The London 2012 ticket saga continues this weekend. As someone who failed to get tickets in both rounds, but whose application didn’t go through in the second round, I have also missed out on the ‘golden’ window that began on Friday and ends at 6pm today (Saturday 12th May). During this period, further athletics and ceremonies tickets (around 928,000 seats as reported in Evening Standard, although news reports differ) were made available to a lucky 20,000 people. I should have been one of them. I have had endless problems with the Ticketmaster website. I feel so bitterly disappointed, but I have to be pleased for those who did achieve success yesterday…sort of!
I now have a chance to take a pick of what’s left of the tickets over the next 5 days. I can only apply for one event and up to four tickets. Not all events are for sale every day, so again, a game of tactics. Do you apply for a sport you’re not as keen on that may have more availability, or do you hold off until the last day if you like rowing the best? It’s a minefield of disappointment waiting to happen, as there is only a one in four chance for people like me to buy tickets.
I’m remaining optimistic, but I can’t help feeling that the tickets should have been available in the beginning. And with more and more being advertised in marketing promotions (yes, I admit, I am a hypocrite and am desperately entering these competitions!), I feel even harder done by. Ok, will stop moaning now.
I just have to feel blessed I was able to have my chance on the other side of the world. So far, London 2012 cannot match up to Sydney 2000 in this respect, but then, the internet is king now and with these being hailed as the ‘social media’ games, how can we expect life to go back to being as simple as turning up at a kiosk and buying tickets in person?
Further to this post, here's what happened today when I tried to apply for tickets:
ReplyDelete1. Click search events at 11am, the time when tickets went on sale
2. Select to view athletics tickets and click button that says 'show available sessions only'
3. Put two athletics tickets into basket (Think to self, see, am not greedy even!)
3. View message: We will search for the tickets you have requested once you click request tickets. If they are still available, then they will be reserved for for you. (Think to self that someone needs a copywriter, could you be more confusing?!)
4. Screen refreshes to message: 'Requesting tickets. Please wait while we see if tickets are available for you'
5. Sit there for 20 mins looking at message: Your estimated wait time is 15 mins. This changes to 11 mins. Then back to 15 mins. Then 6 mins. Then 15 mins. (Think to self: Frustrating)
6. Screen refreshes to message: Sorry, no exact matches were found. (Think: this should say, no tickets left) Message includes link call to action 'View shopping list'.
7. Then find I have to actively remove these non-existent tickets from my shopping list before I can try to see if other tickets are available. Only realise this once I have added new tickets and get another error message.
All in all, a time consuming, disappointing experience with terrible messaging to boot. I knew I'd have little chance of winning athletics tickets, but I did not expect this experience to be so frustrating and time consuming. I know I could have easily bought football tickets today, but I chose to go for Olympic Park tickets. I gambled and lost. As someone who devises website information architecture (the customer journey) I still feel this journey could have been so much better.