The ROH booking website - what can we do?

[alison]

But you can't phone the box office any more - unless you're a Friend, of course.

 

Incidentally, this vacancy has just turned up on my LinkedIn feed - don't know if it's relevant here:

 

"We have an exciting opportunity for a creative and analytical marketer to join the team and focus on delivering strategic Email Marketing campaigns that achieve customer loyalty objectives and revenue targets.

✔Do you have significant experience creating compelling, on-brand email campaigns end to end?

✔Do you have a track record of optimising email marketing copy for a variety of target audiences to increase customer retention and reach revenue targets? "

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, alison said:

But you can't phone the box office any more - unless you're a Friend, of course.

 

Incidentally, this vacancy has just turned up on my LinkedIn feed - don't know if it's relevant here:

 

"We have an exciting opportunity for a creative and analytical marketer to join the team and focus on delivering strategic Email Marketing campaigns that achieve customer loyalty objectives and revenue targets.

✔Do you have significant experience creating compelling, on-brand email campaigns end to end?

✔Do you have a track record of optimising email marketing copy for a variety of target audiences to increase customer retention and reach revenue targets? "

 

✔ Do you read balletcoforum?

[bangorballetboy]

1 hour ago, alison said:

But you can't phone the box office any more - unless you're a Friend, of course.

 

 

This has changed.  The automated message did not say "friends line" last time I called!

[LinMM]

I’ve phoned the box office with very good results at at least three times since December. 

[Guest oncnp]

2 hours ago, alison said:

But you can't phone the box office any more - unless you're a Friend, of course.

 

Incidentally, this vacancy has just turned up on my LinkedIn feed - don't know if it's relevant here:

 

"We have an exciting opportunity for a creative and analytical marketer to join the team and focus on delivering strategic Email Marketing campaigns that achieve customer loyalty objectives and revenue targets.

✔Do you have significant experience creating compelling, on-brand email campaigns end to end?

✔Do you have a track record of optimising email marketing copy for a variety of target audiences to increase customer retention and reach revenue targets? "

From the ROH website listing

 

Please note, a working knowledge of our arts forms, or theatre/performing arts is not a pre-requisite for this role. We are actively seeking candidates who can help build our brand and reach and who might be considering moving from another sector with transferable skills.

 

and from the same listing.....really? Seems to me they doing the exact opposite

 

The work of our Audiences and Media team focuses on growing the love, advocacy and demand for the art presented by the Royal Opera House and seeks to grow our audience-generated revenues.

Edited July 20, 2023 by oncnp

[alison]

3 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

This has changed.  The automated message did not say "friends line" last time I called!

 

Hallelujah. That's really good to know.

[San Perregrino]

4 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

This has changed.  The automated message did not say "friends line" last time I called!

I wonder if the system is programmed to recognise Friends numbers and accord them priority in the call queue. I know of some companies where valued customers’ numbers are recognised and these are fast-tracked to reduce their wait-times. 

[LinMM]

I hope not!!
I probably go to ROH as much as many Friends do and although I’m happy for the extra fee they pay for priority booking gives them that advantage I wouldn’t agree with them being given priority on random phone calls to the Box office!! 

[capybara]

1 hour ago, PeterS said:

I wonder if the system is programmed to recognise Friends numbers and accord them priority in the call queue. I know of some companies where valued customers’ numbers are recognised and these are fast-tracked to reduce their wait-times. 

 

Aren't all ROH customers  valued customers? I absolutely hate the very idea that I might, by dint of an annual subscription, be given some kind of preferential treatment.

[capybara]

One of the problems the ROH has (and shares with other arts organisations) is having too many staff without the requisite knowledge of the raison d’etre of their Company and its activities to undertake their jobs fully and developmentally.

 

Knowing what is meant by an “on brand email campaign end to end”  😩 isn’t going to be much help unless the post holder has got under the skin of the ROH.

 

[LinMM]

I just wanted to add something to post above. 
On Friends booking days I’m very happy for Friends to have priority in phone calls made to ROH. 
But just not on other random days not connected to the priority booking.
Just wanted to absolutely clarify that.  
 

[Bluebird]

In the course of visiting the Wayback Machine for information for another thread, I found the following 2010 thread, describing  booking experiences on the ROH website.  Although many people seem to have managed OK, some of the booking experiences described (with the old website) don't appear to be any better than they are with the current website:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20100824033342/http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/happening/7716.html

Edited July 21, 2023 by Bluebird

[San Perregrino]

17 hours ago, capybara said:

 

Aren't all ROH customers  valued customers? I absolutely hate the very idea that I might, by dint of an annual subscription, be given some kind of preferential treatment.

 

yes, we are all valued customers

.

however, by becoming a Friend and paying an annual subscription, one does get preferential treatment/additional opportunities over the general public be it e.g. advance booking or rehearsal tickets. an additional incentive of a dedicated Friends phone number (other than the membership one), an option to select 'Friends' from the automated menu or, if technology now allows,  automated priority selection of Friends before a call is answered is worth considering. other business and arts organisations do this so perhaps the ROH would benefit from it too. 

 

that said, i agree that a prominently featured general box office/enquiry number is essential for everyone.

 

i am increasingly frustrated with organisations who conceal a contact number deep within a website because they don't want to receive calls and to have a human answering a phone.  e.g. yesterday British Gas encouraged/coerced me into having a livechat, a whatsapp, using it's App or sending an email rather than calling.

the livechat had noone to respond, the WhatsApp told me it could be several hours before i got a response, the App was loaded with incorrect information and wouldn't allow me to do what i wanted, an email would've necessitated waiting upon a response when an answer was needed quickly.  So, full of dread, i phoned in, got the "our lines are busier than normal , please call back later or use an alternative method to contact us" 'b*llsh*t message that immediately makes one's heart sink and the bile rise.  i held the line and despite of all the above, waited perhaps one minute maximum before my call was answered by an efficient and knowledgable human being.  next time i shall just pick up the phone.

 

[LinMM]

I always hang on with such organisations and inspite of the dratted message it can take anything from 3 mins to 43 mins!! 
The worst people of all seem to be Bank fraud numbers ….I hung on for an hour once last Autumn and then gave up and rang at the suggested time of 9pm by another bank number and then got through straight away. 
But it’s annoying to have to deal with complex issues at 9pm at night!!! 
Sometimes when they say “we” will answer your call as soon as possible” I think that there’s only one person trying to answer all the calls! 

[Geoff]

Here's a new one (for me, at any rate). I just tried accessing the ROH website on a couple of different browsers.

 

Guess what: using the Opera browser (otherwise an excellent browser) got me this error message:

 

>>Please check your email address and password

 

Needless to say I put in exactly the same email address and password as gets me in on other browsers (and which have worked with Opera in the past).  So perhaps the increasingly complex "advice" on booking online from ROH should also include a warning not to try and use Opera. Too silly. 

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

20 minutes ago, Geoff said:

 

 

Guess what: using the Opera browser (otherwise an excellent browser) got me this error message:

 

 

 

 

I used and was a fan of Opera but it's not supported on my MacBook M2 using Ventura 13.4.1 .

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, PeterS said:

i am increasingly frustrated with organisations who conceal a contact number deep within a website because they don't want to receive calls and to have a human answering a phone.  e.g. yesterday British Gas encouraged/coerced me into having a livechat, a whatsapp, using it's App or sending an email rather than calling.

the livechat had noone to respond, the WhatsApp told me it could be several hours before i got a response, the App was loaded with incorrect information and wouldn't allow me to do what i wanted, an email would've necessitated waiting upon a response when an answer was needed quickly.  So, full of dread, i phoned in, got the "our lines are busier than normal , please call back later or use an alternative method to contact us" 'b*llsh*t message that immediately makes one's heart sink and the bile rise.  i held the line and despite of all the above, waited perhaps one minute maximum before my call was answered by an efficient and knowledgable human being.  next time i shall just pick up the phone.

 

Yes - a lot of organisations simply lie because they don't want people to phone. I'm generally so relieved to get through that I don't challenge this, and anyway you know that it's in no way the responsibility of the person to whom you're speaking. But it's so dishonest and so dehumanising. (Mind you, sometimes you do wait ages if you phone, and then speak to someone who is neither efficient nor knowledgeable...). Really, why is everything so difficult nowadays?? (Well, almost everything.)

[Sim]

3 hours ago, LinMM said:

I always hang on with such organisations and inspite of the dratted message it can take anything from 3 mins to 43 mins!! 
The worst people of all seem to be Bank fraud numbers ….I hung on for an hour once last Autumn and then gave up and rang at the suggested time of 9pm by another bank number and then got through straight away. 
But it’s annoying to have to deal with complex issues at 9pm at night!!! 
Sometimes when they say “we” will answer your call as soon as possible” I think that there’s only one person trying to answer all the calls! 

"Your call is important to us.  Please keep holding on until it's no longer important to you."

[capybara]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

Really, why is everything so difficult nowadays?? (Well, almost everything.)

 

Partly because organisations no longer appear to set service standards and ensure staff abide by the expectations placed upon them.

[bridiem]

7 minutes ago, capybara said:

Partly because organisations no longer appear to set service standards and ensure staff abide by the expectations placed upon them.

 

Or where they do, the standards are shamefully low.

[capybara]

9 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Or where they do, the standards are shamefully low.

 

and 'Managers' are afraid to manage.

[JNC]

Not sure if this strictly belongs in this thread but it is a customer service theme!

 

a few months ago I emailed the membership team enquiring when my membership was due to expire as I was considering cancellation and wanted to know the next steps in advance rather than risk getting locked in for 12 months. At this point I was still undecided about cancelling and noted it was for enquiry purposes only.

 

they noted I could cancel my direct debit after 22 July and no further action was required. In fact the last email on the chain even notes I’ll get a renewal reminder in July and that if o wished to cancel it I could action it then!

 

Fast forward to today and I’ve received an email saying that they’ve cancelled my direct debit and membership for me as per previous instruction!

 

whilst on one hand I’m impressed they remembered/made a note and it saves me actioning anything as in the intervening months I had made up my mind to cancel my membership, on the other hand I’m a bit baffled and dare I say annoyed as my email was pretty explicit that I was emailing to enquire at the time, not asking them to action anything. There’s not much point me going back now to say these weren’t my instructions given it is the result I’m now happy with but if I had still been on the fence still they certainly would have pushed me off it with this! 
 

after the increased prices, poor communication, discounted offers only sent to some “friends” and not others, this is the cherry on the cake! 

[Mary]

I've just received a survey about improving the website.

 

It was so slow to load and so clunky to do ( for me, admittedly not good at such things) that I gave up.

 

 

 

 

[bridiem]

I haven't been receiving Friends' e-newsletters in the last few months, even though they confirmed last week that I'm subscribed to receive everything. (I wouldn't even have realised I wasn't receiving them if it wasn't for this forum.) Doesn't inspire confidence.

[Bluebird]

15 minutes ago, bridiem said:

I haven't been receiving Friends' e-newsletters in the last few months, even though they confirmed last week that I'm subscribed to receive everything. (I wouldn't even have realised I wasn't receiving them if it wasn't for this forum.) Doesn't inspire confidence.

 

That happened to me a few years ago.  I went through a long period when emails from the membership team were not reaching me and, in addition, the quarterly magazines were not being posted to me. It took some time for them to work out why this was happening and it turned out that there had been a 'data entry error' and the ROH address had been added as a secondary address on my account.  This led the system to assume I was a member of staff !  Maybe you should ask them to check to see if a similar thing has happened to your account.

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, Bluebird said:

That happened to me a few years ago.  I went through a long period when emails from the membership team were not reaching me and, in addition, the quarterly magazines were not being posted to me. It took some time for them to work out why this was happening and it turned out that there had been a 'data entry error' and the ROH address had been added as a secondary address on my account.  This led the system to assume I was a member of staff !  Maybe you should ask them to check to see if a similar thing has happened to your account.

 

Thanks very much Bluebird - I will indeed ask them about that.

[alison]

Talking about badly functioning websites, has anyone attempted - and I use the word advisedly - to use nationalrail.co.uk since it went into its new beta version?   Totally incompetent.  I try to check what trains are running later today, and it won't give me anything further ahead than two hours.  At 1 am.

[Rob S]

8 hours ago, alison said:

Talking about badly functioning websites, has anyone attempted - and I use the word advisedly - to use nationalrail.co.uk since it went into its new beta version?   Totally incompetent.  I try to check what trains are running later today, and it won't give me anything further ahead than two hours.  At 1 am.

 

That sounds like the live trains function rather than the standard function...look again

[alison]

I can't get anything else, which was my point :⁠-⁠(

[Rob S]

8 minutes ago, alison said:

I can't get anything else, which was my point :⁠-⁠(

 

When you click on the Plan Your Journey section you don't get the pop up asking for the details?

[alison]

No. Is it a real pop-up? Maybe I have a pop-up blocker?

[Emeralds]

On 22/07/2023 at 00:49, alison said:

Talking about badly functioning websites, has anyone attempted - and I use the word advisedly - to use nationalrail.co.uk since it went into its new beta version?   Totally incompetent.  I try to check what trains are running later today, and it won't give me anything further ahead than two hours.  At 1 am.

Yes, ever since they changed it, I’ve tried it on five different occasions (9-5 weekday, off peak, bank holiday, night time, weekend) just in case it was a one off blip.....it wasn’t. The website just simply does not work for normal passengers now. I assumed it was updated/altered by one of Mick Lynch’s buddies to be as unusable as possible so that commuters couldn’t bypass  strikes by finding alternative train routes. I now use the TFL journey planner, which at least still works, and you can also check bus and tube services on the same site. 

[bridiem]

I couldn't get the beta version to work, but I just reverted to the usual National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner page and that still works fine.