Football Ticket Pad Review
Footballticketpad.com is a sleek ticket resale platform that focuses most of its business across Europe. Formed in 2014, the company has managed to establish themselves as one of the best in the business. As we saw in the review process, there are few reseller websites out there that are as polished as Footballticketpad.com, with the high level of customer satisfaction that they provide.
- Active ticket marketplace
- 100% money back guarantee
- Secure payment methods
- Based in the UK
- Excellent customer satisfaction
- Seating in pairs
- No Paypal functionality
- Focus solely on Europe
- Higher than expected fees
Football Ticket Pad is a secondary marketplace dedicated to football tickets. The brand has become a well-trusted vendor, with a good reputation.
At Ticket Compare, we have partnered with Football Ticket Pad since 2017, and word has got back to us from many happy customers about their positive experiences with the site. It is also clear from the brand’s ‘Great’ Trustpilot score, that they are well-regarded.
Nonetheless, we decided to put Football Ticket Pad to the test, buy tickets from them, and attend a football match to see what the customer experience is like.
On 31 January 2024 I placed my order with Football Ticket Pad for tickets to see Brentford vs Man City at the Gtech Community Stadium in London. Here’s how the experience went.
The buying experience with Football Ticket Pad
Overall, the buying experience with Football Ticket Pad was completely smooth.
Before making the purchase, I found myself feeling confident using the site for two main reasons. Firstly, it was clear that the site was focused exclusively on football, giving the impression that they are experts (they don’t, for example, sell concert tickets, or tickets for any other sports). Secondly, the brand’s Trustpilot score, along with a link to Trustpilot at the top of every page, was very reassuring. It created the feeling that they have ‘nothing to hide.’
Availability of tickets
I wanted to see Man City play in London, so I used the search bar to bring up all the relevant fixtures. It was easy to see that the Brentford fixture was a suitable one for me. There were plenty of tickets available for this fixture, as well as for other options I looked at.
Sitting together in groups
The site made it very easy to view seats that were available in groups – as soon as I clicked on my desired fixture, a pop-up appeared, asking about my requirements.
Choosing seats
The Community Stadium seating plan was laid out nicely, giving a clear indication of availability and the price for different locations in the ground. This screen also clearly displayed other relevant information about the tickets, such as how many were available for sitting together. As it was, I only needed one ticket.
Payment
It was a little surprised to see the fees that were added on when I proceeded with the order, especially since these were not visible until near the end of the process. In my case, the fee added more than 42% on to the ticket price!
This is significantly more than the 21% fee that is mentioned in the site’s FAQs, as pictured below.
That being said, I did have the impression I was in safe hands with this business, for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. So despite the shock, I didn’t have too many reservations about continuing with the purchase.
Football Ticket Pad accepts Visa, Mastercard, and Maestro. It does not accept Paypal. So, payment options are slightly limited, but not too much of a problem for most people.
Delivery
The site highlights that tickets may not be available until 72 hours before the match. I completed the purchase 6 days before the match, and I received my tickets to my email account within less than an hour after purchasing. This was a pleasant surprise, with Football Ticket Pad going above and beyond the standard they set for themselves.
The ticket was available for me to print or to show on my phone, by using the QR code. I went for the digital option and just used my phone.
Support and customer service
I ordered my tickets six days ahead of the game. Naturally, I was slightly surprised to receive an email on the match day informing me that my ticket was no longer available, and that I should use a new ticket. You can see the email I received below:
I was a little concerned, not so much about the changes to the ticket, but because the email came from a ‘personal’ Gmail address. The email also did not make reference to my order number, nor to Football Ticket Pad from whom I purchased the ticket.
I still felt fairly confident that I would get into the game, since I did have a new ticket in my inbox. But I was a little confused by the communication. For this reason, I decided to get in touch with Football Ticket Pad.
First, I tried the ‘live chat’ function. However, after waiting an hour and receiving no response, I began to think that the live chat did not work at all. The live chat box was also advertising to me to get me to ‘add free live chat’ on my own site, which didn’t create a great impression.
While I was waiting for a chat response (which never came), I emailed Football Ticket Pad, asking them about why I received the email from a personal email address, and why the email didn’t make any reference to Football Ticket Pad. I received a prompt response (just under 30 minutes), as follows:
I felt that the tone of the email left a lot to be desired. Moreover, the customer support team did not actually answer my question. However, despite the tone, and despite avoiding my question, I was reassured that Football Ticket Pad knew about the email I had received, and that the ticket would be ‘perfectly valid for the game,’ which was the main thing.
Match-day experience
The match-day experience was totally smooth, and I was very satisfied with my seat.
A relatively new stadium, the Gtech Community Stadium felt impressive, despite its relatively small size (it seats around 17,000). It was a mild evening for a February, and there was a great atmosphere in the stadium. Brentford had beat Man City in their previous two engagements, so despite Brentford’s poor recent form, there was a sense that anything could happen tonight.
It was great to be really close to the action. At points during the match, I was just a few metres away from stars like Erling Haaland, Julián Álvarez, Phil Foden, and Ivan Toney. This was made possible by the relatively ‘intimate’ size of the stadium.
When Brentford took the lead at 20 minutes, it really did feel like anything could happen! The photo shows the Man City team trying to collect themselves as Neil Maupay’s goal is celebrated. I was close enough to feel the frustration of the Man City players – I could see the expressions on their faces!
However, Brentford could not hold off Man City’s dominance. Phil Foden equalised just before half-time, and went on to complete a hat-trick in the second half.
For the whole of the first half, the game certainly felt like it could go either way. However, as the second half went on, it began to feel like a comprehensive Man City victory. Brentford put up a good fight, but it’s difficult to compete with a team who currently hold the triple, and who are arguably the best team in the world.
Terms and conditions
I am not a legal expert, but naturally, I took a look at the terms and conditions on Football Ticket Pad’s site. To my eyes, they did not appear as comprehensive as some other sites I have used. But once again, my feeling here was that the positive reviews of many previous users was enough to settle any concerns. The homepage of the site claims a 100% ticket guarantee. Although I couldn’t find this backed up with rigorous terms and conditions (at least to my understanding), it was clear that the company are very good at making sure their customers ultimately get to the game.
This was confirmed by my own experience. Although my initial ticket became invalid, it was replaced with no fuss at all, and with a very similar ticket to the one I initially ordered. There was no instance where I genuinely felt worried.
Other issues
My impression is that Football Ticket Pad are a company who are firmly focused on their core business, which is making sure that fans get valid tickets to games. I think this means that other aspects of the customer experience sometimes fall by the wayside.
I already mentioned my above email exchange with customer service, which I felt was a little abrupt. I also found a couple of issues when using the website. The first issue is that when I sign into my account, I cannot see any evidence of my previous purchases.
I signed in because I wanted to get hold of an invoice for the payment I made. But in my account, there was no evidence that I had ever even made a purchase.
What’s more, when I went to view my account information, I did not access a proper webpage at all, but a page of raw code.
I emailed Football Ticket Pad’s information email address to highlight these issues (and to hopefully get hold of an invoice!), and I did not receive a response.
These issues combined to create a sense of a slight lack of professionalism, and below-par customer service. However, these are not huge issues, because the fact is that Football Ticket Pad ultimately enabled me to get to the game.
The bottom line is that even when an issue arose with the ticket I originally purchased, Football Ticket Pad sorted me out with a new ticket. They could have easily cancelled the order, and I would have been disappointed. But they made sure that I got to the game, which is absolutely to their credit.
Football Ticket Pad reviews from other sites
As I have already highlighted, Football Ticket Pad has a ‘Great’ score on Trustpilot, and that is reassuring to see. At the time of writing, an impressive 75% of their reviews are 5-star.
Moreover, I can see that reading through their reviews, some 1-star reviews come from customers who do not properly understand the service. For example, one reviewer complains that the ticket had the wrong name on it (all secondary-market tickets have the wrong name – they bear the name of the original buyer who bought the ticket from the club).
Another 1-star review accuses the company of being ‘scammers’ because they charge fees. Although the fees are high, and are not displayed until the checkout, they are clearly displayed. I do not think this warrants a 1-star review.
I was interested to see, however, that a couple of 1-star reviews were focused solely on customer service. In quite a few cases, customers had ultimately got their tickets, but were so disappointed by poor service that they gave an
overall 1-star review.
In total, excluding negative reviews from customers who didn’t understand the service, and reviews from customers who successfully attended matches but were let down by communications, they have fewer than 15 actual negative reviews, which is very low.
In summary, the main positives that customers report include:
- Easy to purchase
- Seamless match-day experience
The main negatives that customers report include:
- Disputes about refunds
- Frustration with customer service
Verdict
Football Ticket Pad is a trustworthy and reliable platform for buying football tickets from the secondary market. Like the vast majority of their customers, I bought my tickets without difficulty, and attended the match seamlessly. I did experience some ‘rough edges’ on the customer care side of things, and this would probably annoy some customers. However, they replied to my email promptly - in less than 30-minutes. Most importantly, when the ticket I initially bought became invalid, Football Ticket Pad sorted out the issue without any fuss. Another platform may have simply cancelled my order, but Football Ticket Pad made sure I got to the game. For that reason, their service was commendable.
VISIT Football Ticket Pad- Ticket price
- 4
- Ease to Use
- 5
- Match Day Experience
- 5
- Quality of Support
- 4
