u/Slizmo

Fellow STHs — has anyone dealt with this? Curious if others have had the same experience.

I was previously enrolled in the Cardinals season ticket installment plan for the previous year. The first installment was charged on February 13, 2025. This year, it was charged in December 2025 — roughly two months earlier — with no notice and no updated agreement from me.

I did not authorize this charge. When I discovered it, I immediately removed my credit card from my profile. No games have been played (obviously). No tickets have been delivered or used.

When I raised this, their position was that having a card on file was sufficient authorization. And that they couldn't refund me the money. COUGH IT UP BIDWELL. I've since opted out of my tickets entirely and am disputing the charge.

My question for this sub: has anyone else got charged and then opt out without reimbursement for unprovided product? And does anyone know if this is disclosed anywhere in the STH agreement — because I never received notice of a schedule change.

Also curious whether anyone has had luck getting a refund in a situation like this, or gone through the AG's office or a chargeback. (which i plan to do)

10 years in digital, 8 in paid media — stuck at a crossroads between PPC Director vs. something broader. Would love some perspective. ALSO NOT looking for work, just advice, people who have gone through this, or are in the same boat.

I've been in paid media for 8 years, managing for the last 2-3. On paper I'm a PPC manager, but my actual skill set has drifted pretty far outside of just running campaigns.

I'm comfortable with:

- Offline conversion tracking & enhanced conversions for leads, calls, purchases, damn near anything there is PII.

- First-party data strategy and CRM integrations (getting data *in* and *out* of native platforms), and customized too (Servicetitan, Acculynx, Salesforce, etc, all different, I know the tips and tricks RELATIVE to digital marketing)

- Google Ads API, automation, and custom app scripts (vibes mainly)

- Full loop attribution and tracking, Callrail, CTM, Liine, form builders, UTMs, sessions referrers, etc

- Data pipelines — moving away from CRM dependency entirely and thinking about where data lives and how it flows

The problem: when I interview for Director roles, I'm often sitting across from VPs or CEOs who don't really understand what my key differentiators (technical knowledge, attribution models, etc). To demonstrate my value I'd essentially need to bring a developer or IT person into the room with me.

So I'm at a fork in the road:

Option A: Keep pushing toward PPC/Paid Media Director. Own the technical depth as a differentiator and find companies mature enough to appreciate it. But struggle with some interviewers who think im Charlie Day with red twine.

Option B: Reframe entirely. My skill set is arguably closer to marketing ops, revenue operations, or growth engineering at this point — roles that might pay better and have clearer paths forward than "senior PPC person."

Has anyone navigated this? Did the technical depth eventually open doors, or did you have to reframe your identity to get credit for what you actually know?