The day after the Colorado Rockies swept their way into the National League Championship Series, Scott Jackson’s credit-card account was automatically refunded $150 for his pair of Game 5 division series tickets in Philadelphia.
Getting a refund for his two tickets to the unnecessary Game 4 in Denver, however, would require a bit more effort: a couple of telephone calls to the Rockies; a letter to the organization, along with the tickets, saying he wanted his money back; and a wait at the post office to send the letter via certified mail.
Then there’s the four- to six-week lag for the check to arrive.
“It just seems like an absolutely unnecessary process when it’s all online and the Rockies can simply credit my card,” said Jackson, a Web- page design consultant from Houston. “Kudos to the Philadelphia Phillies for caring, but I am extremely disappointed in the Colorado Rockies.”
Other teams involved in the postseason are as efficient as Philadelphia. The New York Yankees provide automatic refunds to credit- card accounts. The same with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Rockies fans holding single-game tickets to Game 4 of the division series can only obtain a refund by check and only by returning the tickets with a letter requesting a refund, or by going to the Coors Field ticket office, where they’ll fill out a form.
“It is our policy because in many cases the person who has the tickets and is seeking the refund is not necessarily the person who purchased the tickets,” spokesman Jay Alves said via e-mail from Phoenix, where the Rockies played Thursday night.
Season-ticket-holder accounts are automatically credited for the unplayed games and applied toward next season’s seats. If they want a refund, they must request it in writing.
It’s not as if the Rockies would be earning huge interest payments by holding onto the money. A $1 million jumbo deposit at Bank of America, an official sponsor of Major League Baseball, would make just $725 a week at the current 3.78 percent interest rate.
The Chicago Cubs also require single-game ticket holders to mail in the billets for a refund, but they can get their money credited to a credit card if that’s how they bought them, or they can have a check, spokesman Jason Carr said.
“The tickets are like bearer bonds in that the refund goes to the person who sends them in,” Carr said. “Season tickets to the postseason are funded to the holder’s account.”
For the first time, the Yankees sold postseason tickets via an online lottery, avoiding long lines at the box office, public-relations director Jason Zillo said. “No one has to physically return any tickets to us. They are automatically credited to the credit card used to purchase them,” he said.
What if you bought your tickets from someone other than an official ticket outlet? If they are Rockies or Cubs tickets, you’d be refunded only the face value of each ticket, but only if you actually requested the refund.
“It just seems like they’re trying to catch a few extra dollars from people who don’t bother to send it in,” Jackson said.
