Dundee Football Club has been accused of discriminating against their elderly fans in a row over season ticket refunds.
Gordon Samson, chairman of Dundee Pensioners Forum, has condemned the Dark Blues for saying last year’s season ticket money would be taken as a donation to the club – unless the ticket holder specified otherwise.
Dundee recently announced on their website and Facebook page, that season ticket holders would be given a partial refunds for the 2019/20 season due to cancelled games.
Season ticket deadline
Season ticket holders were told they should apply for their refunds, by email, by midnight on May 14.
Otherwise, the cash would be considered a donation “gratefully received”.
But Mr Samson pointed out that many older season ticket holders, do not use the internet.
“The post advised that if emails were not received by this deadline, the refund would be treated as a donation to the club,” he said.
“As an older person who doesn’t really use technology I knew nothing about this until my grandson told me about it.
“I know I am definitely not the only older person with a season ticket who would have failed to get the information about the refund.
“I am really disappointed at the way the club have behaved and would urge them to look at this for the future.”
Discriminatory
Dorothy McHugh, secretary of the Dundee Pensioners Forum, has written to the club expressing their concerns.
“We contacted Dundee Football Club to remind them that many older people are not online and will not have seen the announcement on the website or Facebook,” she said.
“By restricting responses to email only, many of them will miss out on the opportunity to get this refund.
“We asked what other efforts had been made to contact season ticket holders who are not online.”
She added: “We feel that by making their announcement in this way, and restricting responses to email, could mean that many of older season ticket holders will miss out on the chance of this refund – potentially losing out on hundreds of pounds.
“This is grossly unfair – some might say, discriminatory.
“To set a deadline by which season ticket holders have to respond, by email, and if they don’t, treating their refund as a donation to the club is disgraceful.”
Club response
In a response to Dorothy, the club says online information is the “preferred vehicle for the vast majority of supporters”.
It continued: “We have had a number of phone calls from supporters who don’t have emails and we are now in a position to take phone calls about these refunds, as staff return from furlough.
“As you can imagine with the number of season ticket holders we have it would be impossible to write or contact them individually by phone.”
A spokesman for the club later added: “The ticket office has had correspondence with the Dundee Pensioners Forum.
“They informed them that any supporters who were unaware of the refunds process and missed the deadline could phone the ticket office and would be dealt with favourably.”