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Post by sc on Nov 17, 2017 17:55:50 GMT
No support for my predicament then? I thought some of you might understand how I feel but maybe I was wrong? Womad have responded but also with a lack of understanding of how the new payment arrangements don't suit everyone. Oh well, move along, nothing to see here.  Not a case of not supporting your predicament PD just I don't know the figures so cannot judge. I don't know how the two years compare, other than now there is an initial payment, when there was none before and now the instalments are fewer, larger and later. The instalments bit maybe to your advantage as you can set aside a smaller amount in your bank account each month to cover the larger instalments when they happen later on, but maybe not, depends on the numbers. The deposit bit is a definite disadvantage to previous offers, however, trying to see Womads point of view. The point of Early Bird tickets is for WOMAD to get some "cash in the bank" to spend and some commitment, that sales will be coming, to get that cash and commitment it discounts the price of the ticket. Womad can then spend on that commitment, IF however, no deposit has been paid, the punter can easily pull out of the deal. If the punter can walk away with no loss, WOMAD has no commitment, it would be spending money backed up with just a "maybe" So I can see WOMADS point of view, but also the initial impact on the "instalment customer" is much harsher now, no doubt about that, and I totally agree that, particularly in these times of extreme hardship, and a hardship that I can only see as getting much much worse with BREXIT, regardless of whether The Tories or JC's Labour Party are in power, Womad should have eased the blow by advertising how the instalment process works, they could have easily done that, even if they did not advertise it as a change, it could have been advertised as "a useful option and this is how it works" I think a lot of businesses are going to have to learn more considerate ways of working, if they are going to retain customers, create employment and survive in these awful coming years. Ask another day I maybe more positive for the Countries outlook  It's a bugger being trapped by the love of friends and family who you cannot desert, if you were free you could give two fingers to this sorry self harming country of ours and live in a country where it's people are happy, open, tolerant and united................ The UK could still be like that, if it wanted, ....................... "You may say I'm a dreamer........." |
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Post by Purpledawn on Nov 17, 2017 19:17:03 GMT
I think a friend's words to me earlier in 2017 are ringing true, Womad just don't want people like me, my family and friends anymore. If they can get enough people to pay their way it doesn't matter that some of their loyal customers are experiencing hardship because they've had to find an instant deposit (or not at all in some cases). Jax & sc are correct, Womad could have explained their new payment method beforehand so that there were no surprises before the ticket release day and an apology for this omission would have been good. I think the Pixies have been evicted and greedy corporate capitalist trolls are now living in Womad HQ.  |
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Post by mikey on Nov 17, 2017 22:24:37 GMT
Got to say that instalments do not affect me as I am fortunate enough to be able to pay outright and realise the saving of buying early birds - yes I am fortunate to be in 5his position when sadly, others are struggling to make ends meet. In return Womad gets the cash flow benefit of my cash and offers a discount, £180 for the four days which is the same as last years price. The price for the 4 days is roughly the same as other similar festivals but they do offer a cheaper option for 3 days rather charging more for the Thursday (depends how you look at it,I suppose).
I do keep on about the ‘boutique’ options which are just a ploy to raise more funds but wonder if it signals an erosion of the Womad values. A spa? Restaurant with wine bar? How do people to justify spending time in these when missing out on the fine music and dance on offer (justify to themselves). I do have to confess to my guilty pleasure of posh toilets.
I do wonder why the local post code are privileged to get a discounted ticket, perhaps to justify the local inconvenience of a large festival on the doorstep. However, they are given the option to pay for a lower priced non camping option, why aren’t others offered similar? Gives another option and may provide a boost to local B&B’s
yes, Womad has changed and money is the driver for this but look at other festivals (like reading, Leeds or V) and you soon realise how music fans can be treated as a commodity to screw every last penny out of.
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Post by sc on Nov 18, 2017 2:09:35 GMT
The cheaper tickets for the locals, that would simply be an agreement with the local authority to ease licensing approval, to show that WOMAD is benefitting the local community.
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Post by mikey on Nov 18, 2017 8:22:28 GMT
The cheaper tickets for the locals, that would simply be an agreement with the local authority to ease licensing approval, to show that WOMAD is benefitting the local community. Without appearing to gripe about the malmesbury location, it is hosted there for our benefit and I love the site. There is a bit of becoming malmesbury centric. I am thinking about the local schools that benefit from workshops before the festival and have the fantastic opportunity of pupils appearing on stage. Think this is great and they put on a good show but...it is the same students you see year after year. The Womad creed is looking out to the wider world and communities, do they just focus on the local schools in malmesbury or do they go wider afield? |
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Post by Purpledawn on Nov 18, 2017 11:43:00 GMT
The cheaper tickets for the locals, that would simply be an agreement with the local authority to ease licensing approval, to show that WOMAD is benefitting the local community. Without appearing to gripe about the malmesbury location, it is hosted there for our benefit and I love the site. There is a bit of becoming malmesbury centric. I am thinking about the local schools that benefit from workshops before the festival and have the fantastic opportunity of pupils appearing on stage. Think this is great and they put on a good show but...it is the same students you see year after year. The Womad creed is looking out to the wider world and communities, do they just focus on the local schools in malmesbury or do they go wider afield? Good question, I've never been close enough to the front of stage to notice if they're the same students, but I guess you mean just from Malmesbury school? The kids who appeared in 2008 would be young adults now  |
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Post by Purpledawn on Nov 18, 2017 11:49:49 GMT
The cheaper tickets for the locals, that would simply be an agreement with the local authority to ease licensing approval, to show that WOMAD is benefitting the local community. Maybe they should also offer discounts for us Womad veterans who have been loyal for years and for those on certain benefits to ease the pain of the new payment plan? |
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Post by sc on Nov 18, 2017 12:14:46 GMT
Presumably that’s the Early Bird ticket
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Post by nigenet on Nov 18, 2017 15:39:34 GMT
Sorry to see your upset PD. I can really understand that. I'm still fortunate enough at the moment to be able to pay up front (although I do put some aside each week until there's enough for the ticket, then put that in the bank before I buy it). As such I don't know how the installment plans have worked in the past. But yes, if they've made such a significant change it would have been nice of them to at least warn their loyal customers. Womad have our contact details from previous sales, and they surely know which customers prefer to pay by installments, so it wouldn't have been hard for them to send an email in advance to say "Thanks for your continued support. We want to let you know that this year we will be changing the installment plan and this is how it will now work..." to allow people to plan accordingly.
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Post by nigenet on Nov 18, 2017 15:43:33 GMT
The cheaper tickets for the locals, that would simply be an agreement with the local authority to ease licensing approval, to show that WOMAD is benefitting the local community. Maybe they should also offer discounts for us Womad veterans who have been loyal for years and for those on certain benefits to ease the pain of the new payment plan? I can kind of understand discounted tickets for the people who live very close to the festival, but SN16 seems to cover a much wider area than that, so I can't see why the folk much further from the festival need a discount. Actually, some kind of loyalty scheme wouldn't be a bad idea at all. It probably wouldn't be much, but it would be a good way to reward the people who keep coming year after year. |
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Post by nigenet on Nov 18, 2017 15:45:11 GMT
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Post by calndel on Nov 18, 2017 16:22:31 GMT
The cheaper tickets for the locals, that would simply be an agreement with the local authority to ease licensing approval, to show that WOMAD is benefitting the local community. Maybe they should also offer discounts for us Womad veterans who have been loyal for years and for those on certain benefits to ease the pain of the new payment plan? loyalty should count for something not sure what made us qualify for the early early bird ticket offer but it does show they know who has bought tickets in the past some festival sell tickets at a very discounted rate almost a year in advance, one of Del's mates buys tickets for a rock festival in Spain each year (he is Spanish and it give him an excuse to visit his parents) and he pays something 50 Euros! |
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Post by jax2000 on Nov 18, 2017 16:36:05 GMT
I gave Womad the perfect opportunity to give us advanced warning when I tweeted on November 1st: @womadfestival Will you be offering payment by instalment for Early Birds? If so, do we need to phone your office to arrange it? Their reply: Hi Jacqui, Early Bird Tickets & instalments will be available 15th Nov. Booking by instalment details at t.co/UCISGS4G5x from 15th. They could have released those instalment details in advance. 😠 |
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Post by sc on Nov 18, 2017 17:06:05 GMT
Actually a Loyalty scheme would work well, you could have a cumulative rising discount for each subsequent year. I suppose the problem may be that WOMAD has a large % of return custom, so a large % would be entitled to a discount and so ticket prices may increase to pay for it |
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Post by Purpledawn on Nov 18, 2017 21:22:57 GMT
I gave Womad the perfect opportunity to give us advanced warning when I tweeted on November 1st: @womadfestival Will you be offering payment by instalment for Early Birds? If so, do we need to phone your office to arrange it? Their reply: Hi Jacqui, Early Bird Tickets & instalments will be available 15th Nov. Booking by instalment details at t.co/UCISGS4G5x from 15th. They could have released those instalment details in advance. 😠 Indeed you did, I'd forgotten about that, Womad's new payment system would certainly have been in place by then so a warning wouldn't have done any harm. |
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It's a bugger being trapped by the love of friends and family who you cannot desert, if you were free you could give two fingers to this sorry self harming country of ours and live in a country where it's people are happy, open, tolerant and united................ The UK could still be like that, if it wanted, ....................... "You may say I'm a dreamer........." 
