be surprised if there were 200 and these are all single seats or restricted view. I'd be grateful if you would be kind enough to produce evidence that at 10am on selling days there are 2500 tickets available and visible. I'd also be grateful if you could provide evidence of how many Gold members were able to purchase tickets for the Liverpool, Spurs and Fulham matches at this time. It would also be of interest to know how many seats were sold together (2 or more).

There is also the likelihood I suppose that many of these Gold memberships are bogus and the accounts are somehow are managing to 'hoover up' many of the tickets at sale time. I wonder if the club is looking into this possibility and are prepared to be transparent about it should this be the case. If this, however, is not the situation then the club has some further explaining to do.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

John

 

[Downeagle]

That is an excellent response John especially highlighting the madness of logging in at 10am without success. I would ask what are the other memberships for if supporters cannot purchase tickets?