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RARES does not accept paid advertising.
Members do not pay a fee for placement or special placement of information
on the RARES web site. Member companies, including Associate Member
(vendor) companies, may pay a membership fee to be a current member of the
association. The association may obtain revenue (i.e., commissions)
from purchases of online merchandise offered at a discount on the RARES web
site.
The association does endorse the companies
who are members of RARES and encourages RARES members to support these
organizations with their purchases. Likewise, the association takes
complaints of alleged violations of discount offerings seriously and asks
that the membership report any concerns immediately to the CEO or the RARES
Board. The association will make every effort to investigate and if
necessary mediate a resolution and may take action for violations including
revocation of membership for violations of RARES policy and procedures.
Prospective
Members
Current Individual Members
RARES
Representatives and Consignment Tickets
What is RARES?
RARES - the Regional Area
Recreation and Employee Services
Association - is a professional, not-for-profit association of people who
work in the Employee Services and/or Benefits/Recreation fields.
RARES members recognize the importance of providing employee services,
benefits, recreation, and fitness/health promotion as an extremely
cost-effective solution to improving employee morale.
RARES was chartered in 1983
(as the Rochester Area Recreation and Employee Services Association to assist in
offering employee benefits and discounts on area products and services to
its membership. It was initially started by the three largest
manufacturers in the Rochester area in an effort to assist smaller companies
in enjoying the same kind of buying power to impact employee benefits that
they enjoyed due to their size. RARES collective buying power - we
presently represent more than 180,000 employees (directly through RARES and
through our affiliations with partners such as the Iroquois Healthcare
Association) - is the reason why we are
able to offer significant discounts on area products and services to our
membership.
RARES offers
companies who wish to promote their product or service a chance to join
the association as Associate Members. Associate Members offer a
discount on their products or services to other RARES members.
If you are part of a company
that is looking to obtain discounts on behalf of your services, you are
looking to join as a General Member. The more than 140 RARES General
Member companies who are members receive all of the benefits and discounts
offered by RARES Associate Members. RARES is also an excellent opportunity to improve your business
connections through networking at our Speakers Bureau series and our
Vendor Fairs.
What is the purpose of RARES?
The purpose
of the association is to bring together individuals representing employees
in New York and throughout the nation, who are
interested in promoting various activities, events, products and services
that would be beneficial to their respective employees.
What are the categories of RARES membership?
RARES is a professional, non-profit organization comprised of two types of
membership – Associate Members, or
vendors, who provide discounts on goods or services to the RARES membership,
and General Members who are the
businesses that join to offer these same discounts to their employees.
If your company is looking to
join the association to promote your product or service, you are
interested in Associate Membership.
For a minimal membership fee, RARES provides you with the opportunity to
promote your product or service to our more than 132,000+ General Members
through this web site, our regular newsletter publications, and our annual
vendor fair. All that is required is that you offer a discount on
your product or service to our members. The RARES Board will
evaluate your
Associate application for membership and if they
approve the discount offered, will publicize your offerings to our
membership.
If you are looking to have your company join in order to reap the rewards
of the discounts on products and services offered by our Associate Member
Vendors, then you are interested in General
Membership.
Applications for General Membership can be found
here. For a small annual fee, ALL
of your employees will be entitled to the benefits of RARES membership.
They will receive a RARES membership ID card which can be used to obtain
discounts immediately at dozens of different locations. Other
benefits are available through the RARES web site or discounted tickets
may be purchased through the RARES office.
All General Members nominate a RARES Representative to serve as their
contact point with RARES and who disseminates information to that
company's employees. Most of these RARES representatives are Human
Resource Directors or Benefits Specialists who work in employee benefits,
services, and/or recreation fields. In essence, the association exists to
both increase employee retention and build corporate morale.
And in 2004, the association also began offering
Individual/Family General Memberships.
Individual/Family General Membership
is designed for persons who may be a student or who may work for an employer who
is not yet a member of RARES. For one small annual fee, you receive a
RARES membership card and ID # which will provide you with access to the more
than 175 discounts that RARES members enjoy and the chance to order discounted
attraction tickets directly from the RARES office.
Individual/Family (it's one and the
same) General Membership is available for a small fee. Membership runs from January 1 to December 31 and is not pro-rated
(one fee for joining at any time during the year). An application for
individual membership may be found
here.
What are the benefits of RARES membership?
Our General Membership pays an
annual fee to access timesaving resources, tools, and information about
discounts and free services available to their employee members. RARES
provides the following benefits to our General Members:
-
Often, the most significant
discounts available in the Rochester area;
-
Self-contained discount
information conveniently displayed on this secure web-site (password
protected);
-
Regular newsletter mailings
with new discount information;
-
One stop-shopping for
consignment tickets – the opportunity to purchase tickets (consignment and
pre-pay) from one vendor (the RARES office) as opposed to many separate
entities;
-
If a company does not wish to
participate in the consignment ticket program, their employees may
purchase tickets normally available on consignment directly from the RARES
office - reducing time demands upon company personnel;
-
Minimized time spent talking
with sales reps concerning discounts;
-
Easy employee access to
discount information via the web-site;
-
Opportunity to network with
other professionals about employee benefits and needs.
Employee services and recreation programs
create positive work environments for employees.
Through a RARES membership you will be able to network and enhance your
employee services and recreation programs.
This results in:
·
Increased Productivity
·
Increased Motivation
·
Improved Morale
·
Improved Attendance
·
Improved Teamwork and Camaraderie Among Employees
·
Reduced Turnover
These benefits promote healthy activities for employees and their
families, lead to better relations between employers and employees and
save companies thousands of dollars!
What
are the discounts like?
RARES offers discounts that range from
$3.34 off the price of a Delta Sonic Super Kiss ticket to more than $48
off the price of a Delta Sonic detail package. Our members save more
than $1.75 on the price of Regal Cinema tickets and $2 on the price of
Little Theatre tickets. For information on our complete list
of discounts, click
here.
They save hundreds and even thousands off
the price of real estate commissions when selling their house, several
hundreds when buying a home, and hundreds
off of the price of legal advice and services.
They enjoy 20% off of the price of a pizza
at Papa John's and 20% off of their dry cleaning bill at all Staubs
& Ben Barnet Cleaners locations.
They save 15-20% off the typical ticket price
at GEVA Theatre and $2 off of all performances at the Downstairs Cabaret
Theatre.
RARES members save 15% on
tickets to Universal Studios, 10% to all Anheuser-Busch Theme Parks, up to
50% on Seabreeze and Six Flags Darien Lake admission, and significant
discounts on admission to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, Long
Acre Farms, the George Eastman House, the Rochester Museum and Science
Center, African Lion Safari, Marineland, Paramount Canada's Wonderland,
etc.
And these are just some of the many
discounts available to RARES members. And to all area amusement
parks, RARES negotiates the best discounts available and passes these
savings along to our members.
Many locations offer discounted tickets
on area attractions such as Seabreeze, Darien Lake, etc., yet RARES offers
its members prices that are almost
always
lower
than can be obtained at Wegmans (always lower), Tops, AAA (sometimes
lower), etc.
What is your
consignment ticket program like?
RARES offers its members the
opportunity to purchase tickets on consignment for:
- Buckmans Car
Wash & Detail Shops
-
Canada's Wonderland
-
Delta Sonic
- Dorney Park
-
Enchanted Forest/Water Safari
-
Hershey Park, Hershey, PA
-
Little Theatre
-
Marineland of Canada
- Martin's
Fantasy Island
-
Monroe County Fair
- NYS Fair
- Red Wings
Baseball
-
Regal Cinemas
-
Seabreeze Amusement Park
- Sesame Place
-
Six Flags Darien Lake
-
Six Flags Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom
- Six Flags New
England
-
Sterling Renaissance Festival
- Universal
Studios Theme Parks
Consignment tickets for the
theme parks are available at the beginning of the Summer. Your
company nominated RARES Representative may request a quantity of tickets
that they believe appropriate for your organization and we will ship them
to you. No payment is required at the time you order. At the
end of the season, all unsold consignment tickets, along with payment for
those you have sold, are due back at the RARES office.
Certain venues that used to
offer consignment tickets through RARES now merely require you to show
your RARES membership ID card at the front gate to obtain discounted
admission. These attractions include African Lion Safari, Genesee Country Village and
Museum, Long Acre Farms and the Amazing Maize Maze, the
Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House, the George Eastman
House, the Sterling Renaissance Festival and the Rochester
Museum and Science Center.
For ongoing activities
such as Buckmans Car Wash, Delta Sonic, Regal Cinemas, and the Little
Theatre, consignment tickets may be requested from the RARES office on
a rolling basis (when you sell your tickets, you may pay for what
you've sold and request more).
RARES also offers its
members the opportunity to buy tickets on consignment directly from
our participating vendors at the same price that RARES pays for its
consignment tickets. A number of our members choose to utilize
this option for some of their consignment tickets. What RARES
offers you is convenience - a one-stop shopping experience. Your
company may already purchase discounted tickets from one or more of
the amusement parks in the area. RARES offers you the
opportunity to consolidate this activity with one organization.
You have one order form and only one representative to deal with
instead of two, four, or six. You can cut one check at the end
of the Summer season instead of five. And our theatre tickets DO
NOT EXPIRE. That's right, they do not expire. If you
presently purchase Regal Cinema tickets, for example, you know that
you have to purchase large quantities to receive a discount and that
they have an expiration date. If you don't use them before the
expiration date, you lose your investment. RARES will always
exchange an expiring ticket for one good for another year.
That's the RARES advantage.
Do we have to
participate in the consignment ticket program?
No. As your employees
may also purchase all of the same tickets for amusement parks, car washes,
oil changes, and movie theaters directly from RARES (at a slight price point
premium), you may elect not to take advantage of this particular RARES
benefit. More than 90% of our members, however, do participate in
the consignment ticket program.
How do our
employees obtain discounts if we join RARES?
There are three ways your
employees may obtain discounts if you decide to join RARES.
First, there are many
discounts available to your employees directly where ticket purchases
through RARES or your RARES representative is not required. These
include such as the RARES discount programs offered by Staubs Cleaners,
Geva Theater, the RPO, etc, where on-line coupons or other means of
identifying oneself as a RARES member (such as your RARES member ID card)
are utilized. Each of our member companies is provided with a unique
membership ID# which their employees can utilize to access this
information on our web-site behind a secure, password-protected site.
Second, many of our
members, however, are most active in taking part in our Consignment
Ticket program. This allows your company's designated RARES
representative to order tickets on consignment for many attractions in
the area (Darien Lake, Marineland, Regal Cinemas, Delta Sonic,
Canada's Wonderland, Sterling Renaissance Festival, etc). They
are then distributed to employees through the RARES representative who
collects payment directly from individual employees and returns unsold
tickets and payment to RARES at the end of the season.
Third, your company may not
choose to participate in the consignment ticket program. And even if
you do, your employees may always purchase tickets for these same
attractions directly from the RARES office. Ordering forms are
available online and the RARES office accepts check and money order
payments for all discounted tickets. We charge a slight premium,
typically only 25 cents per ticket to cover the increased cost of shipping
and handling for these small orders. So while participation in the
consignment ticket program offers your employees the best benefit in terms
of price, if you don not have the time to devote to managing consignment
tickets, your employees will still be able to take advantage of all of the
discounts RARES offers.
Who is our company RARES
Representative and what do they do?
You choose at least
one company RARES Representative to serve as a contact link with the
RARES office. This person often operates out of the human
resources or benefits area of an organization.
RARES distributes
its monthly newsletter and other pertinent information to its
membership through the RARES Representative and we ask that this
individual then forward it along to everyone in your organization.
This individual is key, therefore, to the success of the RARES
discount program in your organization. If they do not pass along
the monthly newsletters and other information that RARES sends along
to promote the discounts it offers, your employees may never know
about all of the great benefits available to them.
The RARES
Representative also serves as the administrator for the consignment
tickets for area car wash, movie tickets, and amusement parks if your
company chooses to participate in the consignment ticket program. As
your employees may also purchase all of these same tickets directly from
RARES (at a slight price point premium), you may elect not to take
advantage of this particular RARES benefit but more than 90% of our
members do participate in the consignment ticket program.
Can individuals purchase tickets directly from RARES?
Yes. If your company joins RARES, your individual employees may
purchase discounted tickets directly from the RARES office. They may
do this whether or not you choose to participate in the consignment ticket
program. Ordering
forms are available online and the RARES office accepts check and
money order payments for all discounted tickets. We charge a
slight premium, typically only 25 cents per ticket to cover the
increased cost of shipping and handling for these small orders.
Can I join RARES as an individual
if my company is not a member of RARES?
Yes
you may. Click
here for information on RARES
individual membership. If your company is not presently a member
of RARES, we encourage you to speak with your Human Resource Director
and/or Benefits Specialist to ask them to join RARES.
How
can our company join?
You start by simply filling
out a membership application (click on the membership button at the top of
this page). Or, you may click
here if you're looking to become a
General Member or
here if you're looking to become an
Associate Member.
Membership applications are reviewed by our Board and normally within a
few days, a response is given. The Board is particularly careful in
reviewing Associate Member applications to ensure that the discounts that
are being proposed are significant and of benefit to our members.
Once annual dues are paid, your membership
is activated. The RARES office will provide General Members with a
membership ID# to distribute to their employees. We also have sample
correspondence that we suggest you distribute to all employees which
provides an introductory overview of the RARES program and how to access
discount and benefit information.
Once our company joins, how
can I notify my employees of the benefits offered by RARES?
The RARES office has a sample letter
(available via e-mail) that we suggest you distribute to all employees.
The letter provides an
introductory overview of the RARES program and how to access discount and
benefit information.
How long will it
take for me to receive my tickets?
The
first step is for you to place an order with RARES and tender payment.
Individual order forms are available
on-line.
Once we receive payment, it will typically take from 3 to 5 business
business days before you receive your tickets in the mail. We try
and fill all orders received prior to 2 pm the same day so local
orders can be received in as short a time frame as 3 days from the date
you mail your order to RARES.
If you order online
through PayPal at the RARES web store, we also try and fill those orders
the same day so you may receive your tickets in as little as one to two
days from the date your order is placed.
Can
I pick up my tickets at the RARES office?
For individual RARES
members who are
looking for last minute tickets, we are often open after hours, weekends,
and on holidays. Regardless, we can make arrangements for you to
pick up tickets with appropriate advance notice. Any requests made
for last minute pickup of tickets MUST be made via e-mail. Telephone
requests cannot be honored.
Time permitting, we are always happy to accommodate our members (and
members only) who have
last minute change in plans (and 95% of the time we are able to do so).
Yes, we do provide tickets on weekends - we just cannot guarantee that we
will always be available if you e-mail us on Saturday morning (shame on
you for the last minute planning), but we will try if we're in. In
many instances, we may be able to arrange for pick up of tickets at our
Garnsey Road address (just off I-490 at the Bushnell's Basin Exit and
close to the Harris Beach/Student Loan offices. If you wish to do
this:
-
Please send us an e-mail to
rares@rochester.rr.com with
- DO NOT CALL (we only provide directions via e-mail for security reasons),
-
The type and number of tickets you would like
(please be explicit about your need for child tickets, adult tickets,
etc.);
-
Your
name;
-
Home
address;
-
Home
telephone # (and work, if applicable but always home); and
-
VERY IMPORTANT: The
name of the company you work for.
We'll e-mail you back with an invoice and instructions on how to pick up
the tickets. You can pick up the tickets during the day or before or
after normal office hours - including weekends and holidays where
applicable so yes, you often can obtain tickets for a holiday
weekend or a Sunday as late as the day before or even the morning of that
same day.
Our aim is to make this as convenient as possible for all of our members
and we know that your plans often change at the last minute.
This courtesy is extended to
RARES members only. If you are not a RARES member, we suggest you
learn more about RARES at our
membership
page.
Please note that we cannot always extend this courtesy (we occasionally
take vacations as well) so we ask you to
plan ahead and obtain tickets from your RARES representative at your
company or allow sufficient time to order them by mail directly from the
RARES office.
How do I obtain discounts
from RARES if my company is a member?
There are many
discounts available to you directly where ticket purchases through RARES
or your RARES representative is not required such as the RARES discount
programs offered by Staubs Cleaners, Geva Theater, the
RPO, etc. For information on these and all other RARES discounts with
specifics on what the discounts entail and how you may access them,
return to the home page,
www.rares.org,
and enter your unique Membership ID# into the box on the middle left
hand side of the page and hit the enter key. This will refresh
the page and you will be presented with a new "discounts" tab which
you can then select to see all of the available RARES discounts and
visit our Associate Member's Discount Profile Pages and home pages
where applicable.
Many of our
members, however, are most active in taking part in our Consignment
Ticket program. This allows your company's designated RARES
representative to order tickets on consignment for many attractions in
the area (Darien Lake, Marineland, Regal Cinemas, Delta Sonic,
Canada's Wonderland, Sterling Renaissance Festival, etc). They
are then distributed to employees through the RARES representative who
collects payment directly from you and returns unsold tickets and
payment to RARES at the end of the season. Check with your company's
RARES Representative to see if your company participates in the
consignment ticket program. If you do not know the name of your
company's RARES Representative, contact RARES at
rares@rochester.rr.com and
we'll put you in touch.
If your
company does not participate in the consignment ticket program, or
even if they do, you may always purchase tickets for these same
attractions from RARES directly. Once you have entered your
Membership ID# as described above, you will also note that there is a
tab for "order forms." Clicking on that tab will take you to a
page where you can download an order form to order cinema, car wash,
or amusement park tickets directly from the RARES office.
How do I order tickets
as an individual?
Just click on the
order tab at the
top of any page. You may order by mail (payment by check or money
order), online (payment by credit card), or request pickup of tickets
(payment by cash, check, or money order only).
Payment
must accompany your order form to the RARES office. Payment is
accepted in the form of check or money order made payable to RARES
or you may order online..
We appreciate you letting us know in advance of any large orders so that
we can ensure we have appropriate stock on hand to meet the demand - feel
free to call us in advance at (585) 503-8160.
If you order online we try and
ship all orders received prior to 3 pm the same day we receive them.
Thus, you may receive the tickets the next day if ordering locally, 2-3
days later if you're outside of the Rochester area.
If you're ordering by mail, we
once again try and fill ticket requests the same day or no later than the
next day (sometimes the mail arrives late). Please plan
appropriately for the time it may take mail to reach us as well as for it
to be returned to you. Local mail usually reaches us the next day.
For individuals who are
looking for last minute tickets, we are often open after hours, weekends,
and on holidays. We STRONGLY suggest that you e-mail your last
minute request for tickets (if you call, we'll simply tell you to
e-mail us anyway). If we're able to fill your ticket request (and
90% of the time we are), we'll e-mail you back pickup instructions.
Keep in mind that standard shipping and handling ($1 to $2.50 per order
depending upon the dollar amount of the order) applies regardless of
whether you pick up your tickets at our office or whether you order via
the US mail.
Our office is located
in Pittsford - 395 Garnsey Road (Bushnell's Basin exit off of I-490). We'll provide pickup instructions and how you can deposit
payment. Tickets are then available for pickup at ANY TIME (and we
do mean at any time) according to the directions we will provide you.
We do NOT offer pickup service to anyone who has not contacted us
previously via e-mail. We cannot guarantee when we will be in the
office and thus cannot fulfill those requests..
Our aim is to make this
as convenient as possible for all of our members and we know that your
plans often change at the last minute.
I'm new as my company's RARES
Representative, how can I find out more?
You've taken the correct first step, in
turning to the questions offered on this page. We encourage you to
first read the list of frequently asked questions geared toward company
RARES Representatives and explore this web-site. We then encourage
you to contact the RARES office and update them on your contact
information. The RARES
office has other material available that will quickly bring you up to
speed on RARES, it's policies and procedures, and the association's
benefits. We also have material available for you to introduce or
reintroduce RARES to your employees. With turnover and all of the
distractions in today's workplace, we recommend that company's reappraise
their employees of the benefits of RARES on a regular basis.
For starters, enter your
membership ID # on the RARES home page,
www.rares.org. Select the
RARES Reps
tab from the top menu bar.
On the
RARES Reps
page, you'll find a number of documents to help further explain RARES
benefits to both you and your employees.
How do I let
me employees know about the benefits offered by RARES?
The RARES office has a sample letter
(available via e-mail) that we suggest you distribute to all employees.
The letter provides an
introductory overview of the RARES program and how to access discount and
benefit information. The letter can be found on the downloads page
which is available to you after you enter in your membership ID# on the
home page and enter the restricted portion of this site.
If you want something quick and simple,
there is a
2-page document available to all members that outlines where the
ID card can be presented for a discount and when something else must
take place first (such as utilizing online codes, etc.).
You'll note our logo in the pinkish box at the top left hand corner
of each page. Just click on it for the document to load.
May
my company participate in both the individual ticket purchase program and
the consignment ticket purchase program?
Yes! First, there are
many discounts available to your employees directly where ticket
purchases through RARES or your RARES representative is not required.
These include such as the RARES discount programs offered by Staubs
Cleaners, Geva Theater, the RPO, etc, where on-line coupons or other
means of identifying oneself as a RARES member are utilized. Each of
our member companies is provided with a unique membership ID# which
their employees can utilize to access this information on our web-site
behind a secure, password-protected site.
Second, many of our members, however,
are most active in taking part in our Consignment Ticket program.
This allows you as your company's designated RARES representative to order
tickets on consignment for many attractions in the area (Darien Lake,
Marineland, Regal Cinemas, Delta Sonic, Canada's Wonderland, Sterling
Renaissance Festival, etc). You in turn distribute them to
your employees and return unsold tickets and payment to RARES at the
end of the season on Summer attractions and on an ongoing basis for
car wash and movie theater tickets.
Third, you may
not choose to participate
in the consignment ticket program. And even if you do, your
employees may always purchase tickets for these same attractions directly
from the RARES office. Ordering forms are available online and the
RARES office accepts check and money order payments for all discounted
tickets. We charge a slight premium, typically only 25 cents per
ticket to cover the increased cost of shipping and handling for these
small orders. So while participation in the consignment ticket
program offers your employees the best benefit in terms of price, if you
don not have the time to devote to managing consignment tickets, your
employees will still be able to take advantage of all of the discounts
RARES offers. And even if you do participate, you know that your
employees can always obtain tickets directly from RARES if you are
unavailable.
How do I order tickets?
For individuals, just click on the
order button at
the top of any page. You must first be signed-in with your ID #
before accessing this page.
RARES Reps should select the
RARES Reps
button to order their tickets on consignment (use the same button to order
tickets if you're looking to pay at the time of order or be invoiced for
them).
As a RARES Representative, you should always
utilize the Consignment Ticket Order Form, even if you are pre-paying for
tickets, as the prices offered to our RARES Representatives does not
reflect a shipping and handling charge. You may either fax or e-mail
back the consignment ticket order form to the RARES office. And
while we appreciate you letting us know of any large orders in advance, we
always require a Consignment Ticket Order Form with each order as this is
a contract that you are entering into with RARES to receive tickets on
consignment and later return unsold tickets and pay for those sold.
For this reason, we can not take an order over the telephone - we require
written documentation for every transaction.
If you are pre-paying your transaction or if
you are ordering more than the # of tickets available on consignment and
have to pre-pay for the tickets you are requesting, the RARES office must
have payment before tickets will be sent. We encourage you to fax or
e-mail the form to us prior to payment being sent but ask that you please
recognize that tickets will not be forwarded until payment is received by
the RARES office.
Are there a maximum number of tickets we can order on consignment?
Yes, in some cases there are a maximum number of tickets available on
consignment due to limitations placed upon us by our vendors.
The consignment order contract does reflect those quantities when applied. There are however no minimums on any of the tickets.
You can order as many pre-pay tickets as you would like.
Please give yourself one-two weeks for large orders.
Why is there a maximum # of tickets offered on consignment?
Some of our vendors, including many of the Summer Amusement Park
attractions, provide consignment tickets to us at no charge to distribute
to our members and for these tickets we can normally distribute any
quantity requested by our members. At the end of the season, tickets that have been
sold are paid for. In other cases, the RARES office has to purchase
selected tickets in advance in order to pass the discount on to you.
This advance of paid tickets to our membership necessitates RARES
limiting our risk with any one member.
How do I know what the shipping and handling fee is for tickets?
For RARES
Representatives, the ticket price on the order contract
is the only price you will pay. There is NO shipping and
handling fee assessed on orders forwarded to designated RARES
Representatives. There is no sales tax either.
For
individual orders, there are separate shipping and handling fees for
tickets ordered by mail, online via credit card, and for pick up.
These shipping charges vary between $1 and $2.50 depending upon the
dollar amount of the order. Shipping fees may be larger for
individuals ordering online. As we offer tickets to our
membership at cost, our online system is set up to recover the per
transaction fees and credit card fees assessed to us by our credit
card processor so your shipping and handling fees will be greater if
you choose to use the convenience of a credit card for payment.
As a RARES Rep, why
might I sometimes only receive a portion of my tickets ordered?
The RARES office only receives a limited number of tickets on
consignment from our vendors, and in some cases we have to purchase the
tickets in order to pass the discount to our members. In order for all our
participants to have a quantity of tickets available for their employees,
we may have to limit the number of tickets initially sent to you.
For example, companies who order 50 or more summer tickets on
consignment may only receive 25.
That does not mean the company can not get an additional number of tickets
if needed. They need only to
call the RARES office and let us know that your initial request was for 50
and that you need the additional 25.
You won’t have to re-send an order form.
We will have your original copy on file.
In some cases the RARES
office may not have the quantity of tickets requested.
In this case, we will fill what portion of the order we can, and
then re-send the remaining tickets as soon as they arrive.
Can we order online and pay
by credit card?
Yes you may order
online, but please read the
following.
To provide our members the
greatest ease in payment options, RARES accepts payments by credit card,
check, money order, and/or cash.
Agencies that process our
credit card payments (RARES uses PayPal), charge us a fee which equates to
a percentage of each transaction plus a standard per transaction fee.
As RARES is a not-for-profit
association and passes along its savings on most items to our members at
cost without any mark-up, we must pass along these credit card processing
costs to our membership. You can think of it as a convenience
factor.
When you go to pay by credit
card, you'll notice in addition to the standard shipping and handling
charges a 3.5 to 5% fee . This represents the costs RARES incurs in
processing your payment via credit card.
Remember, we offer
tickets to our members at cost. We have to recover these credit card
fees in order to break even.
If you would like to avoid
this cost, we encourage you to order via the
mail and make your payment by
check or money order.
We thank you in advance for
your patience and cooperation.
How long can we keep
tickets on consignment?
We request that Delta
Sonic and Regal theater tickets be sent back every quarter (three months)
OR that you regularly notify us of your sales and what you still have in
stock. We provide you with sample
forms and reports to accomplish this.
This is important because of the financial undertaking the office
has incurred in sending these tickets to you.
If you can not sell them after a reasonable length of time, we ask that
you return them so we can try to distribute them to another General
Member.
Summer tickets may be kept for the summer season and are generally
due back in late September or October - depending upon the venue.
Check your consignment order contract for specific return dates.
Do we have to send the
unsold tickets back in registered mail?
It is advised that you have some sort of record of this
transaction. If any are lost
in the mail, you will be responsible for the value of the tickets.
Whether you wish to spend the money to send the tickets back registered
mail is up to you. The RARES office does NOT ship tickets registered
mail.
How
long will it take for me to receive my tickets?
In most cases, if the tickets are in stock you will receive your tickets
in two to four business days. Of course this depends on ticket quantities and number of
ticket orders that arrived the same day.
It is always best to e-mail the RARES office after sending an order
to make sure it was received and to check on the status of delivery.
What should I do if the information on the
invoice and the actual ticket order is not correct?
If you find that the ticket numbers don’t match or the quantity is not
correct, e-mail (preferred) or call the RARES office immediately so we can rectify the problem
and update our records.
Can my employees order
tickets online?
Yes.
Employees
may order tickets
online through the RARES web store in addition to ordering through the
mail. Please let your employees know that if they purchase tickets
online, there is an additional shipping and handling charge attached to
each order which represents that percentage of the transaction that we
must recoup from the credit card charges levied against RARES.
Remember, we offer
tickets to our members at cost. Credit card companies charge
anywhere from 3 1/2 to 5% when a credit card is used. We have to
recover these credit card fees in order to break even.
What
are the RARES office's hours of operation?
Our normal hours of operation are 9 am to
3 pm,
Monday thru Friday.
For individuals who are
looking for last minute tickets, we are often open after hours, weekends,
and on holidays. We STRONGLY suggest that you e-mail your last
minute request for tickets (if you call, we'll simply tell you to e-mail
us anyway). If we're able to fill your ticket request (and 90% of
the time we are), we'll e-mail you back pickup instructions.
Our office is located
in a residential neighborhood in Pittsford, off I-490 at the Bushnell's
Basin exit. We'll provide pickup instructions and how you can
deposit payment. Tickets are then available for pickup at ANY TIME
(and we do mean at any time) according to the directions we will provide
you BUT you must e-mail for pickup information. For security
reasons, we only provide directions and pickup instructions via e-mail and
not over the telephone.
Our aim is to make this
as convenient as possible for all of our members and we know that your
plans often change at the last minute.
How can
I contact the RARES office?
Our telephone # is (585) 503-8160. Our fax # is (585)
223-4055.
By mail, our office address is:
395 Garnsey Road,
Pittsford, NY 14534-4543
The primary point of contact is Brian Mount, Chief Executive Officer.
You may conveniently reach us via e-mail for most
questions at
rares@rochester.rr.com.
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RARES accepts the following types of payment for its online ticket
purchases:
   
Don't see an organization listed that you would like to see as a member of
RARES? The simplest way for us to recruit them is when you provide
that "warm referral." Providing information about RARES membership is
easy. Either leave behind a RARES ID card for the manager to follow-up
with (you can always obtain another from your HR/Benefits Rep at work), or
refer them to our web site. The
membership
button will lead them to everything that they need to know about becoming a
RARES member. And if they join and tell us that you were the reason
for their joining, then we'll offer you a
Referral Reward
of up to the cost of their membership (valued at up to $450 per referral). |
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