Amberexile wrote:

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:
Amberexile , I believe that your suggestion for a sub out to a call centre is the best and most sensible suggestion I have read to date. You clearly know what you are talking about, and I hope the club has the need in future to adopt this. Thanks also for your offer of help. Do you envisage the system being able to cope with all those that would have priority for tickets from wherever they live, or just for those living outside of Newports immediate vicinity? It appears that one of the biggest problems for the Man City game was the line being inundated with local callers even though the intention was for it to be a service for 'exiles'. I also note on another thread the suggestion that a small fee could be added for the service, presumably if time allows for a postage fee also. Do you see this as being viable as it could help recuperate some of the costs of the call centre hiring?

My intention was to find a solution for exiled supporters. If the club chose to implement a system aimed at exiled fans only, the call centre switch would be capable of blocking calls for 01633 numbers, calls from mobiles are more difficult but the technology is there. They should also discuss strategy for spreading out calls such as a different number and/or day(s) for season ticket holders and trust members. While you can't stop people calling the wrong number, you can filter them out using ACD facilities meaning that only valid calls reach operators.
I would envisage a fee being passed on to people using this service and postage all of which can be handled by the call centre, this may also dissuade some local people from using the service if that is what the club requires.
If the club want local people to be able to use the service as well, it is just a matter of scale. A bigger contract should be more attractive to the call centre and the fee when expressed as per transaction could well be lower.
My experience in the construction and commissioning of calls centres is almost 20 years out of date now but all of this was possible back then and the technology has moved on a lot in the meantime.