Fonty Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 This is disgraceful. It is the direct result of poor testing by the developers, who seem to be getting the ordinary users to test it for them. I am surprised they didn't tell people to turn their computer off and switch it on again. Or did they? You cannot blame the customer if your new website doesn't work. Excuses such as being overwhelmed by the numbers of people booking on opening day simply won't do. Complain, complain, complain. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 11 minutes ago, Fonty said: Complain, complain, complain. Indeed. As suggested above, those who happen to have high-level contacts should use them. For the rest of us, we were assured that this is the right place to write to but I don't know how well this email address has been working recently: customerservices@roh.org.uk 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmhopton Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Meant to say that my first ticket purchased was acknowledged and appeared in my membership details quite quickly (about 5-10 minutes) but the second ones I purchased took longer (about 20-30 minutes) so don't panic if you can't see them quickly and do take a note of the reference number they give on the website when your purchase has gone through. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) So, in utter - to be read 'abject' - disgruntlement you call the ROH Box Office - simply because their 'new' on-line booking system has proven itself to be yet another lost cause. You call this number at the stroke of 10.00am. You then wade through the messages - and a further 25 joyous (NOT) minutes to be left on hold - only at the end to be instructed that you will be called back 'in order' at some point between now and Saturday. Some lives (like mine for instance) often appear (at least to me) to be far too short. I think they should have a special insight in the Clore series on 'ROH poise (to be read 'inordinate endurance')' .... Perhaps it could be part of a 'Get a Life' Series. I'd subscribe to that!! I'm sure there would be SOME takers at least ... were they EVER able to get a ticket. Edited February 8, 2022 by Bruce Wall 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 28 minutes ago, Bruce Wall said: So, in utter - to be read 'abject' - disgruntlement you call the ROH Box Office - simply because their 'new' on-line booking system has proven itself to be yet another lost cause. You call this number at the stroke of 10.00am. You then wade through the messages - and a further 25 joyous (NOT) minutes to be left on hold - only at the end to be instructed that you will be called back 'in order' at some point between now and Saturday. Some lives (like mine for instance) often appear (at least to me) to be far too short. I think they should have a special insight in the Clore series on 'ROH poise (to be read 'inordinate endurance')' .... Perhaps it could be part of a 'Get a Life' Series. I'd subscribe to that!! I'm sure there would be SOME takers at least ... were they EVER able to get a ticket. I feel so sorry for the Box Office staff, who've been terribly let down and will no doubt be on the end of a lot of angry calls. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) I don't know if this advice is of any use to anyone but it appears that they don't have much faith in the new booking system. Edited February 8, 2022 by Lizbie1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I tried using the old system several times this morning without success. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, bridiem said: I tried using the old system several times this morning without success. This, at least, worked for me ..... (or is that at last) .... as long as you only booked one at a time and then went immediately into checkout for your basket. Still, had a lovely call back from a most patient ROH Box Office gentleman and got all I finally decided on. Must say it was a few less than I had originally planned on paper .... Guess that was just the frustration level settling in. Got to use my credits too. Edited February 8, 2022 by Bruce Wall 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Perregrino Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 14 minutes ago, bridiem said: I have indeed emailed Alex Beard. I too feel very sorry for the box office staff trying to run a system that isn't fit for purpose and having to deal with all the flack. Where can I find Alex Beards email address? It’s not on the website thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 1 hour ago, prs59 said: Where can I find Alex Beards email address? It’s not on the website thanks first name - dot - family name @ ROH.org.uk. worked for me a while ago. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) 8 minutes ago, capybara said: first name - dot - family name @ ROH.org.uk. worked for me a while ago. For balance - Has never worked for me (i.e. never received a reply or acknowledgement). And it was a compliment. Edited February 8, 2022 by oncnp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 It all seemed okay at 9am, no-one in the queue and got my first ticket, then it all went to pot, horribly similar to last Friends Booking, can't explain it all but definitely having 2 booking systems is part of the problem, I decided to quickly pay for the first ticket while I could, then went back and eventually got another 2 performances, not such good seats as nearly an hour had passed! So confusing, especially as I had some Gift Certificates to use, which I did, so at least that worked! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I complained to the Friends office. They have just written to me and a couple of the points they make might be worth sharing here: >>Our web team have been redeveloping the website over the course of the last year to make it more user friendly and efficient for booking tickets. This work is being carried out in stages and after a lot of testing, we have recently launched a new ticketing platform which was rolled out for the Spring booking period. Unfortunately, as you are all too aware, a number of issues have arisen and the booking experience did not go quite as planned. and >>We have held meetings with our IT and web team to ascertain the problems and find the solutions. We have also escalated the issue to Alex and the executive team and solutions are being discussed at the highest level. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNC Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I still don’t understand why these problems are continuing. I know tech can be difficult but after issues with Winter booking why is this happening again? Makes me wonder why I pay for friends membership if I can’t get the tickets on the day/time I’m meant to? And I still go back to a previous point where I (and I don’t think anyone else) ever had these issues with the ‘old’ /original website - where we had seat views as well which we lost for unknown and unexplainable reasons. what has this over a year long website redevelopment actually given us? And when money is tight was it really a priority and worth it (and that would be even if it did actually work…)? when they are noting the financial impact of covid but putting money into something that already worked before and now doesn’t it is slightly frustrating. As far as I can see the new ticketing platform doesn’t offer any benefit on the old other than it looks different with blank circles rather than filled in, practically speaking it functions the same with seat views and colour coding by price. Very baffled. Have I missed something great this new ‘user friendly’ booking system is meant to do? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 There really is a lot that can go wrong with this kind of project and they may have suffered also from staff recruitment and retention problems. There could well be reasons that are not clear to us why they had to launch a new system, for example security flaws, licensing costs and the increasing difficulty and risk of maintaining a legacy system. Having been on the other side of this in a previous life, I do cut them some slack. What I don't understand - and there may be a good reason! - is why they haven't yet fallen back on the old system, which is it seems functioning better than the new one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNC Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Appreciate everything you say @Lizbie1but this is two booking seasons now - and an email to at least note they’re aware of the problems to explain them a bit and are doing what they can to fix it would probably make me feel more reassured that this is a priority for them to sort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) Well I'm not happy either and there are a lot of things that they should have been/should be doing differently - but I understand how it happens. Edited February 8, 2022 by Lizbie1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninamargaret Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 My IT knowledge, which was never great, and is now severely out of date, has made me remember testing various new systems as a sort of 'dry run' , giving the chance to spot and iron out errors. The current booking shambles seems to be using the paying.public to carry out this testing. Not a.good idea.Or good business practice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 After reading all the posts on here about the problems with Friends booking, it was somewhat ironic to receive an email from the ROH this evening trying to persuade me to re-join the Friends scheme! I'm already resigned to the unlikelihood of being able to get any ticket whatsoever for 30th April. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSR101 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I didn't have a problem at all when I booked a few days ago so it seems I was just lucky but from everything that has been said I don't understand why they have brought these changes in over a new season booking period? Why not just launch it when a season has been open to the public for a week or more? (there are normally loads of opera tickets left for sale well after booking opens). They would still get people using the new system to test it but the system would be under far less pressure. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) They've been encouraging people to try out the new system for some time now. As the reply given in Sebastian's post above says, they tested it and thought it worked OK but when it came to the big booking dates it didn't cope. Nogoat's post elsewhere provides some explanation of how this can happen: Edited February 8, 2022 by Lizbie1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 7 hours ago, Dawnstar said: I'm already resigned to the unlikelihood of being able to get any ticket whatsoever for 30th April. Still lots of tickets for 30 April this morning. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanJL Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 8 hours ago, FionaE said: I suppose it won’t help to tell Alex Beard about my Tashkent booking experience taking less than 5 minutes when I tell him it’s for Sergei Polunin. Or will it? Might catch his attention. To be fair, mine took 7 minutes for 3 tickets. I highly recommend using a smart phone for anyone who has one. It's possible to zoom in on the seat selection grid so choosing the right seat still works fine. The only place I've had an error (and I've been back in since looking at other ticket options) is if you're looking at tickets for one date and then want to go back and look at another date, clicking on the name of the production to do this always gives an error. However, pressing back on the browser works fine. Obviously we shouldn't need to have a workaround, but at least for me this has been a much smoother option than others have experienced. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 19 minutes ago, DanJL said: To be fair, mine took 7 minutes for 3 tickets. I highly recommend using a smart phone for anyone who has one. It's possible to zoom in on the seat selection grid so choosing the right seat still works fine. The only place I've had an error (and I've been back in since looking at other ticket options) is if you're looking at tickets for one date and then want to go back and look at another date, clicking on the name of the production to do this always gives an error. However, pressing back on the browser works fine. Obviously we shouldn't need to have a workaround, but at least for me this has been a much smoother option than others have experienced. I tried booking on my phone and encountered the problem you describe. When I went back to my laptop, I eventually selected 'continue shopping' instead of clicking on the name of the production, and that allowed me to book more tickets. But how could I have known that that particular option/strategy would work (out of the many I had tried, not knowing which element of my set-up or activity was producing the error message)?! I know that my sister in the end checked out and paid for each of her tickets separately because she couldn't get any further with any of her attempts to buy more tickets. But I'm glad that you did get through quickly, DanJL! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 I had no trouble once I gave up on my laptop and used my smartphone, which automatically used the old booking system (no choice given). I gather that it doesn't work this way for everyone using phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_New Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 Website isn’t working at the moment - message ‘page not found’ when I try to book for R +J or SL. Very frustrating indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_New Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 35 minutes ago, J_New said: Website isn’t working at the moment - message ‘page not found’ when I try to book for R +J or SL. Very frustrating indeed. OK - seems to be working now - it's just so unpredictable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 I decided to print out the 3 tickets I bought yesterday and feel I must praise this part of the ROH ticket system, perfect size and clarity without having to fiddle with all the settings. This is in comparison to trying to get a decent Odeon ticket printed for next week! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 Just booked for a Friends Rehearsal and it looks like they might finally have rolled back to the old system. (Unless the rehearsals were previously old system only - and I can't think why that would be.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 19 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said: Just booked for a Friends Rehearsal and it looks like they might finally have rolled back to the old system. (Unless the rehearsals were previously old system only - and I can't think why that would be.) Booked some time ago and didn't get a choice either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 Just now, oncnp said: Booked some time ago and didn't get a choice either. Oh, well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oncnp Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 4 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said: Oh, well Exactly. They appear to have rolled the new system backwards to the remaining R&J and Swan Lake which I purchased on the "old" system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Received today... Friends' On Sale - An Apology A personal message from Alex Beard, Chief Executive Dear Friends of Covent Garden, Firstly, I wanted to offer all of you my personal apologies for the issues many of you have experienced around booking in recent weeks, and specifically the issues around our website as we upgrade our systems. Indeed, your broader patience and support throughout the course of the last two years has been monumental, and we wouldn't have survived without you. You are, quite simply, what keeps the Royal Opera House going. I have read your emails and letters over the last few days and wanted to explain some of the background to these issues, and what we are putting in place to avoid this kind of thing from ever happening again. Our old booking system is reaching a stage where the technology underpinning it will soon become obsolete, unsupported by any global platform and therefore, essentially, unusable. That is why, over the last few months, we have been working hard to upgrade our systems on a trial basis, working towards the full rollout of a superior system later this Season. However, as many of you have experienced first-hand, this new system still needs to be honed and refined, and has inadvertently resulted in many of you receiving a totally unacceptable level of customer service. I would therefore like to assure you that any further upgrades will be fully tested internally before going live to ensure this doesn't happen again. The issue I know has been compounded by many of you not being able to reach members of our box office to resolve the issue. I would therefore like to reassure you that, to maintain our flexible booking options during this time, we are reinforcing resource in these teams, and have hired more staff, so we can deal with queries in a more timely fashion, particularly during peak times. By way of an apology for falling short of the standards you rightly expect, I would like to offer each of you one free programme for the next show you attend here in Covent Garden during the 2022 Spring Season. Please simply show this email on your phone, as well as your membership card, to a member of our front of house team on your next visit, and you will be given a programme free of charge. Thank you so much for your steadfast support of the Royal Opera House, and I look forward to welcoming you here again very soon. With all best wishes, Alex Beard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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