carling cup final ticket nightmare

With the opening day of the lines for Carling Cup Final tickets arriving, the club have not covered
themselves in glory off the field, with the fans not finding it a satisfying experience.

31.01.2008

Carling Cup tickets,

Big club. Why the small server then ?

Not since 2002 have Tottenham Hotspur been required to arrange for supporters to purchase a ticket for a cup final. Technology has moved on since then, with the ability to purchase tickets via the internet common practice as well as via the telephone.

The 31,000 tickets allocated to Spurs went on sale to 20,000 or so season ticket holders from 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday January 30. You can only purchase these tickets via the internet or the phone. All season ticket holders are guaranteed a ticket, as long as they purchase these tickets by 5:30 p.m. on Monday February 4.

So, at 9:35 a.m. I went onto the official site, which told me:

"Due to the current level of demand for tickets, you are being held in a queue. Please do not continuously click on refresh, as the page will refresh automatically.”

My screen now displayed a long white bar, which slowly turned purple to indicate when I would be allowed on to the correct page. OK. Fair enough.

I tried to phone, but the lines were too busy to take the call. OK, I’ll get through via the site, or so I thought.

Slowly and not so surely the bar turned a rather natty shade of purple, which brought cheer to my heart. The thought of securing my tickets so that I could ensure that my nine-year-old son was going to be able to walk along Wembley way with me was just as exciting for me as it was for him (We all have our crosses to bare and I was made a Spurs fan by my family and, by God, he is going to have to suffer the same fate of "almost" as I have to. Remember – suffering makes us stronger ...).

I tried the phone a few more times, but no joy. After three hours the bar was three quarters of the way to Cup final ticket heaven. Just a bit more – about 40 minutes at the rate it was going. But then it kicked me right back to the beginning – all the purple had gone. I was left with a white bar only ... all I need was the continuous sound of one tone beep to confirm that this white bar meant death to my objective. Why ? What did I do wrong ? Why did I have to start again ?

I tried phoning, but no joy. So I went through the options on the main switchboard, and managed to get through to the ticket office. The lady could not take my Carling Cup final request, despite me explaining the problem. “Well, it’s busy,” she informed me. Thanks.

I pointed out that Led Zeppelin had over a million hits to register for tickets (Led Zep play about as often at Wembley as we do). “Maybe they had a bigger server," she replied, in a rather sarcastic tone. She then informed me that the internet and telephone lines were open 24 hours. Calling at 3:00 a.m., she said, was an option.

What about sleep then ? I only want to buy my tickets and if the server can't cope with the 20,000 season ticket holders, how is it going to cope with 30,000 members who can register for tickets via the same method from 9:30 a.m. from Thursday ?

Anyway, I am trying and trying. I plan to leave work at 6:00 p.m. tonight. If I’m not connected then, then it’s an early alarm call. I just hope that the rest of the season ticket holders have not been given the same "advice", trying to explain to the other half why you are on the phone at 3:00 a.m. “Buying tickets, love. Honest.”

I love my club. I just want a little love back and a bloody bigger server.

PAUL LAMOUREAUX

Dear MEHSTG,

If you have any contacts at the club, please pass this on...

I am writing to you in disgust at the treatment of all Season Ticket Holders in trying to purchase a Carling Cup Final ticket.

Why oh why does this club continue to treat it's fans like dirt when we paying hundreds of pounds a season to be then treated with contempt. Firstly, we are asked to phone a high rate charge phone number, only to be told when we finally get through to the ticket office that all operators are busy, then they cut you off !
This reminds me of the countless hours I spent on the phone when I was a member trying to get tickets for home matches, only to be cut off when the call count exceeded 10.

Secondly, they ask you to try the online ticket website, but again you're in a queue trying to access it, so the same scenario as above.

There was a simple alternative to this, in the season ticket book there is a League Cup Final voucher, which if sent to the ticket office you could've specified what price ticket you wanted, and that's it.

Ah, but call be a cynic, they wouldn't get more money out of the fans that way!

PAXTON MARK

Perhaps anyone reading this at the club might like to respond ??