For those unaware how Liverpool allocate match tickets, they make a minimum of 10,000 tickets available to ‘members’ for every Premier League home game being made.
Fans must pay £35.99 to become a member, but being a member does not guarantee a ticket, just the opportunity to buy them first.
This morning, tickets for nine league games went on sale to any members who attended 13+ Premier League home games last season.
However, things did not run smoothly with many fans taking to social media to vent frustration. There were reports of the site crashing and people losing their place in the queue.
Liverpool’s new Head of Club and Supporter Liaison Tony Barrett took to Twitter to explain what happened and to offer an apology.
Twitter: We are aware of this morning’s technical issues and are looking into what went wrong. The system is now back up and… https://t.co/srfqo4p7bh (@TonyBarrett)
Twitter: It goes without saying that we apologise for any inconvenience caused and we are continuing to monitor the situation. (@TonyBarrett)
Whilst it was nice to get some communication from the club, this isn’t the first time that fans have been annoyed or let down by the members sale process.
I spoke to six fans; Aaron, Barry, Luke, Adam, Haydn & Harry, all of whom used the Member’s sale this morning, to get a clearer idea of the issues fans face when trying to purchase tickets.
What issues did you face when trying to buy tickets this morning?
Aaron: A queue that lasted over hours after originally having an estimated wait time of around eight minutes. I was unable to add to basket at first time of asking (wouldn’t let me add to basket) and was put back into the queue. I couldn’t even join the queue on my phone (only managed to get through on my laptop).
Barry: The site crashed at 8:15am, then I got a screen saying there was a 19 minute wait. This ticked got down to zero minutes and then it threw me to a two hour 20 minute wait! Every match I have on my cards has been sitting in the Kop but now this season the tickets are for the Anfield Road end. It’s very frustrating.
Luke: Well, the server crashed as soon as the sale started then when I finally joined the queue, my estimated wait time started at 20 minutes and steadily rose to 40 minutes. It took me another 80 minutes to access the sale, Fans that are ineligible to buy tickets are allowed access to the sale, causing inflated queueing times and additional difficulty when trying to add tickets due to them being added to the baskets of fans ineligible for the sale.
Adam: For the first half an hour the page wouldn’t even load, then when I finally got in the queue it said 11 minutes. After about another 20 minutes it shot up to 2 hours 20 minutes. Bit of a pain because I was supposed to be in work for 10am. I reckon it took about an hour and a half to get through.
Haydn: To start it off, my computer connection was lost everytime I clicked “buy now” on any of the home games options. So then I tried my mobile phone. The connection was still being lost with that. Eventually when being put in the queue, my estimated time was 22 minutes which then changed to two hours then 30 minutes! I actually waited 83 minutes minutes before I got the option to select the home games I wanted. When I chose the games I wanted, which was them all, my basket wasn’t updating and I had to keep going back and select them but you only get 30 minutes and by time I got my tickets to the payment bit, I had just seven minutes to spare!
Harry: I logged on at 7.30am, four devices in the house as normal and I usually take the first one that gets in. Come 8.15am, no movement, then about 8.30am, my webpages all crashed. I went back on and the system was sat at 2 hour 20 minute waits on three devices and one was saying ‘over an hour’. My order was officially placed at 9.55am, thankfully I wasn’t at work today but if like most people I was, then I’d have missed out.
You pay £35.99 to be a member so I can imagine such things frustrate you?
Aaron: Yes, I attended all home league and cup matches last season and expect to be able to have a guarantee that I can do the same this season as advertised by the club but due to a flaw in their system, there is no guaranteed and it’s the same year after year. It makes you question what the £35.99 fee is actually going towards.
Barry: Yes exactly!. I’ve been going for years, the fact that members with 19 games on their cards have to buy at the same time as those with 13 is madness, there’s no reward for bonuses.
Luke: Definitely. You’d expect that paying an annual fee would make the process simpler when in reality it doesn’t. The club don’t do enough to simplify the process.
Adam: Big time!
Haydn: Yes! I’d understand if this happened during a general sale but the money they make of memberships, I think they should give us fans a good quick service to be honest.
Harry: Beyond belief! I expect there to be traffic and I appreciate that on a first come first serve basis maybe a wait of up to 15/20 mins but over two hours is madness, especially because the club will have calculated the credits required to ensure everyone had the chance to get the games they wanted. This was said to be a priority sale.
If you could offer any suggestions to Liverpool on how to improve the process, what would you suggest?
Aaron: They need to reassess the system before the second half of the season tickets go on sale later this year. How they do that, I’m unsure but they need a tried and tested solution.
Barry: I think they should have a sale for fans with 18-19 games then stagger in down, say 12 then seven then four. It would reward loyalty and also reduce website traffic.
Luke: Require members to log in, they are then checked to see if they are eligible for that particular sale. If they’re eligible, add them to the queue, if they aren’t then they should be denied access. This ensures that only those that are eligible have access to the tickets, cutting down queueing times and making it easier to purchase tickets as they are no longer left in the baskets of ineligible members. More staggered sales would help too. As it stands, members who attended every home game last season are given access at the same time as those who attended less games. The sale goes into a free-for-all too early, those who have been to 12 games have the same chance of buying a ticket as a member who didn’t attend any games last season. Better communication from the club. This could be achieved by setting up a Twitter account dedicated to supporting those purchasing tickets.
Adam: I’m not an IT expert but investing in a better system would surely help! Also, it would be a lot easier if it was like the auto cup scheme rather than having to pick each match individually. Some people say the time of day when they go on sale is an issue but that’s always going to a problem. It just needs to be more efficient so nobody is late for work sitting in a queue for over 90 minutes
Haydn: Maybe to have a more accurate timer on your queuing time. Easier access to join a queue instead of losing connection and having to reopen the page. I just think the process should be easier and quicker. Each season, more and more fans get a members card and they know when tickets go on sale that it’s gonna be busy. I just think it’s a bit of a nightmare especially when people take time off work or make time to buy them, there could be fans left disappointed.
Harry: I don’t think window sales work, so I wouldn’t be championing them especially with the fan base being so spread. I think the phone lines should be on with a waiting time, I think having to buy nine games at once is poor and games should be going on sale four weeks before each fixture.
Thanks to the guys who answered my questions on this issue. We’ll try and get this feedback to Liverpool to ensure the frustrations of the fans is passed on.
