Why is the Box Office so bad?
 

A number of issues this season such as E-Tickets but the below really irritates me.

Just gone to purchase a Liverpool away ticket and only about 20 restricted view remain. Rang the box office to ask why block 122 (the best block in the away end) was greyed out and they said sales slowed down so decided not to take this block.

I find this an astonishing approach to take after only putting tickets on sale last Wednesday. Surely you look to give fans maximum opportunity to attend after dropping the ball like that? In addition to this you are required to pickup the tickets from Selhurst. This makes things difficult and they could easily be sent to Anfield for collection?

I’d love to see it become Palace policy that for Saturday away games that they take the full allocation as this has happened to me and friends numerous times before. If they provided free coach travel for each away game I think this would create a feeling of goodwill among supporters and also ensure away ends are packed up ultimately increasing the chances of a good performance.

Don't the club need to buy the tickets from Liverpool? If they don't think we will sell that block they'll lose the money for the unsold tickets

Yes I understand any unsold tickets they will have to pay for but surely they can market these to ensure they get sold and not leave sales until the week before the match?

I think you need to separate Box Office management - which is clearly sub-par - from Box Office staff, who I have always found helpful.

I think even free coaches would put many off tbh. It’s a right old journey as it is.

I think not taking a block when the demand isn’t there, is a sensible decision.

And while what Maz says is correct, there are a couple of instances where the box office staff have let themselves down as well as the management.

Anyway: HOPEFULLY they’ve all learnt from the weekends mistakes and will improve.

I agree Maz. The young staff on the phones and desks are always helpful and pleasant.

They ain't paid the greatest and I've always found them to be helpful at the very least all the time.

In all fairness this e-ticketing bollocks has come from the Premier League and they've been put under massive pressure.

I'd echo this. They have a thankless job but are generally polite, well-meaning and conscientious.

You really have to feel sorry for the frontline staff who will taking the brunt of their manager's bad decisions.

The club have made some diabolical decisions on this in the past, taking reduced allocations for games that would easily have sold out and thereby denying our fans the chance to attend those matches, but in this case I really don't think they can be accused of doing much wrong. The last non-restricted tickets only sold out earlier today, so we've sold about 1,800 and there are still about 70 restricted view tickets left. Block 124, which we didn't take, holds about 1050 fans. The indications are that the vast majority of those would have gone unsold if we'd taken that block.

You mention free coach travel and yes, I'd love to see them do that more often and there's no doubt that it would have increased the demand, although it's difficult to say by how much. And it's annoying when they keep the restriction at two tickets per person for no good reason - we might have sold a few more if they'd allowed people to buy more guest tickets. But overall I think it was reasonable to take just the three blocks for this one.

I do agree that the tickets went on sale too late and hope that is not repeated for future away matches.

Another agreement with regards box office staff for previous dealings over the years. I hope they appreciate the general feeling towards them & always make a point of letting em' know when they, ve sorted tickets and moved seats etc.. Grateful..

Me to:love:

I agree they are very polite and helpful but it seems the management is the problem. Why are they leaving it so late to put away tickets on sale for example?

The reason is that Parish and the senior management treat the fans like business commodities rather than human beings. They are so far out of touch with us it is unbelievable - but you can only conclude that he doesn't give a flying shit or that he is bloody useless, or both.

The previous box office manager, Paul McGaowan implemented a consistent service.

You pretty much knew away tickets would go on sale to away season ticket holders on a Friday morning at 10am and "phase 1" the following Monday. Tickets usually went on sale 4 or 5 weeks ahead of games. Barring the occasional short notice cup game, things ran like clockwork most of the time.

I don't know if the club aren't selling too far ahead because of fears over short term changes to covid restrictions, but it all feels too last minute, anxious fans being told "it'll be done tomorrow" all the time.

I hope that now the season is settled and into more of a rhythm, that we can start to see a service more akin to what fans were previously used to.

FWIW I also echo that the staff have always worked hard and done their very best for the fans, the frustrations we have at the moment are at the root of it due to management.

Post covid it feels like we have regressed at the ground. The food and drink issues, the tickets, the kit and the sound issues and lack of build up... Feels like we are back in 2010. The team and the academy/ training ground are doing well though which is great but the above needs looking at.

Exactly. These are the poor bastards working their socks off on minimum wage and facing the chaos and frustration of the fans, ultimately to sell tickets to matches where players on the pitch are on anything up to £300K per week and the owners are pocketing millions a year.

Parish treated his staff at TAG like shit as well - I remember one of them ringing up LBC one morning, complaining that they hadn't been given a pay rise for years (apparently down to 'austerity') while "the Chairman was off abroad racing Porsche's and he's just bought a football club".

The management don't give a shit about the fans. End of.

I went into the Box Office yesterday to try and resolve my issues once and for all. (I've been there twice before in the last ten days and emailed and telephoned all to no effect).


The system was down, and I was given a categoric promise that they would call me later in the day. Did they, hell.


I've been positive about them on here, but it's hard to remain positive sometimes.

They obvious do not have any kind CRM systems in place to manage the email
queries, the fact you do not get any kind of response to even inform you they’ve received the email and a timeline to expect a response to manage expectations is disgraceful considering the volume of queries they must receive, it really must be pot luck as the whether you’ll ever get a response, a disgraceful way for the club to treat its ‘customers’.