5,118 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Phantom of London on Feb 9, 2016 11:48:30 GMT
I have held a ATG card for 4 years now and found it to be terrific value for money, as it offers good discounts and dodges their extortionate 'booking fees', however DISMAY my local theatre has been sold by ATG and is now owned by HQ Theatres and Hospitality.
I am now in 2 minds whether to get rid of my card, what do you think?
|
|
|
|
Post by Mr Wallacio on Feb 9, 2016 12:29:27 GMT
How often have you used it outside of your regular theatre? If an acceptable amount then keep it.
I use mine the majority in Bristol, but have saved ample booking fees on London shows and special discounts on some Trafalgar Studios and Phoenix shows.
|
|
19,855 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 9, 2016 13:05:09 GMT
I'm taking a party of 6 to Poppins tonight. That's almost paid for my ATG card for a year in booking fees alone, not to mention that we got a discount on preemies by booking early and going on Tuesday night. I've had fantastic value out of mine, however Manchester's two biggest theatres are both ATG so there's plenty to go for. I guess it depends on your theatre-going habits, whether you go alone or in a group etc. I also have mine on automatic renewal which makes the card about a fiver cheaper too.
|
|
|
|
Post by partytentdown on Feb 9, 2016 13:51:42 GMT
If you book a lot of London shows I'd recommend a Time Out card. £25 and it gets you 10% off theatre tickets booked through them - you can book most West End shows and their daily email also usually has a lot of offers in it (the discount applies there too). It also gets you discounts in a lot of bars, restaurants etc but I don't use that as much.
|
|
5,118 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Phantom of London on Feb 9, 2016 14:33:08 GMT
Used mine for Bromley mainly.
But with the West End it is rare I book at the box office directly and if I do I travel through the West End for commuting to get to Charing Cross and I am always up there for shows stuff like Wicked I do day ticket.
If I travel out I would use if for Manchester theatres, Liverpool Empire where I might as well pay the booking fee.
To sell a theatre it shows ATG isn't in good shape as Cameron Mackintosh suggested their business model isn't great.
|
|
2,779 posts
|
Post by daniel on Feb 11, 2016 2:17:26 GMT
Are they selling a theatre or have they just lost the contract? I know they own a lot of venues, but equally a lot of them are just on long-ish term management contracts from the local council. Not sure if it's this case or not, but I remember reading of one theatre where HQ had simply won the new contract over ATG.
|
|
|
|
Post by jaqs on Feb 11, 2016 8:21:45 GMT
Anyone else had a month chopped off their membership? My old card ran to Dec 31st but the new one to Dec 1st!
|
|
|
|
Post by Nelly on Feb 11, 2016 10:56:06 GMT
Are they selling a theatre or have they just lost the contract? I know they own a lot of venues, but equally a lot of them are just on long-ish term management contracts from the local council. Not sure if it's this case or not, but I remember reading of one theatre where HQ had simply won the new contract over ATG. This is correct. Sadly the decision isn't made based on who's the best and who will put the best quality programming on, it's down to £££ and not much else. So HQ theatres will say they can run a theatre with a certain budget that ATG wouldn't be prepared to go down to as it would lower their brand standards/type of stuff they can put on. |
|
1,351 posts
|
Post by CG on the loose on Feb 11, 2016 20:48:48 GMT
They renew month-to-month, so if you renewed your December card in November, you lose unless you complain. Happened to me last year. Renewed early to take advantage of the "old rate," lost 2 months until I complained to them. I tried complaining and, after this bit of nonsense on the phone... "Your representative said that the system shows my expiry date as 31 December, but (a) I can find nowhere online which allows me to validate that for myself (if I’m missing a whole Theatre Card membership website somewhere, do please let me know!) and (b) even if the ‘system’ knows it’s valid, that doesn’t help me if I’m buying drinks or using the cloakroom at one of your venues. He went on, having checked with his manager, to assure me that “all our theatres know it means the end of the month”. Really? You’re going to go into print on both the card and the accompanying documentation saying that my membership expires on 1 December but I’m not to worry because every FOH staff member I ever have to deal with will know that it really runs to the end of the month... there’s a phrase that springs to mind but I don’t believe it’s considered polite!" my email to ATG Customer Care (from which the above was extracted) resulted in this reply: "Our records show that your current membership will collect on the 1st December 2015, as an annual Direct Debit and this has been your collection date since you joined in November 2013. We previously gave expiry dates until the end of the month as default, however we are now implementing a more precise expiry date in relation to your collection date, so we collect on the 01/12/15 and 12 months from this time is 01/12/16. Because you have opted to pay by direct debit, your membership doesn’t expire unless you cancel the direct debit at your bank. We always send your renewal card at least 10 days prior to collection, so therefore you will always have a valid card when you go to the Theatre." I think I lost the will to live at this point. What I should have done is point out that I was a member several years before November 2013, that was simply when I started paying by DD and renewed early as you did TM. I may yet re-open the argument. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 13:54:16 GMT
These posts have reminded me to look into cancelling my card... Their website is hopeless at the best of times (and trying to login with my membership number for their Xmas deals was a waste of time; it accepted the number, then as soon as I got into the 'choose a seat' page, it forgot I'd logged in as a member and tried to charge a booking fee. I tried multiple browsers and indeed devices, but got the same result. Then discovered there were better deals to be had even at Tkts and gave up altogether). I have tended to find that early booking is only useful for a few massively popular shows (eg I got it originally for Farinelli). But overall, if you wait you get discounts on most shows. And some places seem to charge no booking fee anyway so you're not making a huge gain with the 'no fee' perk. Great deals on local theatres I agree, but then I have to pay more to get to my nearest (work in central London so see most things in the West End on working days). And don't get me started on their inability to send me promotional emails, should there be any deals I might want to take advantage of...  |
|
3,589 posts
|
Post by showgirl on Feb 12, 2016 19:32:23 GMT
These posts have reminded me to look into cancelling my card... Their website is hopeless at the best of times (and trying to login with my membership number for their Xmas deals was a waste of time; it accepted the number, then as soon as I got into the 'choose a seat' page, it forgot I'd logged in as a member and tried to charge a booking fee. I tried multiple browsers and indeed devices, but got the same result. Then discovered there were better deals to be had even at Tkts and gave up altogether). I'm not considering cancelling but had exactly the same issue despite numerous, time-wasting attempts to overcome it, i.e. being unable to avoid a fee even when logged in as a member. I concluded that perhaps they didn't want people to benefit both from avoiding fees and supposed discounts. I had to email 3 times before I even received a response and then an inadequate one in poor English, so though I wrote back, I have now given up expecting a further reply, never mind a resolution. I also had the issue of receiving an error message telling me I had to select a valid performance when I had already done this. Convinced they had gremlins in the system but they won't even admit it, never mind apologise or offer recompense - and I suppose they can afford to ignore complaints as the ATG model seems to be based on volume rather than customer satisfaction and retention. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 20:46:42 GMT
I sympathise, showgirl.
On the plus side with their website, there's the ability to see easily what's available and choose your seat (watch and learn, Nimax). And I don't recall ever getting tickets in the basket and then losing them, which is more than can be said for some other sites.
On the minus side with their website, though, there's pretty much everything else.
I work with online content and I reckon they should certainly be concerned from a user experience point of view. I mean, they could've had a couple of sales out of me at Xmas had I not got frustrated enough to have time to realise 'actually, I should probably check prices elsewhere before I call to complain'. Imagine how many times they could multiply those lost sales by, if so many of us are struggling.
However, these things do tend to get tackled only when someone else in the sector takes a decisive lead, so I guess we could wait a while!
|
|
5,118 posts
Member is Online
|
Post by Phantom of London on Feb 12, 2016 23:33:40 GMT
In London the card is hopeless really. I would say Birmingham is too, but if I lived in Manchester/Liverpool area the card is excellent.
Even though you are logged in the ATG doesn't automatically give you the discount, the website deliberately makes it difficult hoping you pay full price. Even logged in the website offers you the facility to buy insurance on your ticket for £3, even though this is covered automatically in the membership.
I a sure the A in ATG stands for avarice.
|
|
3,589 posts
|
Post by showgirl on Feb 13, 2016 5:51:51 GMT
I agree that the facility to select your own seat with ATG is a positive and that other sites would do well to copy; also that being able to have tix posted at no extra cost is good - though a member might expect that, as well as not paying fees, to be part of the package. However, it's not easy to complain unless you are willing to ring and pay a premium as ATG have switched to 0844 numbers and those on "Say No To 0870" which used to work, no longer do so. I don't approve of these rates for any customer but least so for those already paying a membership fee - why isn't a geographic number part of the deal?
ATG's reply included a comment about an increased volume of email which had created a backlog, hence the delay in responding to me. I retorted that this might be the result of removing the option to ring them on a geographic number. Surely if they then have to employ more staff to deal with email (as they claimed), they are actually spending more overall than they gain from premium numbers?
|
|
1,351 posts
|
Post by CG on the loose on Feb 14, 2016 1:52:06 GMT
Have also had gremlins with the ATG website, but generally manage to book without the fee and with a mix of London and regional purchases (plus 10% off my bar bill!) I definitely get my moneys worth out of the membership. Guess I'll stick with it for a while longer  |
|
4,186 posts
|
Post by HereForTheatre on Feb 19, 2016 12:43:29 GMT
Doe this cover the West End ATG theatres/shows or is it just regional?
|
|
2,779 posts
|
Post by daniel on Feb 19, 2016 13:52:56 GMT
Doe this cover the West End ATG theatres/shows or is it just regional? I think discounts on tickets in the West End are rarer (but not unheard of!), but the no-fees, free cloakroom and 10% off the bar definitely apply at West End venues. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2016 11:02:09 GMT
I find that the discounts aren't very well advertised, as a card owner. I usually plump for the opening night in the regional theatres and 9/10 they have some reduced prices. Other than the brochures that are sent out though I can't find anywhere that actually stipulates how the card members can benefit from reductions.
|
|
|
|
Post by mrtumnus on Feb 28, 2016 20:56:16 GMT
ATG Glasgow theatres often change their price bandings on 'offer' nights so not so good a deal.
Discounts nearly always on top two price bands only and 241 deals now rare.
I still have my card as I know I can book the good value cheaper seats before tickets go on general sale and saves the booking fees.
|
|
20 posts
|
Post by paul on Mar 12, 2016 23:50:42 GMT
Somehow missed out on knowing that - thanks, will make use from now on! |
|
13 posts
|
Post by canadianturtle on Mar 14, 2016 21:15:29 GMT
I find that the discounts aren't very well advertised, as a card owner. I usually plump for the opening night in the regional theatres and 9/10 they have some reduced prices. Other than the brochures that are sent out though I can't find anywhere that actually stipulates how the card members can benefit from reductions. Would it be an idea for us to post here if we find a good ATG card deal, to alert other to it as well? |
|
19,855 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 14, 2016 22:41:21 GMT
Sounds like a great idea.
|
|
19,855 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 1, 2017 7:23:24 GMT
The booking confirmation emails are completely hit and miss. Used to be reliable up until about a year ago but now sometimes I get one, often I don't. They're not going into my spam folder and I've spoken to ATG "Mission Control" who claim that everything is fine. It's not. And it's annoying me.
|
|
858 posts
|
Post by duncan on Apr 1, 2017 8:18:10 GMT
The two times I've booked ATG over the past 6 months the emails have been fine in coming to my inbox quickly, their stance on all of the add-ons to the ticket price on the other hand........
|
|
19,855 posts
|
Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 1, 2017 8:28:41 GMT
I knew they hated me...
|
|
