Match off

[A Candy]

Dear All,
Some very good points made here about customer service and of course this is something that any business, including Torquay United, should work hard to improve. I believe our customer service has improved over the last two years but fully accept that on occasions it has not reached the standards that you as customers should expect and it is something that I will be looking at over the next few weeks.
Whilst I do read this forum from time to time, I would rather deal with any personal issues face to face or over the phone. This has the advantage in that I will get to know more fans personally and it is a lot easier to discuss the details of an issue than through an exchange of emails which never quite works in my opinion. I appreciate that many fans live outside of Torbay so a face to face would not be practical but for those that can visit me here at Plainmoor once the season has finished there is also the offer of a cup of coffee to ease your pain.
Pitch update-we have had some rain on Sunday but with the strong wind that also blew yesterday there is currently no surface water and the pitch is easily playable. I have noted all the comments about Saturday's postponed game and will be addressing some of those with the ground-staff today.
Regards,
Andrew

PS I am very happy to be called Andrew/Andy rather than Mr Candy ( I am old but that just makes me feel even older! )You will of course reserve your right to refer to me using any derogatory term that you think is appropriate. I suspect it won't be anything new as Trojan called me most names as we grew up and did our schooling together. What ever happened to him?

[SuperNickyWroe]

Dear All,
Some very good points made here about customer service and of course this is something that any business, including Torquay United, should work hard to improve. I believe our customer service has improved over the last two years but fully accept that on occasions it has not reached the standards that you as customers should expect and it is something that I will be looking at over the next few weeks.
Whilst I do read this forum from time to time, I would rather deal with any personal issues face to face or over the phone. This has the advantage in that I will get to know more fans personally and it is a lot easier to discuss the details of an issue than through an exchange of emails which never quite works in my opinion. I appreciate that many fans live outside of Torbay so a face to face would not be practical but for those that can visit me here at Plainmoor once the season has finished there is also the offer of a cup of coffee to ease your pain.
Pitch update-we have had some rain on Sunday but with the strong wind that also blew yesterday there is currently no surface water and the pitch is easily playable. I have noted all the comments about Saturday's postponed game and will be addressing some of those with the ground-staff today.
Regards,
Andrew

PS I am very happy to be called Andrew/Andy rather than Mr Candy ( I am old but that just makes me feel even older! )You will of course reserve your right to refer to me using any derogatory term that you think is appropriate. I suspect it won't be anything new as Trojan called me most names as we grew up and did our schooling together. What ever happened to him?

still in the funny farm i believe andy.
and still sectioned under the mental health act.
thankfully.

[AustrianAndyGull]

makes two of us then, three if you count your good self Chris! :na:

Oh and re: The response from Andrew.

It is so refreshing to have a representative of the club willing to and actually INTERESTED in engaging with the fans and endeavouring to solve any issues. First class and it is a massive step forward for the club. Well done Andrew!

And on the response about staff not giving a sh*t because they are on the minimum wage, well it just goes to show these people have no morals today. Of course it is up to the managers to spot these 'workers' and act accordingly but i've been in sh*t jobs which i hated and as soon as i got to the point where my work suffered and my mental health then i packed it in regardless of if i had another job to go to. These people should do the same, if the job really is that bad then leave. It is simply unacceptable to say they are getting paid peanuts so they don't give a sh*t and we should move on and get on with it. They are getting paid to do a job at the rate they signed up to and if they can't hack it then they should go or risk further damage to TUFC's disturbing customer service record. I must add that whenever i have phoned up for home and away tickets to be sent back to Derbyshire i have always received a superb and prompt service.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Oh and while i'm at it, i just thought about that story Mickyflash told us about the lad and his dad who had come from Birmingham and were on the wrong end of some abrupt service and so said next time they'd go to Villa.

Surely customer service is MORE vital at our level as the 2000 fans that are the lifeblood of the club need to be kept onside, especially given the atrocious stuff happening on the pitch. To clubs like Villa, you would be just a number and you would be treated in a uniform manner as a faceless fan by robotic staff all sat behind glass windows. Is there any reason to suggest that these staff members get better job satisfaction? Torquay is a tiny club and top class customer service AND excitable promotions of tickets, products and the like is imperative so we avoid situations like what happened to those two people on saturday and stop prospective long term fans from attending.

[Richinns]

I know it's already been posted, but have a look at this, it's absolutely hilarious:

http://www.onlybarnet.com/forum/viewtop ... f=3&t=5061

What a bunch of idiots. Apparently, Barnet is inhabited entirely by amateur grounds- and weathermen.

Look, Bees, we didn't know the weather was coming, no one knew the weather was coming. We were told it would rain, not that half the Atlantic would be dumped on the ground in 11 seconds. We didn't cover the pitch because A) as far as anyone knew, they wouldn't be needed and B) see A.

Honestly, I really hope we never come across like that to other clubs.

Matt.

Just to add fuel to the fire!
http://www.times-series.co.uk/sport/10355271._/

[ferrarilover]

Matt humour me (like a court jester)

the club didnt have a pitch inspect earlier due to the large amount of rain that fell in 3 hours which wasnt expected? correct?

So why cant any one at the club use some intelligence and think at 12 noon lets have a look at the pitch as it has drainage problems just to make sure?

I guess your answer will be that 9am the pitch was fine. Which is great if the game kicked off at 9am but it didnt.

As has been stated 14mm of rain fell from 10 to 1, how do we know as apparently the club have a measuring device (a plastic beaker of some sort i guess) that catches the rain with markers indicating down the side. I assume that no one thought theres a lot of water falling, theres puddles on the pitch, how much water is there in that measuring device? at around 12.

And i guess no one thought lets roll a ball around on the pitch just to see what its like, as there does seem to be a lot of rain falling?

common sense is lacking, but not for first time this season

This is the last time I'm bothering with you.

Who conducts pitch inspections?

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I thought you meant me then! :na:

[ferrarilover]

He turns up at 1300, the report on the OS shows that he was out on the pitch by 1315. That is perfectly acceptable.

Don't flatter yourself, you don't mean enough to me to warrant my being wound up.

Matt.

[SuperNickyWroe]

yet you reply.

so when pitch inspections happen at 10.30 in a match day who does that?
if your answer is that he goes early because the club ask him to then why wasnt common sense used and they ask him to get there early.

this is fun

a local referee.

and for gods sake grow up.

[tomogull]

If you live locally Eduk12 and were out of bed by say, 10 am on Saturday morning, you would have noticed that it was raining steadily but probably not enough to put the match in jeopardy. As the morning wore on, the rain became heavier and this was the reason for the very late pitch inspection. Torrential rain like that wasn't forecast the night before. Had the ref decided the game should go ahead, it would have been a farce and would no doubt have had to be abandoned as the rain continued all afternoon. Now let's put this nonsense to rest. The groundsman nor anyone else has any say in what the Football Gods throw at us !!