Moan About Tickets

[Dave Clark Five]

The other strange thing has been how early the away tickets have gone on sale this season.  We get ours through the Away Scheme but I have to get Lions Club tickets for most away games and it seems like it has been nearly every week that I have had to be dialling in.

[Clampy]

The other strange thing has been how early the away tickets have gone on sale this season.

It's been like that for a few season's now and it can be annoying.

[Holte L2]

Its because we had around 400 un-sold seats from two years ago when we lost up there on a Monday night when it was on the box.

Its ridiculous that they’re not taking the extra 1200 tickets, which would comfortably be sold, based on one game under completely different circumstances.

Idiotic.

Is it idiotic though, our away followings this season have been pretty poor for League games and an allocation of about 1200 - 1500 would pretty much cover it I think for the vast majority of games.

I think on the run-in we have we can be taking 2k plus. Away tickets have been selling fast, as (we the hardcore) know we need to get behind the boys.

[UK Redsox]

I've just been speaking to Scott the Ticketing Manager. He's asked me to pass on a few things regarding Stoke, the online ticketing system and ticket selling in general.


Firstly, with regard to the problems/queries I had:-

Scott will contact the person who maintains the avfc.co.uk website regarding the fact that the ticket allocation/sale date information for Stoke is hidden away on a webpage called "Man City clash in focus". He will also speak to them about the main site displaying pages promoting tickets for games that have already happened.

He will investigate why, when tickets are not yet on sale (eg Stoke), the e-ticketing system originally said that people don't have the correct privileges rather that stating that the tickets are not yet on sale and stating when they will be (NB - the Stoke page has already been updated to state that tickets are on sale on Friday)


Moving on to problems that others have had............

There are two main reasons why people might get erroneous "privileges" messages when attempting to buy tickets. Firstly, the updating of ticket buying history to the e-ticketing is still a manual system. Therefore, sometimes people's accounts don't get updated. If you believe that you should be able to buy tickets online but are being blocked, please contact the TO. The other main reason is that some people have multiple accounts for the e-ticketing (eg, a new account set up if you'd lost your password) but only one can be linked to their main booking history/Client Ref/ST. Therefore, if you're still having problems, please ask the TO to check to see if you have multiple accounts.


Some people are unhappy that tickets for away games are going on sale earlier than in previous years. The main reason for this is that once a fixture is less than four weeks away, the home team can recall some unsold tickets to sell themselves or not make additional batches available. Therefore, the main batch of away tickets need to be sold as early as possible in order for the club to decide whether to commit to additional tickets. This leads on to.............

The first batch of tickets are "sale or return" but any additional batches have to be paid for in full by the club. Segregation rules mean the the jump in ticket numbers from one batch to the next could be over 1000 tickets. The club therefore need to be pretty sure that they're going to sell out any additional tickets before committing to buying them.

This is the situation we have with the upcoming Stoke game. Once the TO have seen how the first batch is selling, they'll look at whether it makes sense to buy additional tickets. Given the apparent demand, it is likely that an additional batch of tickets will be taken for the Stoke game.


Scott also told me about ongoing improvements to the ticketing system, eg......

... using a "Print-at-home" system for home tickets, making it easier for people to make a last minute decision to attend a game
... looking into a system whereby you can use a ticket displayed on your phone
... improving the way that availability of tickets for away game is shown on the website
... improving the "choose your seat" facility (they are already working on some known bugs in this system)


Many thanks to Scott for calling me. A very pleasant and helpful bloke (and I'm not just typing that because he's already been reading this thread).


(NB - the above is based on my recollection of a telephone conversation with Scott. Any errors in the above are therefore mine rather than the club's)

[dave.woodhall]

"The main reason for this is that once a fixture is less than four weeks away, the home team can recall some unsold tickets to sell themselves or not make additional batches available."

That's interesting. I never knew that.

[Clampy]

"The main reason for this is that once a fixture is less than four weeks away, the home team can recall some unsold tickets to sell themselves or not make additional batches available."

That's interesting. I never knew that.

No, nor did i and it obviously explains why they go on sale so bloody early and it makes sense.

Anyway, good work Redsox and thanks.

[astonvillan]

Good stuff, Redsox. And fair play to Scott for getting in touch.

Pleased to hear they read these kind of threads and appear to be acting to improve the process of buying tickets.

Still think it's an overly cautious decision to only take the intitial allocation at Stoke, though, when everything points to us selling the 2900 with ease.

[Pete3206]

Good info Redsox, thanks

[Dave Summers]

I've just spoken to a fella at the ticket office who believes we will only take the initial allocation for Stoke and no more.  However he wasn't sure and reading the comments above in this thread puts me somewhat at ease, as I am unable to get to a phone or the ground tomorrow, and think we will take the extra allocation. 

[placeforparks]

good info redsox, thanks.

e-tickets/ phone tickets is a good idea. but booking fee for choosing such an option should be nil or reduced accordingly. scott, take note!

[JingleJangle]

Hi, got a question regarding the tickets.

I have brought and paid for my Reading tickets already, but for the Stoke tickets it says i need to have attended 1 away match for me to be able to buy them next Thursday.

As Reading has been brought and paid for will that go towards my reference and enable me to buy a stoke ticket rather than wait till they go on sale to season ticket holders with no away history?

[Clampy]

Hi, got a question regarding the tickets.

I have brought and paid for my Reading tickets already, but for the Stoke tickets it says i need to have attended 1 away match for me to be able to buy them next Thursday.

As Reading has been brought and paid for will that go towards my reference and enable me to buy a stoke ticket rather than wait till they go on sale to season ticket holders with no away history?

You need to wait until the Reading game has been played until it counts as a reference.

[astonvillan]

Tickets purchased for Stoke. Spoke to Sheila who was very pleasant.

[Clampy]

I've just sorted our Stoke tickets as well. Spoke to Greg who was very efficient.

[UK Redsox]

I just tried to book by Stoke ticket online and was blocked by the "Privileges" problem.

I therefore booked the ticket over the phone and Luke at the TO corrected my online account while I was talking to him.

I therefore now have some more info about this problem.

The "manual" updating that Scott mentioned to me earlier in the work appears to relate to some "tags" that they have to update on each account as you move thro' the privilege levels.

eg, I started off the season with the "ST" tag plus a tag related to my away attendance from last season. As this season progressed, the latter was changed to a "1 Away Match" tag. It should subsequently have been updated to a "3 Away Match Tag". Unfortunately this was not done. Hence the online system blocked me today because as far as it was concerned I was still at the "1 Away Match" level.

I've actually been to 10+ away games, so there's been plenty of opportunity for the TO to update my account. Although Scott told me that they are working on this problem, it would be well worth anyone experiencing similar difficulties asking the TO to check your "tags".