NYRA continues with their antiquated Saratoga reserved seating mail in process. (There is a limited internet on-line option conducted later on in the year to buy tickets from NYRA for the “leftover” seats.)
I can’t tell you who is right or wrong in the NYC-OTB vs. NYRA squabble or who is right in the state audit proceedings of NYRA. That is best left to others far smarter than I. Hey, they do have a nice website, and Andy Serling is always around, but in the end, I judge companies by my own personal experiences with them, and my experiences with NYRA as a customer have sucked.
The Saratoga 2010 reserved seating letter from NYRA this year sounds more like a FU letter than a customer service letter. The first thing you will notice is the large bold type with a red letter box around it stating: Post Mark Date January 15, 2010.
In case you manage to miss that the second line of the letter warns (again in bold type) that you must have your application postmarked by the “Postmark Date” listed to be eligible. Than they warn (of course, in bold type) the following: “NYRA will not mail any ticket until at least twenty days after your check was deposited to permit your check to clear. If you do not receive seating NYRA will return your funds”.
This is particularly galling because as anyone know who participates in this charade, NYRA does not mail out tickets until at least June of every year, some 160 days or so after I am mailing my check in to meet the deadline date of 01/15/10.
Last year my tickets were mailed to me by NYRA 183 days after my check cleared on 01/19/09. Of course I did not get my first choice of tickets and a refund check for the difference was mailed out 10 months later in a letter postmarked 10/20/09. Who got the escrow interest on my check? One guess Sherlock.
So anyway suckers…I mean NYRA racing fan and customers, run to the post office for the clock is ticking on the Post Mark Date. Oh the letter does say “Thank you” at the end, although not in bold type.
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4 comments:
The NYRA ticket lottery. Don't get me started.
I got my Saratoga tickets last year on the Sunday before the meet started. That's six months of float for NYRA.
The ticket operation is one area of NYRA that, as far as I can tell, is pretty much untouched by whatever new broom Charlie Hayward was authorized to use. It's still the same people, who act not like marketers, but like particularly surly civil servants doling out welfare payments to customers that they think are unworthy.
The theater companies, orchestras and ballet companies that we subscribe to make a point of reaching out and making sure we subscribe for next season, offering help with upgrading our seats, occasionally throwing in bonuses (seats for an additional show, e.g.). What a concept!
Steve- I would love to know the #'s on the float. Since the system is a "lottery" as LJK correctly notes, many people end up with a refund check mailed out as in my case 10 months later. How much is the gross float money and what is the interest made on that? I wonder if the audit will show these #'s.
Thanks for reading
Hey guys, is this all you have to complain about? I'll admit that the NYRA isn't perfect but just about everything at Saratoga is perfect. So what if they float the money for a couple months -- tell me you'd be investing it wisely instead. If you don't like how they operate, don't buy the seats. For $6 or $8 a seat at Saratoga, you can't find a better bargain or more pleasant experience in horse racing. If the float adds a couple cents onto this price, big deal. Get over it.
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