|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 30, 2012 21:22:14 GMT
hello
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2012 21:28:20 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 30, 2012 21:29:47 GMT
I think the price on Drift might have convinced me to grab one.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2012 21:33:54 GMT
Yay! My Dr1ft won't be alone in the crate!
|
|
|
|
Post by mellowshade on Jan 30, 2012 21:59:06 GMT
Urgh, not converted to the sausage cult, I'll stick to Runabout.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 30, 2012 22:11:22 GMT
server crash, server crash
Oh the fun of ordering from FP.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2012 22:13:23 GMT
Their facebook says they're having technical issues at the moment....can't say I'm shocked
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 30, 2012 23:14:26 GMT
Fucking Fun Publications always doing everything on the cheap.
Drift Drift Drift Drift
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2012 23:18:59 GMT
They say it's a problem with the company that deals with their credit cards and not not their actual site....why don't I believe them?
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 30, 2012 23:32:40 GMT
Oh I believe them, but I also believe that when they set up the online store they will have chose the very cheapest way of doing it. And that means the company processing the cards was either the cheapest or FP chose the cheapest option they offered and that means only being able to handle a small number of orders per second.
I could be wrong, but with FPs track record I dont think so. And tomorrow will be worse because everyone who missed today will be in an even bigger rush.
|
|
|
|
Post by jasonw on Jan 30, 2012 23:57:02 GMT
Bogatan, probably too late, but I pm-Ed you,
Jason
|
|
Jim
Thunderjet
Micromaster Backside Monitor
Now in glorious Ultra HD 4K
Posts: 4,922
|
Post by Jim on Jan 31, 2012 0:44:37 GMT
My contact in the US was one of the lucky few! Though he should probably keep a close eye on his credit card statement knowing FP.
The not being able to handle 8 - 10 transactions per second line set my software engineer alarm bells ringing. That is a bit poor.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jan 31, 2012 7:54:39 GMT
'We have turned off the Exclusives and the Club Store as they credit card processor cannot handle 8-10 transactions a second. They are going to try to reconfigure tonight and we will hopefully try this again tomorrow.
Thanks for your support and patience.'
That's what happens if you create a situation where you don't tell customers when stuff goes on sale. Everyone panics and jumps on at once before it sells out.
-Ralph
|
|
Nigel
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 5,098
|
Post by Nigel on Jan 31, 2012 9:34:50 GMT
Okay, so at about 7.45, we get "Pre-orders are getting close" and "As soon as I have tighter time frame, I will try to pass it on." 9pm, we're twenty minutes away from launch. 9.45, the email goes out to say they're online. Sheesh, what a shambles! How much tighter a time frame did they want than within a couple of hours?! It sounded like they were still a couple of days away. "We will hopefully try this again tomorrow." That's the most specific announcement they've given!  |
|
|
|
Post by mellowshade on Jan 31, 2012 11:33:09 GMT
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.
|
|
|
|
Post by legios on Jan 31, 2012 12:53:16 GMT
Yeah, I have to say that this is a self-created problem to be honest. If they actually managed their ordering cycle better there probably wouldn't be this mass charge knocking over their low-end servers....
To be honest every time this happens it does make me feel that trying to buy things from the club feels like it is far too much stress and hassle to go through for plastic robot toys.
Karl
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 31, 2012 13:50:22 GMT
The thing is where I agree with FP is that if they set a date in stone and managed to stick to it, it wouldn't stop every one trying to order immediately. If anything it would mean even more people ready to pull the trigger.
And this time they did almost manage it. Without giving a firm date in advance they did say last week of January and probably before the end of Jaunary so it was down to 2 days. And the tweets went out pretty much confirming yesterday in good time so they have gotten better at making this approach work. In the past it would get to about 9-10pm gmt before the would just come out and say not today. Prior to that there would be nothing all day.
But then they cheaped out on the credit card server which is mental because every year the scramble has gotten quicker. They have to be stupid not to have expected last night rush.
|
|
Nigel
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 5,098
|
Post by Nigel on Jan 31, 2012 15:39:18 GMT
Yes, but two hours before launch, they were still saying vague "close to launch" announcements, when they could have said that they expected it to be that day. That wouldn't have helped the credit card situation, of course.
Also, they make a huge assumption that people use Twitter and Facebook (and further, that people then follow them). They have email addresses for most members, so email updates in the run up to release are the appropriate method of contact.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 31, 2012 17:34:21 GMT
Yes, but two hours before launch, they were still saying vague "close to launch" announcements, when they could have said that they expected it to be that day. That wouldn't have helped the credit card situation, of course. Also, they make a huge assumption that people use Twitter and Facebook (and further, that people then follow them). They have email addresses for most members, so email updates in the run up to release are the appropriate method of contact. Absolutely they should be updating via methods other than twitter and Facebook, but I think their website is so antiquated and otherwise unused it isn't an option and emails are never reliable in terms of how quickly it arrives. But what is more annoying is that they tend to split the information between twitter and facebook so to stay properly up to date you need both open. |
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jan 31, 2012 17:55:15 GMT
Part of what members pay for is access to the club parts of the website so there is no excuse for it being antiquated, especially when run by a registered business, not fans in their spare time as a hobby.
E-mail update:
'We are currently working on a solution with our credit card processor so that they can handle the incredible volume you are presenting them. As soon as we have something in place, we will send out a notice of how we are going to handle this situation.
We appreciate your patience. In addition, please do not call as there are no orders being placed by anyone. Before the CC processing company closed the port due to being overwhelmed, we only sold through about 20% of the run of each figure. There are still plenty left. We may have to change processors and this could take a little bit of time. Again, we appreciate your patience. '
Translation: controlled flight into the ground.
I do feel for folk trying to give the TFCC their business. Too much stress for something that should be fun.
-Ralph
|
|
Nigel
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 5,098
|
Post by Nigel on Jan 31, 2012 17:55:31 GMT
Are you camped out at your computer waiting to order? I have an image of you sitting in your sleeping bag, surrounded by crisps, pop and empty food wrappers. Your credit card's tucked under the Mars wrapper, by the way. |
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 31, 2012 18:48:13 GMT
That was last year waiting for Botcon and PCP. Week after week after week. After week. I made a den and everything.
I had a lovely sleep last night in my bed and everything.
I did wake up at 5am in order to check for any updates on my phone.
Aside from that.
And putting off a filling this afternoon in case morning (US time) meant morning.
But aside from that,
I probably haven't shaved for a while either.
But theres definitely not been any sleeping bags involved.
My credit card was under a Bounty wrapper in point of fact.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jan 31, 2012 18:55:12 GMT
I haven't had a Bounty bar in ages! I must rectify this.
-Ralph
|
|
Nigel
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 5,098
|
Post by Nigel on Jan 31, 2012 19:00:22 GMT
You can sleep soundly tonight...
Email update
In order to facilitate the volume of our web sites, we are having to change to a new credit card processing company. We hope to have this up and running sometime on Wednesday. However in the mean time, we will be putting the store back online this afternoon but you will not be able to place an order until the transition is complete.
We are putting the store back online so that you can log in and check your account to see if you have a valid order. You can also log in currently at the member's only site and if you look at the third paragraph on the page, there is a link to check your orders.
If you do not see an order in your account for the excusives, you do not have an order for the club exclusives and will need to reprocess one when we go live. Because of the change in processors, we cannot work the incomplete orders and fix them, you will have to order again. As stated in an earlier email, we have only sold 20% of the pieces so there are still plenty.
Thanks for your understanding and support.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jan 31, 2012 19:02:09 GMT
We should send them some headbands.
-Ralph
|
|
Nigel
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 5,098
|
Post by Nigel on Jan 31, 2012 19:04:06 GMT
Only if we can charge them exorbitant international postage costs for the privilege.
|
|
Jim
Thunderjet
Micromaster Backside Monitor
Now in glorious Ultra HD 4K
Posts: 4,922
|
Post by Jim on Jan 31, 2012 19:04:22 GMT
I had a Bounty this afternoon! First one in ages. It was nice.
|
|
Nigel
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 5,098
|
Post by Nigel on Jan 31, 2012 19:12:07 GMT
I don't like coconut.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 31, 2012 19:21:41 GMT
Asda has 5 packs for £1.
Yum
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jan 31, 2012 19:25:51 GMT
FOR GLORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! FOR ASDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
-Ralph
|
|
