Nick Bradley, a longtime fan and supporter of the St. Louis Blues, has been a season ticket holder for 7 years, but after his poor customer support experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, this has unfortunately changed.
Bradley had prepaid for the 2020-2021 season, but when the COVID 19 pandemic hit the season was put on hold.
After waiting over a year for the season to restart, as it had been fully canceled, Bradley decided to request a refund with the intent to continue payment when the season was confirmed again due to the uncertainty of the pandemic.
His initial refund request, sent initially on March 22, 2021 via email to his designated support representative went unanswered for a total of 14 days. Within those 14 days, Bradley reached out to both [email protected] and [email protected], with no response from either channel.
On April 5th, 2021, Bradley received a response from his designated support representative but earlier that same day he had already reached out via phone and was told that his representative or a manager would reach out by the end of the day.
Two and a half days later he had yet to receive a call, so he reached out once more and was connected with sales manager Kyle Waymon, whose unprofessionalism and disrespect resulted in Bradley later deciding to cut ties with the organization.
According to Bradley, when he requested a refund of his unused $22,000, Waymon began to speak in a condescending tone, asking if Bradley was having “financial troubles”. The following day, Waymon called back and claimed that by requesting a refund for a season that did not happen – that Bradley had already paid for – , Bradley was forfeiting his seats – a claim that was later refuted by a different manager.
The call ended with Bradley being promised that his refund would be issued in a timely manner, however no refund was issued and no follow up call was received.
Eventually, a different representative reached out to resolve the matter, but by this point the damage had been done. After explaining how he had been treated thus far, Bradley was connected with an additional representative who attempted to resolve the matter and issued a refund.
In total, it took a month of unanswered emails and unreturned phone calls before Nick Bradley received his refund and was contacted by a representative of the St. Louis Blues, only for him to receive an email three months later confirming that his card was still on file and was scheduled to be charged.
According to Bradley, this wasn’t the first time he experienced bad customer service from the St. Louis Blues:
“This is just one story, I’ve had nothing but horrible experiences anytime I have had any customer support needs in the past. To me, this was not that complex, I was asking for a refund for a season that did not happen and intended to pick back up next season when they have things figured out and payments begin.”
Timeline Of Events
March 22nd, 2021:
Nick Bradley sends his first refund request to his designated support representative:
March 26th, 2021:
After four days with no response, he sends a second email to [email protected]
March 31st, 2021:
After an additional five days with no response, he sends a third email to [email protected]
April 1st, 2021:
At this point, a total of ten days had passed with no response so Bradley reached out via phone on Thursday, April 1st:
“I spoke with someone and explained the situation of no one responding to me and me wanting a refund. I was placed on hold and then when he came back I was informed that my rep or a sales manager would get back to me by the end of the day. The day passed, no call. Friday, no call. Halfway through Monday, no call, so at this point I realize obviously no one is calling me back and I need to call in again.”
April 5th, 2021:
At this point, Bradley called back and was assured that he would receive a call from a manager by 2pm that day.
He also received his first email response from his designated support representative.
Contact With Kyle Waymon:
Over the course of a week, Nick Bradley spoke to sales manager Kyle Waymon regarding his refund request. These interactions – during which Waymon was aggressive and disrespectful – resulted in Bradley later cutting ties with the organization.
The interactions are as follows:
After days of waiting to hear back regarding his refund request, Bradley received a call from Kyle Waymon, a sales manager, and expressed his reasoning for wanting a refund – he had pre-paid for a season that did not happen and wanted his deposit returned until a new season was confirmed or announced.
Waymon began to address Bradley in a condescending manner, asking him if he was experiencing “financial troubles” and claiming that if he were to request a refund that he would lose his seats. This claim was later refuted by the client retention manager.
After reiterating that he simply wanted a refund for a season that did not happen and that he had already pre-paid for, until the new season was confirmed or announced, Waymon said he would call back.
The following day, Waymon called back and provided forms for Bradley to sign to receive his refund but that would also confirm him losing his seats.
After completing the requested forms, Bradley had yet to receive a refund or confirmation of one.
During the course of these interactions, Waymon took on a belittling, aggressive tone with Bradley, falsely threatening that a refund would result in Bradley’s seats being lost in an attempt to prevent him from requesting a refund in the first place – for a season that did not happen that Bradley had already pre-paid for – and making unprofessional, disrespectful comments regarding Bradley’s financial status.
When Bradley did not back down and stated his intentions to cut ties with the organization, a different customer support agent took over to do damage control and convince him to stay.
Unfortunately, Waymon’s repeated actions and the initial neglect that Bradley received after multiple contact attempts and weeks of wait time made it clear that the management behind the St. Louis Blues does not value or respect even their most loyal customers.
April 6th, 2021:
A client retention manager then reached out to Bradley regarding his refund request asking for more details regarding his experience.
April 8th, 2021:
Bradley then responded to the agent, and sent the same response to the St. Louis Blues manager and executives:
Later that day, both the client retention manager and Senior Director of Ticketing & Premium Service reached out to handle the refund request and communicate regarding Bradley’s desire to cancel his seats.
April 10th, 2021:
Confirmation emails were received regarding the refund method.
April 12th, 2021:
A refund was issued by check, and Bradley was sent tracking information.
July 1st, 2021:
Several months later, Bradley received a confirmation email stating that his payment plan would continue and that the card on file would be charged $29575.52 for the renewal of the 2021-22 season:
Bradley then reminded them of his desire to cancel his seats:
July 7th, 2021:
The client retention manager reached out to confirm his desire to cancel his seats.
July 16th, 2021:
A final confirmation was received that his seats had been canceled and that his card was removed from their file.
Over the course of 7 years Nick Bradley had been a loyal supporter of the St. Louis Blues and was expecting to continue his support for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, the disrespect and aggression that he received from Kyle Waymon, the sales manager of the organization he was loyal to, changed all of that.
This isn’t the first or only time the Blues customer support has flopped:
Not only has their customer service fallen short in the past, but they’re currently the focus of a lawsuit filed by longtime superfan Aaron Stock for selling him over $30,000 of alleged mislabeled and fraudulent merchandise. The lawsuit follows yet another disappointing customer support experience during which Stock was repeatedly ignored and dismissed:
“The Blues told him they’d investigate, and Stock hoped they’d fix the problem. But more than two years later, he said he’s still waiting.”
“…no one from the Blues offered to reimburse Stock or follow through on a suggestion to get player autographs on the items, the [law]suit says.”
Have you had a similar experience with the customer support team or sales management of the St. Louis Blues? We’d love to hear from you – click here to contact us.
