Bought my ticket online for collection to today's game. Parked in millhouse car park and walked round to ticket office where there was about 15 people in the queue. Stood there for about 10 mins when a steward came out and said anyone collecting tickets then they will be on the turnstiles of your stand. So I go round to town end entrance on millhouse side and ask the turnstile operator about tickets being there to which he says no they are in ticket office next to corner flag. Wait in the queue for 20 mins to be told my tickets will be in ticket kiosk on Clarence road side, which they were! Why do they make things so difficult, no mention of this online etc, what happens if you struggle on your feet etc?
No mention on kiosks of buying tickets one side, collecting on the other so people standing around creating unnecessary queues. Everything just seems disorganised and has for years. Was going to purchase an away shirt with 50% off to be told it's from tomorrow in store. Why when you have all the fans at the ground would you not put that offer on from today!?. I now won't be buying the shirt as I can't get down during the week so there's money missed out on. Then in the ground the bloody tannoy hasn't worked for 2 years, why is that such a big problem to fix!?. Then the football started.....wish I hadn't bothered haha

I hope you had your wellies on. The approaches to the Millhouse side of the ground were atrocious. When ,oh when is something going to be done about the potholes

Yep it's shocking around there

Same experience here! Young security type fella who seemed based in the club shop next to the ticket office kept on walking up and down the queue for tickets telling people to go straight to the stands to collect tickets for entry. Bloke from Stoke asked where he and his girlfriend should get their tickets and was told to go right round to the other side [Millhouse?] As I was leaving with my tickets I saw them rejoin the back of the queue. Before I got my tickets the girl behind the counter said she could n't issue my tickets there - and then did without a further word. Hateful stupid experience.

It's just so unnecessarily awkward to get a ticket! Why can't you just pay with card on the turnstiles is beyond me.

Just don't go any more ,save the hassle & frustration.

Got a season ticket! Been going 33 years so can't stop now!!

Dunno why the staff on duty were so poorly informed but the club website is clear enough about what to do about tickets bought online:

Collection: Tickets are available to collect from the Hartlepool United Ticket Office on non-matchdays. On the day of the game, up until 1pm tickets will be available to collect from the main ticket office. After 1pm they will be distributed to the relevant ticket collection point as highlighted below:

Clarence Road (Brunel Stand end) – Longbranch Homes and Brunel Stand tickets.

Millhouse Side (near Corner Flag) – Teesside International Airport Stand tickets.

If there's a queue of people at the Millhouse side wanting to buy tickets and yours are paid for in advance, you're allowed to walk up to the front of the queue and ask for your tickets. The last time I needed to do that for a cup game, one of the security staff outside the ground was clued up enough to walk along the queue telling people what to do if their tickets were already paid for.

For today's game I paid the extra for my tickets to be posted out.

The technology is there to allow payment on the turnstiles by card….. this must deter the casual fan seeing queues at the club shop and thinking I won’t bother going it’s just too much hassle just to get a ticket.
It should be more customer friendly.

Nightmare what you have to do to get into the ground for non ST Holders.
And the home sickness has returned.

But hold on.

We will have Stella / Marquee signing comeing in very soon.
So the database interrogation and queing up will all be worth it for the Rochdale game.

Think it will be firestik and 18 Foster from Morrisons.
Other off licences are available.

UTP.

Not quite right Snowy. You can't pay at the turnstiles into the ground by card or anything else. Anyone wanting to pay on the day on the Mill House side has to use the box office next to the Corner Flag:

Mill House Side (Teesside International Airport Stand)
The Box Office on the Mill House side of the ground will sell tickets for payment by card only for the Teesside International Airport Stand.
And it's card only to buy refreshments inside the ground.

This won't be a problem to most people under 50 as they seem to have given up on using cash altogether - how many people do you see using cash in a supermarket these days? Or in busy pubs? As you can normally pay just by touching your card to the machine it's the quickest way to get your money off you and requires no mathematical skills.

Like it or not, a cashless society is the way the world is headed. Personally I still use cash whenever I can - hate using a card for really small purchases like a Mars bar. I was so hacked off at having to use a card to pay 30p to check my tyre pressures I bought an air pump so I can check them at home!

The main reason the club used for abolishing cash was to prevent fiddling from the staff they employed. Now they have a constant struggle to find enough people to work on match days...

think i have done at least 4 home games this season and thats happened twice. its not as if i have bought them at the last minute but did it rwo weeks in advance.got a feeling they knew they had not been sent out to me when i went at mid day to collect it.

Really they should just allow print at home again. I get why they stopped it, to prevent duplicate tickets being used. This though is an issue with the club using a very basic system that doesn’t block a barcode once it has been used. They’re choosing to save money on a cheap basic system at the expense of a good customer experience on the day.

Unfortunately that’s the Councils responsibility, it’s been like that for years, nothing has ever been done about it.

What on earth has hobin done in his time at Pools, has anything been sorted out for the better?

Hello Jamie,
Responsibility for the Mill House approach road is a very grey area. The track is actually within the land leased by the club. Therefore the council say it is the tenants duty to maintain it. The club say because the land is owned by the council it is their responsibility, so nothing gets done. Sometime ago the S.A. offered to help the club get the potholes filled. The offer was ignored.

Arrived an hour before kick off to get a ticket on the mill house side. Still had to queue for 20 mins. Might help if they didn’t ask people to spell out their name and then wait while a ticket is physically printed.

My mistake, when I say the technology is there, I mean on the market to install if the club so wish?
The trouble with things at present is how it’s alienating the casual attender from turning up and walking in which produced a bigger crowd for certain matches…in fact I suspect it’s limiting crowds and making things difficult which shouldn’t be the case. Would also help, if the club invested in a shop in a more central location selling tickets and club stock.
I also think the place is becoming child unfriendly.

In some respects if you rented a house would maintain the drive when it’s only used a couple of times a month ?
I think it’s bad news when your offer was ignored, I have emailed the club in the past about various issues, they haven’t even acknowledged the receipt of my emails never mind replying to them.

Pools do have a knack of treating there supporters, with utter contempt at times, then they have the check to say support your club...we've been doing it for years.

There's a point when you've had enough, and think sod it, but some of the things with football is..it gets out the house, you can go to pub, you meet your mates..and the banter Is better then what's happening on the pitch at times.

I've said before, supporting Pools can be 90 minutes of heaven or hell.. sometimes both. Mostly hell at this time..but we still support them, it doesn't make sense does it?

I can't think of anything were you can have such a crap experience and you still come back. UTP.

Years and years ago when the majority of people going to the match paid cash on the gate, we regularly had crowds twice the size, and more, than we have today. There was no technology but very few missed the kick off. The only time anyone bought an actual ticket was when the match was deemed all ticket.
Buy tickets early to avoid problems we are asked. That request seems to be causing the problems.
Oh and in the fifties we had a team that could give anybody a game. Ask Man Utd and Chelsea etc.

Only downside was that every turnstile operator limped home due to the weight in their pockets

Allegedly

[quote="derwent"]Years and years ago when the majority of people going to the match paid cash on the gate, we regularly had crowds twice the size, and more, than we have today. There was no technology but very few missed the kick off. The only time anyone bought an actual ticket was when the match was deemed all ticket.
Buy tickets early to avoid problems we are asked. That request seems to be causing the problems.
its fine buying tickets early but there is no guarentee you will be at the game. i have suffered once this season after her in the kutchen had an accident wasting money on a game i could not get too. another reason i never bother attending non pools games apart from seeing my lad at stockport. hassle finding somewhere to park and then having to find a ricket office, queue there and then join another queue to get in and find your seat. sit in someone elses and you are going to get into a row even if they are the only other person in the stand. the authorities seem to be doing their best to put off fans rather than encouraging them. do not get me started on my other gripe of overpriced shit they serve as food and drink.

I'm pretty similar but I must admit that I no longer attend as many cup games as I used to - simply because it is too hard to get tickets (unless you live in the town and have a work life which fits in with the Pools shop opening hours) - and my experiences of trying to buy additional tickets for league games have been beyond frustrating. Particularly when you factor in the postal strike and the refusal to send e tickets.

I only bothered on Sunday because I fear that it may have been our last outing in the third round of the FA Cup. And it id now another dreadful memory/ example of the Raj Reign..

Gutless. Clueless. Bereft. I put in more effort trying to buy a ticket.

Just why should entering any ha;f full ground anywhere in the country have so many problems associated with it is totally beyond me. it should be all clubs main object in making it as easy as possible for everyone. what next, card payments only and no tuckets issued on the day of the game. if other businesses were as customer unfriendly as football clubs they,d quickly go out of business. its only happening slowly but even supermarkets realise they cannot dictate to customers about self service check outs.

Cant believe a league club doesnt take card payments on the turnstiles. Even we have that! As well as e-tickets. Got my season ticket on my phone and just hold it next to the reader to get in, proper doddle.

Yes it's a doddle but we don't do doddles.
My rail card is on my phone complete with mugshot.

I'm sure we have a "let's piss the fans off" committee by complicating the show as best we can.

Oops dunno how I did that

WITCHCRAFT.

He must of organised the Volunteers to paint the Clarence Road wall White.
Excellent job by the way.
What next Volunteer players.

He got volunteers to put in the new seats last close season - what this year? Demolition and site clearance volunteers?

every single option should be available for fans to use and then they can pick the one that suites them. didn,t they used to say the customer is always right not the other way round.