SOI Surcharge for on ice seats

[Ruth215]

A friend of mine recently received a letter from SOI asking her if she wanted to pay an extra $33 per ticket to guarantee on ice seats for the coming year. (She had already ordered and paid for her seats.)

I was taken aback when I heard this. I did not receive such a letter and neither have others I know who have already ordered & paid for their seats. I'm wondering if they are only sending this letter to people who have received on ice seats in the past.

Anyone else get a similar letter?

Ruth in NYC

[Greek Chic]

That is quite interesting I might add. In Canada it might be different in that aspect. Maybe it just hasn't reached your household as yet, so I wouldn't panic. If not, refer to the website and see if you can contact someone. But the $33.00 is not a bad price. I would jump at that price at anytime.

[speedy]

If it means getting to see Jamie up close, here's my $33. ;)

[Teenes]

It's not $33 for a ticket. It's $33 on top of the original price of the ticket. So if you were paying $58 for lower bowl seats already, you end up paying $91. Which is about the same or more than a theatre ticket price. Though this is the first I've heard about $33 - I've heard $25. Which venue was this?

From what I understand, they're sending that letter to the first x (where x=number of available on-ice seats in that venue) people who sent in advance order forms and offering them the chance to get the on-ice seats if they pay more. If you didn't send in your form early enough, you probably won't receive this letter unless enough people ahead of you pass on the opportunity. Also, they just sent out the letters last week so you may not have received it yet just b/c the USPS is being slow getting it to you...

[victorskid]

I think part of the reason this has come about is that the original plan for this season was to have no on-ice seating. This seems to have been revised and it's quite likely they are making the first offers to those known to have been on the ice in the past.

[AxelAnnie22]

I want on ice seats!! Our tickets are bought and paid for, but we have received no letter. Maybe it just has to do with the particular venue.

[Berry Bear]

Can anyone help clarify this?

I don't have any advance forms to book SOI tickets (I'll be watching it for the 1st time), but do we just book the tickets from the SOI website closer to the dates we want? And when do general tickets normally go on sale? (for those w/o any advance booking forms)

And what are the chances of audiences like us getting good seats? I'm just afraid I can't even get seats [or good seats] at all. Do you get to choose where you want to sit? Or does the ticket agent assign you the best available?

Do SOI tickets sell out fast? And do they have only 1 show per city or do they have afternoon + evening shows per city?

I need some advice here, guys! :roll: If I can't get tickets, I can't book my flight at all.

Thank you "berry" much ;)

[Meredith]

I don't know how what criteria they're using.

I had on-ice seats last year
I dropped my form off at the main post office on the way home from the show
I've been buying SOI tickets for years

I did not receive a letter, but wouldn't take them up on their offer anyway, since SOI will be in my city when I'm in Washington at Worlds. :D

Meredith

[Teenes]

Everything I've heard suggests that the forms are going to the first however many people who sent in advance order forms. I really doubt they keep track of who's had on-ice seats in the past. I haven't gotten my forms yet either and I also had on ice seats last year and dropped the forms off ASAP after the show...for me, I'm pretty sure the forms are getting held up by interoffice mail (I had them sent to work).

Berry Bear, if you don't do advance order forms, tickets for Stars on Ice are like tickets to any other show. The general on sale date is 11/18. The one exception is the Lake Placid show, since it takes place a month early. On that day, you should be able to use Ticketmaster to choose and purchase your seats (some venues use ticket.com or other services instead, but most use Ticketmaster). As for how good the seats will be, I don't honestly know since I've been using advance order forms for years now. You should be able to get decent (several rows back) center ice seats though. Whether SOI seats sell out fast or not depends on the venue. I remember the first year I lived in Boston, I went at like 2PM the day the tickets went on sale to get tickets to the Worcester show, and all they had left were like 20th row seats in the corner. However, Providence had like 13th row seats. If you buy seats the day they go on sale, I'd buy them as early as possible. And SOI only has one show per city. There are no matinees or anything like that.

Here's the schedule:
http://www.kurtfiles.com/soi0203schedule.html

Hope that helped!

[Berry Bear]

Teenes,

Thank you for the information. I'm considering between the shows in California, if not, then it'll be NY. I'm just praying to get good seats for SOI, then I'll be able to book my flights.

Berry Bear. ;)

[Toeloopy]

I received three advance order forms for three different cities, which I have gone to in years since I've been going to Lake Placid instead.

Lake Placid only has two price levels. Hershey and Philly have three, with the on-ice (not actually called that--they are * with "subject to availability" written). The on-ice are $25 higher than the cheapest seats. All three cities have different prices!

The letter sounds suspicious. You may want to contact IMG and ask if this is a legitimate letter from them. Who knows, it could be a scam to get your credit card number. The phone number for the Cleveland office is 216-522-1200.

You can request an Advance Ticket Order Form by writing to:
Smucker's Stars on Ice Order Form
IMG Center
1360 East 9th Street
Cleveland, OH 44114

Make sure you specify which city!

-Michelle

[Teenes]

Those letters are definitely from IMG. It's been confirmed by several people contacting people at IMG...they're definitely legit. Sigh...

[Luigi]

This chaps my hide. I always order my tickets in advance, in fact, a whole year in advance. I fill out the order in the arena before the show is over and drop it at the post office on the way home.

And I haven't received any such letter asking for more money!
I'm terribly spoiled. I've been on ice for the last four years so I hope it's a mistake and my letter is coming soon!

Does anyone know when exactly they received these?
And for what arenas?

Any SEattle people out there with the Key arena tickets?

[Bailey]

The voice of negativity - what a money making grab!! That seems to me a ridiculous amount to pay for tickets to Stars on Ice and it's all in prinicipal for me. That is a huge increase in the cost of seats from one year to the next - and SOI tickets have become more and more expensive over the years. I just think that is crazy!!

[Debbie S]

I received a letter last week. The surcharge for my area, Baltimore, was $25. I wasn't sure about spending the money, but the people I'm going with wanted to so I went along. They limit you to the number of seats you already bought. My form was basically the same format as the advance order form (which I mailed last year the day after the show) but it has the number of on-ice seats you can get already filled in. The forms also give you the date of the show, which is handy to have.

It's sort of annoying that they're asking us to send extra money - tix are already expensive enough! We were on the ice a few years ago w/o having to spend any extra money, and last year we were at one of the ends, facing the long axis, in the second row of chairs (on bleachers). Not a bad view, and we were able to go up and shake Kristi Y's hand during final bows.

For those who have never sat on-ice before and plan to this time - wear heavy socks and boots and bring gloves - it gets cold down there!

[speedy]

Teenes...I KNOW it's $33 extra, not just for the ticket. :roll: Geez, Ticketmaster charges $33 in surcharges alone anymore LOL. Considering how lame SOI was last year though I'm surprised they would be trying to squeeze more money out of people this year, no matter how many new people they've added. Maybe that mob infiltration is happening after all and they're just passing on the cost to the consumer. ;)

[Teenes]

My apologies, Speedy. The way I look at it, $33 extra puts the total price up rather high, so when you said "$33 is not a bad price", the only way I could see it as not a bad price is if $33 is all that you pay. You do have a point about Ticketmaster charges though =P. It's like all the taxes and surcharges on plane tickets. You think you've got this great fare and then when the total comes back, it's like $40 more =P.

I think the other reason I thought that was because I had been talking to some other friends, and I was saying that to reward loyal customers, they should offer us the chance to buy on-ice seats *for* $25 rather than charging us $25 more. I don't know if anyone else here has seen Rent, but every time I've seen it, I've gone for the Rush seats - folding chairs in the very front row (sound familiar?) that are sold day of the show and cost only $20-$25. The intention was to allow college students and other people without too much loose change to be able to go to the theatre, though it's basically turned into the method by which true Rentheads go to see the show and really get into the experience. I always thought it'd be a neat idea to do the same thing with ice seats at Stars on Ice. Though I think the demographic for Rent and Stars on Ice are rather different =).

[Tigger]

You guys think it's bad....Try being a disabled skating fan who goes to SOI every year, who needs that on ice seat for more than just wanting to be up close and personal w/the skaters and who is on a fixed income finding out about this. I am *not* a happy camper w/this news. As many have already said, SOI tickets are expensive enough and on ice SOI seats are hard enough to get w/out this outrageous surcharge being added on. Someone needs to give whomever's bright idea this was a good kick in a certain area of their body....

[bbtano]

I sent in an order form the day after the show last year, but haven't received a letter about the upgrade to on-ice seats yet. I think it's ridiculous to charge the people who returned their order forms first even more for seats they've already purchased!

I did receive an advance order form for a city that SOI hasn't ever gone to before and the on-ice seats are $85, $25 more than the regular lower level price. It sure it a LOT of money! Maybe they accidentally promised all those Olympic gold medalists too much in their contracts! LOLOL

[serpentine]

my experience with SOI:
go to the ticket agency faithfully between 2 weeks and one day from the show...see what tickets come up. last time, at one week from the show, 4 on ice tickets were available for center ice. the people beside me at the show said they upgraded their seats on the day of the show. personally, every time i pre-ordered tickets i got stuck in the nosebleeds, which is unacceptable considering i bought early to avoid that.
anyways, maybe i am lucky? or has anyone else had this experience?

[Teenes]

I think that experience may not work this year with them deliberately going out of their way to sell those on ice seats. Then again, if they can't get enough takers through the forms, if you're willing to pay the $80, you may just get on-ice seats the day of the show...one thing I'm fairly sure they're not going to do is sell the rest of the on-ice seats at lower price (that would cause such outrage...). So it'll be interesting to see how many empty on ice seats there are at each show.

Anyway, I've sent advance order forms right after the show in the past and gotten on-ice seats. I've also gotten further back seats, and I've heard of people who have gotten good seats day of the show. It depends on the arena, I think, and how ticket sales are doing.

[flippet]

Originally posted by serpentine
my experience with SOI:
go to the ticket agency faithfully between 2 weeks and one day from the show...see what tickets come up. last time, at one week from the show, 4 on ice tickets were available for center ice. the people beside me at the show said they upgraded their seats on the day of the show. personally, every time i pre-ordered tickets i got stuck in the nosebleeds, which is unacceptable considering i bought early to avoid that.
anyways, maybe i am lucky? or has anyone else had this experience?


When I went a couple of years ago, we had decent seats, about the 15th row, lower section, more or less center ice---and as we were sitting there, we heard some folks being ushered to the AA row, who were astonished that they were on-ice seats...the woman said "and I just bought these tickets today!"

:evil:

The next year, we were planning to hit the box office a few hours before the show to get on-ice seats, but didn't go due to no money---this last year, the show looked so bad that we didn't go, and didn't even bother to tape it off TV! :P

Sounds like the same-day box-office plan may not work too well this year, though....what a rotten bait-and-switch! :evil:

[Jenny]

I bought tickets months after they went on sale in Buffalo and had about 15th row in the corner. The entire section next to me was empty, so we simply moved down to the front row. It was right beside the tunnel, so I guess they were reserving it for equipment or something, and didn't need it. It turned out to be a great place to be, because we got to see the skaters interacting on their way in and out while the lights were down. At one point Lucinda came and sat nearby watching the other skaters.

Anyway, long story short - seems to be different in every venue, and you might get a chance to move up anyway.

Tigger, have you tried calling the arena and explaining your situation? Most will make special accommodations for disabled folks. I know you can get excellent seats for Leafs games super cheap by simply calling and asking.

Jenny

[Tigger]

Hi Jenny!!

I've been away from home since Thursday, so that's why I haven't replied to you till now. I have tried that in the past. Hamilton and Copps is the best arena when it comes to this. They will try their best to get you the seats you need if it's w/in their power. It's gotten tougher the last two years now that Hamilton is the show the CBC tapes for broadcast and there's seats that are put aside, but they still bend over backwards to get me the best seat possible.

Toronto and the ACC on the other hand.....I've found if you're going to an event that isn't a Leafs or Raptors game, then forget it!! It's almost like we don't count as a "client" of their services. I've written letters in the past about the treatment I've recieved at CSOI, but got those lovely form letters. The last two years haven't been too bad, but I also wasn't by myself at the ACC either and had a great friend notify when an on ice seat came up for grabs the week before this past year's show. Otherwise, I would have been in a corner seat midway up, which doesn't work for me that well.

You know, it's really a shame it's this hard to get the seats I need to properly see the show. Drives me beyond nuts, but what can I really do!?! That's why I'm not all that thrilled about this surcharge they've tacked on down in the States. If it happens in the States, then it's probally going to end up happening here too. What I don't understand is don't they realize they might end up making their long time fans so angry about this they won't buy tickets at all and/or ever again for SOI due to this move!?! That's the thing I don't understand....

[4kinsale]

I have tickets for the Seattle show. Like Luigi, I mailed my request in on the way home from the show. Didn't get the letter. Don't know if it's going to be available in Seattle. I've not done very well with pre-orders in the past -- rows 7, 32 (urgh!!!) and last year row 3. Not holding out much hope.

I think this is going to be IMG's new policy. When I ordered tickets for the Hallmark Championship this last Saturday from ticketmaster, I paid $40 more for one ticket (both sessions) for a center ice section -- section, not row -- than the front-row seats available just one section over. Had I known, I would have gone with the cheaper seats. Premium section seats were $124 for both sessions. One section over, tickets were $84 for both sessions (and on-ice seats to boot). Now I know to look closer before hitting the "purchase" button :roll:

[VGL]

Has anyone had the payment for their advance seat order show up on their credit card yet? Mine came a few weeks ago with my Sears card statement? My tickets are for the Hamilton show.

[Tigger]

Mine showed up on last month's Visa bill VGL and also for the Hamilton show.

[jriskind]

I've already been billed for my CSOI tickets for Toronto and Hamilton. but so far I haven't been charged for my Chicago seats.