beehive_bob said:stadiumcat said:I have had a few bad and good exchanges with the ticket office and there are some really good guys and girls that work there, but there are also some Muppets.
I f they were not working with a captive cliental (which we are) they would rapidly loose a lot of business.
If a ticket sales business were to come in and take over the operation on behalf of the club I am convinced within a few months things would improve vastly. At present there is no tension in the system for them, no competitive edge okay they have deadlines and customers to serve, but no competition. An attitude of ‘Got it wrong! Okay we will put it right’; should not be tolerated, is anybody accountable for errors? It seems not and an attitude of ‘move on nothing to see here, more customers to serve’ seems to prevail.
It is interesting that from the clubs point of view one of the main interfaces between the club and the fans does not have its own feedback section or means of making complaints/suggestions. Okay you can phone up or email but just to the general numbers/contact address how are these logged? Okay action may be taken but it’s not easy for fans to do this, is any analysis done of this to aid continual improvement. Not from where I am sat, they seem to hang hopes on the next bit of technology being the magic bullet, from past and present performances they end up with it being late not working fully when introduced etc. For a club that is making magnificent strides elsewhere customer service from the ticket office leaves a lot to be desired. Like most long standing City fans I have an internal cringe/dread every time I have to interface with them and come away relieved when all goes well.
Rant over I feel better now :)
Had a wry chuckle at that last bit - nail on head for me.
Not tarring all staff with the same brush because at the end of the day it's up to whoever's in charge to ensure that the staff are getting things right, consistently. I don't think anyone will criticise the occasional error, but for far too long it's been far more than occasional errors, and about a huge range of different issues. Just in the last few months, some frustrations I've seen have included:
- Omitting people from one or more cup schemes despite clear requests to join
errors in adding loyalty points/not being clear when loyalty points are added
- not thinking things through properly in terms of sales dates
- not being able to get through on the telephone
- online ticketing not working/delayed
- leaving it to the very last minute to send tickets out
- changing information on the website without making clear that it's been changed e.g. the terms of membership information this summer
- uncertainty about whether seasoncard holders will be able to claim their own seat for cup games
I've had to e-mail the club on a number of occasions. It's a shame that they don't realise that if they provided better service, then they wouldn't have to spend time dealing with loads of e-mails from fans chasing things up and complaining about things, which in turn delays things even more. Even acknowledging that we're a "captive" market, you would have thought it'd make their, and our, lives a little easier.
Is there a fans' rep who meets with the club regularly e.g. do Points Of Blue meetings cover these issues? If not, is it worth compiling a list on here of common issues and offer constructive criticism of what the most important issues for fans are and where the club can improve things?
Vic said:Has anyone who's had to move for the Napoli game actually been told their new seat without having to ring up and ask?
LoveCity said:Vic said:Has anyone who's had to move for the Napoli game actually been told their new seat without having to ring up and ask?
I just got an email from supporter services - had to ask Danny Wilson to help out and he contacted them for me as they never replied to my other emails.
They said the reason my seat has not been processed and me charged is because it is not available for UEFA champions league matches (I'm in row B so have to move).
They then said supporters affected by these regulations were contacted via email asking which preference they would prefer for their relocated seat... except I wasn't emailed and am probably not the only one. I haven't been told yet where my seat is but assume I'll be told when it is all processed.
So if I hadn't followed up on my fear I'd probably have been locked out despite being in the CL scheme. I was told my ticket will be processed by Monday, does that mean those relocated will be getting paper tickets or will we use our normal season cards?
Eccles Blue said:Whereabouts in the stadium are you on row B (sorry if you have said earlier in the thread) I ask because I sit in CB lower tier Row A and on the website it says my ticket has been allocated there and I have been charged but I had this niggle that the first couple of rows for Champions League might not be available and someone else has sent me a text message asking where I have been moved to!!!
LoveCity said:Eccles Blue said:Whereabouts in the stadium are you on row B (sorry if you have said earlier in the thread) I ask because I sit in CB lower tier Row A and on the website it says my ticket has been allocated there and I have been charged but I had this niggle that the first couple of rows for Champions League might not be available and someone else has sent me a text message asking where I have been moved to!!!
I'm in East Stand, Block 102, row B (2nd row), and the email said:
"Certain areas of the ground are taken away from our seating allocation by UEFA for various reasons. In your case, the larger Advertisement boards we have to use for Champions League matches will obstruct the view in your usual seat. This will apply to all future Champions League fixtures at the Etihad Stadium."
It sounds like the ad boards will wrap all around the stadium?
JGL07 said:My Blue Card arrived on Saturday, in the nick of time, or so I thought.
I don't get to Manchester very much as I live in Edinburgh.
I have a trip coming to Bristol for a Conference Monday to Wednesday and another to Salford for a another Conference week on Monday to Tuesday. I decided to do them as a round trip giving me a free weekend in Manchester. Better still City had a rare 3:00pm Saturday match against Wigan.
I had just booked my trains and hotels when the post came and the card arrived. I logged on straight away to get a ticket. There were very few left. I made a selection and then tried to pay. Nothing happened. I thought it was a browser problem and switched from Opera to Chrome. This produced a different error. I tried with Firefox and Explorer but no joy.
I kept trying throughout the evening. The only thing that changed was the diminishing number of tickets available. Eventually I gave up and tried phoning up on Sunday.
Despite warnings of a 45-minute wait, I got through in about 15 minutes and was able to book a seat. This cost me extra because of the £2.50 surcharge and because the NW Corner tickets were more expensive.
No complaints about the telephone service once I got through, as the guy was very helpful, but a 15-minute wait is rather long. I suspect that many were put of by the warnings of a 45-minute wait.
It appears that the whole box office is buckling under the strain of selling home and away tickets for the PL and CL matches. It is likely to get worse before it gets better especially of the internet booking system is going to melt-down whenever the pressure is on.