Cosport ticket update!

London 2012, ,

So after my earlier vent, I kept checking my emails and tracking and eventually had an email from Fedex to say that I needed to contact their UK office.  Fine, so I rang them up only to find that they had been given the wrong flat number (great!) and that they had not picked up the package so I needed to contact Cosport.  Having not had a reply to my original email, I figured all I could do was to ring them which unfortunately meant calling internationally to the US.

Luckily Planet Talk gave me a much cheaper than BT to do this so I by dialling a different number before the international number and on my third attempt (first the number didn’t work, then I waited over 10 minutes on hold and had an urgent phone call I had to deal with) I finally managed to speak to someone.  Basically their story was that they created the shipping label before doing final checks and realised that the order was incomplete and therefore the package was pulled before it could be picked up.  A simple email to me would have cleared all that up when it was realised but that seems to have not even occurred to them!  They got the final shipment from Locog yesterday (apparently) and said that they should be shipped out by close of business Friday and I should have them by Monday.

I mentioned about the address being wrong and Mike from Cosport said he was going to go over and get another shipping label put on the package, or at least that ‘he would try’ and get it pulled and another label created.  Surely if it hasn’t been sent out yet that should be possible right?

Having been out for the evening and feeling slightly less anxious about it, I got back to discover a new shipping notification notice and this time the package HAS BEEN PICKED UP!  Woo hoo!!!  Now we’ll just have to see if they deliver it to the right address, and then whether my tickets are even next to each other…

Cosport Olympic Ticket Fiasco

London 2012, , , ,

Its beginning to look like one of the multi-country ticket agencies for the London 2012 Olympics has messed up quite badly in a number of ways, and as some of my most expensive tickets are coming from there I’m quite nervous!  The company Cosport (and its sister company Jet Set Sports) are responsible for American, Australian and Austrian sales (amongst others), and as an EU citizen I took advantage of the Austrian sales to buy some Olympic tickets from them for Canoe Slalom and Closing Ceremony – neither of them being cheap tickets.

This was back in July last year, and I was very happy to have got hold of them and patiently waited whilst Locog started sending out tickets, and other EU distributors sent theres out or said how you could get hold of them (i.e. pick up only in London for Sportsworld), and then finally there was news that Cosport would be sending out via FedEx and we should wait for tracking information.  Eventually I got mine, and thats when things started to look a bit odd for me.

Even though I received a shipment notification email from FedEx dated the 9th July, it was from Jet Set Sports (which is the american branch of the company but hey maybe they are sending all their tickets from there) it said anticipated shipping date 7th July – how can they anticipate to ship before they’ve received the notification that theres a package for them to deliver?  Still it said delivery was 10th July so I thought ok, it must all be ok.

10th July came and went with no tickets or update, and by the morning of the 11th the tracking site no longer had a delivery date on it so I started to get quite worried.  The email from Cosport saying that deliveries were being organised said to contact via email on the 11th if no delivery information had been sent so I thought I would contact them to ask what was going on.  One email duly sent, but no acknowledgement or reply.

By the evening I took to twitter to see if anyone else was having problems and to my dismay not only were other people having delivery problems like mine some people weren’t getting all their tickets or had tickets that weren’t even together!  So now I not only don’t know if I’m even going to get my tickets, or if me and my other half will even be sitting together at the closing ceremony – how rubbish is that?!!!!  Also, some people have reported that even though they are EU citizens they are getting tickets that are allocated to American or Australian Olympic sites – surely that wasn’t allowed?

So this morning (the 12th), I’ve still not had a reply from Cosport so I’ve contacted FedEx via their website to ask what is going on.  Unlike Cosport, I’ve had an immediate copy of what I sent to my email address as well as an automated reply saying it was being sent to the relevant person so now its just waiting for America to wake up and go to work so I can find out what is going on I guess.

I don’t like the uncertainty, especially as the tickets weren’t cheap, and I don’t like the fact that Cosport aren’t very good at responding to an email address they told us to use so I can’t even tell if this is going to be resolved.  Its only just over 2 weeks to the games – come on people sort yourselves out!

Cosport tickets are on their way!

London 2012, ,

Some of my most expensive tickets for the Olympics are coming from Cosport (the EU seller for Austria), and they were supposed to start sending out their tickets last week so I’ve been getting a bit nervous.  Thankfully today I received an email to say that a shipping request had been sent to FedEx which is what they are using to send the tickets so I presume that is them.  Not totally sure though as the sender is apparently JetSet Sports Holdings and also although the notification was sent first thing this morning FedEx don’t seem to have picked up the package yet – very bizarre!

Unfortunately I won’t be in to receive the tickets so I might have to wait until the end of the week to find out for sure – I’ll be a bit nervous until I actually have them in my hand!

THREE WEEKS until London 2012!

London 2012

Today marks three weeks until the Opening Ceremony for London 2012 and the anticipation is growing!  The teams for all countries are being finalised (whether its by selection, injury, or the courts!), press are getting accredited and arriving, and people are buying and receiving their tickets.  I haven’t received all mine yet (where are mine Cosport?!), and I still need to find out who is coming with me to several of the events – thats what happens when you buy first and ask people later!  I guess my enthusiasm for going just got to me and I bought tickets for events I was interested in assuming that someone would want to come with me – whoops!

Theres still a lot for me to do before the Olympics start.  I’ve sorted a lot of my travel tickets and accommodation (not that I need much) out, but I still need to work out the times I will need to be catching a train each day.  I also need to figure out what bag I will be taking (must be soft and less than 25l), the food and drink (though only 100ml of liquid is allowed so I think I might have to buy drinks inside the park as I’m sure I’ll want to take in suncream (ASSUMING of course that we have a summer at some point!) I’ll take in, and everything else I’ll want to take (hat, umbrella, flag, supporters scarves, mobile phone emergency charge pack, etc, etc) – so many decisions to make!

And I haven’t even mentioned one of the biggest decisions – I STILL haven’t decided whether to get a new camera or not and even what TYPE of camera it might be.  Not much time now, so I really need to pull my finger out!!

Must step away from the ticketing sites…

London 2012, ,

… and hand over my Visa cards so that I stop buying tickets to the Olympics!  This morning Sportsworld released some new tickets which included Velodrome ones and as that was what I most wanted that I hadn’t got thats what I went for!  Very expensive (especially including the handling fee of £40 PER TICKET) as they are Category AA but hoping that means a good view and its for CT004 which means we will see the final of the Womens Team Pursuit which I believe TeamGB have a very good chance of medalling in!

Very very happy to have got the tickets, but must stop buying anymore!!

p.s. Does anyone want to come to the Canoe Slalom with me??  Seems none of my friends and family do…

Regaining motivation to resume training

Other,

Since doing the Midnight walk for the Martlets charity two weeks ago, I haven’t been doing much in the way of walking.  The first week I said to myself that I wanted to take a break as it was so physically demanding and also to let my feet and lets recover a bit.  I fully intended to get back into it after that week.

But now its the end of week two post walk and I’m still finding excuses not to do any walking.  My other half dragged me out for an hours walk last Sunday but I really didn’t want to go and our average speed was right down.  I’ve tried to mkae myself get out during lunchtimes by combining it with shopping but stop-starting doesn’t get the distance or speed I need to do done.

Maybe I need to come up with a proper training plan again – something to keep track of and therefore motivate myself.  Maybe I’m just scared of the distance, especially given how hard I found the half marathon.  Or maybe I’m just great at procrastinating and finding excuses…

Eventeam tickets have arrived!

London 2012,

In order to get the tickets I wanted for London 2012, I used the fact that as part of the EU I could buy tickets from other EU country official sellers.  I wasn’t alone in this, as their websites crashed etc under the load just like the official GB one did as soon as any sales were announced!

Two of the EU sites allowed you to pay for delivery via courier (still not sure why this wasn’t an option with Sportsworld!) and yesterday I stayed in to receive my tickets from Eventeam the French official seller which were sent via UPS so now I have some Badminton tickets – very excited!  I already have some more badminton tickets for the same day and I’m going with two different extended family members – should be fun!!  The only issue with them is that they came with a letter all in French so now I just have to find someone who can translate it for me!

One month to go until LONDON 2012!!

London 2012

Can you tell that I’m excited?  *wide grin*  TeamGB is slowly taking shape (although the selections for Taekwando and Fencing among others are controversial and under challenge), and its cool to see how excited all the athletes from all disciplines are at being selected and then receiving their kit.

As far as ‘my’ kit goes, I’ve got my TeamGB and ParalympicsGB supporters scarves and TeamGB football shirt and caps plus a large flag (though its still within the rules) so I’m getting sorted.  I still need to decide on a camera and rucksack I’m going to take though, and I’m not impressed with only being able to take in 100ml of liquid but I guess thats the airport-style security we’re going to have to live with.

Roll on 27th July, and i for one CAN’T WAIT!!

Complete Madness – walking the London Marathon in 2013!

Other, ,

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not the fittest of people (lazy would be one word for me), let alone the healthiest especially in my teenage years (dislocating kneecaps and 2 operations) and the past year (arthroscopic knee surgery, severe allergy and skin issues).  And of course theres the long term issue of needing a knee replacement and having the beginnings of arthritis.

But lets put that all aside shall we – I’ve got a place in the London Marathon!  Madness it may be, but its something I’ve always wanted to do and after many years of trying I have finally got in!  I am under no illusions that I will need to train hard and that I will be walking the entire 26 ish miles as there is no way I can run, but I really, really hope that I can complete the course, and with your help I can do it!

Whilst my other half is going to arrange for people to support me every couple of miles as its going to take me probably well over 8 hours to finish (and probably closer to 9, by which point most supporters will have gone home and they will have started packing up the finish!), what I need at this point is motivation whether verbal (post a comment!), physical (anyone fancy doing some long walks with me?), or by sponsoring me by going to https://www.justgiving.com/Sturtridge-London-Marathon.

I’ve decided that the money I raise by doing the marathon will be going to HEAL Project Zambia a charity that helps to support children and families affected by HIV/Aids in Zambia.  Many children are orphaned due to AIDs, and also their families are destitute as they are often shunned after diagnosis (and thats even if one of the parents doesn’t die as well).  The HEAL project has built and supports a school and food for over 350 children, as well as helping men and women to earn money through needlework and other crafts.  The project has also built a house where one of the founders of the charity can look after around 30 children who need medical care.  The project raises the money it needs to support all this work by talks and table-top sales here in the UK and applying to organisations for grants but more is always needed.

Please help me to help those much less fortunate than myself to have a much better life.  Thank you!