[cite]Posted By: SXAddick[/cite]Reply from Steve Waggott to my complaint earlier in this thread:
Geoff
Thank you for your letter, blah blah blah, I have checked our accounts and can confirm we know you will continue to pump money into this club no matter what we do. Therefore I have no interest in you or your complaint, although I might see you at Wembley if you manage to get a ticket - look out for me in the posh seats.
Regards
Great credit to the staff who somehow managed a 5 hour sell out of tickets. They must have worked their socks off.
Demand was high, no surprise. But it's precisely because demand was bound to be high that the staff should have had some help, and priority sales to 'the deserving' would have helped to stagger their workload. Wrong on every count as far as I'm concerned.
Someone at our club should take a visit to clubs like Man Utd, Leeds, Newcastle and see how they cope with their sale of in-demand away tickets. We have it once in a blue moon, but how do these clubs cope with this every other week?
[cite]Posted By: SXAddick[/cite]Reply from Steve Waggott to my complaint earlier in this thread:
.............and will internally evaluate the decision making process in an attempt to reduce some of the issues that have arisen from today but I reiterate that we were faced with the very difficult task of balancing the ticket allocation received from Swindon with the high level of demand from our supporters......................
Regards
Steve Waggott
Chief Executive
Charlton Athletic Football Club
What a load of management speak cobblers.
Translated it means, "Oooops, we've cocked it up and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again"
That's at least the third time I've heard the Club say that. And to call it a 'very difficult task' is just a cop out - it's not; there were only 2,000 tickets for God sake. 24/7 should have been working with the ticket office staff on Sunday and put aside sets of tickets for those they can easily prioritise through the computer ticketing system - at least 500 should have been taken out of the system for those that have been to (say) 10 or more away games this season, and given them until 5pm today to purchase them.
It should have been ONE ticket per ST holder.
And some people have been moaning at Seth for his posts on questioning the worth of 24/7.
'Demand was incredibly high' the problem is that the club made this happened, if there where some restrictions, then there would have been a steady flow over the week, instead we get a free for all for 5 hours. I've a season ticket since sellout days, VG also, been to Harlepool, Carlise, Yeovil, Exeter to name a few.
Wasn't sure about going yesterday morning, sorting out work and sorting travel, the decision has been made for me.
Going to watch it down the pub.
My friend told me last night that they didn't even have breaks for the loo and worked flat out from about 8.45 till 5. Well done them all who don't even have ticket selling in their job descriptions. That's what I miss about working for cafc. The people that mucked in and helped others for the love of the club.
[cite]Posted By: suzisausage[/cite]My friend told me last night that they didn't even have breaks for the loo and worked flat out from about 8.45 till 5. Well done them all who don't even have ticket selling in their job descriptions. That's what I miss about working for cafc. The people that mucked in and helped others for the love of the club.
"The logistics meant we were simply unable to put in place the measures we would have done had we had greater notice of the precise nature of the match, which could have seen us face four other opponents.
"The timescale and resources required for home sales didn't allow it, though, and introducing different levels of restrictions in a short space of time would have made the process too complicated."
I agree that the staff working the ticket office should get praise. They must have worked hard and probably are now open to abusive comments from unhappy punters.
So Steve Waggot replies to the fan's letter, Steve Kavanagh replies on the website.
Who's decision was it to both allocate and sell these tickets? There must be one person who is responsible for some of our most loyal fans over the past 15-25 years missing out on one of the most vital games in our recent history?
[cite]Posted By: WSS[/cite]"The logistics meant we were simply unable to put in place the measures we would have done had we had greater notice of the precise nature of the match, which could have seen us face four other opponents.
I just don't get why it is so difficult.
Me neither. The excuse given there falls down immediately when you see that Huddersfield managed to sort out a priority system in less than 24 hours for their game at Millwall.
I know you said yesterday they've got 3 more days to sell tickets as their away leg is on tuesday but they had priorities in place for sales on Sunday, a day quicker than we did.
Leeds have by far the simplest and fairest ticketing system.
basically they run a red card type system, but run it properly on an individual basis. this way they know how many people have been to 5+ games, 6+ games etc.
when they recieve the allocation, say it's our 3,200, they look to see where that figure falls. ie if 3,400 have been to 9+ matches but 2,700 have been to 10+ matches then those with 10+ on their red cards get the opportunity to buy ONE ticket. then after a set time it moves to the 9+ people And so on.
not sure how it works a the start of the season, but the emphasis is on 1 ticket to one card holder and accurate recording of sales to those cards.
[cite]Posted By: suzisausage[/cite]My friend told me last night that they didn't even have breaks for the loo and worked flat out from about 8.45 till 5. Well done them all who don't even have ticket selling in their job descriptions. That's what I miss about working for cafc. The people that mucked in and helped others for the love of the club.
did they have a bucket under their desks then..;o)
[cite]Posted By: Chris_from_Sidcup[/cite]I know you said yesterday they've got 3 more days to sell tickets as their away leg is on tuesday but they had priorities in place for sales on Sunday, a day quicker than we did.
That was completely tongue in cheek though. Bottom line is we should be able to cope.
Mr Kavanagh said the short space of time would have made the process too complicated, however this shocking scenario could have been avoided, by doing something similar
Monday: One ticket only for Season Ticket, Valley Gold Members and Red Card holders who have been bought tickets for at least four different away fixtures this season (Up to the maximum number purchased)
Tuesday: Season Ticket holders and Valley Gold members, One Ticket each
Wednesday: Season Ticket Holders. One Ticket each.
Thursday: General Sale
Personal applications only from Wednesday.
How difficult would the above been able to put into practise?
Surely it wouldn't matter which opponents we had? A system could have put in place to enable those who are the most loyal fans to ensure they had first dips on the tickets, wherever we may have been playing? We knew at 5pm on Saturday night who we would be playing.
So at 6pm Saturday night a simple E Mail to the ticket office from a senior manager could have said.....
"Right everybody; sales at the box office for home match tickets only, the Swindon away game sales to be by telephone only. Filter incoming telephone calls by having a push button 'x' system for the following categories. Check peoples authenticity by using our ticketing database.
1) put aside 500 tickets for ST holders who have been to a minimum of 10 away games this season, to be sold by 5pm on Tuesday. Any left over to go to 3) below. This will mean we have 16 hours to sell to people who push the '1' button
2) put aside 1000 tickets for ST holders who have been to a minimum of 5 away games this season, to be sold by 5pm on Tuesday. Any left over to go to 3) below. This means we have 16 hours to sell to people who push the '2' button
3) put aside the remaining 500 tickets, plus those left over from 1) and 2) above, to season ticket holders, who are also VG members to go on sale from Wednesday from 9.00am until noon.
4) Any tickets left over to be only sold from the box office from noon on Wednesday to ST holders only. First coe first served.
One ticket per person only please.
Get this up on the website by midnight and inform all ticket office staff tomorrow (Sunday) what the process is. Hopefully it will make it a straightforward couple of days for them and all the deserving Charlton fans who require tickets for Swindon will get them".
Point of order; the following promise was made to purchasers of the 5 year ST's.
"VIPs will also be entitled to priority to away tickets when sales are restricted and will join Valley Gold members and regular away purchasers in the highest advertised category. Like Valley Gold members, they will normally be entitled to buy one adult and one junior ticket."
We both subscribed to the 5 year ST's but were unable to get tickets for Swindon away.
Not happy one bit would have liked to have gone to the away leg and now although I am a season ticket holder (and have bought a 5 year one already) my seat for the home game is already gone (according to the website ticket thing) and I cannot get a ticket.
The website keeps crashing, the phone cuts me off due to it being overloaded and I live/work too far from SE7 to get up there in person
Comments
Man Utd 94 once again.
Demand was high, no surprise. But it's precisely because demand was bound to be high that the staff should have had some help, and priority sales to 'the deserving' would have helped to stagger their workload. Wrong on every count as far as I'm concerned.
What a load of management speak cobblers.
Translated it means, "Oooops, we've cocked it up and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again"
That's at least the third time I've heard the Club say that. And to call it a 'very difficult task' is just a cop out - it's not; there were only 2,000 tickets for God sake. 24/7 should have been working with the ticket office staff on Sunday and put aside sets of tickets for those they can easily prioritise through the computer ticketing system - at least 500 should have been taken out of the system for those that have been to (say) 10 or more away games this season, and given them until 5pm today to purchase them.
It should have been ONE ticket per ST holder.
And some people have been moaning at Seth for his posts on questioning the worth of 24/7.
Personally, after this, I think he is spot on.
Wasn't sure about going yesterday morning, sorting out work and sorting travel, the decision has been made for me.
Going to watch it down the pub.
"The timescale and resources required for home sales didn't allow it, though, and introducing different levels of restrictions in a short space of time would have made the process too complicated."
I just don't get why it is so difficult.
Who's decision was it to both allocate and sell these tickets? There must be one person who is responsible for some of our most loyal fans over the past 15-25 years missing out on one of the most vital games in our recent history?
Me neither. The excuse given there falls down immediately when you see that Huddersfield managed to sort out a priority system in less than 24 hours for their game at Millwall.
I know you said yesterday they've got 3 more days to sell tickets as their away leg is on tuesday but they had priorities in place for sales on Sunday, a day quicker than we did.
basically they run a red card type system, but run it properly on an individual basis. this way they know how many people have been to 5+ games, 6+ games etc.
when they recieve the allocation, say it's our 3,200, they look to see where that figure falls. ie if 3,400 have been to 9+ matches but 2,700 have been to 10+ matches then those with 10+ on their red cards get the opportunity to buy ONE ticket. then after a set time it moves to the 9+ people And so on.
not sure how it works a the start of the season, but the emphasis is on 1 ticket to one card holder and accurate recording of sales to those cards.
did they have a bucket under their desks then..;o)
Monday: One ticket only for Season Ticket, Valley Gold Members and Red Card holders who have been bought tickets for at least four different away fixtures this season (Up to the maximum number purchased)
Tuesday: Season Ticket holders and Valley Gold members, One Ticket each
Wednesday: Season Ticket Holders. One Ticket each.
Thursday: General Sale
Personal applications only from Wednesday.
How difficult would the above been able to put into practise?
Surely it wouldn't matter which opponents we had? A system could have put in place to enable those who are the most loyal fans to ensure they had first dips on the tickets, wherever we may have been playing? We knew at 5pm on Saturday night who we would be playing.
So at 6pm Saturday night a simple E Mail to the ticket office from a senior manager could have said.....
"Right everybody; sales at the box office for home match tickets only, the Swindon away game sales to be by telephone only. Filter incoming telephone calls by having a push button 'x' system for the following categories. Check peoples authenticity by using our ticketing database.
1) put aside 500 tickets for ST holders who have been to a minimum of 10 away games this season, to be sold by 5pm on Tuesday. Any left over to go to 3) below. This will mean we have 16 hours to sell to people who push the '1' button
2) put aside 1000 tickets for ST holders who have been to a minimum of 5 away games this season, to be sold by 5pm on Tuesday. Any left over to go to 3) below. This means we have 16 hours to sell to people who push the '2' button
3) put aside the remaining 500 tickets, plus those left over from 1) and 2) above, to season ticket holders, who are also VG members to go on sale from Wednesday from 9.00am until noon.
4) Any tickets left over to be only sold from the box office from noon on Wednesday to ST holders only. First coe first served.
One ticket per person only please.
Get this up on the website by midnight and inform all ticket office staff tomorrow (Sunday) what the process is. Hopefully it will make it a straightforward couple of days for them and all the deserving Charlton fans who require tickets for Swindon will get them".
"VIPs will also be entitled to priority to away tickets when sales are restricted and will join Valley Gold members and regular away purchasers in the highest advertised category. Like Valley Gold members, they will normally be entitled to buy one adult and one junior ticket."
We both subscribed to the 5 year ST's but were unable to get tickets for Swindon away.
So wrong wrong wrong! Unlucky SA and I hope someone can sort you out two tickets.
The website keeps crashing, the phone cuts me off due to it being overloaded and I live/work too far from SE7 to get up there in person