THE NUMBER of non season ticket matches has given rise to an increased number of failed payments on the continuous credit card payment scheme.

Rangers Assembly President, Jim Templeton, recently approached the Club, asking for clarification on how failed payments work, on behalf of a number of fans who were confused as to why their cards had been refused and who could not get through immediately on the hotline to discuss their concerns.

In response the Club is happy to provide a detailed explanation of the many reasons for failed payments as well as the action fans can take to alleviate the situation for themselves and the Ticket Centre.

In January each year, the Club experiences a considerable number of failed credit card payments. This season, this has been in excess of 4,000 due to the CIS Cup Semi-final and the Scottish Cup 4th Round which was further heightened by the demands of Christmas.

For non season ticket matches - Scottish Cup and European games - Rangers has in excess of 20,000 fans signed up to the continuous credit card scheme giving them priority for premium games, semi-finals and finals, no booking fees and the only way to guarantee discounted prices for these games, taking the worry out of ordering.

With such large numbers subscribed, the quantity of failed payments for each of these games varies between 1,500 and 3,000.

The Club sends credit card mandate files through to a financial clearing organisation who validate the payments and advise which payments have failed to be authorised by their issuer due to expiration or lack of credit.

This is the same process used for all credit card payments wherever they are used. A file detailing the failed payments is then sent to the Club who communicate in writing, with the supporters in question, giving them enough time to resolve the problem and receive their tickets prior to the game.

A form is sent to complete and return thus avoiding the need to wait in telephone queues, however many supporters prefer to phone and with figures as high as 4,000, queues are inevitable and unavoidable.

It would be impossible for the ticket centre to staff up to the extent required to deal with the number of calls in question for the short periods required and we thank fans for their patience and understanding.

Fans will appreciate the Club cannot accept a card that has failed, but rather than completely fail the card the Club offers the fan the opportunity to revert with updated credit card details or ensure that sufficient credit exists in their account.

A booking fee is applied to cover administration costs and to discourage the abuse of the system which creates problems for supporters who have made a genuine mistake.

Outlined below are some key points to help fans on the credit card mandate scheme to avoid failed payments and the associated fees:

If your credit card expires - please notify the Club in writing as soon as the new card details are known - if we don't have your current valid card details, your payment will fail! Your card number may stay the same, but if you are issued a new card with a different expiry date, you need to let us know

Ensure you know when payments are due to be taken - these are communicated in the RangersNews, on rangers.co.uk and the Club also emails those season ticket holders who have provided email addresses

Ensure you have enough credit on your card to allow the full payment to be taken

Extra care should be taken for cards that are due to have more than one payment taken from them

If your credit card is lost or stolen, you should let the Club know as soon as possible

The Club is as keen as the supporters to alleviate this problem and when time constraints permit, the Ticket Centre re-attempts payment authorisation as often as possible however with games requiring a quicker turnaround, this is not always possible, resulting in a higher number of fails by comparison.

Jim Templeton, Rangers Assembly President commented: "From discussions with the Club I can see that they are doing what they can at their end and are giving fans further opportunity to provide new details and correct funds rather than see supporters go without a ticket.

"The Club have also agreed to look at additional ways to help the supporters avoid this situation in the future.

"We all get frustrated waiting on phone-lines, however with the volumes involved, particularly in January as a result of the CIS Cup semi-final and the Scottish cup 4th round I can understand why there were queues.

"I have also been advised that there are a further 2,500 failed payments for the forthcoming UEFA Cup match against Panathinaikos and it will help matters if fans can return the form issued by the Club in the post and only phone if completely necessary. Again with the volumes involved queues will be unavoidable."