Burnley Tickets

[blue phil]

We normally have about 18-20k home fans for an average league game. There's no way there will be any less than that for this game. The only question is whether we can sell the extra 4-5k tickets.

I'm bloody sure we can , probably by tomorrow - but hopefully not until they've sorted my postal application out

[Paul]

I doubt if anyone is "shouting from the rooftops".

You are.

[jim mk2]

What certainly is NOT the job of the Chief Exec of Rovers is coming up with hair brained schemes OR thowing pots of money needlessly away, in order to ease queueing time by a few minutes, for an event which may or may not occur again this side of the year 2050.

Since when has asking staff to man a telephone, take supporters' credit card details and reserve a seat, been a hare-brained scheme ?

In the words of Yosser Hughes, "I could do that".

[jim mk2]

I doubt if anyone is "shouting from the rooftops".

You are.

Really ? I thought I was complaining about poor service.

[mhead]

Latest Sales figures Mr.Grooby.

I know you're in there somewhere.

[den]

17000 sold by the end of today, with 5000 to go over Sat, Sun and all day Monday.

They seem to be shifting 5000 a day, so all should be well. Unless, of course, some gave up and wont come back.

[Paul]

OK Jim, I give up, safe in the knowledge I am and will remain a very satisfied customer and fan of Blackburn Rovers. I have other stuff to do.....

[Lee]

Latest Sales figures Mr.Grooby.

I know you're in there somewhere.

Sorry, but I'd rather let the ticket office get on with the job of trying to shift tickets rather than bugging them for latest numbers, plus I'm unable to ring downstairs to find out as they are all on the phones!

Tickets are selling at an average of 4000 a day currently, which probably explains the 13000 figure that the LET used, and the 5000 left to sell after today as the sellout figure will be somewhere in the 2900s

[Tris]

I doubt if anyone is "shouting from the rooftops".

You are.

Really ? I thought I was complaining about poor service.

Given the logistics of allocating 23,000 seats to 23,000 people in 7 days, by post, by phone and in person, with some seats reserved for 4 (now 5) of those 7 days, just what exactly are people expecting in terms of customer service.

You can't compare that with Tescos.

It would be more reasonable to compare it with the U2 concerts which recently went on sale. Fans of U2 expected a struggle to get tickets, hours on phones, crashing internet sites. They expected it to be dog eat dog and the most determined would get tickets.

No reward for previous attendance - that's also the entertainment business and those people are customers as we are.

Likewise for tennis fans who queue for days / nights on end to get into Wimbledon - with the added torture of watching strawberry munchers waltz past them day after day, with the All England Club happily taking their corporate dollar whilst the real fans (customers) sit on the pavements.

You can look at any major event where fans create a demand for tickets, and those fans will accept that a little discomfort may be required to secure their places - West End musicals, film premieres, the lot.

So we come to Blackburn Rovers, in one of the biggest fixtures they can possibly play in, and people are trying to create a "customer service" furore out of absolutely nothing.

People who could have avoided ANY queue by putting two stamps on two envelopes. People who want to charge the club the cost of waiting on the phone for 90 minutes because 20 thousand other people are trying to buy the same tickets at the same time.

It's ridiculous. Look at the numbers involved, accept the facts and just deal with it.

[SuperStella]

...we are not gonna sell out because of the fiasco that is our ticket office.

[stuwilky]

It would be more reasonable to compare it with the U2 concerts which recently went on sale. Fans of U2 expected a struggle to get tickets, hours on phones, crashing internet sites. They expected it to be dog eat dog and the most determined would get tickets.

And I managed to get them as soon as they want on sale as well.

Does that make me lucky?

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Lets look on the bright side - in the time that Burnley sold 7k, we sold 13k

[den]

Good post Tris. The thing is Rovers are in a customer satisfaction business. 1/1.5 hr queues or 90 minute phone bills are avoidable. There are ways to improve the service and just saying "that's the way it is, so what?" really isn't the way to go.

I've said a few times the situation is unacceptable - that sounds like it's moaning, it's not. A proper business will look at the problems and deal with them. It's not for the customers to "deal with the problems".

What that means in essence, is that waiting times both in a queue outside the ticket office or on the end of a phone line, must be reduced to a reasonable level.

Edited February 25, 2005 by den

[American]

I doubt if anyone is "shouting from the rooftops".

You are.

Really ? I thought I was complaining about poor service.

Can you give us the specific poor service that you, Customer Jim, received? I'm betting you were smart enough to post for your tickets with little hassle and just want to take more pops at Williams.

And Roaming, you not operating on people due to the lack of surgeons. You sir, are villanous!

[roversWASmylife]

Fingers crossed it will be a sell out, I know a few friends who are going down tomorrow morning to get them, first chance they had.

I'd like to think the fans who are coming who don't often come, if they get to see a change in the performance and style of the side, since Souness left, it be nice to see those fans back, wouldn't be surprised if they did if we managed to get a good result on Tuesday.

No matter how you slate the phone/queueing system, I was actually impressed with it.

I was 89th in the queue on Thursday morning, and got through in just under an hour and half, so people were getting dealt with very quickly considering.

It would be great to see a full house at Ewood, especially for this game.

Hopefully we'll make more noise than that lot.

[Tris]

Good post Tris. The thing is Rovers are in a customer satisfaction business. 1/1.5 hr queues or 90 minute phone bills are avoidable. There are ways to improve the service and just saying "that's the way it is, so what?" really isn't the way to go.

I've said a few times the situation is unacceptable - that sounds like it's moaning, it's not. A proper business will look at the problems and deal with them. It's not for the customers to "deal with the problems".

What that means in essence, is that waiting times both in a queue outside the ticket office or on the end of a phone line, must be reduced to a reasonable level.

But Den, there are problems and there's being realistic.

In effect, Rovers have to make 23,000 sales in a limited time, to thousands of people who are desperate to complete their own transactions as soon as they can.

Rovers could have employed 100 temps to "man the phones" as Jim puts it. But it's not that simple. There probably aren't 100 spare PCs available on which to install the database and ticket software.

There probably aren't 100 temps who could have been recruited and trained to use the software in the 24 hours between the draw at Burnley and tickets going on sale.

Despite Jim's protestations, there aren't even spare staff hanging around at Ewood Park who can suddenly abandon their own jobs - and you can be sure that those who ARE around will be helping prepare for the game in whatever way is needed, be that in the TO or elsewhere.

And even if they had managed to find 100 extra bodies, PCs, trained them and set them up - there would still have been queueing times because of the magnitude of the task and the timeframe.

A couple of years ago for the Celtic away leg, I remember spending 4 HOURS pressing redial, redial, redial on two phones, and hearing the engaged tone thousands of times. I'm sure many people did the same.

It's the same for any popular event - sport, music, theatre - and everyone wanting to attend recognises that there may be some pain in obtaining tickets - except it seems certain Rovers fans!!

Well, Rovers have improved things since Celtic by getting in software which can handle larger call volumes, keeps people informed and warns them of the time they will be waiting - I've not even heard an engaged tone this week!!

But they still get slated - can they ever win??

Edited February 25, 2005 by Tris

[USABlue]

I was 89th in the queue on Thursday morning, and got through in just under an hour and half, so people were getting dealt with very quickly considering.

About a minute per customer, that is really not bad at all. In fact given the time I have spent on phones booking things and paying for things it's really pretty bloody good.

[thenodrog]

It would be more reasonable to compare it with the U2 concerts which recently went on sale. Fans of U2 expected a struggle to get tickets, hours on phones, crashing internet sites. They expected it to be dog eat dog and the most determined would get tickets.

No reward for previous attendance - that's also the entertainment business and those people are customers as we are.

Likewise for tennis fans who queue for days / nights on end to get into Wimbledon

U2? Wimbledon? Thats small beer Tris.

What about fans of Daniel O'Donnell..................?

[roversWASmylife]

Exactly.

Initially when I phoned up I wasn't the happiest being 89th, but there you go.

On the phone line it says if you're after position 40th in the queue you are looking up to a wait for over an hour.

To be dealt with in the time, considering the position I was in, well done to the ticket office, they improved a hell of a lot.

[mjs]

...we are not gonna sell out because of the fiasco that is our ticket office.

If we don't sell out it won't be the fault of the ticket office, it will be because not enough people buy tickets ... simple as.

And as for Jmk2 turning his hate campaign to John Williams now that Souness has gone - pathetic.

Personally I think JW has done a fantastic job for BRFC. There are alot of players at this club who have been paid twice as much as him and have given **** all back for it.

[Scotty]

In effect, Rovers have to make 23,000 sales in a limited time, to thousands of people who are desperate to complete their own transactions as soon as they can.

And yet initially it seems Rovers did absolutely nothing different to meet that demand. From the outside it looks like they were prepared to let their normal processes and procedures handle the situation - processes and procedures that are normally used to handling no more than 5000 sales a week.

It doesn't take a lot of foresight to see that something extra was required in this case. A few extra operators, longer opening hours, on-line ticketing, whatever. Unfortunately though it looks like Rovers have reacted to the demand rather than been proactive, and if that prevents even a single fan attending the game that otherwise would have then it's one fan too many.

[des]

Has someone who cannot make it tuesday, thats more tickets for everyone else I think that by and large the staff have done the best there can.

However while I understand how the office cannot be opened 24 hr, ie safely of the paying fans, I cannot not understand why the phones cannot be staffed 24 hr with the fans being told that this is going to happen.

The outcome of this is that the wait would not be as long, and people can phone in their none working hours. even if it meant having less lines open but staffed longer, it would help a lot

Have a great night out on tuedsay and be safe the thought of 7,000 away fans around the ground could lead to problems

Edited February 25, 2005 by des

[Hasta]

...we are not gonna sell out because of the fiasco that is our ticket office.

If there's 3000 tickets left on Sunday and no queues at Ewood will you accept its the apathy and general lack of interest of our 'fans' or will you try to spin the yarn that everyone got fed up with the situation during the week and had lost all interest / refused to go on Sunday??

[trueblue]

Tickets ordered Tuesday afternoon.. still not arrived yet ... come on postie ! 

It is snowing.....give us a break!!!

Why? are you a postie too?

Probably regret this but......Yes

Yer doin' a grand job mate

Can I take that back please???? It's Friday evening now, and I still aint received my ticket our bloody postie must be buried in a snow-drift somewhere

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

...we are not gonna sell out because of the fiasco that is our ticket office.

If there's 3000 tickets left on Sunday and no queues at Ewood will you accept its the apathy and general lack of interest of our 'fans' or will you try to spin the yarn that everyone got fed up with the situation during the week and had lost all interest / refused to go on Sunday??

3 days to shift -5,000 tickets is NOT too much to ask.

Agreed,I'm afraid we have NO excuse if we dont sell out for this huge game Hasta.