An utter shambles at St. Marys tonight. Got in the queue for tickets at 7:10 and got seated at 8:00 missing the first 15 minutes. There were loads of people behind me when I finally got served so I hate to think how much of the game those at the back missed. I don't often deal with the ticket office as a "walk-up" but that's twice I've done so and twice the experience has been less than wonderful. At the window I finally got served at they were sharing one ticket printer between two. Surely The Don can cough up for a few more printers? Anyway, bitching aside, good to see back to back wins. COYR.
I should imagine that if he [Cortese] knew the ticket staff were sharing a ticket printer, and not bringing another online, he'd have a word to say about initiative and thinking on your bloody feet. Have a moan to the club about it. You'll get something changed. It's called feedback, after all.
I arrived at 7 and was lucky enough to only miss the 1st minute. From the 4 1/2 hours I spent queuing for Arsenal tickets I was aware how slow the process was and it has not improved. They had to reload the printer when I was at the desk which added a couple of minutes for my time at the window.
Especially with the new barcode entry, you'd think you could be able to print tickets at home to save a Collections queue (which was long although quick this evening). That would free up more booths for walk up sales.
Obviously taken by surprise by the number of walk ups...a combination of decent result on Saturday and an improvement in the weather. No excuse for one printer though.
I also find the ticket office to be an inefficient shambles much of the time. As i happened to be working in the area i went and got my tickets earlier at about 5.15 pm so although all windows busy no queue as such. The intercom wouldnt work properly at my window and had a continuous loud feed-back noise, when chap switched it off he couldnt hear me & vice versa - i was wanting tickets for last night for 5 people of varying ages + asking about West Ham tickets + asking about loyalty scheme points etc and it was a very confusing conversation. Then i wanted to pay by my debit card and the robbing b******* wanted to charge me £1.50 PER TICKET for the privilege making it an extra £7.50 for 5 tickets ! Luckily i just about had £50 on me and paid cash. A chap at the next window was having the same problem - but at least his intercom was working so they could hear his displeasure. I am so pleased that we still have a club etc but this sort thing really pees me off - like paying to park at the stadium and then the free time being reduced to 15 mins etc. Anyway good game for the fringe lads, a few good performances and another win - but not by the ticket office. Memo to NC - sort it out please.
Particularly if its going to take longer than 15 minutes to buy a ticket. That £1.50 fee is completely unfair in my mind, it cost merchandisers pennies to charge a debit card.
I got to the ground at 7.30 and was sat in my seat within minutes and well before kick off. It was as a consequence of forward planning and being able to organise my life. Saints ticket office has always provided very poor service and it was even worse in the Dell days. I learned a long time ago that if I did not want to waste most of my evening in a queue then the best bet is to get match tickets in advance. Try going to a show or the theatre and just walk up to buy tickets on the night. You wouldn't queue for long because they probably wouldn't have any tickets to sell to you.
With a game of this calibre, where there was no chance of a sell out, a simple pay to enter turnstyle or two would have sufficed, unreserved seating of course. Rocket science it is not.
Is the implication that anybody caught in a queue last night is unable to forward plan and organise their lives?
