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Post by showgirl on Jun 30, 2017 4:32:05 GMT
As some of us have been discussing this on the Network thread and therefore going off-topic (guilty!), I've started a new thread here and will copy my last post below. Please add your views. 6 hours ago chrissie said: "I am so fed up with the NT priority booking system. The last 2-3 times I have experienced the queue pausing, the payment process freezing and closing down, despite complaining each time nothing improves. In addition I have been requesting an alternative log in time apart from their standard 8.30am , what do others think about this? How do people who are en route to work cope with this time? I refuse to put up with this 8.30am stress just to get decent seats to see mediocre plays, namely Salome and Common! " I also wrote a polite complaint last time and was assured that the issues had been addressed; likewise I requested/suggested an alternative time to the 8.30 am on a random weekday for booking to go live, though I did realise that the NT might opt for a weekday so as to have tech support available. To me any weekday morning seems a bad idea as many people at at or en route to work/school/college, etc; even if it has to be a weekday, why not make it later in the morning so that the majority have at least had a chance to get travel out of the way? And I speak as someone who is no longer in paid employment and can walk to the location where I volunteer. I also mentioned that the Menier (for instance), whilst it has a much smaller customer base and usually only releases seats for one or two productions at a time, opts for booking to go live at midnight, meaning that some people are either still awake or choose to stay up specially, whereas others can log on when they get up. As the latter time will vary, not only is there no one mad rush but people have a better chance of avoiding a time when they cannot get online or only with an unreliable connection due to moving around. Saturday or Sunday would still seem preferable to me or at least to have more notice of which weekday it is to be - or even a rotating system so you knew on which day booking would open next time. Read more: theatreboard.co.uk/thread/3142/network-nt?page=2#ixzz4lSOCzj1Y |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 30, 2017 6:48:07 GMT
Now booking at certain venues is an actual event it baffles me it takes place on a work day.
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Post by showgirl on Jun 30, 2017 6:57:53 GMT
Yes, in the days when I worked shifts with no pattern (which I loved), I would at least have stood a chance of being free on some weekdays.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2017 9:11:43 GMT
Personally I don't mind it being 8:30am on a weekday, as it doesn't take a lot for me to arrive early to work on booking days, and the internet policy is flexible enough for me to book what I need to.
I believe the Amex allowance, similar to the Friday Rush, usually goes on sale at 1pm. That't not a bad time practically speaking, but for whatever reason, I'm always more likely to forget about it. And having spent a really tense day waiting for Lazarus tickets in NYC to go on-sale at noon (so 5pm here), I REALLY like being able to get things out of the way as soon as possible.
A weekday is sensible for support options (imagine the website breaking down and no reassuring voice on the other end of the phone or the Twitter account to help you through your transaction!), but moving it to 10am wouldn't be unwelcome here.
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Post by zahidf on Jun 30, 2017 9:46:43 GMT
Yeah, I think around 9.00-10.00 am would be a lot better in convenience terms. Maybe same time the box office opens, so you can buy it in person as well/phone up?
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 30, 2017 10:27:58 GMT
And where do you all think that a balance should be struck between booking opening times being generally fair to the majority, not crashing the system with every eligible person attempting to book at the same time, and being ideal for you personally so as to give you personally maximum advantage over everyone else?
With an 8.30 start, there is a window of opportunity for some people to try to book before they start work, instead of having to wait until after the end of the working day.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2017 10:30:59 GMT
I think anywhere in the 8.30-10 window is the 'best fit' scenario for the majority. There will always be people for whom it doesn't fit, or that the day itself doesn't fit but for most people that window is either 'before work' or 'could reasonably take a quick break to book'
It's also unfair to shift entire working patterns in theatres to weekend booking- yes theatres are open on Saturday but the main body of IT support, box office management etc aren't as they do the Mon-Fri shifts.
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Post by floorshow on Jun 30, 2017 10:36:19 GMT
Staggering the productions so a whole season doesn't go on sale at the same time is a good start. Opening the booking on a Saturday would reduce a lot of the time pressures/work clashes - especially as there is nearly always a queue system to manage capacity.
Opening booking during work hours causes me 2 issues - I actually have to work and, more importantly, most queuing software doesn't work beyond our firewall or is dependent on flash which doesn't work on android phones.
It is a pretty sad state of affairs that when I was looking for my NT number to confirm my phone booking, I found a reply from them dating back to 2003 - apologising for the servers crashing and losing my order when Edmond went on sale. 14 years is a long while to not fix it.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 30, 2017 10:44:28 GMT
I genuinely think that the best solution is for theatres to have several levels of membership, with a series of opening-booking dates for each. Then it's usually safe and relaxed to book at your leisure at any time before the next level of membership gets access. And you have space and time to plan properly without bouncing yourself into thoughtless purchases for fear of missing out.
Obviously, this doesn't apply to those few shows where demand is known to far outstrip supply and everyone is trying to gain immediate advantage over everyone else at all costs.
But for most theatres and shows, it makes me laugh when I read hear of panic-stricken people who are faced with the dilemma of not being free to book at the instant that their Priority booking opens, when we all know that in most cases they could just as easily book many months later.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 30, 2017 10:54:40 GMT
The ideal solution is to quell demand by programming unpopular shows.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2017 10:58:38 GMT
The ideal solution is to quell demand by programming unpopular shows. I mean a few places are WAY ahead of the game here... |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2017 10:59:47 GMT
It's true, I found it MUCH easier to book for Salomé and Common than for Angels In America. Maybe Rufus really *does* know what he's doing!
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Post by jek on Jun 30, 2017 11:12:50 GMT
I was one of the many in the position yesterday where I had tickets in my basket but then the system would not allow me to pay for them - the system would freeze at various points in the checkout procedure. At one point it did tell me that my payment had been processed but that was clearly wrong as it was showing a total of £0. I sent a screen shot of my basket to the National via DM on twitter and a couple of hours later got a very helpful call from a box office person who, while he couldn't book me exactly the same tickets as before (and in the case of George and the Dragon I had to change date), did much to turn a bad experience round. I have to say that I have only been a member for a few months but it isn't proving to be something I'm likely to renew. It started badly when they forgot to put any stamps on the welcome pack they sent out and so I had to trek to the local sorting office to pick up the letter and pay for the privilege of collecting it.
The time when booking opens isn't such an issue for me - I just want it to work! Last week I booked Nils Frahm and Vakhtangov theatre tickets from the Barbican (a membership I have had for several years and which easily pays for itself). The queuing system was very orderly but maybe the Barbican has many less members.
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Post by chrissie on Jun 30, 2017 12:22:49 GMT
Personally I don't mind it being 8:30am on a weekday, as it doesn't take a lot for me to arrive early to work on booking days, and the internet policy is flexible enough for me to book what I need to. I believe the Amex allowance, similar to the Friday Rush, usually goes on sale at 1pm. That't not a bad time practically speaking, but for whatever reason, I'm always more likely to forget about it. And having spent a really tense day waiting for Lazarus tickets in NYC to go on-sale at noon (so 5pm here), I REALLY like being able to get things out of the way as soon as possible. A weekday is sensible for support options (imagine the website breaking down and no reassuring voice on the other end of the phone or the Twitter account to help you through your transaction!), but moving it to 10am wouldn't be unwelcome here. |
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Post by tmesis on Jun 30, 2017 13:28:24 GMT
8.30 weekdays is still the best for me. If you are thwarted at that time just chillax - you can nearly always get what you want after lunch, which in my case mean the bum-numbingly narrow and back-crucifying seats at £15/£18 at the front of the Lyttelton and Olivier.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jun 30, 2017 18:57:59 GMT
Midnight is great.
Morning people have ruled the world for far too long, up the night owls revolution (only half joking)!
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Post by andrew on Jul 1, 2017 0:48:35 GMT
I like midnight the best personally, even as someone who regularly works night shifts, because as others have said you can stay up late, get up early or indeed probably find time in the middle of a shift to secure tickets before getting on with things. The best for theatres is probably mid-morning. I can't understand why 8.30am is when the NT goes for it, it seems totally bizarre.
On another personal note, I didn't have a rota for the next season when these were all released so had to hold off. I got said rota this afternoon, and had the dual pleasures of being able to successfully book a seat I'd want for Network, Dragon and Pinocchio AND not be working on my Hamilton ticket. Network is the only one that's hard to get cheap tickets for, I've ended up booking in February for the front row cheap seats as the discomfort is a tradeoff I'm OK with in these seats. After February there's good availability at all prices. Everything else has good availability other than press night essentially.
And sure, I'm working on Christmas this year, but my theatre-going plans are in motion and these are the things that matter.
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3,472 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jul 1, 2017 4:17:03 GMT
Even as a very early bird I would prefer midnight (or earlier in the new day; anything up to about 6 am which after all is a 6-hour window to start the process) and I don't accept the argument about it needing to be a weekday for IT support. Those of us familiar with office work will be used to IT departments doing upgrades or changes over the weekend; indeed, I'd almost have thought it was their busiest time. (The downside of course is that if you're a Mon - Fri worker, you then come in to start the new week and find everything is screwed for hours until it can be fixed.)
Indeed, in my long-term job, although weekends and BHs were invariably our peak times, Head Office still insisted that all our IT upgrades and outages be done on those days, thus overloading us even more, as these systems were essential for our work. So I'm sure the NT could arrange for IT (and extra Box Office) support on a handful of weekends spread over the year.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2017 7:55:01 GMT
I like midnight the best personally, even as someone who regularly works night shifts, because as others have said you can stay up late, get up early or indeed probably find time in the middle of a shift to secure tickets before getting on with things. The best for theatres is probably mid-morning. I can't understand why 8.30am is when the NT goes for it, it seems totally bizarre. On another personal note, I didn't have a rota for the next season when these were all released so had to hold off. I got said rota this afternoon, and had the dual pleasures of being able to successfully book a seat I'd want for Network, Dragon and Pinocchio AND not be working on my Hamilton ticket. Network is the only one that's hard to get cheap tickets for, I've ended up booking in February for the front row cheap seats as the discomfort is a tradeoff I'm OK with in these seats. After February there's good availability at all prices. Everything else has good availability other than press night essentially. And sure, I'm working on Christmas this year, but my theatre-going plans are in motion and these are the things that matter. God Poor love I recall those days of waiting for rota To see if I could attend wedding, party, concert Was I on nights or a forced week of annual leave Hated that Although you get used to it It's still sh*tty and annoying Choose your specialty carefully or you will be a slave to your rota for years to come!! It particularly used to upset me that hospital IT was so backwards that booking online at work was impossible and I had to call on my mobile during gaps in the ward round and hope I would get through without waiting 4 hours!! Mobile internet wasn't all that 10 years ago I feel for you To answer your question on the Galileo post I HAD to leave I had decided to leave after first 10 mins And nothing in the first half did anything to change my mind |
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Post by Mr Wallacio on Jul 1, 2017 9:12:42 GMT
There is no time that will please everyone, it just won't happen.
If the general working day is 9 to 5 then having ticket sales start after 9 restricts anyone unable to access these websites after this time (though I'm sure a lot of us 'get paid' for buying theatre tickets in work time).
Move it to 8am I say.
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Post by sydneyboi on Jul 2, 2017 7:49:08 GMT
Hi All, What are the seats in the front row like for Pinnicho? I see comments they are bad, for back and bum? visiting from overseas, Thank you all  |
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Post by Mr Wallacio on Jul 2, 2017 10:22:39 GMT
Hi All, What are the seats in the front row like for Pinnicho? I see comments they are bad, for back and bum? visiting from overseas, Thank you all No idea, but I booked myself one. Can't turn down a bargain at £15. It's my first time sitting in them though, so hope I don't regret it. |
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Post by andrew on Jul 3, 2017 2:34:13 GMT
My issue with the front seats is always the back of the seat. It's low set so after an hour it starts to get a bit uncomfortable. But the price is too tempting unless it's known to be something Angels length.
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Post by sydneyboi on Jul 3, 2017 10:05:58 GMT
Thank you all for your comments, I hope the stage is not too high |
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Post by infofreako on Jul 3, 2017 16:49:41 GMT
The NT already do have many tiers of membership. The issue is slightly the sheer demand for each tier. Limiting the number of members in each tier may be a way, but hardly fair - the Donmar tried it, I think. Just making sure the IT can cope with the demand is the only really satisfactory thing. Maybe the NT in particular should do what Harry Potter does, and not process cards until later - returning for sale cards which fail. It cuts out a major bottleneck in the process for sure. I don't think there's any ideal time for tickets to go on sale either, and as others here say, better in the working week with more staff available. The idea of not processing payments at time of transaction isnt a bad one. It works fairly well with Glastonbury through Seetickets and has improved that system vastly as has decent queue management software. I think the only real answer is investment in a system that is fit for purpose regardless of on sale time |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 3, 2017 16:58:06 GMT
It's puzzling that the issues seemed to be different last time; I wonder whether having queues within the queue didn't help, but the worst delays and problems seemed to be at the (attempted) checkout stage, so maybe the above suggestion would work. But how would people then know they'd succeeded in booking? As I've never come across an intentional "delayed payment" process, I don't know how this part works.
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Post by infofreako on Jul 3, 2017 17:32:36 GMT
But how would people then know they'd succeeded in booking? As I've never come across an intentional "delayed payment" process, I don't know how this part works. With Potter, you put in your card details, and instead of (as you usually see) a "contacting your bank for authorisation" screen, you just got a booking reference number, and a message saying that your ticket was confirmed, subject to your card being cleared within 24 hours. You got that again as an email, and then, if you heard nothing more, that was it, your booking was sorted. Far better than the thing toppling over, I think. Similar with what I mentioned for Glastonbury then. The booking page shows booking successful with a second line stating that payment would be taken within 24 hours |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 3, 2017 18:25:58 GMT
Does sound like a good system, then, infofreako and theatremonkey.com - but will the NT be considering that now, I wonder?
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Post by n1david on Jul 3, 2017 18:33:10 GMT
Happened to be passing through the NT this afternoon and they had a sign saying their ticketing system was down 3-3.30, so presumably they were working on it today.
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