The True Cost of Phoning 0844-815-5000

[The Year Of The Fox]

My mate went down today. They gave him his ST there and then along with promises of a refund to the same amount wasted on his phone

[Neil_LCFC]

i was 24th in the cue...waited 20 mins..got to no1 ...and then was cut off and told to ring back later !!! very angry.......whay cant we have an 0116 number. god its pence they make on 0844 and it just annoys the fans

Pence ? cost me fourteen quid & others on here quite a lot aswell, it is a money making scam that more and more places are using. Even a local doctors has changed to it which is ridiculous as you are ringing up for appointments because you are ill & they are trying to fleece every last penny out of you, these numbers should be banned.

[floppus]

Same same...... 11 in Q. 18 mins down to 1. 26 mins back to 18 . Hung up. Tried later. 11 in Q. Waited 23 mins 1 in Q. Waited 23 mins ANSWER!!!!!!!!!/!!!!!!!!!!! Now 4-40. Useless b##t couldn't solve my problem 'in a phone room opposite end ofstadium to ticket office'. I need to walk down there'. I Go home at 5-00. I'll give you a ring tomorrow. WTF.

[markbsac]

Pence ? cost me fourteen quid & others on here quite a lot aswell, it is a money making scam that more and more places are using. Even a local doctors has changed to it which is ridiculous as you are ringing up for appointments because you are ill & they are trying to fleece every last penny out of you, these numbers should be banned.

no they make pence on an 0844 number, it costs us a small fortune the longer we are on...they are multi multi millionaires why are they messaing about with 0844 numbers......lets have an 0116 number back please.

[ozleicester]

Sympathise with everyone's frustrations, but I would encourage you all to do this via the website, which I'd imagine is easy for the club.

Equally, there are a number of call inclusive phone packages available, which would nulify the issues some of you face, should you have one. Now I'm not in the club's employment, but run a business, thus can understand things from both sides. Managing hundreds of callers at once is extremely difficult, but I'm sure they are committed to doing better.

Hope it's easy on you all next time .

All of the above is true, however, i am sure if you run a business you would offer better customer service than this!

If this were anything other than a football team they would have lost their customers to a business that provides service.

[Trav Le Bleu]

When are you phoning? I used to work in a call centre and the lines went from dead to AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH! in seconds. Try to avoid peak times like 12-1.30 in the week (when people are on their lunch break) or after 4pm. I know this might not help some people cos they might be the only times they get (it is of course the reason everyone else is phoning), but if you can, then it's worth a try.

Seriously though, given the cost of player wages, it's a drop in the ocean to employ a couple of extra people to man the phones all week.

[ajthefox]

I spent well over an hour on the phone trying to get a ticket to the home leg of the playoffs season before last and since haven't used the phone, it's an absolute farce.

That there are so many who have said about the same problem not just in this thread but every so often in the tickets thread is testament to this.

Unless I'm not in Leicester then I make sure to go down to the TO, it's just not worth the hassle on the phone.

[Fez of Mahrez]

Called up this morning at 9am on the dot and was 18th in the queue, which gives you an idea of how busy they are. Got through after 25 minutes and the stupid dodgy line on my mobile meant the bloke could barely hear me. He apologised because he thought it was his end and the line was so bad I didn't bother explaining it was a problem with my phone. I fought for that call so hard, there was no way I was letting go. Practically yelled my card details at him. Six times.

Anyway, no real complaints. Thanks for your time.

[ramboacdc]

remember the number for cardiff tickets in the play offs 2 seasons ago? that had a connection fee i wasnt aware of. rang it contiueously on the way to work.

nice bill of £350 came through the door.

[Foxhateram]

Bump!

Trying to ring today for Everton tickets getting a stupid message about the lines being busy and the queue being full. Then I get terminated. Surely this is pointless. Even if I'm in a big queue, surely it makes sense to put me in it rather than cut me off.

[Captain...]

Bump!

Trying to ring today for Everton tickets getting a stupid message about the lines being busy and the queue being full. Then I get terminated. Surely this is pointless. Even if I'm in a big queue, surely it makes sense to put me in it rather than cut me off.

 

I hope you aren't using the 0845 number, there is a local call number now.

 

Incidentally for anyone sick of calling 0845 numbers you can usual google local number, eg local Sky customer services number and that will take you to the same place and be a lot cheaper. I've done that for Electricity and Gas too.

[blueonyou]

Phone systems can only Q X amount of callers.

 

Can we put this thread back to 2011 now?

[davieG]

O344 815 5000

http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/topic/95838-0344-815-5000-new-lcfc-basic-national-rate-new-phone-no/?hl=phone

[Basingstoke Fox]

www.saynoto0870.com was always a useful site for this over the years.

[maddog]

They clearly need a more sophisticated phone system that can handle more traffic and a couple of additional members of full-time staff to handle that traffic.

For the phone lines to be at maximum capacity at 10.15am on a Tuesday morning over an hour after opening is a complete shambles for any small business, and totally embarrassing for a Premier League football club turning over millions... I imagine their suppliers don't get treated this way and theres a much more capable system for their number upstairs in the offices.

Bit of a joke, I'm not talking a call centre style ticket office because that would be a massive waste of cash, just something much better than the current way of doing things.

[C-man]

I like moaning about ticket office processes as much as the next man but every sporting institution has an enormous issue with the customer service side of telesales. They basically have two options - employ additional staff, or invest in an automated system that can cope with the sudden spikes in demand that their industry throws up. Either way costs a shed load of cash. 

 

City's turnover (let's be frank, £100m or whatever it's likely to be this season is still at the small end in business terms) is fairly irrelevant here. They know they will make the sales eventually so getting people processed quickly and efficiently plainly doesn't outweigh the costs involved in doing so. It's another case of football clubs taking advantage of fans' unwavering loyalty.

 

The online system is the one that they should focus on really nailing. That way almost everyone can be served.

[maddog]

I like moaning about ticket office processes as much as the next man but every sporting institution has an enormous issue with the customer service side of telesales. They basically have two options - employ additional staff, or invest in an automated system that can cope with the sudden spikes in demand that their industry throws up. Either way costs a shed load of cash.

City's turnover (let's be frank, £100m or whatever it's likely to be this season is still at the small end in business terms) is fairly irrelevant here. They know they will make the sales eventually so getting people processed quickly and efficiently plainly doesn't outweigh the costs involved in doing so. It's another case of football clubs taking advantage of fans' unwavering loyalty.

The online system is the one that they should focus on really nailing. That way almost everyone can be served.

I agree with this, although the point about having a more expensive sophisticated system isn't worth the cost savings gained is one that would need objective investigation by the club, I would say regardless of any lost revenues involved in terms of additional overheads etc, they would be immaterial compared with a surplus £~70m+ turnover now we are in the Premier League.

I can't be bothered to research that estimated turnover figure I just know we had £21.4m revenue when in the championship. Considering the massive boost in TV revenue and ticket sales, an extra £50m on that seems realistic, could be a slight over/under estimate to be honest.

Also the point about £100m being small in general in business is plain wrong. From personal experience of working within a global organisation employing ~1000 staff, they were rather large with many sites across the UK and turnover was ~£80m. So ours is a very large amount.

Also 75% of all private sector businesses in the UK only employ their owners as staff, therefore the vast majority will be turning over very small amounts compared to £100m. Theres a PDF from the Department of Business and Skills with those statistics if you're a sad twat like me and like to read boring drivel. (Screenshot at bottom).

But anyway I'm not picking a fight I agree with your principle there, for me the system could be a hell of a lot better and wouldn't cost much. Online is a great solution but some people are still not computer savvy, or even have internet and there's certain purchases that can't be made online, people are more at ease speaking to a human on the phone, well I am anyway haha. Online might go wrong as well once you've placed your order, less wrong as a % of ticket sales per year than human error generally but if it totally broke down we would all be screwed. I would hope the ticket office human staff have a decent wage and conditions and won't 'glitch' themselves

The general improvement in fan morale, would be well worth the immaterial costs of a much better phone system and would also boost the morale of the ticket office staff I'd imagine, who will get frustrated themselves the more fans that get frustrated.

EDIT : The average turnover of all private sector businesses in the UK based on those statistics is only £675,000 per annum. So £100m c-man, well up in the upper quartile of UK businesses based on turnover - not small by any means