ROH booking discussion - summer 2024

[DelphiumBlue]

My 1st time booking on the day ( well, the night ) of General Booking and it’s been rather a mixed experience.
 

Yes, I managed to buy  tickets in the seating areas  I was after  to 3 performances  ( an Ashton, Swan Lake w Claire Calvert and the RBS @ the Next Generation) plus a spur of the moment ticket to see the ENBS @ Next Generation . 

 

But now I understand earlier posts about keeping extra windows   open to try and book multiple performances within 30 mins .

I ran out of time twice- the 1st time because I was unfamiliar with the process, the 2nd time  because I was trying in vain to redeem a gift certificate. 

Decided that it would be better to book at that point rather than wait till Friday at the earliest so started again and just paid by card. 
 

Slightly miffed to realise that I had ended up making that ‘help the ROH’  donation by stealth too . Would that it could go towards the ‘improved  website’ fund . 

 

Ridiculous o’clock at night is not the time to email the ROH and ask for advice but definitely need to do so before long. The  page wouldn’t ‘move’ after I had keyed in the certificate code/ not even to tell me it wasn’t recognised.  The gift certificate was worth less than the total of the ticket but surely it should be possible to pay the excess …or perhaps not ? 

 

 

 

[JNC]

It certainly is possible to pay the excess! For example now if you return a ticket the credit automatically sits in your accounts and when you check out it’s easy to click to apply all the credit to a purchase and pay the remainder.

 

I’d certainly be emailing ROH if I was you to ask them if they could part return what you have paid and take the gift certificate credit you weren’t able to use given your difficulties. Or I wonder if there’s a way they can apply the credit to your account so next time at least you can click apply and not have to enter the code. 
 

I find it frustrating to monitor several tabs so actually this time I tended to do everything on one tab (and I also worry that the multiple tabs will lead to inconsistent baskets and something going missing!) but I have multiple tabs as backups but generally once I’m “queued in” to one I try to stick to it, unless it puts me in a queue after adding a ticket to a basket (this happened last time but not this time). 
 

They’re doing essential maintenance works this morning to the website so it could be to sort out some ticketing problems? 

[art_enthusiast]

9 hours ago, DelphiumBlue said:

Slightly miffed to realise that I had ended up making that ‘help the ROH’  donation by stealth too . Would that it could go towards the ‘improved  website’ fund . 

 

Definitely, it's sneaky how they do that, automatically adding it to your basket. I always prompt myself to check if it's there and remove it, but of course when you're rushing you don't have the time. I think Sadler's Wells do it too but it's a bit less.

[San Perregrino]

9 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Definitely, it's sneaky how they do that, automatically adding it to your basket. I always prompt myself to check if it's there and remove it, but of course when you're rushing you don't have the time. I think Sadler's Wells do it too but it's a bit less.

 

the ROH is not alone in doing this but is one of the few organisations that doesn't also charge a Booking Fee.  it seems to be common practice among many arts organisations these days to add a suggested donation and let the purchaser decide to leave or remove it.  some are a flat fee, some a %age of the total ticket price.  other organisations impose a 'building levy fee' or 'building restoration fee' which cannot be removed.  many organisations including, Sadlers Wells, charge a booking fee which the ROH doesn't as yet and which is more than the £3 asked as a donation by the ROH. the advantage to all being that, if you qualify and have ticked the Gift Aid box, the ROH receives an additional amount from the government over and above your donation. a clever move IMHO.

[LinMM]

I’m sure the payment page was slightly different this time. 
As for my first booking I could only see a card details section and the gift certificate and credit didn’t come up. 
So I paid by card for that one. 
But when I went back in again (always do the bookings separately)  as I knew  I had a lot of credit and again could only see card details I went into a little arrow in side the  payment by card box and then it brought up a separate list including paying by account credit!! So was easy from then onwards. 
However I’m sure in the past all methods of payment  automatically showed on the payment page ….underneath the card details bit.  

It is certainly not obvious what the little arrow in the card details box is for so trial and error paid of on this occasion!! 

[alison]

It definitely was different - didn't allow me to Tab from one box to another any more, which was annoying.

[art_enthusiast]

1 hour ago, San Perregrino said:

the ROH is not alone in doing this but is one of the few organisations that doesn't also charge a Booking Fee.  

 

I guess so. Only when you're already forking out the top prices for Swan Lake it seems a bit presumptuous. 

[Beryl H]

I booked for the second programme on Friday and Saturday evenings, and mostly are different casts, except The Dream with Yasmine Naghdi and Calvin Richardson, which is no problem 😊