WPCA saves day for avid fan
THANKS to the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA), an avid fan and his godson received a worldclass cricketing experience at Newlands after woes with a service provider.
Les Milner had paid more than R6 500 to Instatickets for two tickets to the annual Newlands New Year’s Cricket Test against England, only for the agency to change his seats and tell him he should have read the terms and conditions.
Milner paid for seats in the President’s Pavilion but received tickets for the Railway Stand, he said.
He has since thanked The Star’s sister paper, the Cape Times, for running his story, which he said brought the issue to the attention of the association.
“The chief executive at the WPCA read your article and was so appalled that he rang me and kindly offered to accommodate my godson and I in the Presidents Pavilion hospitality suite. So, in the end, thanks to Mr Dien’s generosity we thoroughly enjoyed our day at the Test match.”
Milner added that he was still trying to follow-up with Instaticket, but it was proving “impossible to trace their head office”.
WPCA chief executive Nabeal Dien said: “It was a pleasure to meet Mr Milner and apologise in person for what he endured. It was an honour to host him and his godson as guests of WPCA in one of our hospitality suites and we hope that he continues to come back to support cricket at Newlands…”
World Sports Betting Cape Cobras brand and sponsorship manager David Brooke said that when they heard about Milner’s plight they wanted to ensure he received the best Newlands experience.
“We try our best to get the message out there and discourage people from buying from unscrupulous websites. Our official online ticket service is Ticketpro.
“We hate hearing stories like this, it is not the first time and unfortunately won’t be the last until people are educated on where to buy tickets. Ticketpro is the only official online ticketing supplier for cricket in South Africa.
“We cannot be held responsible because those companies are not governed by us.” Instaticket had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.