Essex Outfielder : The Unofficial Essex CCC Forum
Cricket => Official Q&A => Topic started by: BlueEagles on March 31, 2014, 09:19:56 PM
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I phoned the ticket office this morning, to enquire the whereabouts of my sons membership cards, as I have still not received them despite paying by Direct Debit in January. I was amazed to hear a recorded message that stated that the office was closed until Thursday, 3rd April!
I subsequently viewed the official website & ascertained that the 'excuse' is that the staff are clearing admin backlogs & in order to provide a first class customer service, it has been decided to close the office. How can you provide a first class service if you are closed? There appears to be a complete lack of succession planning, surely the staff can work overtime and/or get temps in to clear the backlogs?
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At one time the back office was the only part of the club not riddled with incompetence.
I guess if you lie down with dogs long enough ...
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Thanks for post,
We took the decision to close the Membership and ticketing office for a period of three days to ensure we could offer that service.
Owing to the late release of ECB sponsor information we were behind on the print schedule of tickets and Membership literature which resulted in us being behind where we needed to be. The initial rush in NatWest T20 Blast tickets has been exceptionally high. As a result of our current ticket system we are unable to group together tickets for multiple games into one package. Naturally this has lead to a number of calls. We very much pride ourselves on offering a first class service and in order to do that we took this decision.
During these three days we are replying to emails via questions@essexcricket.org.uk
We have also undergone a number of staff changes in recent months. We now have the team very much in place, you will see an increase in customer service.
Thanks for your time, I hope this goes someway to outline the reason for closure. Thanks, Danny Macklin, Commercial Director.
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Could be a practice to only pay staff to open two days a week. it appears that nothing seems to go smooth these days, must be the new staff not as good as the old ones. As long as they have your money you will have to wait.
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"...As a result of our current ticket system we are unable to group together tickets for multiple games into one package...."
I may be wrong but I thought the club bought a new system not long ago?!
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Yes Nat, along with the short lived idea of barcodes on tickets to be read at the point of entry.
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Thanks for your post, we are reviewing ways to improve on the sending of tickets.
We have introduced the popular print at home option. We withdrew the ticket scanning as people were arriving late for T20 games.
We would welcome comments also via our focus group which takes place on 24 April.
Thanks
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Arriving late or not, how can that effect barcode scanning. Tesco still scan no matter what the time is. Just another lame excuse for wasting members money.
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Perhaps I'm wrong to have a pop but I'm going to anyway - this is just typical of no clue ECCC - perhaps the staff should be better managed and we might not have to close to catch-up. Perhaps it's the latest marketing guff to make us all think they really are busy hoping we'll all spend our money on tickets and membership...
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We have undergone a number of staff changes and a period without a full team. As a result we fell behind, however the biggest delay was awaiting the ECB sponsors and their logos
We have had a bright and encouraging start to ticket sales. There is no cover up, we are here to improve the service
Very keen to welcome you all to the next focus group. Feedback is vital. Thanks, Danny
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Feedback is vital.
You get plenty of feedback but never act on it.
The farce over Shepherd Neame being a major case in point.
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Feedback is vital.
You get plenty of feedback but never act on it.
The farce over Shepherd Neame being a major case in point.
ECCC don't do feed back, they never have. Otherwise it would be a nice club to admit to being a member of. Other counties have offered good deals to members on tickets and membership for one-day matches, however Essex didn't want to go down that road and lost membership.
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I phoned the ticket office this morning, to enquire the whereabouts of my sons membership cards, as I have still not received them despite paying by Direct Debit in January. I was amazed to hear a recorded message that stated that the office was closed until Thursday, 3rd April!
I subsequently viewed the official website & ascertained that the 'excuse' is that the staff are clearing admin backlogs & in order to provide a first class customer service, it has been decided to close the office. How can you provide a first class service if you are closed? There appears to be a complete lack of succession planning, surely the staff can work overtime and/or get temps in to clear the backlogs?
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I phoned the ticket office this morning, to enquire the whereabouts of my sons membership cards, as I have still not received them despite paying by Direct Debit in January. I was amazed to hear a recorded message that stated that the office was closed until Thursday, 3rd April!
I subsequently viewed the official website & ascertained that the 'excuse' is that the staff are clearing admin backlogs & in order to provide a first class customer service, it has been decided to close the office. How can you provide a first class service if you are closed? There appears to be a complete lack of succession planning, surely the staff can work overtime and/or get temps in to clear the backlogs?
Succession planning? At No Change Essex? Are you kidding?
The liklehood is that it's a simple case of cost cutting, in attempting to make some funds available to pay for top performing *stars* the Club have provided us "so-called supporters" with over the past few years; Shah, Mahmood, et al.
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Danny,
I phoned the Ticket office back this morning to establish the whereabouts of my sons membership cards. After 3 attempts and queueing for approx 30 minutes, I abandoned the calls and gave up. It certainly wasn't the first class service you promised!!
In desperation, I decided to visit the office at lunch time. After waiting for approx 10 minutes to be served, I spoke to the 'new' staff who apologised for the wait and advised me that they also answer ALL the phone calls. Why don't you have staff dedicated to take calls only?
In conclusion, I feel that closing the office for the best part of a week was very unprofessional and demonstrated yet again that ECCC are reactive and not pro-active like other clubs and organisations. What will happen if we get a home draw in the latter stages of the one day competitions ( albeit very unlikely!) will you close the office for a fortnight?
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Thanks for post.
We were exceptionally busy today, the attendance was very high for a friendly. The phones were also very busy. We took the decision to close for three days not lightly but to clear the backlog which is now done. For the reasons given above we were behind where we wanted and needed to be, had we stayed open for the three days this week we would never have been able to catch up. We can now focus on the first class service and improving the processes and systems.
We really will be showing an improvement is customer services, yes there have been issues which we have now resolved. We cannot employ masses of staff, there are times when we cannot handle all calls and personal callers but man the phones to highest level possible.
If and when we reach a quarter final etc we will add additional resource where needed.
I cannot stress enough to invite all those who have taken the time to comment to attend the focus group. We DO value feedback, we do act on it where we can.
Thanks, Danny Macklin, Commercial Director
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To be fair, I do wonder what planet some people are on. Maybe ECCC should outsource their admin to a call centre in Chennai so that all calls will be answered on time? The club was never over staffed (at least where it matters) on and off the field.
Maybe some of the old boys hanging around the club could man a phone or two? Trevor Bailey used to check the tickets before going out to toss up...
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To be fair, I do wonder what planet some people are on.
The point is the club has long been a shambles on the field and the incompetence now seems to have spread to an area that was previously well run.
Hardly a glowing endorsement of the new CEO's capabilities.
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To be fair, I do wonder what planet some people are on.
The point is the club has long been a shambles on the field and the incompetence now seems to have spread to an area that was previously well run.
Hardly a glowing endorsement of the new CEO's capabilities.
Problem is that you pay crap wages and good staff move on,e.g. Kelly's daughter (can't remember her name offhand). New staff need training and is almost a constant process at Essex - seasonal certainly.
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What's the panic!!
You lot will use any excuse to have a pop.
First county game is Sunday week, T20 on 23 May, Sri Lanka 13 May and 50 overs just before the clocks go back.
Regards the reception staff - My experience today was of two really pleasant, efficient staff who sorted out my membership and T20 tickets in 5 minutes.
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To be fair, I do wonder what planet some people are on.
The point is the club has long been a shambles on the field and the incompetence now seems to have spread to an area that was previously well run.
Hardly a glowing endorsement of the new CEO's capabilities.
Problem is that you pay crap wages and good staff move on,e.g. Kelly's daughter (can't remember her name offhand). New staff need training and is almost a constant process at Essex - seasonal certainly.
Agreed that the admin salaries are very poor.
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To be fair, I do wonder what planet some people are on.
The point is the club has long been a shambles on the field and the incompetence now seems to have spread to an area that was previously well run.
Hardly a glowing endorsement of the new CEO's capabilities.
Problem is that you pay crap wages and good staff move on,e.g. Kelly's daughter (can't remember her name offhand). New staff need training and is almost a constant process at Essex - seasonal certainly.
Exactly how much do they earn? As a former trade union official perhap I'll should bring in some forms.
Who's Kelly?
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Kellys daughter was Lisa or Liza or Leesa, something like that, and she handled the ticketing brilliantly.
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Lisa it was, I think. She's the daughter of Kelly who manages the Club shop , also rather well in fact. Perhaps Larry should go there for some personal training.
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I gather that the new membership chappie (Rowan Stone) cannot read nor write. I wrote to him a little time ago and have not had an answer, as of yet.
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Thanks for post.
We were exceptionally busy today, the attendance was very high for a friendly. The phones were also very busy. We took the decision to close for three days not lightly but to clear the backlog which is now done. For the reasons given above we were behind where we wanted and needed to be, had we stayed open for the three days this week we would never have been able to catch up. We can now focus on the first class service and improving the processes and systems.
We really will be showing an improvement is customer services, yes there have been issues which we have now resolved. We cannot employ masses of staff, there are times when we cannot handle all calls and personal callers but man the phones to highest level possible.
If and when we reach a quarter final etc we will add additional resource where needed.
I cannot stress enough to invite all those who have taken the time to comment to attend the focus group. We DO value feedback, we do act on it where we can.
Thanks, Danny Macklin, Commercial Director
Danny,
During play today, on 3 separate occasions, I endeavoured to visit the Ticket Office. On 2 of the occasions, despite the queue being 8 deep, there was only 1 member of staff serving!! Please explain why this was the case, when you know you're going to be very busy!...................Perhaps this type of scenario explains why your staff attrition rates are so high?
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Thanks for post, we had and have three members of staff serving. This also includes visiting the The premier suite or restaurant.
The department is working around the clock to deliver a service, thanks, Danny
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Thanks for post, we had and have three members of staff serving. This also includes visiting the The premier suite or restaurant.
The department is working around the clock to deliver a service, thanks, Danny
No wonder so many of the Reception staff have left in recent months. In between reception duties and answering ' Call Centre' calls, they are also expected to be waitresses!! .......Don't visit the Ticket office between innings, as you'll probably find the poor reception staff have been asked to sweep and roll the wicket!!!
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Thanks for post,
Sorry don't understand your comment? Our Membership and Ticketing staff make a point to visit the Members areas including the Premier Suite each game. Thanks, Danny
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Just to give a bit of praise where it's merited I visited the Office at approx. 10am last Monday (14th) morning to get my T20 tickets, there were 2 ladies on duty & the whole exercise took 5 minutes & the lady who served me also took the trouble to tell me of the start time of the Colchester game & also that the final game would begin at 5.30pm - Very impressed!!
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Thanks for post,
Sorry don't understand your comment? Our Membership and Ticketing staff make a point to visit the Members areas including the Premier Suite each game. Thanks, Danny
Danny,
I thought my previous comments were very clear and concise! Anyway, to clarify.......Why were two thirds of your Reception staff assigned to 'other' duties in the Premier Suite etc...at the same time us Members were queuing for over 30 mins in the Ticket Office?. In total, I missed circa 10 overs play and to compound matters there were 2 staff in the Club Shop next door serving NOBODY!
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Thanks for post. They would have been dealing with Premier Suite queries from Members.
Having enough staff and office space on first few days of the season is never going to be possible. We only have so many terminals and licences for the ticket and membership system.
Shop staff where they could were asking Members (as was I) to hand their Sri Lanka voucher or T20 ticket requests to them to speed things up.
The team work exceptionally hard to serve quickly but effectively. Thanks for your time
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Danny,
Many thanks for your prompt and comprehensive reply. On a positive note, when I was eventually served by Christine?, she was excellent, in very difficult circumstances.
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Thanks for that feedback, Chris, Kim and Rowan are a very good team
Thanks