As you know, tickets for our Christmas events programme go on sale from Friday 1 September. We are therefore expecting the number of calls into the Museum and traffic to the website to be significantly higher than normal. The Bookings office will be open on Saturday this weekend and Natalie B and D will be taking calls.
Andy is moving the Bookings lines over to a separate call queuing system to hopefully reduce the impact on the main museum telephone lines. We also have some fantastic software called “Queue-IT” which creates a virtual queue for people trying to access our ticketing site and will therefore ensure the website is not overloaded. We will obviously update the messages on these platforms to explain what is happening. Whilst nobody likes a queue, these systems ensure that we process tickets fairly, on a first come first served basis and (hopefully) prevents any technical problems that we or the customer might otherwise have experienced.
Hopefully callers will do the very British thing and wait patiently in the queuing system however I would anticipate some might try to get through by any means possible! If this happens, can you please politely explain that they need to call the Bookings line – 0121 520 8054 or suggest that they book online? Please do not try and transfer them internally as this will mean that they have skipped the queue and we obviously want the process to be fair. If they do mention the queue, again, please just re-assure them that we will answer calls as quickly as possible but strongly suggest that they book online as this is likely to be quicker – www.bclm.com.
Whilst I don’t expect you to have in depth conversations with callers about the Events programme or ticket sales, it might just be worth you familiarising yourself with the dates and prices for the events (below), just in case. Please note the Early Bird rates are on Halloween tickets only and there is NO Family Night this year.
Santa Hunts: Sat 25 Nov, Sun 26 Nov, Sat 2 Dec, Sun 3 Dec, Sat 9 Dec, Sun 10 Dec, Sat 16 Dec – Sun 24 Dec
Time slots throughout the day between 9.30am and 3.30pm
Adult £16, Child (3-16) £10, Child (0-2) £8, Essential Carer £8
Members – 20% off standard rate
Christmas on the Homefront: Sat 2 Dec 6.30pm – 10pm
Adult £16, Child (3-16) £9, Essential Carer £8
Group rate available – Adult £12, Child £6.95, Essential Carer £6
Members – 20% off standard rate for Evening event
Christmas with the Edwardians at the Locksmith’s House: Thu 7, Fri 8, Sat 9 Dec 7pm – 9.30pm
Adult – £9, Child – £5, Essential Carer – £4.50
Members – 20% standard rate
Traditional Christmas Evenings: Fri 8 & Sat 9 Dec, Fri 15, Sat 16 & Sun 17 Dec 6.30pm – 10pm
Adult £16, Child (3-16) £9, Essential Carer £8
Group rate available – Adult £12, Child £6.95
Members – 20% off standard rate for Evening event
Obviously the Bookings team and Reception will be extremely busy for the first few days. Please be sensitive to this and, wherever possible, save any non-urgent enquiries the following week. I’m sure the Marketing & Comms Team won’t mind me also mentioning that they will be extremely busy responding to social media feedback and queries, too.
Please purchase Staff and Volunteer Event tickets through the Retail & Admissions Team Managers – please read the staff ticket policy.
If anybody has any queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks
Nicola
Nicola Rowe
Head of Retail & Admissions
Leave a Reply