Complaints about the Club

Row Z Royal · by **Row Z Royal** » 06 Aug 2006 20:55

Do STAR take note of the complaints made about the club on the 'Club Policies' forum?

It's just that it seems to me as if there is a new problem every day relating to ticket purchases, online information from the Club, erroneous monies being removed from accounts, lost season ticket applications etc.

It's disappointing how much hassle there seems to be among hobnobbers, let alone the thousands of fans who don't use this board.

DoSTAR take these complaints up on a Customer Service level or is it down to fans to complain to RFC one at a time? My concern lies in the fact that a fan in the ticket office is just another bod to those behind the perspex, rather than a great booming voice complaining from above.

Many fans (PAYING CUSTOMERS) seem to be getting a rough ride at the moment and I don't think it's right. Journalists call us 'that friendly club from Berkshire', but right now too many fans are finding them to be distinctly unfriendly.

STAR Liaison · by **STAR Liaison** » 07 Aug 2006 09:36

Row Z Royal wrote:Do STAR take note of the complaints made about the club on the 'Club Policies' forum?

It's just that it seems to me as if there is a new problem every day relating to ticket purchases, online information from the Club, erroneous monies being removed from accounts, lost season ticket applications etc.

It's disappointing how much hassle there seems to be among hobnobbers, let alone the thousands of fans who don't use this board.

DoSTAR take these complaints up on a Customer Service level or is it down to fans to complain to RFC one at a time? My concern lies in the fact that a fan in the ticket office is just another bod to those behind the perspex, rather than a great booming voice complaining from above.

Many fans (PAYING CUSTOMERS) seem to be getting a rough ride at the moment and I don't think it's right. Journalists call us 'that friendly club from Berkshire', but right now too many fans are finding them to be distinctly unfriendly.

STAR do take these matters up with the club but usually at the senior management meeting rather than with customer service as it is important to communicate with those who can change policies rather than those who have to cope with the problems.

That should not preclude anyone taking it up with customer service themselves, and copying STAR at info@star-reading.org if you wish so that we have specific examples to follow up rather than anonymous complaints.

The 17 Bus · by **The 17 Bus** » 07 Aug 2006 09:48

Correct, all fans that have a problem should complain individually, no way should you wait for someone else to take it up on your behalf.

RoyalBlue · by **RoyalBlue** » 07 Aug 2006 13:36

The 17 Bus wrote:Correct, all fans that have a problem should complain individually, no way should you wait for someone else to take it up on your behalf.

But make sure you copy Star in on your complaint so they can keep track of just how many there are.

WestCoast Life · by **WestCoast Life** » 07 Aug 2006 14:48

Row Z Royal wrote:Journalists call us 'that friendly club from Berkshire', but right now too many fans are finding them to be distinctly unfriendly.

don't confuse incompetance with unfriendlyness

Alan Titchmarsh · by **Alan Titchmarsh** » 10 Aug 2006 13:13

starliaison wrote:
Row Z Royal wrote:Do STAR take note of the complaints made about the club on the 'Club Policies' forum?

It's just that it seems to me as if there is a new problem every day relating to ticket purchases, online information from the Club, erroneous monies being removed from accounts, lost season ticket applications etc.

It's disappointing how much hassle there seems to be among hobnobbers, let alone the thousands of fans who don't use this board.

DoSTAR take these complaints up on a Customer Service level or is it down to fans to complain to RFC one at a time? My concern lies in the fact that a fan in the ticket office is just another bod to those behind the perspex, rather than a great booming voice complaining from above.

Many fans (PAYING CUSTOMERS) seem to be getting a rough ride at the moment and I don't think it's right. Journalists call us 'that friendly club from Berkshire', but right now too many fans are finding them to be distinctly unfriendly.
STAR do take these matters up with the club but usually at the senior management meeting rather than with customer service as it is important to communicate with those who can change policies rather than those who have to cope with the problems.

When's the next meeting scheduled? I would be interested to know what the club have to say with regard to the general foul ups that there seems to have been over everything from the late appearance of the shirt/book vouchers to the screw ups over ST processing and taking of payments. esp. as it seems some of these problems were also experienced last year!

Riseley · by **Riseley** » 10 Aug 2006 14:49

Complaints may do some good on an individual basis but the crux of the problem is never addressed. Thanks to the Mr Mads shoestring approach The TO is woefully under-resourced. So many 'mistakes' are made because of poor IT infrastructure and lack of investment. This in turn leads to a low customer satisfaction level that would never be allowed to develop in the majority of ambitious and growing SME's. The bandaid and elastic band stock must be running very low.
When the frustration of dealing with our TO reaches boiling point nothing has been found that can beat kicking Boyd Butler in the bollocks.

Dirk Gently · by **Dirk Gently** » 10 Aug 2006 14:58

That's it in a nutshell.

Too few people trying to do too much, with significant under-investment on staff number and training leading to a high-level of mainly minor, silly mistakes.

Most of the mistakes are easily sorted, and not very many are very significant, but the overload in the Sales Centre means that getting the attention of anyone to sort them out is just another obstacle to be overcome - and certain members of staff there seem to think that the the only person less infallable than them is the Pope.

I also think that it's not too little investment in IT & systems, it's the unthinking assumption that those systems will suit all customers - the "one-size fits all approach" just isn't realistic.

For too many people there are still too many obstacles to purchase, and for too many the whole experience is less than perfect. Admittedly, the obstacles and the hassles seem to be decreasing (considering crowd numbers are now up 50%+ than this time last year) but still there are still more low-level hassles than there should be.

paultheroyal · by **paultheroyal** » 20 Jun 2023 09:44

Row Z Royal wrote:Do STAR take note of the complaints made about the club on the 'Club Policies' forum?

It's just that it seems to me as if there is a new problem every day relating to ticket purchases, online information from the Club, erroneous monies being removed from accounts, lost season ticket applications etc.

It's disappointing how much hassle there seems to be among hobnobbers, let alone the thousands of fans who don't use this board.

DoSTAR take these complaints up on a Customer Service level or is it down to fans to complain to RFC one at a time? My concern lies in the fact that a fan in the ticket office is just another bod to those behind the perspex, rather than a great booming voice complaining from above.

Many fans (PAYING CUSTOMERS) seem to be getting a rough ride at the moment and I don't think it's right. Journalists call us 'that friendly club from Berkshire', but right now too many fans are finding them to be distinctly unfriendly.

First world fan problems eh?