Not quite sure how to handle this, Suggestions?

[Big Cliff]

On Mar. 22 A young friend of mine and five of his friends decided to drive to Ottawa and see a Sens/Leaf game. What I am "told" is that:

 

"we all cheered the leafs on in the first period then my friends go to leave there seats and my one friend forgot her pom pom

so she asked my guy friend to get it for her. The guy in front of us thought it was a little girls so he grabbed my friend and they rolled over 3 rows of seats, security came and broke it up.

 

By this time there was us 3 males we agreed to do what security asked which was to sit down and move our one friend who was involved in the tussle, we said wanted to watch the game then the cops came up to us and said if we have to come back you will be removed so we sat in our seats and waited and watched as the attendant talked to the wife of the man who was involved {he actually left the scene and was never talked to or involved in the matter from the point the incident ) the attendant treated us like we didn't have any rights and did not ask us what happened at all.

 

After a couple of min's she came up to us and asked us to walk up to the top so they could hear our side of the story so we walked up, there was 4 to 5 police and 2 security guards they asked us for are tickets and we handed them over then they let us tell our side of the story. The cops asked the security guards "so what should we do?" and they said they are gone! So myself and my to friends where escorted out".

 

I am sure there is more to this than I offer here but it is not my place to judge and I wasn't there to see it first hand.

 

My young friend has asked me to help write a letter of complaint about the fact that they weren't treated very fairly, the man who instigated the confrontation was never questioned and wasn't escorted out (apparently he took off and they never saw him again), according to my young friend several other fans vouched for their rendition of what happened yet they were thrown out. My young friend feels that if nothing else they should be given a refund for their tickets which cost them $115.00 each.

 

First; what do you think and second, who should the letter(s) be sent to? I tried to do a bit of research but I have never been in this sort of situation before and between Corel Center/Sens/Scotia Bank Place, I'm not quite sure where to start. Also, there were no charges laid but is there likely to be any kind of a police report or anything that I might be able to get a copy of?

 

Any and all help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Big Cliff

Edited April 3, 2008 by Big Cliff

[pikehunter]

My first inclination is a letter to the head hauncho of the arena with a duplicate sent to the head person in charge of security.

 

But they will stick together on the issue and good luck trying to get it resolved.

[Roy]

Morning Cliff. If all is as you state, I think the best option for "young friend" is to make an appointment with the head of security there and state his experience in person. Going second, third and fourth hand at this point will just rile them.

[aplumma]

Cliff the chances of even getting just an apology are very slim. The letter will be read and they might even take the time to talk to the employees about it but they will have the upper hand because they get to tell their story in person refuting the accounts point by point with no one their to correct their story. That being said if you do write the letter it will the starting point of documenting the behavior of the security personal and the way the are enforcing the policies. If their is a pattern then it will come to light. You might decide to help your friend to send the letter more as a lesson on how to talk to management and document injustice than as a protest of wrong doing. If no names were taken by the police or citations filled out then the matter is most likly closed in the laws eyes.

 

 

Art

[Cory]

I think your young friend should apologize for cheering for the leafs……

 

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

[Big Cliff]

Cory! LOL Actually he thinks that's partly why they got escorted out LOL.

 

For him to drive back to Ottawa +/- 5 hours each way probably isn't going to happen.

 

Art, you are right, part of what I am trying to do here is to help a young friend and perhaps teach him a little about how to handle a situation like this most effectivly. If nothing else I hope to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he can count on friends to help him plead his case.

 

The more opinions and help I can get to do this, the better I can accomplish it.

[lookinforwalleye]

I would just forget about it and like you said probably a little more to the story, seems hard to believe that someone would pick a fight over a pom pom unless of course alchol was involved.

[jnic]

since they are toronto fans, i would get a hold of there pr. people. they may send you in the right direction.

[holdfast]

I dont get it. There must be more to fighting over a POM POM. Unless the guy was gay. Otherwise Id forget about it. IF Not, try the letter.

[Headhunter]

Cliff, I would do some "due diligence" regarding the Sens front office. I'd find out who is responsible for managing/directing the staff, in regard to customer service. I'm sure they have some kind of customer service team.

I'd connect via the phone, rather than email or snail mail... much harder to ignore than the former.

Should that route not net you your expected results, I'd be writing a letter to a local Ottawa paper and hope that some bad press would potentially get some interest from the team.

Hope this helps?

HH

Ps... here's the phone number: (613) 599-0250

Edited April 3, 2008 by Headhunter

[JohnF]

Cliff, I would do some "due diligence" regarding the Sens front office. I'd find out who is responsible for managing/directing the staff, in regard to customer service. I'm sure they have some kind of customer service team.

I'd connect via the phone, rather than email or snail mail... much harder to ignore than the former.

Should that route not net you your expected results, I'd be writing a letter to a local Ottawa paper and hope that some bad press would potentially get some interest from the team.

Hope this helps?

HH

Ps... here's the phone number: (613) 599-0250

 

I used to think that "in person" was the way to handle all these kinds of situations but I've changed my thinking lately. In fact I just got a very satisfactory resolution to a fairly pricey problem with a major chain store through a carefully written email. No names mentioned but generally it went like this. I felt I'd been shafted so I made a phone call to a company number. Spoke with someone without losing my temper and basically just got the bum's rush, politely. I cooled off some and decided I wasn't going to let it just pass, so I wrote a very polite, very detailed email and sent it off. Shortly thereafter I received a series of very concerned phone calls from folks saying they were management types, and in the last phone call I was offered a full refund of over $300 and a very sincere sounding apology along with, of course, a denial of any culpability on their part. I was amazed because, again without going into details, it's quite a precedent for them to set.

 

My point is that I really think the email method gave me a chance to better articulate the problem, at least my version of the problem, and it gave them time to consider all the angles and implications, and I suspect they realized that underlying the politeness was the implicit threat that this might not just go away (the clue being the casual reference to misrepresentation and fraud), and because I'd taken the time to select the language carefully someone realized that it just didn't sound so good for them. Then they had time to consider their own choice of language and the best solution options available to make the problem go away quietly.

 

The Sens are as concerned about marketing and public perception as any retailer so I suspect their business people will be quite receptive to having the right buttons pushed. Who knows what they might offer to make the problem go away, and even to turn it into a public relations coup instead of problem. I doubt they want to have any negative perception about how badly paying customers are treated just because they're Toronto fans. As much as they relish the rivalry, they like a full house even better. They may be even more sensitive to that at the moment with the very real possibility of an early end to the season.

 

JF

[Roy]

I suppose that my answer to the question was not geared to solving the problem as much as to teach "young friend" about being responsable for his own actions. Misinterpretation on my part I guess.

[irishfield]

Like they say Cliff... always three sides to any story.

 

Probably went more like...

 

Sens Fan " Hey Princess... forget your pom poms"

 

.. and you know where it went from there....

[Casey123]

I would:

 

Find out who is in chare of 1. operations and 2. security for Scotia Bank Place. also find out who is incharge of customer relations for the Ottawa Senetors (it was there home game). I would write a very dtailed letter, explaining the situation and the outcome. Include details such as seat numbers, time of incident, seat no. where the other gentleman was sitting etc.

Explain the disappointment as opposed to the disgust.

Send to all three people and then ave your young friend follow up with a phone call in 2 weeks to see if each person recieved the letter.

 

Bear in mind that the other guy may be a season ticket holder and his $1000's are worth more then your friends $100's.

 

There are a lot of lessons that your friend can learn.

[Deano]

Some days, life sucks. Take it as a day that life sucked and move on. Stressing yourself out more over something trivial just ain't worth it.

We, as a society, really need to realize that "crap Happens" and then move on to better days.

My .0213 cents, gotta add the tax.

[camillj]

Cliff,

 

Honestly I think the chances are the lesson is already learned ... make a nuisance of yourself in someone elses home-town / venue and there will be trouble ... more than likely with you (and anyone with you) at the the short end of the stick ... I think the real lesson is the last part ... so as friend I would focus on how to stay away from trouble. Unfortunately life isnt always fair and the guys who are charged with keeping order put up with alot of crap and dont take kindly to people 'rolling over 3 rows of seats" ... I am not sure whether the fact they didnt speak to the other guy (who made himself scarce) has any relevance ... he's probably a local and doesnt want to get banned from the place for good .... which by the way ... you dont want to push your luck and give them the chance/inclination to decide to do to your friend

 

I say let sleeping dogs lie on this one... what didnt come out in this side of the story is what the 'witnesses aka innocent bystanders' three rows up and down had to say to the security folks ....

[Stoty]

The only reason they were thrown out was because they had leaf jersey's on.

But, like others have said, they wont do anything for you.

Which really sucks for your friend(s).

 

I hope your friend at least got a couple good shots in on the Sens fan!!

[JustinHoffman]

Cliff - I say forget about it and move on. I doubt that anything will come about from this, even if you pursue it, and life is too short to waste time on something when I have a feeling the lesson is already learnt...

 

"The guy in front of us thought it was a little girls so he grabbed my friend and they rolled over 3 rows of seats, security came and broke it up."

 

The above line makes no sense, and half of the "real" story is obviously missing. As Irishfield mentioned, I'm sure it had something to do with a wise-crack to your friend about his pom-poms. Your friend shoots a wise-crack back, or an F-Off, and then punches are thrown.

I don't think most folk would just leap on a guy because they believed he was stealing someones pom-poms.....then again, they were Sens fans.

 

The best retribution is to have our boys in blue and white hand the Sens a loss tonight, and a step closer to a tee-off time.

 

Just my 2-cents worth....

 

Justin

[Kirk]

Crowd Control 101

 

They can evict 14,000 or the guy from out of town.

 

The goal is to keep the peace, not have a trial, hear everything, get it right and make a 'fair' decision, although they try to do that its not 100%, and from the sounds of things, it even sounds like they got it right.

 

(and watching a team thats eliminated...whats with that, Refund? maybe they could plead that case to the Leafs, not Ottawa)

 

Spend the time fishing

[Big Cliff]

I really appreciate everyone that took the time to reply both on here and through PMs. The information and advice given will be taken to heart and while I really don't expect a resolution to the incident by writing any letters, it probably won't do any harm either.

 

Thanks again!

 

Cliff

[Tarzan's Jane]

I agree Cliff...write the letter(s). If anything, your friend will feel less burdened by this. Not that there is any guarantee that he and his friends will be reimbursed but then again I don't feel that this is his motive. I hope they do receive more than an apology.