Dave called again to tell about the seat selection event (again) and I told him (again) that I was not going to attend. I thought this would be the end and my assumption was reinforced when on May 26th I received a letter from Amber, the fan relations person, confirming my seats in Section 105, Row V, Seats 3-4. All was good.

On June 8th, I received a call from Dave with “good news” saying that he had found me better seats and switched me to Row P, seats 15-16. He said that he had found seats that were closer to the court and with a better angle to see the action. I was shocked that he would move my seats with without my permission and it was clear that he had no idea what was important me.

When I worked with my previous account rep, Leigh, now Dave’s supervisor, we went through an extensive process to pick the best seats for my budget. I wanted to be able to see the Magic bench, I wanted to be close to the aisle, and I wanted to avoid having my line of sight to the court blocked by Bubba and Betty Jo walking up and down the aisles as was the case with my seats last year. I chose to be close to the right aisle in section 105 for these reasons.

If Dave has known my criteria and selected better seats, that would have been terrific customer service. But it is clear by his choice of seats he chose to move my seats based on his preferences, not mine. And it was also clear that none of the thinking that went behind my seat selection had been shared with him.

So who is a fault? Dave tried to do what he thought was best for the customer but didn’t have enough knowledge and experience to do it. And he definitely should not have made any change without my prior permission. Chalk this up to an overzealous (and under trained?) new rep.

Was Leigh at fault? Probably a little more than Dave given that she is responsible for training him on what to do and not do. She also didn’t give him the details of our conversation when she handed the account to him—with 13,000+ season ticket holders, this would be difficult to pull off—so he could not have known my expectations.
Are the Magic at fault? The team that drafted Fran Vazquez from Spain in the first round last year then watched him extend his contract with his local team and express no desire to play in the NBA is probably the most responsible for Dave’s mistakes. It is pretty clear that they do not have the system in place to capture customer preferences and easily pass this knowledge on to new reps. By not having the most basic way to capture and share institutional knowledge, they make employee transitions more difficult and put customer satisfaction at risk. They also need to verify that their processes and procedures for exchanging seats are documented, understood, and complied with by all staff.

Amber to the Rescue
Yesterday, I emailed the person who sent me my ticket confirmation. I told her my tale of woe and, 15 minutes later, she was calling me from the arena saying that there were better seats available in Row P, seats 3-4. She took the time to listen to my criteria, found something that matched, and called me back promptly to get my agreement to make the switch. Nicely done.

Maybe Dave will get better, but better systems will help him come up the learning curve faster and be more effective. Now if we can develop a system to create an athletic shooting card who can hit the three and wants to play for the Magic . . .