[Albion] Albion Fans vs Ticket Window ****Official Bun Fight Thread****

[Hamilton]

It wasn't.

In block 417 I had over 200 seats to chose from. If they were in baskets already, they'd not have shown up.

You had to select a seat and click BUY in a few seconds or someone else would have nabbed it, and from there you were likely stuffed as you would then need to deselect that seat and choose another one. All the time, others were beating you to it.

Bozza. I was there mate.

I was clicking on one ticket and going to BUY and the seat had gone already. Within Nano seconds.

 

[timbha]

It wasn't.

In block 417 I had over 200 seats to chose from. If they were in baskets already, they'd not have shown up.

You had to select a seat and click BUY in a few seconds or someone else would have nabbed it, and from there you were likely stuffed as you would then need to deselect that seat and choose another one. All the time, others were beating you to it.

Exactly. I went for an obscure ticket in 417 thinking everyone would go for the better seats. I was wrong and then panic set it.

There must’ve been 1000’s doing the same

 

[Horses Arse]

Right that's it.

I have to go to work.

That's another thing that pisses me off. The club could have done this yesterday when more people were at home. Instead they choose 9am on a Monday when loads of people are at work.

I've pointed this out before to them and just got blank stares.

A blank stare is better than an 8.page email

 

[Dirty Dave]

Sorry but yes it was. Tier 1s should not have had their baskets emptied they should have been logged out of the match completely. The match should have been accessible to tier 1 and 2 together at 9am, the fact tier 1 could access the match before 9am meant they essentially had a false start on tier 2.
I’m gutted to have missed out but there is no way that goes from ‘buy’ to ‘sold out’ in less than a minute if people are not already part way through the process at 9am and the process should start with accessing the match.

Tier 1 had no false start at 9am. As has been said, it went from sold out to over 300 available.

When that happened, the gates opened for all tier 1 and tier 2 to equally pile in.

I think you've underestimated how many more people there were trying to buy tickets than what were available.

It's very plausible all went within a minute, from being freshly added to baskets at 9

 

[trueblue]

Ticketmaster holds the seat for 5 minutes once in your basket, all fit for purpose ticketing systems would do this.

That’s not a lot of time to pay though if anything at all goes wrong. Have had that issue with Ticketmaster in the past.

I’ve also had the issue with thinking I’ve got tickets for big events, then finding them unavailable at checkout. Not unique to Albion - but very annoying regardless.

 

[Silver flying chariot]

Which gets us back to the ridiculous 220 point threshold.

that's a different story.... I agree i think there should be more windows maybe running every hour if needed, (250,240,230,220 etc) however that's not the point being made about the system selling out in less than 20 seconds... having smaller windows wouldn't change the initial stampede at the start of the opening... , it would merely just give people with 250 more chance than people with 240 and lower....

 

[Hamilton]

Three things I think the club could reflect on:

First having a threshold of 220 point was too low. I'd have set it higher.
Next not having a queuing system. You need it for parity.
Next letting tier 1 holders bag tickets for friends - even if they couldn't buy them - thus making it look like it was sold out before 9am.

That is something that could be assessed for the future.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Bozza. I was there mate.

I was clicking on one ticket and going to BUY and the seat had gone already. Within Nano seconds.

Same here.

I did not stop for any time at all. Clicked in the block with available seats, clicked two together in the back row, moved my cursor to the buy button and the red 'tickets unavailable' message was already displayed.

Repeated three times.

 

[Beanstalk]

Ticketmaster won't have priority level schemes like the way this one does....

I get you may be a bit miffed about not getting a ticket, but can assure you it wasn't because of the system....

I can’t believe anyone is advocating for ticketmaster here.

 

[Silver flying chariot]

I can’t believe anyone is advocating for ticketmaster here.

I didn't. it was in response to a statement

 

[BNthree]

Bozza. I was there mate.

I was clicking on one ticket and going to BUY and the seat had gone already. Within Nano seconds.

Same and I think I'm a ticket site veteran as usually the one asked by friends to get the group tickets.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

Same here.

I did not stop for any time at all. Clicked in the block with available seats, clicked two together in the back row, moved my cursor to the buy button and the red 'tickets unavailable' message was already displayed.

Repeated three times.

Yep, this happened 5 times for me as I attempted to buy for my Dad.

 

[trueblue]

It wasn't.

In block 417 I had over 200 seats to chose from. If they were in baskets already, they'd not have shown up.

You had to select a seat and click BUY in a few seconds or someone else would have nabbed it, and from there you were likely stuffed as you would then need to deselect that seat and choose another one. All the time, others were beating you to it.

Seems a fair summary of what probably happened to me. Got in very quickly but someone beat me to a seat and after that just kept getting the ‘not available’. Oh well. Saved me a few hundred quid.

 

[dwayne]

It wasn't.

In block 417 I had over 200 seats to chose from. If they were in baskets already, they'd not have shown up.

You had to select a seat and click BUY in a few seconds or someone else would have nabbed it, and from there you were likely stuffed as you would then need to deselect that seat and choose another one. All the time, others were beating you to it.

I know someone who tried the tier one trick had his/her basket cleared then went back into the basket and the ticket magically appeared. This was 10 seconds after 9am.

The system is just not right at the moment. No one should be allowed to log in 30 mins before a sale like this.

 

[Bozza]

Same here.

I did not stop for any time at all. Clicked in the block with available seats, clicked two together in the back row, moved my cursor to the buy button and the red 'tickets unavaiable' message was alreday diusplayed.

Repeated three times.

All I can say is I intentionally didn't choose the back row, knowing it was top of screen so the first place most eyes would settle.

But when it comes down to it, it just comes down to luck in reaching that BUY button before someone else clicks on the seat you already have selected.

 

[Commander]

Feel bad for people who didn't get them. The club definitely got the tiering wrong on this one. Tier 2 should have been 260 ish and then Tier 3 220.

 

[trueblue]

that's a different story.... I agree i think there should be more windows maybe running every hour if needed, (250,240,230,220 etc) however that's not the point being made about the system selling out in less than 20 seconds... having smaller windows wouldn't change the initial stampede at the start of the opening... , it would merely just give people with 250 more chance than people with 240 and lower....

It would also make it very unfair on the vast majority of fans who have next to no chance on a game like this, even though they’ve been season ticket holders for decades. Not everyone has Saturdays off and can go to away matches - it’s a narrow definition of ‘loyalty’. I’m imagine that’s why they protected the very top points holders and made the small amount remaining more of a lottery.

 

[timbha]

As a STH since 70’s I can’t remember an Albion match where tickets are so difficult to get hold of.

Clearly the limited number of tickets available is a key factor but I have always been able to get tickets without too much pain by queueing in Newtown Road, Old Shoreham Road, Queens Road, Withdean car park, or using this on line thingy.

Seems like there will be a big mob in Amsterdam without tickets.

 

[Commander]

I know someone who tried the tier one trick had his/her basket cleared then went back into the basket and the ticket magically appeared. This was 10 seconds after 9am.

The system is just not right at the moment. No one should be allowed to log in 30 mins before a sale like this.

I'm sure in previous situations like this the website wouldn't let you log in from about 30 minutes before the tier opened. It used to say it would randomly assign you a place in the queue once we hit 9am. That is the right way to do it.

 

[Brian Fantana]

I got 3 bang on 9am by selecting the block and then clicking best available. I think doing that instead of trying to select individual seats probably made the difference. I tend to avoid doing it when buying gig tickets, due to price differential between different options, but it seemed a no brainer in this situation where everything was the same price.