FAO TRACEY OR SHAUN LOCKWOOD

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Tracey or Shaun

Tracey, you informed me on here on Friday that as of 9am this morning I would be able to buy 2 tickets for Brentford away ONLINE.  Today is the day they are supposed to be on general sale.

This has proved as I predicted NOT to be the case.  I logged in at 9am on the dot.  Tried to buy a ticket, and I need to be a season ticket holder or member.  Ok I thought, logged out and logged back in again, still need to be a ST holder or member.  I tried up until 9.30 with this being the case.  Then tickets disappear completley.  Then they come back again, but I STILL need to be a ST holder.  This is STILL the case at 9.56am.

I even tried fo ring up but low and behold the mailbox is FULL so I cant even do that.

Can someone please provide an explanation into this ultimate faliure in the online ticketing system.  I live 238 miles away so I'm sorry I couldnt camp outside the front door like others.  I know that GazLaz is in the same boat working in London.

I know that a lot of improvements have been made in the last 12 months but things like this REALLY let the club down again!!

[GazLaz]

It's a farce. I never had this problem getting tickets for Forset Green away.

[Bald Rover]

sorry but if there were 100 tickets available and 50 people queing from early hours its obvious where those tickets will go? if Id sat outside from say 2am and Tracey opened the door and said sorry guys all tickets have been sold to those on the phones Id be a bit miffed!! It was bound to happen!

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

sorry but if there were 100 tickets available and 50 people queing from early hours its obvious where those tickets will go? if Id sat outside from say 2am and Tracey opened the door and said sorry guys all tickets have been sold to those on the phones Id be a bit miffed!! It was bound to happen!

So why even say they will be available online?  Whats the point of the system?

May as well have put on the official site that you can only get a ticket if you camp out from 6am at the office.

If Tracey had said that tickets on general sale WOULDNT be available for online purchase then fair enough.  But this wasnt the case.

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Tracey clearley states on the thread below that they would be available online.

http://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=238789.msg327758#msg327758

[Bald Rover]

Im sure tracey would have told you that the tickets would be available as she probably expected at the time tickets would be there?

Have you ever thought we may have had a lot sold Saturday?

[GazLaz]

They should have had half for online and half for the ticket office.

[Bald Rover]

She states the remainder of the tickets would be available online....remainder is a broad term lots of things change? maybe they didnt have as many left as they thought, maybe they didnt expect 50 people queing maybe there were 20 before you on the phones? I do feel for you (I did try and upgrade my two under 11s tickets) which could have been available to you, unfortunately that wasnt allowed Im sure Tracey would have been as fair as she could be.......Ive always found her to be very helpful, unfortunately with limited numbers someone will be dissapointed, dont think its fair to blame Tracey!

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

I honestly dont care how many were left, but dont say a service can be provided if it cant.

You can even log in to the online ticketing system now and Brentford is STILL there.  And it STILL says you need to be a ST holder or member.  Its 10.28 and theyve sold out FFS!

It just shows the system is a faliure.

I predicted this would happen and I was told by Tracey that tickets would be available for me to buy at 9am.  They WERE NOT!  And I'd like to know why thats all

[Bald Rover]

I honestly dont care how many were left, but dont say a service can be provided if it cant.

You can even log in to the online ticketing system now and Brentford is STILL there.  And it STILL says you need to be a ST holder or member.  Its 10.28 and theyve sold out FFS!

It just shows the system is a faliure.

I predicted this would happen and I was told by Tracey that tickets would be available for me to buy at 9am.  They WERE NOT!  And I'd like to know why thats all

because demand was greater than supply?

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

I honestly dont care how many were left, but dont say a service can be provided if it cant.

You can even log in to the online ticketing system now and Brentford is STILL there.  And it STILL says you need to be a ST holder or member.  Its 10.28 and theyve sold out FFS!

It just shows the system is a faliure.

I predicted this would happen and I was told by Tracey that tickets would be available for me to buy at 9am.  They WERE NOT!  And I'd like to know why thats all

because demand was greater than supply?

But for some of us there wasn't even the option of any supply

[The L J Monk]

I understand that prior to the Brentford game there will now be a one minute silence for Belle-Vue-Ghost.

To absent friends...

[Bald Rover]

I honestly dont care how many were left, but dont say a service can be provided if it cant.

You can even log in to the online ticketing system now and Brentford is STILL there.  And it STILL says you need to be a ST holder or member.  Its 10.28 and theyve sold out FFS!

It just shows the system is a faliure.

I predicted this would happen and I was told by Tracey that tickets would be available for me to buy at 9am.  They WERE NOT!  And I'd like to know why thats all

because demand was greater than supply?

But for some of us there wasn't even the option of any supply

Got to disagree with you here!!

The tickets were made available to Season Ticket holders first....If you were a st holder  you had the option of supply....if you arent for whatever reason a st holder then Im afraid its pot luck?

[dunscroftdave]

I liked the Forest Green comment - so if you have only been following Rovers since those 'heady' days of Forest Green you all know full well that you were never going to get tickets any other way than to camp out like others did. The ticket office can't handle internet, telephone AND people in person all at once for 100 ish tickets and were never going to cope with this anyway if they had tried. ANY seasoned, scarred and mentally tortured Rovers fan reading this thread must have known last night that there was no way it was going to go smoothly and the only way was not to edge your bets on the telephone or online system. With so few tickets available, I don't think that the ticket office could win either way, so I believe that it should have been made clear that the small amount of tickets left over would be ticket office only (and not online/telephone). If there had been lots left, fair enough, but with only so few left over, I fear that false hope was given to all of those dreamers, philosophers and eternal optimists that anything Rovers related would EVER go smooth (on or off the pitch).

Its probably worth mentioning that there are some good deals and options on season tickets for adults/kids/families to avoid disappointment next time....

[IDM]

I agree with BVG here.

Either tickets are available online, or they are not.  Perhaps out of the remaining hundred or so tickets this morning, a proportion could have been put up for online sales, say until lunchtime, then any unsold online go back to the KM?

I would like to ask the TO staff, who incidentally I have no problem with whatsoever, how do they prioritise telephone sales vs TO purchases?

Let's say, just after 9 today there is one ticket left and the phone is ringing just as someone approaches the sales window?  Who gets the ticket? Is there a protocol to decide this?

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

DunscroftDave

I agree with a large part of what you have said.  As previously stated I live over 200 miles away so a ST would not benifit me.

I wound have no gripe whatsoever if I had logged on, tried to buy a ticket, but the site was really slow because of the demand.  But this wasnt the case.  Tickets are on general sale to everyone else, but to me buying online i have to be a ST holder or a member.  THAT is my gripe.

[ditch_drfc]

At the end of the day, ticket office sales come first. If you've camped outside the ticket office since 5 in the morning then you deserve the ticket if it's their to be sold. Plenty of people won't have bothered to do this and just thought about sitting at home waiting for the online sales to come up. You're in an unfortunate situation, i get it. But stop slagging off the club because you didn't get a ticket. The club have done everything to ensure fans have got tickets.

[ditch_drfc]

Also did you not think about trying the phone?

[pubteam]

I'd wager that if they'd said last night "tickets won't be available online and that's that" people would've still been having a go at them.

They can't win really can they?

[IDM]

The other point though ditch is, why have a statement saying you can use the online system if it then doesn't work as advertised?

IMHO, in this situation, better to close online sales due to lack of availability, and communicate that fact clearly.

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Also did you not think about trying the phone?

Ditch

Read my original post again - paragraph 3 to be precise

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

At the end of the day, ticket office sales come first. If you've camped outside the ticket office since 5 in the morning then you deserve the ticket if it's their to be sold. Plenty of people won't have bothered to do this and just thought about sitting at home waiting for the online sales to come up. You're in an unfortunate situation, i get it. But stop slagging off the club because you didn't get a ticket. The club have done everything to ensure fans have got tickets.

I'm not slagging the club off bacause I havent got a ticket!

I am pointing out a faliure in a system that I was told would be up and available to the fans.  It wasnt.

If it had been anounced that tickets would only be available at the office then fair enough, my tough shit for marrying a bloody southerner

[ditch_drfc]

I agree, they probably should have closed online sales and said that they can't provide the service over the internet, but we'd still be in the same boat wouldn't we? We'd still be sat here having a go at the Ticket Office staff... They can't win.

Fair enough BVG i must have missed the line where you said you'd phoned.

[CoventryRed]

Come on ditch, read the post. Yes he tried to ring but the answer phone was full. He couldn't camp outside as he lives hundreds of miles away (and same point for those suggesting he should have a season ticket). Don't forget that even locals may not be able to make it to the KM at 9am on a Monday with work and other commitments.

BVG, I have sympathy, as an exile I often rely on the phone/web as well and when they seem to be given a lower priority over in person sales, it's a bit of a let down. Having said that it is getting better although today shows there is still some way to go.

While I'm sure Tracey made that statement in good faith, these things really do need to be followed up. I'm sure that it was just a switch that someone didn't flip to get them available online but that's poor form.

Can anything be done to help out exiles a little, perhaps putting a small number of tickets for each away match to one side for 'registered exiles' to ring up and reserve? It needn't be many, or a long reservation period but would do a lot for the small number of fans that often put a lot of effort in to supporting the club as best they can.

[Dagenham Rover]

There was another option,  you could always have joined the Alliance which also gives a benefit of buying away tickets prior to general sale.

A couple of quid a week entry into rovers lottery, a chance to win 10 grand once a year, free match tickets and other bits and pieces as well as away ticket priority

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Ditch and Bald Rover, I'm not having a go at you two by the way, I enjoy reading what you post and am not up for arguing and confrontation on here.

I am the most placid person in the world.  I wouldn't slag the club off or its people.  I'm not like that.

Things like this just piss me off a little.

I'd just like a little explanation as to why this process wasn't available at all.  Thats it.  I dont expect any sympathy or anything like that.

[IDM]

Dagenham you raise a good point about the Alliance, but that doesn't cover the failings of the online system.

[TracyB]

Dear Belle Vue Ghost

Yes i advised they would be online this morning from 9am, we had 120 tickets left for sale as of Friday, 50 were allocated for online sales (these were purchased by STH's, and Alliance members prior to 9am), therefore there was no point in releasing the online sales facility to general sale as they had all gone by 9am.

The other 70 were used for the queue outside this morning and telephone calls received.  Several customers were turned away at the end of the queue at 9am due to tickets selling out likewise on the phones.

[AbsolutDRFC]

There was another option,  you could always have joined the Alliance which also gives a benefit of buying away tickets prior to general sale.

A couple of quid a week entry into rovers lottery, a chance to win 10 grand once a year, free match tickets and other bits and pieces as well as away ticket priority

There is also the Away Rover scheme too......

Yep, it's £50 a season, but it's there for those emergency situations.

It's an extreme example, but should the Rovers get Harrogate away in FA Cup 1st round and we get 500 tickets allocated...
Then there'd be no general sale for that too.

(or do you have to be a season ticket holder to qualify for an Away Rover).

[ditch_drfc]

Like I said, i completely get the situation you're in. I'd more than likely feel exactly the same if it was me. But I doubt you're going to get a response from the club. I don't think there will be a future solution for it either. In fairness i couldn't get to the ground today myself because of work (I live in Leeds). So my brother travelled up from London to wait outside the ticket office. So like i say, i get it, i do, I just don't think this is helping. If anything, it's probably going to wind you up more. If i were you i'd pm retdon1, as his thread was closed saying he's got a ticket. Unless it was more than 1 you're wanting.