Young ROH tickets - how to use or return policy

[Peanut68]

Hi, the DD is signed up to this programme & regularly gets email about cheap seat offers.... invariably only ever Opera & occasionally for cinema tickets for ballet. Have checked profile so honk they just don’t offer ballet at ROH cheap often/ever.... anyone else experienced in this who can advise me how to ensure DD gets relevant offers to her perhaps? 

Not sure exactly what ID checks etc there are & if the companion ticket must be for a student also? All very ambiguous on ROH website....

i clicked & bought 2 opera tickets a while back before realising unlikely that she could get to use them... hate to think of s sold out show having 2 empty seats but neither do I want to pass on tickets that then user might get challenged about using (ie not the young roh signed up person)

Anyone here know more about this stuff?

help much appreciated! 

[JNC]

Pretty much all your questions are answered here: https://www.roh.org.uk/for/rohstudents/terms-and-conditions I don't think it's ambiguous but if you feel it's unclear maybe give the box office a ring?

 

They do offer Ballet in the standbys - recently Manon (although not as many performances as they perhaps should have offered) and also last year lots of Frankenstein.

 

There are also student amphitheatre/whole house performances which you can book for in advance - https://www.roh.org.uk/for/rohstudents/whats-in-it-for-me - sometimes ballet, sometimes opera but they do try to split it evenly I think. This has details of what performances are student only (either whole house or amphi) in advance: https://www.roh.org.uk/for/rohstudents/booking-your-tickets - this year it's Dante (whole house) and Onegin and the Tombeaux bill (student amphi). Ballets like Swan Lake/Sleeping Beauty won't ever go into student standby or student amphi performances as they sell so well. 

 

If she is signed up to the scheme she will receive all emails - perhaps check spam/junk if she isn't. 

 

Also I should note - you certainly shouldn't be signed up to the scheme (unless you are a student). So you shouldn't be buying tickets on behalf of students as this isn't really fair. Your daughter should sign up to the scheme and buy tickets for herself (and a plus one) if she wishes. If you bought the tickets they would be under your name which wouldn't match your daughter's student ID/card. 

Edited November 23, 2019 by JNC

[Peanut68]

Thanks JNC.... I guess as it was the DD that signed up I never really looked at t&c’s as it is indeed her thing...

However, at sign up she used my email as due to being away she knew I’d monitor account more regularly.... hence it’s me on here asking the Q! 

I did (wrongly?) click the ‘buy now’ on her behalf & pay for tickets (it’s me that usually pays 🤔) but these were to be used by her & a student friend but commitments mean they cannot not go....

Me the adult was never going to be going  (sadly as Death in Venice looks great!) but happily a good reason; already have tickets that night to Modanse at Coliseum!

So looks like I need to let ROH know & maybe they can sell them on in some way...

please JNC rest assured that I am in no way trying to pretend to be a student to gain cheap tickets.... I think even going under the label of Mature Student I’d be pushing credulity somewhat 🤣

I just want to make sure seats get used & correct monies change hands to ROH if used by students or non students.... was always aware she couldn’t just pass onto anyone else.... but I do know that there is a student sister of a cast member who might like first dibs of that were allowed... hence asking Q here! 

 

[JNC]

I see, in that case I suggest calling the box office to see what they suggest re refunds as well as the potential for re purchasing the tickets for the sister. 

 

I’m sure the tickets will go to a good home either way (the sister or another student) and hopefully if your daughter likes ballet she will get to go to the Onegin/Dante project shows! 

[Saodan]

I have returned student tickets to the box office in the past. Usual rules apply: you get a refund (less the administration charge) if the tickets resell.

[Peanut68]

JNC, can you tell me what is the Onegin/Dante project? Thanks!

[Peanut68]

I will return tickets but think the admin fee is about the same as was paid as it was an incredible offer of £5 a ticket.... which does seem a crazy offer for what turned out to be a sell out season....

yet I hear Manon played to lots of empty seats.... why were there not Young Opera House tickets offered on sale for this? I did pay full price for DD to go to this - she’d have gone more hah once to see different casts had she been able to buy at special ‘student’ rate... & I’m sure lots of those empty seats would’ve been filled...

there seems to be no policy for these ‘cheap seats’ being offered... I get it’s a great idea to offer a limited number in early days if sales to help get a diverse & inclusive demographic make up of audience but surely they really ought to be then pushed to fill any empty seats a few days/on the day of non sell out shows?

[Peanut68]

And as with other posts on forum, the post show surveys the ROH sends out by email are wholly inadequate & basically amount to nothing more than a ‘pat on the back’ as no option to actually answer relevant questions or express opinions....

If one has enjoyed the performance you are going to say experience was good even if other aspects (like the ghastly & already looking shoddy rest of ROH now looks due to imho the ill thought out ‘Open Up’ changes).

They need to stop naval gazing & actually talk to a cross section of audience ‘on the ground’!!

Apologies if my views antagonise anyone & for going somewhat off topic 😲

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Peanut68
Digression apologies...

[JNC]

26 minutes ago, Peanut68 said:

JNC, can you tell me what is the Onegin/Dante project? Thanks!

 

If you look at the links I copied above there is more information - they are ballets. 

 

To be brutally honest even though you are purchasing tickets on behalf of a student using their student account (so not technically breaking the rules I suppose?) I still think it should be your daughter (the student) buying the tickets for herself. This is a separate issue to who pays (although arguably the scheme exists to support those who don’t have the financial means to go). Anyway I think my point is with emails for things like standbys particularly, if they are going to you, you could be buying tickets for her which she may not actually want or be free for, therefore stopping others who are online at the time from purchasing them. Most young people are on their phones frequently enough to see emails so I question why she used your email - if she is genuinely interested in taking advantage of student offers I think this is the best/easiest way forward for you both. 

 

I think it’s lovely you are supporting your daughter see ballet/opera and ultimately I suppose it’s none of my business but it does seem to make sense if your daughter was the one signed up to receive the emails and make the bookings, as well as research things she might want to see (the ROH website has its faults as has been detailed on here but it does provide information on upcoming performances/dates etc). Please don’t take this post as criticism - if what you’re currently doing now works for you both and ultimately a student goes to see the performance it doesn’t really matter on one level, but be aware that the scheme has the expectation for students to purchase tickets for themselves. Ultimately as the student account is registered in your daughters name, when you purchase tickets using that account, even if she is the one who will be attending, you are still misrepresenting yourself as her/a student at the point of sale. 

 

I may have misinterpreted what is happening though so apologies if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick. Also this is my own personal opinion rather than some sort of official ROH policy of course, maybe ROH would be completely fine with you doing this. 

 

Regarding returning the tickets in this specific instance, even if you will get little to no money back for them, I would still recommend you do it so someone who really does want to go has the opportunity to do so. 

[Peanut68]

Exactly the plan re: returning tickets as empty seats would be a total black mark against my daughter!

re: purchasing herself... well in theory I ageee it should be 100% her activating everything.... 

well good in theory but not practise. 

She has been at vocational school with limited access to phone & limited WiFi. 

Plus insecure networks so I have not allowed her to make online payments or use internet/online/app banking (especially since my husband was targeted for online fraud via PayPal which he being a savvy it guy spotted) 

Hemce payment has fallen onto my responsibility. I could not risk her being say at a train station before an over 8 hour journey home & have her payment card declined because if something having occurred with dodgy online activity....

So I hope you understand.....it’s just a mum looking out for my young adult!

[JNC]

Yes that’s understandable! Sorry I think I assumed she was maybe a university student studying in central London as opposed to someone perhaps a bit younger/further out. 

 

Well best of luck with it all - would definitely recommend Onegin and the Dante Project, and hope she enjoys it all  

[Peanut68]

Oh dear well now I’ve created quite a mess...I tried to return tickets & they said they’d exchange.... only the penalty of £4 a ticket meant DD would get just £2 back! Turns out it was not a Young ROH deal.... just a deal for students (a subsidised by benefactor performance whereby amphi is just for students) so actually my DD can pass these on to any student with ID....

But as I was onto box office I thought I’d buy as an Xmas present surprise tickets to Onegin.... but guess what? Email confirm has now not gone to me but to DD as I’d changed the profile to have hers not mine linked....& all defaults to her from our address now....

Am gonna have to change it back again as I often buy standby last minute e-tickets & can’t risk the ROH inadvertently sending to DD email not mine as don’t think their systems sophisticated enough to cope with more than one account at same address.... sigh.

an sure life used to be simpler....