Dear Major League Baseball and Joe Torre,
As a fan that was in attendance at the Wild Card Game on October 5 at Turner Field I felt compelled, as a paying customer who did not throw one item on the field, to write you a letter about your customer service. I have watched baseball pretty much all my life, and am a loyal fan of "my boys", the Atlanta Braves. As a customer who has spent hundreds, perhaps thousands on tickets, clothes, etc., I was very disappointed with your service to me, and to 50,000 other fans. I feel that we, your customers, are being treated poorly. Not only do I spend money on your product, but also go to great lengths to attend games such as Friday night. On this particular occassion, I took half a personal day from work, arranged for childcare for both of my children, missed my son's high school football game, had to use the poorly run Marta system to get to the game, and made the hour trip to Turner Field. The customer service I was disappointed with was your reaction to the blown call in the 8th inning. Everyone knows it was the wrong call, which is understandable, people make mistakes. But rather than admit to your mistake, and try to provide excellent customer service to your customers, you stubbornly stood by the mistake, letting the customer know that our business is not very important to you. I will be the first to admit that one call did not cause the Braves to lose, but out of respect to your 50,000 plus paying customers, you owed it to us to make it right. We all go to great lengths, and spend great amounts of money on your product. Businesses who provide excellent customer service put the needs of the customer first, and make sure to admit to, and fix their mistakes. Joe Torre did not do this. He simply stood by his employee, rather than put his customers first. What message does it send? That we, and our business, are not that important to Major League Baseball, nor to Joe Torre or Bud Selig.
To TBS, and all the other "news networks" that have referred to the paying customers as disgraceful and disappointing: It was very disappointing to me to hear the day after the game how you were referring to all fans that way during your broadcast, although I did not throw one single thing on the field. We too, are your customers, and it was very disturbing to me to hear you refer to us in such a negative manner. I guess my business is not very important to you either. I would be appalled to learn that other businesses talk about me negatively in public, after I give them my hard earned money, why should you be any different?
And to John Schuerholz of the Braves, you apologized for and criticized 50,000 of us to the media after the game. On a personal note, I was a VIP guest in 2010 to a Braves game, with the hopes of meeting Bobby Cox. As I was on the field during batting practice waiting to meet Bobby (who I met and was very nice and appreciative that I was his fan) you walked by, looked at our guide, and shook your head no that you did not have time to meet me, clearly sending the message to me that I really wasn't that important to you. So, I do not wish for someone as pompous and arrogant as you, apologizing for me as a fan, please do not feel the need to speak for me again.
In closing, I would like to inform you that I, your paying customer, am very dissatisfied with your customer service and am considering taking my business elsewhere. The fans reaction to the missed call was not the most disturbing and disappointing thing about Friday night's game, it is the poor customer service provided to all of us by organizations who profit millions, perhaps billions, from fans like myself. Perhaps if enough of the paying customers start taking their business elsewhere, you will begin to listen.
Kelley Trippe
Flowery Branch, GA
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