TGR
Well-Known Member
Even I can't believe this has happend after 47 years of supporting City...
On Wednesday I went on line for my semi-final ticket and also had 2 phones going into the ticket office to try and make sure I got my ticket.
I was left on hold for over 2 hours on both lines. No message telling you what number you are in the queue or approximately how long you had to wait before getting thru - oh no, we couldn't be that helpful now could we?
I got thru on the web, picked my ticket and went thru the pages online to pay.
After nearly 2 hours of staring at a message telling me not hit F5 or move away from the page as it was 'processing' I gave up. I still didn't have a ticket. The phones were still on hold telling me 'Your call is very important to us'...
Nothing else for it - I left work, got in my car and drove to the ticket office at the ground. Got there to be told 'sorry we don't have any semi-final tickets on the premises you have to order on the phone or on-line'. I explained my tale of woe...
However, there was nothing they could do... I asked could they give me a phone number of someone in the back office who could simply take the call and process my order? Sorry - no can do. A nice girl working behind the counter then took pity on me and helped me go online via their system and lo and behold I had my £60 quid semi-final ticket or at the very least a computer printout confirmation telling me I did! ! Or did I?..
Thursday afternoon circa 4.30pm....
I'm at work and my mobile rings... no number showing as it was 'blocked'. I don't usually answer such calls as like most people I'm sick of bogus PPI claims etc but for some reason I did answer it...
It was the ticket office at Manchester City - I was surprised!
A nice guy on the other end of the line then dropped the bombshell!
They would like to apoligise but the £60.00 FA Cup Semi-Final ticket I had purchased yesterday was not available! They had sold me a ticket they didn't have! So I asked what ticket did I have? 'None' came the reply - 'you don't have a ticket'! I started to think this was some kind of early April Fool's joke, I honestly did. But no it wasn't. Basically, they had 'made a mistake' and I had no ticket for the semi-final. So I asked him what did he suggest I do? His reply was go on-line or phone the ticket office and try and get another ticket and they would refund me £60.00 for the original ticket I no longer had. As you can imagine I was less than happy...
But OK - these things happen (but why always to me?!). I said OK lets get on with it and I'll buy another ticket whilst we are on the phone... Oh no - thats not possible - 'You will have to ring the ticket office'. So I said 'I thought you worked in the ticket office?' He replied 'I do' So I asked why couldn't he just take my credit card details and process the order for my semi-final ticket to replace the one I thought I had but now didn't? Sorry not possible! Either go online or ring the ticket office and order a new one and we will refund your credit card the £60.00 and goodbye... 'Whoaaaaa!' I said hang on a minute and immediately went online to buy another ticket. Guess what? I was not allowed to buy another ticket as I had already purchased one! I think it was at this stage when I started to lose it - just a little you understand, but I think you can see my point? I explained my problem to the guy from the ticket office (who couldn't take my order and suggested I ring the ticket office)... He put me on hold (oh no!). 2 minutes later he came back on the phone and told me he had fixed the problem with my account (as he was based in the ticket office) and I could now purchase one on-line. He was correct. I could. So I did. However, it was only a £50 quid ticket because as I well knew the £60.00 quid tickets had sold out.
I thanked him for his 'help' and we parted company. I printed off my my confirmation. I think I have a £50.00 ticket for the semi-final but until it arrives in the post and I actually have it my grubby little hand I'm not so sure...
I put down the receiver on the guy in the ticket office and said to myself 'Typical City!'. Its just in our DNA and it always will be. ;-)
On Wednesday I went on line for my semi-final ticket and also had 2 phones going into the ticket office to try and make sure I got my ticket.
I was left on hold for over 2 hours on both lines. No message telling you what number you are in the queue or approximately how long you had to wait before getting thru - oh no, we couldn't be that helpful now could we?
I got thru on the web, picked my ticket and went thru the pages online to pay.
After nearly 2 hours of staring at a message telling me not hit F5 or move away from the page as it was 'processing' I gave up. I still didn't have a ticket. The phones were still on hold telling me 'Your call is very important to us'...
Nothing else for it - I left work, got in my car and drove to the ticket office at the ground. Got there to be told 'sorry we don't have any semi-final tickets on the premises you have to order on the phone or on-line'. I explained my tale of woe...
However, there was nothing they could do... I asked could they give me a phone number of someone in the back office who could simply take the call and process my order? Sorry - no can do. A nice girl working behind the counter then took pity on me and helped me go online via their system and lo and behold I had my £60 quid semi-final ticket or at the very least a computer printout confirmation telling me I did! ! Or did I?..
Thursday afternoon circa 4.30pm....
I'm at work and my mobile rings... no number showing as it was 'blocked'. I don't usually answer such calls as like most people I'm sick of bogus PPI claims etc but for some reason I did answer it...
It was the ticket office at Manchester City - I was surprised!
A nice guy on the other end of the line then dropped the bombshell!
They would like to apoligise but the £60.00 FA Cup Semi-Final ticket I had purchased yesterday was not available! They had sold me a ticket they didn't have! So I asked what ticket did I have? 'None' came the reply - 'you don't have a ticket'! I started to think this was some kind of early April Fool's joke, I honestly did. But no it wasn't. Basically, they had 'made a mistake' and I had no ticket for the semi-final. So I asked him what did he suggest I do? His reply was go on-line or phone the ticket office and try and get another ticket and they would refund me £60.00 for the original ticket I no longer had. As you can imagine I was less than happy...
But OK - these things happen (but why always to me?!). I said OK lets get on with it and I'll buy another ticket whilst we are on the phone... Oh no - thats not possible - 'You will have to ring the ticket office'. So I said 'I thought you worked in the ticket office?' He replied 'I do' So I asked why couldn't he just take my credit card details and process the order for my semi-final ticket to replace the one I thought I had but now didn't? Sorry not possible! Either go online or ring the ticket office and order a new one and we will refund your credit card the £60.00 and goodbye... 'Whoaaaaa!' I said hang on a minute and immediately went online to buy another ticket. Guess what? I was not allowed to buy another ticket as I had already purchased one! I think it was at this stage when I started to lose it - just a little you understand, but I think you can see my point? I explained my problem to the guy from the ticket office (who couldn't take my order and suggested I ring the ticket office)... He put me on hold (oh no!). 2 minutes later he came back on the phone and told me he had fixed the problem with my account (as he was based in the ticket office) and I could now purchase one on-line. He was correct. I could. So I did. However, it was only a £50 quid ticket because as I well knew the £60.00 quid tickets had sold out.
I thanked him for his 'help' and we parted company. I printed off my my confirmation. I think I have a £50.00 ticket for the semi-final but until it arrives in the post and I actually have it my grubby little hand I'm not so sure...
I put down the receiver on the guy in the ticket office and said to myself 'Typical City!'. Its just in our DNA and it always will be. ;-)