Ticket refund for Asian Cup final

Lumiere,

Thinking that just returning the money will be sufficient to repair the damage is extremely naive and shows the level of maturity we are dealing with!

Well, first of all I was one of the angry fans who were not allowed in and this was really a disgrace for all of us as I bought the tickets one month before the tournament through teh website just to make sure I dont miss the finals. I had my brother coming all the way from Jordan to attend the game but what can I say.

In the end I bought three tickets 120 QR does it really worth it to go through all these procedures and paper work and to wait until April to have these 120 QR back? I think the implicit cost of bad feelings generated by this event and the explicit cost (Air fares, travel,..etc) can not be returned. My heart are with those who flew in from out of Qatar just to attend the game, I dont think remboursing them will be enough!

Lets hope that lessons learned from such an event will benefit the organizing committees in upcomin events.

Alexei,

FIFA committed a huge mi$take!

about everyone grief trying to get into the game. I left a couple of days before the final but I have to say unfortunately I heard of a similar example to this before I left. A friend at work told me the last game Qatar had played he and some friends who had bought tickets couldn't sit together despite having bought the seats together because some non ticket holders were allowed into the stadium.

I guess I feel disappointed at the lack of organisation and it would appear consideration for those who spent money on the tickets to be treated this way. Bear in mind you guys are perhaps the lucky ones as there would have been people who flew in from japan and Australia to see this match and would have been turned away.

All I can say I guess is certain questions need to be answered such as who authorised non-ticket holders into the stadium?

Why was there no idea of how many free seats there were so one could calculate how many people to let in for free in the first place?

Why were non-ticket holders not held back until the game had actually started therefore only allowing those in when the event organisers knew there were free seats?

Hopefully they can pull it together for 2022 because the only thing worse than being criticised regionally is being criticised globally by nations who really are quite fanatical about football and may actually start a riot over it (not wanting to see one of course).

SHUKRAN for the refund of our tickets! ^_^

Repost:

"We must treat another man as a gentleman, not because he is, but because we are." -Rienz

It also means:

Shut the Freak Up

Star Trek Federation University

Scrawny Two-Faced Underling

Sir, That's Freakin Ugly

Samurai Training Finished Unsuccessfully

Show Them Fury Unleashed

Save the Flying Unicorns

AND

Stop Talking Flor Username

;)

If you do need to squable send PM's to each other instead of hijacking this post with, your personal, issues that have nothing to do with the topic being discussed ... I suggest you read this http://www.qatarliving.com/node/354717

Are you now asking that Fried Unicorn be banned Flor? I am not testing anyone's patience, except maybe yours because you are the only one who keeps whingeing. You are the one who should find your self-respect and stop running to the mods because you need their protection of your dignity.

however you defend it, you are just exposing yourself as a real loser! If you still have some respect left on yourself, please keep it.

Mods, it's your patience expat is testing! No amount of justification for such thing. What's next, another meaning for FU?

For those who want to know how and where they can get a refund for their unused AFC final match tickets, go to this post http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1611439

Hi Translator,

Believe it or not, the courier company (DHL), I had used to send the tickets, returned it back to me saying that they do not deliver locally ... so I had to go to Tatweer Tower today (around 1.20pm) ... just as you said it only took a few minutes ... the young man identified himself as Shamsuddin ... he was very polite, even though I said "some more punishment for buying the tickets?" ... (I said that when he gave me another form to fill ... there wasn't much to fill other my name and ticking on the checklist of documents I was submitting ... I'm sure you already did that) ... anyway, so far the submission process was not as bad as I had imagined ... now lets see what happens when the actual refund is credited to my account.

I was'nt borned yesterday. BTW, nice googling of the acronym STFU LOL

Kabayan STFU is the acronym for Shut The F%#k Up in chat or internet language.

STFU means Shut The F@#k Up in basic chat or should I say internet language.

Just came back from there Rienz, the young man was kind enough to accept my papers, give me copies of them, and a receipt. The whole exercise was a mere 3 minutes. You do not expect those who decided to flood the stadium with workers to process the refund for you, do you?

Now, would their office still be there in case I did not get the refund? will see.

Dear Translator,

The hours of operations are from 8am to 2pm (Sunday to Thursday) ... also, note that the last day to submit refund form / original ticket is on 28th Feb 2011.

The full address for QLOC office is:

QLOC HQ - Qatar Local Organising Committee - Tatweer Tower – Ticketing Department, West Bay, Doha, Qatar,

But I have sent it via courier ... I'd rather spend 20 or 30 riyal on courier, then to go all the way to Tatweer Tower, find car parking and endure some more of their possible insluting behaviour (enough was dished out to us during AFC finals).

STFU means Stop Talking Flor Username.

What will you think of next? Thank you for clearing that up since I was thinking of er, er, er of something else. :)

Such a whinger Flor! I already posted "Stop Talking Flor Username" and asked you what you thought was so terrible about that. What do you think STFU means?

if anyone goes to the AFC for refund, please advise of their hours of operation, as no one seem to care to reply to email requests.

for international events like this, there is no space for improvvisation. By 4 o'clock I saw on al wabb street at least 25 trucks with workers cleaned up and sent to the stadium (most proabably other trucks were on their way), because they needed to "fill" the stadium, to look good as Blatter and Platini were attending the match!! nowhere else in the world things like this happen....however, even so, you organize it at all levels, where you first let people with tickets in and then you fill the rest of the stadium.

They are stingy and hire cheap people with no experience.....what do you expect? Mess!

Think big, if you want to achieve better results.

I will answer you if you remove those links from your post

lol childish!

"ex.ex.expat said Just for letters for you Flor: ...

STFU."

You can't even spell "FOUR" the proper way!

Bleow is the correspondance between AFC & I:

*******************************************************

From: Rien

Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 13:05 AM

To: [email protected]

Subject: RE: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final

Dear Sir / Madam,

Thank you for your reply.

I appreciate AFC/QLOC joint apology to the fans and the offer to refund money.

However, kindly note that the gates were closed much earlier than 18.05.

My wife and sons reached the stadium at 17.15 and I reached the stadium at 17.45 by then tall barricades were already in place to stop fans from entering the stadium. Although I agree that the gates were closed due to "security reason" are partly correct, the real reason for security concern is due to the free entrance allowed to thousands of people to fill the stadium, thus resulting in thousands of paid fans being turned away.

So, the statement that gates are closed at 18.05 is incorrect.

Therefore, an amendment to your press release, to reflect the actual cause of "security concern" as well as accurate time of the gates closure, would be much apprecited.

Thanks & regards

Rien

-------------------------------------------------

From: AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011Tickets [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 10:15 AM

To: Rien

Subject: RE: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final

Dear Asian Cup Spectator,

In continuation to joint AFC/QLOC Daily Media Briefing held on 30 January 2011 at Main Media Centre, the QLOC would like once again to offer our apology for the fans that were not able to enter the Final Match, despite the fact that they had valid ticketing in their hands, due to the security concern which led to the closing of gates at 18:05.

Once again, we apologize to these fans, and have decided in conjunction with the AFC to refund all ticket-holders who have been denied access to the venue due to Security Closure of Gates.

Please see the detailed process at tickets.afcasiancup.com for applying for refunds and – as always – please do not hesitate to contact the QLOC at [email protected] for any further inquiries you may have.

Kindly be informed that the submission of the Refund Application Form will be from the 3rd-28th of February 2011.

Regards,

The Ticketing Department

Local Organizing Committee

AFC Asian Cup - Qatar 2011 TM

E [email protected]

W www.afcasiancup.com

----------------------------------------------------

From: Rien

Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 11:53 AM

To: AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011Tickets

Subject: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final

Dear Sir / Madam,

It is with disappointment I write to you about the shameful behavior and treatment I met with (along with at least 10000 other fans) at Khalifa Stadium, Doha-Qatar for yesterday’s Australia vs Japan AFC final match.

Despite having valid, four (4), tickets which I booked over two months ago, my family & I could not enter the stadium.

When we reached the stadium at 5.15pm, we were told by policemen that we cannot go in as the stadium is full.

We waited till 7.15pm to get into the stadium, only to disappointed and pushed away by baton wielding policemen … so we returned home extremely disappointed.

This is disgraceful and shameful treatment of fans by a reputed football association.

In view of the above I request AFC to kindly refund the money I paid for the tickets.

Please find attached copies of the tickets I purchased from AFC booth in Villagio Mall on 16 November 2011

Regards

Rien

Dear ex.ex.expat,

You are quoting a small part of my post and interpreting it incorrectly.

If you read my post again, I was specifically referring to people who are using abusive language and comparing what is a sacred thing to Muslims into cheap sexual activities.

But even if my (as you put it) "unveiled attempt" is "instilling fear" in those people who are using such cheap and vulgur language in this forum, what is wrong with that?

Such people need to understand, respect & adhere to the law of the land. Those who are not guilty of such activities have nothing to fear!

All of us (including you and I) are agreeing on the organizers incompetency and the unfortunate event as a result ... so we are people who are supporting each others views on a topic that concerns us, so chill. But let us also not keep quiet for those who are using this forum/occassion as an excuse to use foul language and insulting religious sentiments and natinaolities. I hope that is not asking for too much.

WTF!!

There is a difference in healthy debate and using insulting and abusive language. I am against bad etiquette from who ever and where ever and this forum is no exception.

I was thinking that once QLOC will receive first 700 ticket refunds, what will they do with the rest of the refund requests. Will they close the doors again. :)

What I feel now is that people will fear to take there kids to events like this. For toddlers its a scary sight to see Riot Police on horses and scary looking dogs.

I dont believe news agencies because during Asian games couple of similar incidents happened but I never saw them reported in news.

The AFC version of events is an insult to the 8000+ ticket holding Men, Women and Children who could not get into the game because the Gates were shut at least 35 minutes before kick off. I was there with my son and daughter and to read that statement of rubbish and blatant lies just makes me angry beyond belief. Idiots! Simple as!

Why cant they relate the full version of events and at least gain some respect from the fans that they completely let down as opposed to adding to the shame of your incompetency with the propagation of blatant lies.

Gates shut 35 Mins before Kick off, FACT!!!

They can have my tickets and stick it up where the sun don't shine.

Nothing will ever pay back me missing the Final game and the humiliation at the hands of some arrogant disorganised, selfish organisers, who made a night of hell for decent law abiding civilised fans.

What kind of example / message are the local Qatari AFC organizers sending to us by unashamedly lying in public?

Is this the local standard?

It's unprofessional, immature, weak and sends signals of mistrust!

Most people are furious because:

1st - The chaotic incident took place;

2nd - The local Qatari organizers, publicly lied to the media, discrediting the victims;

3rd- No one apologizes. No one is accounted for the mistake, leaving all the impression that Qatar is not yet up to the standards required to organize a massive event like the World Cup;

4th - No media exposes the lies;

5th – The whole mess validates the world’s concerns expressed upon the nomination of Qatar for WC 2022 and no acknowledgement or reaction is taken by AFC or FIFA.

Expatgeezer I certainly hope Australians (& anyone else) won't hold any of this against the Qatari people in general!

just watching from far away... But this time I couldn't hold myself! Thousands of people with tickets not being able to enter the stadium because the organizers replaced them by free spectators! And they won the right to host FIFA 2022 WORLD CUP! WHAT A JOKE! I must be dreaming! someone wake me up, please! If it's not a dream, please let's all laugh together! Hahahaha...

flor

most of the time, i'm agreed with your posts, but this time a big NOOO.

sorry mate, U don't know a true pain of QL ban :P

Why should I be banned for politely asking the username "Flor" to stop talking? In fact, I was quite civilised sir.

LOL.

full of bad things in life. I flag you offensive and request the Mods to banned you the nth times! Uncivilized people have no room in this forum!

I am referring to your unveiled attempt at instilling fear of having IPS traced in this post:

"Becareful what you say, all it takes is someone investigating your posts, linking it with your IP address and you will end up behind bars."

Read more: http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1597764#ixzz1CjNFfIuX

That is pretty blatant fear-mongering in my view.

Xena,

My comments were referring to those who are using abusive language and comparing payer/mosque to cheap sexual activities.

Since you are "talking from experiance" you must be knowing that such people can be tried under Qatari law for Blasphemy.

If you read all the posts in this page you will realise who I am talking about.

So, I do not see why you should take it upon yourself as a threat to you or all the forum members who are not indulging in such vulgur activities.

Also, what opinon did I "force" on others here? explain!

Rienz said Dear ex.ex.expat, Thank you ...

Dear ex.ex.expat,

Thank you for your concern.

If my posts / complaints were based on fear, I would not have sent photos and videos to 22 newspapers and television channels, nor would I send it to Gulf-Times to be published.

Just because I did not indulge in abusive language and insult my hosts does not mean I am afraid or fearful.

Read more: http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1597764#comment-1766887#ixzz1Ci5OL8v2

It's called good "adaab".

You have it, others don't.

It is possible to have a debate without insulting or using abusive language. And why do we have to be afraid to say what we feel or think. Things said and done in the right way will hopefully bring about transformations :)

Dear ex.ex.expat,

Thank you for your concern.

If my posts / complaints were based on fear, I would not have sent photos and videos to 22 newspapers and television channels, nor would I send it to Gulf-Times to be published.

Just because I did not indulge in abusive language and insult my hosts does not mean I am afraid or fearful.

I really appreciate your contribution to qatarliving, mate, and hope you will post more :)

Machboos? Why didn't you tell me earlier? :)

much better than the sandwhich I had... am full now:-(

next time maybe;-)

Don't forget that FB has been the undoing of others who criticized Qataris in the heat of frustration. In fact, your post here sounds like it is more appeasing because of the fear your IP may be traced, rather than because it is the morally right thing to do.

Just sayin...

it has been mentioned numerous times that numerous nationalities were involved. That the final instructions lie with the Qataris, is the reason they will get the bad rep, unfortunatley.

Most people here are quite offay with how things work in this country and know what they can say and what they cannot.

No need to threaten us with IP addresses - believe me, even without IP addresses, if CID or MOI wanted to find us, they would - talking from experience.

Keep to your own opinion and try not to force yours on others:-)

ex.ex.expat .. I never tend to take criticism in a sensitive manner . I mentioned clearly that i think criticism would make my country better , but what i dont like is the swearing part where some people categorise it as criticism .

The press is a totally different story where i personally dont rely on it a solid source .

Rienz .. Thank you very much .. let me quote you on what i have been trying to explain for the last couple of hours .

"

some are crossing the limits of decency and insulting a nationality"

Now its my lunch time .. Anyone interested to have some "Machboos" with me ? :)

you both have valid points.

Hamad no one here have ever claimed that they have only had bad treatment in Qatar... I am one of the first to say, good and bad happens everywhere - doesn't matter where it is...

Since QL is made up largely of expats, we have always welcomed Qataris who give a fresh perspective to the path Qatar needs to go, cause I think most of us just want to see Qatar progress onto the path of success - its does sometimes get us down though, when all we are ever subjected to is degredation: Some Qataris don't see us as human, but merely "slaves".

We might be visitors to your country, but after being here as long as some of us have, we consider this our home to... and we want "our" home to flourish as much as you do.

The frustrating thing about this AFC matter, goes hand in hand with the FIFA bid - the ones who critised have had their fears realised, cause basically, 1 month later, their predictions have come true - unfortunate, yes, but reality non the less.

If Qatar wanted to prove they deserved the bid, don't you think a small scale event like AFC could have been handled better? What confidence does this install when such a rucus has occurred with this event?

I agree with Hamad

I am an expat here but some of the expat forum members language here makes me cringe ... some are crossing the limits of decency and insulting a nationality, which is just not done.

Read this from one forum member "humiliation at the hands of some low cast, arrogant organisers"

Another member signs off comparing prayer and mosque to some rather cheap activities.

Some are using very abusive language and questioning the intelligence of the entire host nation's citizens.

All such comments are considered morally corrupt activities under Qatari laws and you can easily be deported for the same.

Becareful what you say, all it takes is someone investigating your posts, linking it with your IP address and you will end up behind bars.

You may indulge in constructive criticism of your hosts but learn to respect your hosts.

manner when they pull off such a royal screw up. The main difference is that we don't take it so personally, and you Qataris do tend to. Probably has something to do with teh lack of a free press and being protected from the criticism that would bring.

I don't think anybody is blaming all Qataris. We are blaming the ones involved and the continuing mentality of cover-ups and buy-offs. I think no amount of money is worth seeing Qatar continue on this same path when instead they could show the genuine intention to learn from the situation so it could be rectified. Some transparency would help.

Oh La La (WoW in french) .. !

Ice Maiden/Xena ,

No one here has dis-agreed that the organisers could have done a better job , and that is including myself .

The way the ticket holders have been rejected (from the way Xena explained) sounded really un-fair , and i wouldnt be very happy if it happened to me or anyone else .

When i mentioned hate .. I didnt specifically mean or mention anyone and point fingers or specify Expats ! NO !! I was specifically talking about a "little" number of people here that keeps criticising things about Qatar regardless if its a football match or a tomato sold by a Qatari .

I bet if this tomato was sold by someone else we wouldnt here some such cheap comments passing around . The same happened when we had the 2022 worldcup bid ! And guess what ? We did it !

We all accept critcism and word of mouth , and i believe this is a healthy way of making Qatar improve in all categories , but what i wont allow or accept is when some haters call Qatar with names or locals .

We have to accept all Expats with roses and a smile because we need all of them to make our country bigger and better . This is why we call some of you experts ! Because one hand doesnt clap !

About the unfair rude Qataris that you`re talking about Xena .. I personally admit that yes we do have those around , but is it around in Qatar only ?

The good thing about it is we can diffrentiate between classy and gentle people and cheap and rude ones .. Same goes to others !

You have to be fair in this case and mention the good & bad .. not only the bad .

I have been abroad and trust me .. you dont wanna know how badly was i treated in airports or public places and yet i had to respect myself because im just a visitor in this country .

I hope you got my point .

STFU.

Jack :)

@ Hamad, nobody is calling anyone names. And where is the criticism?

All what people are asking for is accountability.

Who was the inept official who decided it was okay to let people in without tickets?

Who decided to close the gates on the faces of valid ticket holders?

Who sent e-mail to Aspire and the like, stating that if people come in at 3:00 or 4:00pm they will be let in for free?

Somebody must have taken the initiative. Who is or are those persons? Who made the decisions that brought about this mess?

Either they get fired or they get adequate training to handle such situations. It's about finding the root of the problem, and correcting, so that it doesn't happen again.

Let the world know that Qatar cares about doing things properly.

and that the final match was handled so incompetently is more than disappointing.

But I think most people could forgive them that, given an earnest apology and a promise to ensure this does not happen again.

(Well, maybe not the international fans who flew halfway around the world to see their teams play and lost thousands of dollars in the process...).

But when the organizers cannot even man up and accept responsibility for their mistakes, that's like rubbing salt in an open wound.

So...they're offering to consider refunds (in a few months) for the fans denied entry, provided they mail in a copy of their credit card and passport, and the undamaged ticket.

What -- no blood work or fingerprints?

They can't even apologize without lying to cover up their a**es by saying "due to the security concern which led to the closing of gates at 18:05."

There are enough eye-witness accounts of when the gates were closed, available on various social networking sites, blogs, and in newspaper articles to know that this is an out and out lie.

My message to the AFC/QLOC people: keep my QR50 and grow a pair. If I had balls, they'd be bigger than yours.

I agree with millymilly

Any enterprising folks here who can create a really cool and compelling facebook page (or youtube upload) that encourages all the unfortuante fans to come forward to ask for the refund?

I can try creating a facebook page, but it might not be as good as some of you more gifted folk.

Anybody with unused tickets... who would not be claiming can send their tickets to me...

I will be keeping a collection box outside Lulu Hyper...

Thanks all you Great Football Fans

Note to Expatgeezer: The sun doesnt shine in that collection box... kindly deposit your tickets there ;)

Agree with Ice Maiden....

This has got nothing to do with hate... Its got everything to do with being fair.

Can you honestly say you would have been happy with this situation? Buying a ticket to see a match that you get locked out of, because the organisers saw fit to fill your seats with people, just incase you didn't arrive?

Please understand something about QLers... most people here, do appreciate Qatar for the country it is, I know I do, but sometimes, Qatar doesn't treat people correctly, including Qataris (I can tell you Qatari friends stories that make me glad I am not a local)

This issue affected people of all nationalities, and I have yet to hear anyone of this thread say that Qataris got preference to entering.

Please don't make this about us and them... its about the spirit of a game that people didn't get to see, due to an unfair situation:-)

Dear Translator,

I understand and appreciate your concern.

However, when I say that we should appreciate the apology, it does not mean that we accept incompetency ... if you read past the first few lines of my post you will see that I did not agree with thier excuse and expressed my view point about it ... none of which was accepting their excuses.

My point was appreciate the good ... when someone apologizes we should at least appreciate and acknowledge the apology ... it is very rare in this part of the world to see an official apology ... and when one does rearely come by we should appreciate it.

What was our purpose in coming to this forum and complaining? is it not for the hope of change?

None of us can change what has happened, but we can infulence the change ... I think for a Qatari official to actually come out in public with a press release saying "we offer our apology " is a big deal and it should be apprecited.

Weather we like it or not, Qataris are our hosts and if they have come out in public offering their apology to us (visitors) it should be appreciated. Allowing our host to walk away in dignity is the least we can do in this situation ... instead some of the forum members are using bad language (albeit they were deliberately missplled abusive words)... I assume they were all expat comments ...my comment was only referring to such people and they must realize that they cannot eat and excrete in the same plate.

They must remember that we are not working in a democratic country and the law is different from our homeland, and we knew that very well when we entered this country, but we still chose to work here.

Insulting the host with absuvie language in a public forum is a criminal offence in Qatar.

Let our ciriticism be constructive, appreciate the good and ciriticise the bad. An apology is a good beginning ... so let us apprecaite it and let our hosts walk in dignity.

I am not saying that we stop complaining, but let us at least appreciate and acknowledge their apology.

I have not only posted my complaints in QL but sent out to over 22 newspapers and tv channels with the photos and videos I have taken of AFC final fiasco ... Gulf-Times published my complaint on page 29 yesterday (31 JAN 2011), but that does not give me the right to use abuse language against my host (from whom I make my living).

We must treat another man as a gentleman, not because he is, but because we are.

Ice Maiden ..

ANGER about what exactly ?

Its never anger when some people call us with names .

I believe Criticism has standards too . Dont you think ?

Cool Down Ice Maiden... temper doesn't do you good...

It's not hate. It's ANGER at being cheated of your rights, ANGER at being made a fool of.

You pay for a service, you expect to get it. That's what happens in the rest of the world. Don't know if you understand the term, it's called "CUSTOMER SATISFACTION".

Lol Xena... nothing could be more true...

I smell some hate in here ..

Some people are really sad !

holders that they keep referring to, are probably the 700 ticket holders that actually got into the venue;-P

Qatarspitfire, I have noticed this post of yours on other threads too...

are you just getting our hopes up?;-)

qatarspitfire,

And what will you give to those who flew in from their own countries and don’t live here?

Money can not always buy everything, competences is obviously one of those things!

Cheer up guys. We will give you New Sponsorship System this February.

Cheer up guys. We will give you New Sponsorship System this February.

It is not the point of the money - it is the principal. It is about making them do what is right and showing them there were way more than 700 with tickets. If you don't go to get the refund it is as if you were never there.

If 3,000+ of us show up to get our refunds the AFC will know the extreme of the situation - not what they are being told by the organisers at the moment.

Expatgeezer,

You are asking for too much, that would require some planning and organizational skills and they probably forgot to buy them!

Exactly Translator, They could have posted on the ticket, last entry at 5.30pm or even 5pm get all the tickets holders in first and then let the seat fillers after that, instead the twats decided to do it the other way round.

Rienz said "I think some forum members are being rather harsh ... we should appreciate QLOC apology"

I disagree, if we keep accepting apologies, we end up with a very bad situation, as they have no reason to improve.

What happened is obvious, they underestimated the attendance for the final match, hence they bused many workers to fill seats, which are sold. By the time they noticed that ticket holders are actually coming, they closed the gates.

What they could have done is give advanced warning that ticket holders would not be allowed entrance after 4 PM, then fill in seats with ticket-less spectators..

Here is the link for the press release on AFC website:

http://tickets.afcasiancup.com/ticket-refund-application---final-match_sn_53.html

I think some forum members are being rather harsh ... we should appreciate QLOC apology.

Having said that, I do not agree with the reason given by QLOC ... also waiting till the end of April 2011 for refund is ludicrous ... they should be able to refund the money right away if someone came with the ticket ... the ticket has a bar code and they should be able to scan it and find its authenticity right away. But they cannot refund the money right away because they did not check spectator tickets when they entered the stadium ... so all those who got inside the stadium can also come and ask for refund ... this clearly proves QLOC excuse as false. They closed the gates between 5pm to 5.15pm because they let in people for free between 3pm to 5pm ... when they thought the stadium is full, they closed the door, resulting in thousands of ticket holders being left out.

Does anyone know where this press release was published ... I mean newpapers or the internet etc?

Expatgeezer,

We've seen what money can achieve in the ugliest side of FIFA.

Greed at these levels is unlimited so I wouldn’t be surprised if that same money would buy him the ambitioned position!

And any attempt of exposure will be $ilenced the international media's higher interest$.

Sad world we are living in!

Well I truly hope this Bin Hamam is voted off from the AFC let alone challenging for the Fifa role.

Expatgeezer,

You don’t have to worry about seeing Qataris in the Australia 2015 AFC.

Unless they buy more South Americans football players, I have serious doubts if they will qualify.

i dont care about the refund. 60riyals is nothing compared to what we felt when the riot police are pushing us like beggars. no refund will ease the fear of the children who got scared when the police in horses shoo them away from the gate. they can keep my 60riyals to buy food for the dog they used to scare us away.

no way to please. Maybe some are waiting for the "right to host" be "refunded" (read: returned to FIFA). Lol! Or maybe some are waiting for some organizing people to be exiled!

Good point Nic. Exactly I was with bunch of confused and utterly disappointed Aussie fans who had travelled all the way from down under and were shouting to be let in.

One Aussie fan from abroad decided to jump the fence and the poor fella got man handle and arrested.

I hope that the organiser sincerely apologise to the Aussie and Japanese fans who had travelled half way around the world to be at the match to be denied by twats who did not even explain to them what was happening.

I hope there will be no backlash of this in 2015 when Australia will host the next AFC. May be best for Qatari fans to stay away from that tournament for their own safety?

Will they refund hotel and air tickets to those who came to watch the game from overseas and were stopped by the Qatari organizers?

more at...

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=413256&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

I was among the lucky ones who got into the stadium just before all this happened. I am really sorry for all those fans who had to suffer and had to undergo all the difficulty.

Refund is a good step, but that said who will bother to take all the pain to claim such a small price. I spend Qr.180/- for 6 tickets in family section and frankly I would not bother if I had to. By God's grace I made it just in time and thanks to the security officers inside stadium who helped us and accommodated my family to freeing some seats.

What I was not able to understand was, why on earth did they allow so many school kids, who were more occupied in moving around than watching the match. At one point we had to stop them from crossing us to just watch the match.

They want you to send a copy of your passport and a copy of your credit card?

Right.

Because this is Qatar and lying to save face comes as a second nature - cummon sb - you know that!!

I have my 5 tickets but i am not sure i want to hand over a copy of my credit card while refund will take months.

I still can not believe the organisers arrogance. Now an official press release on their website which is basically a lie. Before I thought it was just usual , I have no idea what happened lets make something up to be safe, now it is clear they want a cover up. No apology, no admittance of creating a major safety hazard, nothing.

They closed gates at least 45 mins before the KO time. Everyone who was there knows that. How can they continue to state otherwise I do not know. How they continue to claims thousands of non ticket holders were outside? They weren't they were inside, let in early by the organisers. And even if they were outside it is quite easy to stop non ticket holders getting in and allow actual ticket holders access. They had enough security and police there to do that didn't they?

Refunds, ticket stubs, credit card statements - dont make me laugh!!! We have a phrase in English "Pi++ing in the wind" and thats what you are all doing pursuing these idiots for a refund. Prayer/mosque - Pi+s up/Brewery - sh+g/Wh+rehouse..... get my drift??

I'm sure by now out of anger a lot of people must have thrown their tickets out lol. I mean seriously I'd much rather have watched the match than get a refund, whats the whole point of it anyways? End of the day you bought a ticket, waited long hours in the traffic and even longer to find a parking spot, denied entry at the gate, the frustration, the humiliation and disappointment of missing the final match cant be covered with mere refund of the ticket. But then again something is better than nothing.

How will they know if the VALID ticket holders saw the match or not?

Some of the lucky ones who were able to see the match, said their tickets were not checked/scanned, nor the stub torn off.

See the makings of another big financial impropreity here.

They want a copy of the credit card !!

As if they have not stole enough money from fans already, they plan to do some more. Do they employ angels only so that we trust them with such documents?

I am not involved in this mess, thankfully. But I must say if I had purchased via credit card I sure as hell would not be scanning a copy of my entire credit card and handing it over to incompetent strangers! That seems just crazy to me and asking for theft / fraud.

You buy a ticket and they don't let you in those thiefs. And I bet they only now maybe give a refund because they are scared the bad news will spread and shows what a backward arrogant loosers they are. I hope everyone requests a refund and they loose a lot of money.

I was luckily able to enter the stadium after so much trouble. I have my ticket and is still perfectly in tact (I didn't tear it like what the others did and it's the only souvenir I have aside from pics). They didn't even remove the creased stub. So how would they know if the person has really entered or not? Because in the entrance security check, they didn't even bother to remove that portion of the ticket. There are some dishonest people in this world. Who knows what they'll do.

This refund process is too troublesome! There's so much to do just to get the refund. What about the fares, the effort, the time and all?!

What happened can't be changed but it's the decent thing to do.

A step in the right direction

thank you for the information.

Bunch of f$@$%#%^*#%^# loosers. I guess they are getting scared about the international reactions, the countless videos showing this incompetent lot. I guess since they did not scan any tickets the whole stadium crowd gets a refund.

QLOC will assess the application??? oh fark me, better call in the riot police again.

incompetence has been taken to a new level with these idiots.

you are damned if you do, damned if you dont.

That's decent of them. but I still want to know how do they know that thousands of people did not have tickets and that only 700 had tickets? Who was counting???

This will be a permanent adjustment for the next upcoming events!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sry fr de multiple posts

Y cheap .. Wats cheap in here ???

Cheap!