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Kevin Smith Responds On Twitter To Issues Regarding Tickets, Phones, Ee, St Etc


!james

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Just been posting his responses on twitter (http://mobile.twitter.com/Kev_a_Smith) so for anyone without it here they are:

We removed the 0871 number in 2011 due to high call costs to fans, replaced with 01179 - the sheer volume of calls crashed our aging system

The 0871 number is still live, and feeds in to the 01179 - we haven't advertised the no. for a few years. Plans for a new phone system.

Online Ticketing: Let down by how the new system coped with demand on Thursday of last week. Unallocated EE ST's causing an issue

Totally unacceptable how long people had to wait on phones. Queues at Ashton Gate moved smoothly and online improving day by day.

We've sold about 6,000 tonight so are expecting large walk up, to minimise Q's, for Palace, Rovers tickets wont be on sale after 5.30pm.

Ref:Staffing. We've opened all available windows, tills & every single phone in the club being used. Physically impossible to fit anymore in

We're just trying to do the right things to take this club forward. Have been let down by systems and equipment - which is not acceptable!

Extended deadline for ST holders to claim their Rovers tickets, confident that everyone who wants 1 will get 1. Sorry it's been so difficult

Hoping to post a statement about system providers this week. I'm not going to hide behind them though, feel I've been massively let down

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The main comment I would make is that if you're buying complex IT systems, you best hire someone who understands them to at least advise on it. If they've got naive contracts for those systems, they've not got the level of support they wanted, or they have bought a dud - well - they did it wrong. There is a reason most medium and upwards businesses that aren't IT specialists hire an IT company to front procurement for them - it's a minefield. So whilst they might feel a little let down by their suppliers, they should evaluate how they went about buying the systems.

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The main comment I would make is that if you're buying complex IT systems, you best hire someone who understands them to at least advise on it. If they've got naive contracts for those systems, they've not got the level of support they wanted, or they have bought a dud - well - they did it wrong. There is a reason most medium and upwards businesses that aren't IT specialists hire an IT company to front procurement for them - it's a minefield. So whilst they might feel a little let down by their suppliers, they should evaluate how they went about buying the systems.

Couldn't agree more. If they have tried to PM it themselves or just left it up to their supplier it is not surprising it is tits up.

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What a lot of the clubs don't appreciate is the good job that Ticketmaster actually did (in past tense now it's been replaced) - which is ticketing = the heart of a sports club.

Yes it cost a fair bit for it to be a hosted solution, but it enabled seamless e-ticketing for supporters and also made it easy in the ticket office.

Consolidating membership systems, marketing, ticketing, access control (for barcoded tickets) and more into one package was always going to be problematic. However, whereas most companies run a parallel system to test it to it's maximum capacity - City appear to have gone live without any proper planning etc.

I know from one of our clients that is a pro-sports club that it has been incredibly difficult to replace Ticketmaster to reduce overheads and replace it with an all-in-one solution... but the problem is that there isn't a tailored package that does it all.

They've had to bite the bullet and go with a system that the suppliers says will do the job of ticketing without any fuss and it does at present. But the membership side of it is still a pain.

Fingers crossed City can get things sorted ASAP and minimise inconveniencing even more supporters. I've resulted to the old fashion way of going to the ticket office to collect these days.

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Fingers crossed City can get things sorted ASAP and minimise inconveniencing even more supporters. I've resulted to the old fashion way of going to the ticket office to collect these days.

This is exactly the position I have taken as well. If I cannot visit the stadium before matchday I will not attend the match until they produce viable 21st century methods of purchasing tickets.

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The bloke really does not have a clue

Maybe he meant at the club?

I went down at lunchtime for a Palace ticket and walked straight up to an open window and purchased my ticket quite painlessly. 20th century methods still work.

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I was there at 11.45 and queued, got my ticket at 12.30. Still loads of people behind me in the shop and at the Williams window. This year I purchased my ST by phone, and except for the problems getting through, was surprised how easy it was. Now after hearing all the problems and e tickets without bar codes if you printed them yourself, I have lost all faith in this method. If I wasn't able to get there in person today I don't think I would have bothered, and I'm not alone.

I don't know why the club changed providers, other than for finances, but they did. The thing that annoys me is that we sold our last match tickets in April, then a few away tickets for whoever we played in May. ST's went on sale very late this year, so what the hell were they doing for a couple of months. They had from the end of April until July to put the system in and test it. Words fail me we have ended up with this embarrassing fiasco where it has failed so spectacularly at just about every level.

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This whole fiasco is an absolute shambles, we need someone higher up the ladder than Kevin Smith, who seems totally incompetent, to come out and sort this mess out, been down the gate with crowds in excess of 37000 and never any problem getting in the ground, as someone has already said the thought of getting to Wembley this season and the club trying to shift 40,000+ tickets does not bare thinking about.

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The problem is the current system is not future proof. With the old chip season ticket you could just top it up online. Now we will have this bar code system where for any game not classed as a normal league game we need to buy and collect them.... It makes no sense. Why can they not just credit out season tickets with game tickets bought online.

Of we do go up or get huge games in the next few seasons this system will not cope... It's a backwards step.

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