Club comms

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

6 minutes ago, David said:

I do get it, in a similar position with RyanAir, no replies to email, call and I'm 92 in the queue, live chat 156 in the queue no matter what time I ring and the flight departs a month tomorrow, so yeah I get it.  

Reading above where Angie has seen and heard people having their issues resolved, suggests they are there and working, I'm guessing with the complexity of issues given the season ticket refunds, offers, kids memberships etc. is bogging them down.

I just went to check if there had been anything on the club website. Now I know this won't help but it appears staff shortages is the issue, 

This was published on 22nd August

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2021/08/season-ticketticket-office-update-21st-august-2021

I also went to look at Derby County jobs, if you are having staff shortages, what do you do? Employ more people and they are advertising for full time ticket office assistants with a closing date of September 12th.

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/page/ticket-office-assistant-full-time?k=7385bc6b64510231104d9488242d2624b70b2f78

As well as match day ticket office assistants 

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/page/ticket-office-assistant?k=851138c3f354cede0708df5a393bffca8e5542f1

Maybe they could have thought of employing people to work in the ticket office prior to the season starting? I don’t think that would have involved too much planning or forethought - we all knew when the season was starting! 

I can’t make phone calls during the day because of work. I would also not be willing to sit in a queue on a premium rate with no guarantee of even getting through or having the issue resolved, as another poster has put. 
 

The responses I have had from the ticket office, after waiting 2 weeks for each one, have completely ignored my issues and just seemed to be a standard response with no understanding of what was said. Replies I received before the season started were inaccurate and didn’t reflect what they did or their policy. I feel lied to and taken for granted. The fact that you have told me that we do have an SLO currently employed has aggravated me even more as she has had weeks to reply to me and has not done so. What is her job if not to liaise with supporters having issues that are not being addressed? 
 

I feel your pain with RyanAir. The difference is I can’t change Derby County for another football club if I am unhappy with customer service. The longer this goes on the more annoyance is caused and the more time is lost. They now have until Wednesday to resolve this. If not my only option will be will be to consider taking legal action which is the last thing I want to do. 
 

Anyway. I can’t spare any more time on this here but appreciate the dialogue and responses . If only Derby County could do the same. (Many years ago after writing to them with an issue Keith Loring, club secretary or CEO I forget which, phoned me about it at 7pm. That was a minor thing as well but it shows it can be done)

[Day]

1 minute ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Maybe they could have thought of employing people to work in the ticket office prior to the season starting? I don’t think that would have involved too much planning or forethought - we all knew when the season was starting! 

Think that's a bit unfair given the governments flip flopping on large events taking place and at what capacity. I have no idea when these were posted, they could have had this online before the season starts with no suitable candidates applying. 

At the bottom it does say "We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have filled the available positions." so it looks like they are desperate to fill the vacancies and not wait for the deadlines before then staging interviews.

[Day]

10 minutes ago, David said:

Think that's a bit unfair given the governments flip flopping on large events taking place and at what capacity. I have no idea when these were posted, they could have had this online before the season starts with no suitable candidates applying. 

At the bottom it does say "We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have filled the available positions." so it looks like they are desperate to fill the vacancies and not wait for the deadlines before then staging interviews.

Further on this, looked to see if the job was posted on any other site and I've found it on infreshjobs.com

https://uk.infreshjobs.com/job-detail/2a2d0d36fdfff825/match-day-ticket-office-assistant-job-openings-Derby-county-football-club-Derby

Pubished on 26th July, so before the season had started. Also came across a Linkedin profile from a senior ticket assistant that left in July.

 

[atherstoneram]

3 hours ago, David said:

My mistake, thought I wrote that.

You're right that it's immaterial to Derby fans, however looking what other clubs are doing helps understand the financial climate.

I was talking to my mate who's a Spurs fan, was telling me it's the same there, can't be aware it is open on match days.

Other clubs are running at reduced hours, where we have chose to not open at all. There's obviously a reason for this and clearly causing problems for some fans which isn't great, but what can we do? 

Help each other out navigate the online systems, which I have seen it's been great to see.

As for why, some are saying financial, yeah I can see that, but then why open the Megastore? How many customers walk through the doors during the week, wouldn't it make sense to close this and spend the staffing budget on the ticket office.

Or does the data show more ticket sales are completed online? I honestly don't know, I also don't know if that's the main reason why the reduced attendances, we are still in a pandemic which has people concerned and avoiding large crowds. 

We're also coming off the back of a near miss relegation with £0 spent and EFL disputes ongoing, are fans disillusioned and refusing to return until things have been sorted and improved?

Again, I don't know, just speculating here and looking at all possible reasons, trying to understand instead of attacking the club. 

And that's not "loyalty" to Mel, we don't even know who's decision this is, Stephen Pearce is the CEO, knows his way round a calculator and spreadsheet, could this be his idea? 

The Megastore is operated and staffed by employees of Fanatics who are in no way related to the club,probably that's why they are open.

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2021/07/Derby-county-and-fanatics-agree-long-term-retail-partnership-to-enhance-supporters-shopping-experience

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

43 minutes ago, David said:

Further on this, looked to see if the job was posted on any other site and I've found it on infreshjobs.com

https://uk.infreshjobs.com/job-detail/2a2d0d36fdfff825/match-day-ticket-office-assistant-job-openings-Derby-county-football-club-Derby

Pubished on 26th July, so before the season had started. Also came across a Linkedin profile from a senior ticket assistant that left in July.

 

Left in July? So presumably had to hand in notice? 4 weeks? I know things have been difficult with COVID for DCFC and indeed many organisations but there was enough planning time. Surely you would advertise for someone to work in the ticket office more than 2 weeks before the first game? Allowances can obviously be made, granted, but I think you are trying to defend the indefensible a little here, although I admire your research and your even handedness and attempts to see all sides. Do you have children? I don't know but would you be happy if the school applied for a teacher 2 weeks before the start of term and then seemed unable to understand why there was an empty classroom? Would you be happy with that level of fore sight? I don't think I would. Other clubs have managed, theme parks have opened etc, and yes some businesses have struggled due to the combination of COVID and Brexit, but I am pretty sure given the resources I could have had people in that ticket office processing season tickets a month before the season.

Anyway, hopefully the ticket office will be open soon but I do fear that for a lot of people the habit will be broken. A club in our position needs all they can get and shouldn't be unnecessarily driving people away.

As for the SLO - I first emailed 3 weeks ago so she must be having a nice long international break! These emails have been received as I have had the automated reply so perhaps liasing with long term supporters and youngsters who could become addicted for life isn't quite in her remit, I don't know.

How many emails should you send before expecting a response?

Anyway, I said I was leaving it and need to because I have lots of work to do and am needed elsewhere!

Up the Rams.

[Day]

5 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

but I think you are trying to defend the indefensible a little here

I think you're being incredibly harsh if I'm honest, whilst I understand your frustrations at not receiving any reply to your emails it took me maybe 15 minutes to find that the club have communicated with fans (which this topic is on) that they currently have a staff shortage, acknowledged frustrations and are actively recruiting for more staff, yet this is not good enough for you, well I don't know what to say.

A global pandemic has effected businesses in all kinds of ways, I've seen fast food restaurants closed as all the staff have quit, supermarkets are running low of certain products due to a lack of HGV drivers, where's the understanding in all this, a little bit of leeway when clubs didn't even know how many fans they would have through the doors until a couple of weeks before the season started?

As for 4 weeks notice? I haven't seen the persons contract but you only have to give 1 weeks notice by law. Not that I think it will change anything for you.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/resigning/your-notice-period-when-resigning/

I hope you get a response soon to your query.

[Abu Derby]

Keith Loring - crikey how we could do with somebody like that at the club now. 
Similarly, before him, Michael Dunford and Stuart Webb. 

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

13 minutes ago, David said:

I think you're being incredibly harsh if I'm honest, whilst I understand your frustrations at not receiving any reply to your emails it took me maybe 15 minutes to find that the club have communicated with fans (which this topic is on) that they currently have a staff shortage, acknowledged frustrations and are actively recruiting for more staff, yet this is not good enough for you, well I don't know what to say.

A global pandemic has effected businesses in all kinds of ways, I've seen fast food restaurants closed as all the staff have quit, supermarkets are running low of certain products due to a lack of HGV drivers, where's the understanding in all this, a little bit of leeway when clubs didn't even know how many fans they would have through the doors until a couple of weeks before the season started?

As for 4 weeks notice? I haven't seen the persons contract but you only have to give 1 weeks notice by law. Not that I think it will change anything for you.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/resigning/your-notice-period-when-resigning/

I hope you get a response soon to your query.

Didn’t know that. I stand corrected as I work somewhere where 4 weeks notice is the minimum you have to give. Always happy to admit if I have something wrong. I wonder if they have ever heard of succession planning though? 

 Despite COVID every other club managed to open their ticket offices (Swansea, Spurs and possibly others on a part time basis!). I don’t think asking for a ticket office to be open before the season starts is a harsh request though to be honest. Nor do I think receiving honest, timely replies from the only means of communication is too much to ask or in the SLO’s case any reply at all. 
 

Anyway, I get the feeling that this is boring a lot of people and my growing frustration isn’t aimed at you so thanks for your hope that this gets sorted out. You make a far better advocate for the club than anyone who currently works there.

As my friend said, it’s like trying to communicate with a blind and deaf monk, which perhaps sums up my feelings on the thread title. 

 

[Rev]

At the end of the day, what is Derby County without its fans?

Making it harder for those fans to buy tickets than needs be is the stupidest thing we've done.

There's literally no excuse for it.

It's not a massively well paid, highly technical skill required to do so, it can easily be outsourced if need be, even temporarily, isn't that SeatGeeks role anyhow?

If not, what do they actually do?

 

 

[Rab a dab doo]

What ever happened to using old fashioned LSD to buy and sell things all this new fangled inter banking,cryptocurrencies and cashless transactions.

We need to get back to tangible commodities again solid money and tickets.    

[Tyler Durden]

48 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Didn’t know that. I stand corrected as I work somewhere where 4 weeks notice is the minimum you have to give. Always happy to admit if I have something wrong. I wonder if they have ever heard of succession planning though? 

 Despite COVID every other club managed to open their ticket offices (Swansea, Spurs and possibly others on a part time basis!). I don’t think asking for a ticket office to be open before the season starts is a harsh request though to be honest. Nor do I think receiving honest, timely replies from the only means of communication is too much to ask or in the SLO’s case any reply at all. 
 

Anyway, I get the feeling that this is boring a lot of people and my growing frustration isn’t aimed at you so thanks for your hope that this gets sorted out. You make a far better advocate for the club than anyone who currently works there.

As my friend said, it’s like trying to communicate with a blind and deaf monk, which perhaps sums up my feelings on the thread title. 

 

Yes if you've been in a job less than a month then unless your contract states it you don't have to give any notice at all and can just leave. 1 weeks notice is the statutory notice period unless your contract states a higher period which will then supercede the statutory amount. 

Fair comment about succession planning, the LinkedIn job profile stated Senior ticket office assistant so you would assume that there was a Junior assistant in place whom would be able to step up.

[Tamworthram]

15 minutes ago, Rab a dab doo said:

What ever happened to using old fashioned LSD to buy and sell things all this new fangled inter banking,cryptocurrencies and cashless transactions.

We need to get back to tangible commodities again solid money and tickets.    

If all else fails we could always revert back to bartering. ?

[Bianoic]

4 hours ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

I think you are right, I think there are a multitude of reasons why gates are down. However I do know of people not going because of ticketing issues - whether that be the ludicrous delay in selling and sorting season tickets and season ticket cards or the online only ticket sales. I also know of people trying to contact the club to resolve issues, of which I am one, and are finding communicating with the club extremely difficult - there is about a 2 week delay in replying to emails and even when they do they send a response indicating that they haven’t read or assimilated the information given to them. Phone lines at a premium rate (why? Why not a local number?) are barely manned and others on here have failed to get through, not had issues resolved or had very costly waiting times. The inability to actually speak to a person who can resolve an issue is incredibly frustrating and incomprehensible. 

Even opening it one day a week, like the clubs in the examples you have stated, would give some fans an opportunity to have problems resolved and give older supporters or those without access to technology / printers etc a chance to actually buy and pick up tickets. Making obstacles and hoops to buying a product isn’t a very smart business decision in my opinion.

I personally know of one person who can’t order/access tickets and hasn’t been able to go this season, another who doesn’t know his customer number, has never bought a ticket online and has decided it isn’t worth the hassle, another who has relied on me making an hour long drive to sort his tickets out, along with, anecdotally, quite a few others who have just given up due to the initial difficulty in buying tickets. I know personally of 4 people in dispute about their tickets, none of whom can get the matter resolved. 

The club is struggling seemingly in every way possible and if I was running it I would be doing everything I could to bring in as much revenue as possible and keep my fanbase communicated with and treated honestly and fairly.

At the moment decisions being made seem to be driving people away and disenfranchising them, which is a shame because I am enjoying watching an honest bunch of players giving their all and would much rather be focussed on that. 

Its all part of the same issue Bucko 

Mel has decided thats he's out now, he will not spend another penny if it can possibly be avoided and he does not care about any ‘collateral damage’ in achieving his aim. 

Doesn't mean to say he wont spend anything. But he wont if it doesn't add value to his situation.

It takes a certain type of character to be able to carry out and sustain this attitude. Such characters are few and far apart, but we know that Mel is one of them.

This also explains the brinkmanship being played out with the EFL and HMRC. Mel is playing his cards, not from the football clubs’ point of view, but from his and his familys point of view. If they ( the EFL and HMRC) overplayed their hands, he could easily take the administration option. And they would lose.

This is nothing new in football. The same has happened at Villa ( Lerner) , Sunderland ( Short) and Ipswich ( Evans). Three very high profile and historic clubs. 

He’s a very smart cookie, he's made his decision and lets hope he rides off into the sunset as soon as possible ! 

[OoooMarkWright]

24 minutes ago, Rev said:

At the end of the day, what is Derby County without its fans?

Making it harder for those fans to buy tickets than needs be is the stupidest thing we've done.

There's literally no excuse for it.

It's not a massively well paid, highly technical skill required to do so, it can easily be outsourced if need be, even temporarily, isn't that SeatGeeks role anyhow?

If not, what do they actually do?

 

 

Completely agree. Over half the people I go with haven’t been to a game yet. One of the main reasons is down to how hard it is to get a ticket. At a time when Derby needs its fans the most, we seem to be disengaging completely with them. You’d have thought after 18 months without fans in grounds, we’d be desperate to get them back in. Clearly not. But when you are a completely rudderless organisation, I’m not surprised. 

[Yani P]

5 hours ago, Eddie said:

How's about a strongly lettered word? Say 'syzygy' - useful in Scrabble.

We would end up signing them..we like a Pole..

[rustylee]

Every other championship club managed to sell season tickets prior to the start of the season whether that was online or with a ticket office open.  I don’t see it as a stroke of genius on Derby’s behalf to be out on their own on this 

[Sweetness34]

I think the whole thing is ridiculous. 

my personal experience is that my season ticket auto renewed, but I want to relocate. The reason I want to move seats is I’d like to purchase two additional season tickets for my wife and daughter and have all 3 of us sit together.

I’ve emailed and emailed with no luck.

I was on hold the day the ticket office lines opened for 3 hours to be told I’d have a call back when the manager is in.

I never got that call back and have rang in several times and each time was told I’ll have a call back when the manager is in.

I don’t think it’s harsh to say this is pathetic at all. I’m wanting to spend an additional £700 which would pay one salary for 2 or 3 weeks. Multiply little old me struggling to give the club money by however many other people are in the same boat and they must be losing a fortune. An additional handful of staff would not cost as much as the lost revenue, surely?

in fact, a damn option to move my seat online wouldn’t require any new staff

Pandemic or not, it’s disgusting and like an idiot, I’ll probably spend another tenner on hold tomorrow & get nowhere.

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Yani P said:

We would end up signing them..we like a Pole..

Unfortunately, poles don't come into it - the alignment is at the plane of the ecliptic. Regarding the earth, sun and moon, that occurs twice a month.

/that was lesson 1 in how to post something that is over everyone's head except for @Carl Sagan

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

1 hour ago, Sweetness34 said:

I think the whole thing is ridiculous. 

my personal experience is that my season ticket auto renewed, but I want to relocate. The reason I want to move seats is I’d like to purchase two additional season tickets for my wife and daughter and have all 3 of us sit together.

I’ve emailed and emailed with no luck.

I was on hold the day the ticket office lines opened for 3 hours to be told I’d have a call back when the manager is in.

I never got that call back and have rang in several times and each time was told I’ll have a call back when the manager is in.

I don’t think it’s harsh to say this is pathetic at all. I’m wanting to spend an additional £700 which would pay one salary for 2 or 3 weeks. Multiply little old me struggling to give the club money by however many other people are in the same boat and they must be losing a fortune. An additional handful of staff would not cost as much as the lost revenue, surely?

in fact, a damn option to move my seat online wouldn’t require any new staff

Pandemic or not, it’s disgusting and like an idiot, I’ll probably spend another tenner on hold tomorrow & get nowhere.

What a shambles. Total incompetence and utterly indefensible. I wish you all the best with it. 

[Sparkle]

8 hours ago, Sweetness34 said:

I think the whole thing is ridiculous. 

my personal experience is that my season ticket auto renewed, but I want to relocate. The reason I want to move seats is I’d like to purchase two additional season tickets for my wife and daughter and have all 3 of us sit together.

I’ve emailed and emailed with no luck.

I was on hold the day the ticket office lines opened for 3 hours to be told I’d have a call back when the manager is in.

I never got that call back and have rang in several times and each time was told I’ll have a call back when the manager is in.

I don’t think it’s harsh to say this is pathetic at all. I’m wanting to spend an additional £700 which would pay one salary for 2 or 3 weeks. Multiply little old me struggling to give the club money by however many other people are in the same boat and they must be losing a fortune. An additional handful of staff would not cost as much as the lost revenue, surely?

in fact, a damn option to move my seat online wouldn’t require any new staff

Pandemic or not, it’s disgusting and like an idiot, I’ll probably spend another tenner on hold tomorrow & get nowhere.

Both myself and my mate want to relocate but it’s basically impossible currently so we are patiently sainting until we can actually speak to a hue man being in person.