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Commodore Notebook: April 24 4/24/2006 By Rod Williamson Customer Service and VUcommodores.com There was a posting last week on a message board that bothered those of us who spend time almost every day striving to make things just a bit better for our loyal fans. Somebody was frustrated after trying to reorder football season tickets on-line and didn’t have his PIN number handy. He was ready to toss his computer, or at least the vucommodores part of it, into the Cumberland and wondered how we ever sold a ticket to anyone on-line. Even though several fans quickly followed his vent with their own successful experiences, I felt empathy. I’ve had moments like that and even after realizing it was my mistake, I still wonder why the company couldn’t have made my shopping experience easier. One of the reasons this topic bounced around McGugin Center’s hallways is that we are very concerned about service. We just hired Eric Jones as our new ticket manager a few weeks ago and his strong suit is his focus on the customer and desire to provide outstanding service to our fans. We are not ignoring problems and are pro-actively striving to eliminate glitches. We know that online commerce is booming these days. Every new update details a stunning growth curve in e-commerce. We buy our airlines tickets on line, order books, hotel rooms, participate in auctions and if you are under 30, you are probably getting the bulk of your news on-line. On-line ticketing is important. Vanderbilt athletics uses a software system owned by a major west coast ticketing company that has about 75% of Division I schools in its fold. There is much good with the system but we also lose individuality and an ability to make our own decisions in some cases. For instance, if we had our way we would reduce the fees Commodore fans are charged in certain situations. There are some cases with lower priced tickets where the fees are darn near as costly as the tickets. We know that and don’t like it either but it is not our decision alone. Therefore, our fees are in line with many other schools across the country. It took me awhile to understand that we don’t have the same flexibility that a Southwest Air Lines or Amazon.com has with their systems because they own theirs! Still there is tremendous convenience in being able to buy tickets from your office or home, 24 hours a day and not have to go to the post office or drive to McGugin Center using $3 a gallon gasoline. Every year on-line ticket purchases surge, last year to over a quarter million dollars. We’ll still be looking for ways to make on-line ordering easier — such as making key information easier to spot on your order form or making the instructions more clear — because we know this is the way of the future and, more importantly, because we care about you. That’s a fact. Have a great week. Go ‘Dores!
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Commodore Notebook: April 24
