Cutting it fine : World Cup Russia 2018

Cutting it fine: World Cup Russia 2018

So here we are in late May 2018 with less than 3 days to go before me & Fiona get on the first plane flight as part of our journey to Russia, and there is not a World Cup ticket in sight…??

When I booked our first batch of tickets in October last year, I carefully read the FIFA website that assured me that the ticket distribution for overseas visitors to Russia would be beginning in April this year and carry on into May. “No Worries”, I thought, plenty of time to have the tickets delivered and head off on our merry way…. The FIFA website told me that I would get an email confirmation when the tickets were dispatched, and maybe even a text message when they were with the DHL Express courier for delivery…. But oh no, with a couple of weeks to go with no tickets and no email, I started to get very concerned and try and contact FIFA to get some idea of what is happening.

Of course, it’s easier to steal secrets from the government than it is to get FIFA to communicate with you. Their web page allows you to fill in a contact form and send it to FIFA, but I can tell you from recent experience, all you get back is a standard email, “Thank you for your enquiry. Due to the many enquiries, we receive on a daily basis…. Blah blah blah…”. However, the email does include a phone number in Zurich, Switzerland, and once you have received several of these automated replies from FIFA, spending $20 to sit in a call system on the other side of the world for 20 minutes, starts to sound appealing.

With a just over a week to go, I relented and phoned FIFA, sat in a queue for 20 minutes, only to speak to a woman whose English was impeccable, but her knowledge of even the most basic elements of the FIFA ticket distribution process was sadly lacking…. She did reconfirm with me that all tickets were being distributed by DHL Express and that I would receive a confirmation when the tickets were on their way, all info I already knew….

Finally, with a week to go, I called DHL here in New Zealand who were strangely unaware that they are part of the distribution process for the World Cup tickets this year. However, I got put through to the Contact Centre Manager, and while he had no knowledge of DHL’s involvement in ticket distribution for the World Cup, he said he would look into the problem and get back to me. The Contact Centre Manager, Nick, reached out across the global DHL network, initially to understand what was happening, he then identified the right people at DHL in Italy, tracked down where my tickets were, and gave me a call to tell me they were on the way. Even though it has only been a few days, he kept me up to date with the situation all the way through, letting me know when the package was due to be on the plane down to Christchurch, and putting a hold on delivery so that I can collect the tickets in person. So with 3 days to go, I have now picked up the tickets from my local office and I could not be more relieved.

So many many Thanks to DHL Express in New Zealand for going the extra mile to help out someone who is not even a direct customer of theirs. And “Thanks for Nothing”, to FIFA for your lack of customer service and piss poor communication, you could learn a lot about customer service from DHL…