JEW Make the Call: Dodgers customer service line edition

[Dan Druff]

Lol "reasonable adults". All they have to do is carry 20% more items and this doesn't happen. They make bank every game. There's no reason for this.

Every game where people show up and don't get the item, I hear people grumbling about it, both at entry and while in their seats at the beginning of the game. I never even thought of calling about this, and just quietly was frustrated about it every other time. This time I took a 5 minute shot at making it right.

People pay extra for these promo games and then fail to get the item because the gate they drive into is mismanaged, and the Dodgers cheap out on inventory.

Do you even go to sporting events, bro?

LOL paying extra for a promo game. No real person looks at a schedule and highlights which game hands out cheap free sweatshirts or bottomless Pepsi.

It's a bonus for you to get some 7-11 stamped sweatshirt?

"No one" pays extra, according to Sloppy, even though promo games go for a lot more money on average on stubhub. Great take as always.

I paid extra because it was a convenient week for me to go, but I'm annoyed they don't carry enough of the promo item which made my price higher in the first place. Sorry you don't have a grasp of getting what you paid for.

[Sloppy Joe]

Apple makes bank not sure why they don’t just give everyone an extra free iPhone charger with a phone purchase.

Wrong analogy.

It's like saying that Apple puts a charger in 80% of their phones for people who order slightly earlier than others, even if some customers can't order because their website can't handle all the orders at once.

When you ask, "Why not just put a charger with 100% of phones?", Sloppy Soyboy shows up and tells you that you're entitled.

Yes, you got it. They advertise they have 40,000, you missed it like the other 10,000+. Unlike them, you dig your phone out of your cargo shorts and expect your Kaiser Permanente branded freebie.

Likely you were the only person in attendance who had this impulse.

[Dan Druff]

Gotta think the Braves will put extra butts in the seats.

No one in LA cares about the Braves, even after they won the World Series.

Only 5 visiting teams are a real extra draw in LA:

Yankees
Red Sox
Cubs
Giants
Angels

Yankees and Red Sox far more because they're east coast AL and don't come very often.

Maybe now Astros also, since the cheating thing.

[Jayjami]

They don't have to deal 20-25% of the crowd hassling them because they feel entitled to a free XL hoodie, because reasonable adults understand the concept of a promotion and don't call up fan relations crying about traffic; instead choosing to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere, eating one hot dog as opposed to multiple, etc.

Do you understand?

Lol "reasonable adults". All they have to do is carry 20% more items and this doesn't happen. They make bank every game. There's no reason for this.

There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.

[simpdog]

Lol "reasonable adults". All they have to do is carry 20% more items and this doesn't happen. They make bank every game. There's no reason for this.

There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.

I don’t know why Druff is blind to this and thinks they should have 100% of the items.

They pay what maybe $5-8 per shirt? While a beer costs $10-15. Or food or drinks for the kids. Or other souvenirs.

[Texter]

Gotta think the Braves will put extra butts in the seats.

No one in LA cares about the Braves, even after they won the World Series.

Only 5 visiting teams are a real extra draw in LA:

Yankees
Red Sox
Cubs
Giants
Angels

Yankees and Red Sox far more because they're east coast AL and don't come very often.

Maybe now Astros also, since the cheating thing.

Somewhat agree but to pull a sellout midweek isn’t that easy, if that was the twins….even with free hoodies, it’s unlikely to sell out.

How nice are the hoodies, most freebies are straight garbage.

[JoeD]

I know that the Lakers at Staples (Crypto.com) seem to always have enough for all in attendance when they give out stuff, but they pretty much expect sold out capacity for every game. Also, if you tell them you have a kid with you that really wanted the giveaway, I've seen first hand when the Lakers come through and make it right.

For these reasons, plus I'm certain that you mentioned to customer service that your young son was with you, I've voted for the Dodgers bringing you the hoodies from the back.

Maybe if it was a special bobblehead giveaway I would vote differently.

[Dan Druff]

Lol "reasonable adults". All they have to do is carry 20% more items and this doesn't happen. They make bank every game. There's no reason for this.

There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.

There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.

I don’t know why Druff is blind to this and thinks they should have 100% of the items.

They pay what maybe $5-8 per shirt? While a beer costs $10-15. Or food or drinks for the kids. Or other souvenirs.

I think what you guys are missing is that Dodger Stadium simply doesn't have the incoming gate capacity to take in 55,000 fans in the 90 minutes or so prior to game time when people would be expected to show up.

Even if all 55,000 people tried in earnest to get to the stadium on time, a lot of them simply wouldn't make it due to the tremendous line which would build up at the vehicle gates.

This stadium differs from many others, as there's virtually no walk-in fans. It's surrounded by both hilly terrain and residential neighborhoods. It's not like you can just park your car a few blocks away in a downtown lot and stroll in. It's not impossible to park outside the stadium and walk in, but it's difficult enough to where almost nobody does it. I'm a cheap Jew, and hate paying for parking in general, and even I don't do it.

If Caesars Palace were having a promotion where they're giving away sweatshirts starting at 11am, and I showed up at 2pm and complained that they're out of them, it's easy to say it was my fault for choosing to show up 3 hours after it began. In this case, the stadium and surrounding area get horribly backed up, due to poor traffic flow designs when it was built in the early 60s.

This is why they're making a mistake by limiting these promos to 40,000 seats when 50,000+ people are expected. Were it just 10,000 items, most people in the stadium wouldn't be getting one, and could explain it away that it's only for the early birds. When 80% of the people around you have an item and you don't, it pisses you off -- especially when you watched 45-60 minutes tick away while stuck at the vehicle gate.

In short, the last thing the Dodgers should want would be a huge influx of people at the same time. Everyone benefits from the stragglers who show up in the 3rd inning to avoid traffic. It's a mistake to incentivize these people to do things differently, and to push them to show up on time. Indeed, it's on promotional days when the gate traffic is the worst.

I really think the 40,000 limit is more likely done out of frugality and convenience (no need to dispose of extras, as there won't be any), than some kind of attempt to get people down there early. If early arrivals were the point, they'd make it 20,000 to create a real sense of urgency.

[Dan Druff]

In any case, here's the actual story:

JoeD is correct that I mentioned Benjamin when I called the hotline. Last time this happened, it was a bobblehead night. I offered $20 to a number of people until one of them bit and sold it to me, and then gave it to Ben.

This time, I called up the hotline, told them (truthfully) that I keep missing these because of the incoming gate traffic, and that my son is highly disappointed. I also noted that each time I'm paying a premium for these tickets because these promo nights are popular, only to not get the item.

My plan was not to press this much, nor stay on the phone more than 5 minutes. If I was told no, I was going to give up and move on.

After the usual, "It's only 40,000, sorry for the inconvenience" spiel, the woman told me to hold on, and she would look into "maybe something we can do". She came back after about 2 minutes and said that they had "2 rally towels" -- those little blue towels you can wave, which you'll often see around playoff time. We already have a ton of these, and you look like a douche waving them on non-rally-towel nights, so I turned them down. I asked if they could find any hoodies "laying around in the back". I figured they probably had some of these for people who don't enter through the normal gates, or whatever.

She put me on hold again, and came back telling me they "found one". This kinda sounded like bullshit because the existence of one meant they did have extras around there, but were probably holding them back. I asked if they could look again and see if they could find a second one, because "80% of the people here got one per ticket". She said she'd look but they "probably won't find any others", which I knew was the polite way of saying no. I said, "Okay, but if you can somehow find a second, that would really be great. Thanks for doing this for us, either way." She asked for my location in the stadium, and I hung up, fully expecting one (not two) hoodies to be brought to me.

About an inning later, the same woman from the phone call showed up with a bag.

"We could only find one," she began, "But we threw in two of these commemorative coins, so maybe that will make up for it."

I thanked her, and opened up the bag. Indeed there was a hoodie, and two "coins". The coins were silver dollar sized, gold in color, and Tommy Lasorda was on both. But where did these come from? I hadn't heard of any commemorative coin promo, nor was I aware of these being on sale anywhere in the stadium.

I looked on the back of the coin packaging, and they were from 2017! I had thought maybe these were printed up in honor of Lasorda after his recent death, but apparently not. Tommy was alive and well when these were distributed 5 years ago! Apparently these were something you could earn in 2017 via a voucher system, after filling up at 76 Gas Stations during certain dates. You'd bring the voucher to Dodger Stadium on certain other dates, and you'd get the coins. I must have ignored this back in 2017, because I don't usually go to 76 for gas.

I was happy with this. So instead of two hoodies, I got a hoody and two identical Lasorda coins, one of which I gave to Ben. He was happy with this, as well. The "cost" was 5 minutes on the phone, mostly waiting on hold.



Sometimes it pays to speak up.

[GrenadaRoger]

In any case, here's the actual story:

JoeD is correct that I mentioned Benjamin when I called the hotline. Last time this happened, it was a bobblehead night. I offered $20 to a number of people until one of them bit and sold it to me, and then gave it to Ben.

This time, I called up the hotline, told them (truthfully) that I keep missing these because of the incoming gate traffic, and that my son is highly disappointed. I also noted that each time I'm paying a premium for these tickets because these promo nights are popular, only to not get the item.

My plan was not to press this much, nor stay on the phone more than 5 minutes. If I was told no, I was going to give up and move on.

After the usual, "It's only 40,000, sorry for the inconvenience" spiel, the woman told me to hold on, and she would look into "maybe something we can do". She came back after about 2 minutes and said that they had "2 rally towels" -- those little blue towels you can wave, which you'll often see around playoff time. We already have a ton of these, and you look like a douche waving them on non-rally-towel nights, so I turned them down. I asked if they could find any hoodies "laying around in the back". I figured they probably had some of these for people who don't enter through the normal gates, or whatever.

She put me on hold again, and came back telling me they "found one". This kinda sounded like bullshit because the existence of one meant they did have extras around there, but were probably holding them back. I asked if they could look again and see if they could find a second one, because "80% of the people here got one per ticket". She said she'd look but they "probably won't find any others", which I knew was the polite way of saying no. I said, "Okay, but if you can somehow find a second, that would really be great. Thanks for doing this for us, either way." She asked for my location in the stadium, and I hung up, fully expecting one (not two) hoodies to be brought to me.

About an inning later, the same woman from the phone call showed up with a bag.

"We could only find one," she began, "But we threw in two of these commemorative coins, so maybe that will make up for it."

I thanked her, and opened up the bag. Indeed there was a hoodie, and two "coins". The coins were silver dollar sized, gold in color, and Tommy Lasorda was on both. But where did these come from? I hadn't heard of any commemorative coin promo, nor was I aware of these being on sale anywhere in the stadium.

I looked on the back of the coin packaging, and they were from 2017! I had thought maybe these were printed up in honor of Lasorda after his recent death, but apparently not. Tommy was alive and well when these were distributed 5 years ago! Apparently these were something you could earn in 2017 via a voucher system, after filling up at 76 Gas Stations during certain dates. You'd bring the voucher to Dodger Stadium on certain other dates, and you'd get the coins. I must have ignored this back in 2017, because I don't usually go to 76 for gas.

I was happy with this. So instead of two hoodies, I got a hoody and two identical Lasorda coins, one of which I gave to Ben. He was happy with this, as well. The "cost" was 5 minutes on the phone, mostly waiting on hold.

Sometimes it pays to speak up.

nice, you played the "my kid is broken hearted" card, then kept hoodie for yourself! such a South of Ventura Blvd move

[Jayjami]

There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.

There’s an excellent reason, to encourage fans to get to the game earlier. Any actuary can tell you every extra minute the customer is in your captivity, you have more opportunity to make money on concessions.

I don’t know why Druff is blind to this and thinks they should have 100% of the items.

They pay what maybe $5-8 per shirt? While a beer costs $10-15. Or food or drinks for the kids. Or other souvenirs.

I think what you guys are missing is that Dodger Stadium simply doesn't have the incoming gate capacity to take in 55,000 fans in the 90 minutes or so prior to game time when people would be expected to show up.

Even if all 55,000 people tried in earnest to get to the stadium on time, a lot of them simply wouldn't make it due to the tremendous line which would build up at the vehicle gates.

This stadium differs from many others, as there's virtually no walk-in fans. It's surrounded by both hilly terrain and residential neighborhoods. It's not like you can just park your car a few blocks away in a downtown lot and stroll in. It's not impossible to park outside the stadium and walk in, but it's difficult enough to where almost nobody does it. I'm a cheap Jew, and hate paying for parking in general, and even I don't do it.

If Caesars Palace were having a promotion where they're giving away sweatshirts starting at 11am, and I showed up at 2pm and complained that they're out of them, it's easy to say it was my fault for choosing to show up 3 hours after it began. In this case, the stadium and surrounding area get horribly backed up, due to poor traffic flow designs when it was built in the early 60s.

This is why they're making a mistake by limiting these promos to 40,000 seats when 50,000+ people are expected. Were it just 10,000 items, most people in the stadium wouldn't be getting one, and could explain it away that it's only for the early birds. When 80% of the people around you have an item and you don't, it pisses you off -- especially when you watched 45-60 minutes tick away while stuck at the vehicle gate.

In short, the last thing the Dodgers should want would be a huge influx of people at the same time. Everyone benefits from the stragglers who show up in the 3rd inning to avoid traffic. It's a mistake to incentivize these people to do things differently, and to push them to show up on time. Indeed, it's on promotional days when the gate traffic is the worst.

I really think the 40,000 limit is more likely done out of frugality and convenience (no need to dispose of extras, as there won't be any), than some kind of attempt to get people down there early. If early arrivals were the point, they'd make it 20,000 to create a real sense of urgency.

I’ve arrived late and missed out many promotional items. My feelings have always been: You snooze, you lose, and then I grab a beer and a Dodger Dog and enjoy the game, instead of getting all butt hurt about it. Perhaps once in your life you could say: “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe you’re right.”

[Dan Druff]

I feel like a broken record here.

I did not "snooze" or leave late for the game.

I was stuck in awful gate traffic, and didn't get the item because of that.

It's not like I stole an item to compensate myself, or called customer service and lied.

I called from my seat and told them the absolute truth of the situation. They chose what to do at that point. Maybe you wouldn't have done it, and I hadn't before either, but I took 5 minutes to try it, and was happy with the outcome.

Given that the stadium cant take in a full stadium's worth of cars at once, 20% of the people get fucked in a situation like this. They are stupid to only carry 40,000 items for this reason. Just stock 50,000 and everyone leaves happy.

[Sanlmar]

Ben will remember very little about the baseball on the field and everything about the details of the day.

He will absolutely have recall 15 years from now about your phone call, the hoodie and the 2 coins.

He may possibly remember Max Fried throwing a 5-6 innning Perfect Game but generally the baseball plays second fiddle to parking, tickets, food, souvenirs, the crowd and how Dad interact with them, Dodger fan violence and the like.

I just asked my mid 20’s kid and he remembers where i was when I called for tickets one particular day while playing tennis, parking stories and quite a few specific details that had nothing to do with the games that blew me away.

[Dan Druff]

Ben enjoys the whole atmosphere of the game than the baseball itself. He really does enjoy going, though. Every time I am going with a buddy, he gets upset that I'm not taking him. As a result I mostly go with him nowadays.

He was happy I made that phone call and got the stuff.

[Ballhawknet]

You said " I think what you guys are missing is that Dodger Stadium simply doesn't have the incoming gate capacity to take in 55,000 fans in the 90 minutes or so prior to game time when people would be expected to show up."


The fact remains you know this and didn't leave earlier. if they magically fix this issue next game and everyone gets in 1 hour earlier YOU would still
be behind them. So the problem is still you not leaving earlier.

I am shocked you still don't understand the idea of creating an urgency to get there earlier and have fans spending money in the park. NO team gives
away items to everyone and there is a good reason for it .... get your ass in the park and spend money !!!

[Dan Druff]

You said " I think what you guys are missing is that Dodger Stadium simply doesn't have the incoming gate capacity to take in 55,000 fans in the 90 minutes or so prior to game time when people would be expected to show up."


The fact remains you know this and didn't leave earlier. if they magically fix this issue next game and everyone gets in 1 hour earlier YOU would still
be behind them. So the problem is still you not leaving earlier.

I am shocked you still don't understand the idea of creating an urgency to get there earlier and have fans spending money in the park. NO team gives
away items to everyone and there is a good reason for it .... get your ass in the park and spend money !!!

They would create a lot more urgency giving 20,000 away rather than 40,000. Why don't they do that?

This isn't about getting people down there early. They're very aware that they already have an incoming capacity problem.

Again, I feel like a broken record. I can't "leave earlier" because the traffic is even worse earlier from where I live, since it runs right into 5pm rush hour. So unless I want to dedicate over 3 hours getting to the stadium, I have to leave around the time I do, and hope I luck into the traffic not being horrendous.

Since you're someone who is very experienced regarding baseball stadiums, you must know that Dodger Stadium is unusual that way. Almost nobody is walking in.



I believe these promo items exist for two purposes:

1) Get fans down to games which would otherwise be a shitty draw (not the case for this one)
-or-
2) Get fans pumped about the Dodgers in general (this was part of a weeklong "Opening Week" celebration, though the game was especially crowded because the Dodgers had won 7 in a row)

Again, they don't want everyone cramming into the stadium at once. That's a minus for them, not a plus, as it puts everyone in a foul mood (employees and fans alike), and creates a shitty experience for guests.

[jsearles22]

So what did we learn this time peons? Against insurmountable criticism, Druff once again is not possibly wrong. Druff is undefeated. Druff is smarter than professional promotional people working for a multi billion organization.

[Dan Druff]

So what did we learn this time peons? Against insurmountable criticism, Druff once again is not possibly wrong. Druff is undefeated. Druff is smarter than professional promotional people working for a multi billion organization.

Huge organizations make mistakes all the time. The Dodgers have the huge money they do because Time Warner stupidly gave them $8.35 billion for a 25-year lol cable TV deal in 2014, when cable TV was already rapidly slipping in relevance. Time Warner lost a fortune on this already.

Somehow the Dodgers think that saving a bit of money on another 10,000 items (and saving the hassle of having to dispose of potential extra items left over) is worth frustrating the 20%+ of fans who end up shorted of the advertised promo item. I don't agree with that decision, and I got tired of ending up on the ass end of that situation because I'm far from the stadium, in the direction of the worst rush hour traffic.

I decided to take a shot to call customer service and ask if they could give me what 80% of the stadium already got. Had they said no, I would have accepted it and moved on. Obviously my request wasn't out of line, because indeed they brought me some stuff.

I understand if some of you wouldn't want to bother with making that call, but lol @ those who are trying to tell me that I'm some kind of asshole for inquiring about this in the first place. Why should I feel the slightest bit guilty about politely asking for the same thing that most others in the stadium got?

[jsearles22]

1. Show me a professional team that does giveaways for 100% of attendance. None do. You’re just flat wrong and will NEVER admit it.

2. 40,000 people always somehow find a way in before you yet you continue to say you couldn’t possibly get in. You sound like whiny sloppy entitled soyboy.

2a. Imagine if all 10,000 who didn’t get the hoodie called guest services. Then you’d be bitching about long hold times…….

[Sloppy Joe]

Need pics of this epic hoodie and the Tommy Lasorda gas station coins that 'made you happy', lol fucking clown.