Still no membership in the mail?

[kalsaint]

I don't believe the delay has anything to do with the membership department.

The actual printing and despatch of Membership Cards is outsourced (as are all AFL Clubs memberships).

outsourcing something doesn't remove the responsibility for it to be done right.

In fact outsourcing should be performance managed by the club. This is one part of the club's performance that rivals our slow ball movement on teh field.

[Mr Magic]

Mine arrived today.
4 tickets - family Social Club Memberships
N1 Seat J1
N53 Seat D3
N53 Seat D4
N53 Seat D10

I've just emailed the Club asking for an explanation.

Well it's now 2 'business days' (as well as a weekend) since I emailed the Club about the stuff up with my MCG seating.

No response as yet.

[Maxstar22]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before but the Club (as do all Clubs) outsource the printing, producing, preparing and mailing of memberships, magazines etc.

As it stands at the mo, the majority of Clubs use the same company and are under contract to use said company for the next couple of months.

Other teams (not limited to AFL) have also experienced the same issues. I know for a fact that the Storm have had a massive debacle re: their membership.

I had an issue with mine and my Mum's home G seating. To fix it, all it took was a simple and polite call to the Club. It's all good now and I even have better seats than the original allocation.

[Mr Magic]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before but the Club (as do all Clubs) outsource the printing, producing, preparing and mailing of memberships, magazines etc.

As it stands at the mo, the majority of Clubs use the same company and are under contract to use said company for the next couple of months.

Other teams (not limited to AFL) have also experienced the same issues. I know for a fact that the Storm have had a massive debacle re: their membership.

I had an issue with mine and my Mum's home G seating. To fix it, all it took was a simple and polite call to the Club. It's all good now and I even have better seats than the original allocation.

Maxstar,
I read your previous post in tis thread and emailed the person Bratty suggested to someone else top contact.

I felt that emailing a polite request to them would ensure they would have sufficient time to check out my complaint and respond.
I never expected a response on Friday.
I did expect something today.

Obviously they are too busy solving other more serious problems than mine.

[MCG-Unit]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before but the Club (as do all Clubs) outsource the printing, producing, preparing and mailing of memberships, magazines etc.....

8 pages now - not bad for what you wrote on page 1 "....Before you all start crapping on about how bad the Club is...."

People are allowed to have a robust discussion on this issue - if they feel the club is at fault they will say so
Membership tickets/seating mean a lot to folks - and it's still ongoing for some

[Maxstar22]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before but the Club (as do all Clubs) outsource the printing, producing, preparing and mailing of memberships, magazines etc.....

8 pages now - not bad for what you wrote on page 1 "....Before you all start crapping on about how bad the Club is...."

People are allowed to have a robust discussion on this issue - if they feel the club is at fault they will say so
Membership tickets/seating mean a lot to folks - and it's still ongoing for some

Yep, you are right. It is ongoing and I completely understand people's frustration.

But feel free to have a go at me about it.

As I just said to another poster, for some reason the Club seem to respond to phone calls better than emails.

Terribly sorry for giving everyone alittle bit of info to perhaps help people understand alittle more.

[Sainternist]

last friday i was in a hurry to get to the ground in time. i grabbed my membership card wallet/lanyard and hurridly put it around my neck before leaving the front door of the house. later i arrived in time for the game. as i was about to pass through the turnstiles, to my shock-horror i discovered the membership card wallet had somehow detached itself from the lanyard and was nowhere in sight. fortunately, the club's membership marquee was still open. i reported it lost and paid $20 for a replacement. at the end of the night i arrived home and discovered it had fallen off in the house before i left to go to the ground

shoot, i hope i get my replacement before friday. anyhoo, that's my goofy tale. perhaps being wary of the clip holding the wallet on the lanyard is some advice i can offer from telling you this.

[didzee]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before but the Club (as do all Clubs) outsource the printing, producing, preparing and mailing of memberships, magazines etc.

As it stands at the mo, the majority of Clubs use the same company and are under contract to use said company for the next couple of months.

Other teams (not limited to AFL) have also experienced the same issues. I know for a fact that the Storm have had a massive debacle re: their membership.

I had an issue with mine and my Mum's home G seating. To fix it, all it took was a simple and polite call to the Club. It's all good now and I even have better seats than the original allocation.

Maxstar,
I read your previous post in tis thread and emailed the person Bratty suggested to someone else top contact.

I felt that emailing a polite request to them would ensure they would have sufficient time to check out my complaint and respond.
I never expected a response on Friday.
I did expect something today.

Obviously they are too busy solving other more serious problems than mine.

I tried detailed email 2 weeks ago no reply yet.
They are ok on the phone but they still havent fixed our issues will try ringing again tomorrow,different call,different person,different solution they have NFI.
Even went to Moorabbin 2 weeks ago no membership staff, gone to Seaford,probably in hiding.
In short MM make sure you ring forget email,good luck!

[SaintDebi]

Our memberships STILL have not arrived. I understand the concept of outsourcing etc, but still hold the club responsible as it is THEIR place to deal with their suppliers, and MINE to deal with THEM.

However having said that, I'm aware that they can only do what they can do, and as long as they are happy to communicate with me and work to resolve the issue I will be satistied (up to a point).

On friday I phoned the club again. I spoke to a lovely girl- Casey- who was as helpful as she was able to be. She has attempted to rectify the problem and has promised to follow through for me if I need to contact them again, making sure I took note of her name so I can ask to speak specifically to her again. I told her that if I need to call again that I will want to be put in contact with whoever is in charge of the membership department and she agreed that was reasonable.
We need to remember that these people on the other end of the phone are really only in a position to placate us and offer the speel they've been told to. There is no point being rude and taking our frustrations out on them.

Maxstar, thanks for your info. Although I do still hold the club ultimately responsible, your insight is appreciated.

[saint1974]

Our memberships STILL have not arrived. I understand the concept of outsourcing etc, but still hold the club responsible as it is THEIR place to deal with their suppliers, and MINE to deal with THEM.

However having said that, I'm aware that they can only do what they can do, and as long as they are happy to communicate with me and work to resolve the issue I will be satistied (up to a point).

On friday I phoned the club again. I spoke to a lovely girl- Casey- who was as helpful as she was able to be. She has attempted to rectify the problem and has promised to follow through for me if I need to contact them again, making sure I took note of her name so I can ask to speak specifically to her again. I told her that if I need to call again that I will want to be put in contact with whoever is in charge of the membership department and she agreed that was reasonable.
We need to remember that these people on the other end of the phone are really only in a position to placate us and offer the speel they've been told to. There is no point being rude and taking our frustrations out on them.

Maxstar, thanks for your info. Although I do still hold the club ultimately responsible, your insight is appreciated.

I too have had Casey help me too, she has been the only one to sort out a big mess with our family tickets( 6 memberships) polite and very helpful and more supportive then dealing with the club direct.
After eight phone calls over the past 3 weeks finally receieved the last of our memberships yesterday. HOORAY
By the way I gave the club feedback as to how helpful this young lady was. the only person to listen, return phone calls and fix up one big mess. Thanks Casey.

[bergholt]

We need to remember that these people on the other end of the phone are really only in a position to placate us and offer the speel they've been told to. There is no point being rude and taking our frustrations out on them.

agreed. this is why we should blame the club's administration. they're the ones who choose the outsourcing contract and put their own staff in this situation, where there's not much they can do - hence i'm sure plenty of abuse.

outsourcing fail once - shame on the outsourcer.

outsourcing fail twice - shame on the club.

[Mr Magic]

I'm pretty sure I've said this before but the Club (as do all Clubs) outsource the printing, producing, preparing and mailing of memberships, magazines etc.

As it stands at the mo, the majority of Clubs use the same company and are under contract to use said company for the next couple of months.

Other teams (not limited to AFL) have also experienced the same issues. I know for a fact that the Storm have had a massive debacle re: their membership.

I had an issue with mine and my Mum's home G seating. To fix it, all it took was a simple and polite call to the Club. It's all good now and I even have better seats than the original allocation.

Maxstar,
I read your previous post in tis thread and emailed the person Bratty suggested to someone else top contact.

I felt that emailing a polite request to them would ensure they would have sufficient time to check out my complaint and respond.
I never expected a response on Friday.
I did expect something today.

Obviously they are too busy solving other more serious problems than mine.

I tried detailed email 2 weeks ago no reply yet.
They are ok on the phone but they still havent fixed our issues will try ringing again tomorrow,different call,different person,different solution they have NFI.
Even went to Moorabbin 2 weeks ago no membership staff, gone to Seaford,probably in hiding.
In short MM make sure you ring forget email,good luck!

Well this morning I emailed the person (supposedly handling these matters) again.
BUT this time I included the senior Corporate Sales Executive in the email to see if anything would be done about my 'problem'.
Nada

Tomorrow i will be adding Michael Nettlefold's address to the email.

It's just not good enough.
A simple response that they've received the complaint and are looking into it would have been enough to placate me.
Not any more.

And to top it all off I received a text message this afternoon (as I assume all members did) telling me to contact 1 300 GOSAINTS if there were 'problems' with my seat allocation!

I know I'm being stubborn but I refuse to telephone the CLub.
I sent them an email last Friday, I expect a reply.
I don't treat my customers with disrespect by ignoring them until they telephone me.
I don't ecpect to be treated with disrespect when I'm the customer.

And I do realize that the allocation was outsourced but that is now immaterial.
I lodged my query with the Club - I believe it is now up to them to resolve it.

[Mr Magic]

Well including Michael Nettlefold in the email achieved nothing.

It's now 5 working days since my original email regarding my seating issues for tomorrow night adn as yet I've not even had the courtesy of a reply acknowledging my email!

So tonight I've sent another email to everybody in the membership department, Michael Nettlefold, and people in the Sponsorship and Fan Development departments.

Maybe if I send it to enough people somebody might actually reply?

[SainterK]

Maybe make an old fashioned phone call MM, state your case, get a name, and procede to hound them

[didzee]

Dont hold your breath MM

Ive sent emails to various departments with no reply.

Luckily,5 of our 7 memberships turned up today.
2 more tomorrow please.

[Mr Magic]

Maybe make an old fashioned phone call MM, state your case, get a name, and procede to hound them

Thanks K.
I realize that I probably will get an answer by telephoning them, but it's now gotten to the stage where I'm interested to see how far this (IMO) disgraceful handling of membership queries will get before somebody realizes that they might be better off financially catering for their existing members rather than chasing up a whole batch of new ones who they probably won't be able to cater for either?

They seem to not realize the potential (gain/harm) they have in not answering (as against answering) members' enquiries in a timely fashion.

I'm only 4 memberships but we are part of a group of 12.
I actually have no real need to puchase my yearly memberships as I have other alternatives I could use to see the Saints play. BUT I make the 'donation' every year (and have for decades). A donation that includes Memberships, Social Club and premium reserved seats.

The only thing this 'treatment' does is make me think twice about renewing next year.
If I do I'm sure the Club will spend time (costing money) trying to chase me up because I've decided to walk away.
Or amybe tehy've decided that since they've got a waiting list on Social Club Membership they don't care if they lose some along the way?

I'm sure the people in the Membership Department are lovely, but I never ahd any problems in getting a response when Ben Hall was the Membership Manager.

The mere fact that I'm posting this on a fan forum where it can possibly be seen by thousands of posters should be ringing 'alarm bells' somewhere at the Club.
But then again I couldn't get Michael Nettlefold to respond either, so maybe they just don't care?

[villasaint]

Mr Magic, that is unbelievable. My thoughts are to pick up the old dog and bone and forgo the electronic version of communication. It sounds like this would be far more effective. All the best!

[Mr Magic]

UPDATE
Last night's email seems to ahve done the trick.
Not only did I get an apologetic reply, but they couriered out 4 tickets for me this afternoon.

Well done to them on solving the problem today.
I'm still unsure why it took so long (and so many emails) to get any action?

[matrix]

blimey


still not really good enough tho simply for the fact that it should never get this far.

oh and maxstar is 100% correct.

[SaintDebi]

UPDATE
Last night's email seems to ahve done the trick.
Not only did I get an apologetic reply, but they couriered out 4 tickets for me this afternoon.

Well done to them on solving the problem today.
I'm still unsure why it took so long (and so many emails) to get any action?

Would you please be able to tell me the correct people and emai addresses to contact MM.
We are still waiting for 2 out of 4 memberships and despite being optomistic after speaking to Casey last week still nothing has changed and we have since spoken to 2 different people on the phones who have given us totally conflicting explanations.
To say I am disappointed and frustrated is an understatement.

[Winmar]

I'm really rather hoping my membership arrives in time for round 3. I've received nothing yet.

[matrix]

membership cap was in the p.o.box this morning.

[saintbrat]

membership cap was in the p.o.box this morning.

Post on a Sunday........ you must be aprogressive state

I was at the scarf and cap stand early on Friday night and they ahd boxes and boxes and boxes and a van full of scarves

and just to show there are people keen and interested ALL scarfves were gone when they clsoed after the game started...- even at siren time the queue stretched across the concourse...

[matrix]

i dare say it was in the p.o.box on thurs or fri bratty
i only checked it this morn tho

[saintbrat]

i dare say it was in the p.o.box on thurs or fri bratty
i only checked it this morn tho

Figured as much