Big Finish

[Pinwig]

Finally managed to get back in by resetting my password. Changed it to exactly what it was before. There are definitely problems, but I'm kind enough to consider them teething problems that will get sorted in time. Like if you currently go to the star cops section, several releases are missing, including the most recent one. They also don't show up in searches.

The lack of options to sort and filter your own purchases is a backwards step too, but that I'm sure will get complained about enough that they'll fix it. I'm also sad to see the 'You've got this!' badges on bought purchases have gone.

More annoyingly, changing the way bundles work means you can't now buy a set with a discount if one of the set is already out. Yesterday the two new Lost Stories releases were £37 on CD, but today because one is out and one isn't, there's no multi buy discount so they cost £39. I expect in time I'll get used to that but it does mean planning ahead with pre orders.

The site also seems to be even more slower than it used to be.

[Pinwig]

Okay... Trying to buy a couple of CDs. I had to re-add my address, at which point the site told me it couldn't ship to my address and won't let me go any further.

[The Doctor]

Was there any beta testing for this?

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

'500 Server Error' this morning. Dear oh dear.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

www.bigfinish.com/work-in-progress

"We think this new site is a great step forward."

Yes, removing basic user features for the launch and making it difficult to read are great!

Was that written by AI?

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Well at least in that they recognise pretty much all the issues we found yesterday. Except for how the old bundle system has been devalued by the new replacement.

[The Doctor]

The bundles were great but with them gone...stealth price rises.

I am leaving the site alone for now. It's not good for my blood pressure.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Four days later...still can't access my 1000+ downloads or buy anything. They may have lost my business now.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

I can see all my downloads but I haven't tried to buy anything since the last time it didn't work.

[The Doctor]

It has been a masterclass in how to take a successful business and run it into the ground in less than a week.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Got an email stating they are rolling back to the previous site and app, for now. The relevant sections:

We asked experts to help us build a new “store front” to equip us for the future and, while many of our behind-the-scenes operations are now much improved, not all the functionality of the new website and app are working as intended.

I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience so many of our loyal listeners have experienced over the past two weeks.

We have listened to all your feedback in relation to the new website and app and it is clear that your confidence in Big Finish has been shaken. In order to restore your faith, I have decided that, until the new website and app are ready to be relaunched, we will roll back to the previous versions in the coming days.

...

we will publish a revised schedule for the postponed August releases, plus some sales promotions.

I hope you will understand that the changes made to our website and app were undertaken with the sincere ambition to make things quicker, easier and more efficient for our customers. Clearly that ambition has been momentarily thwarted.

The rollback to the previous versions of the website and the app are not permanent. While familiar, the Big Finish website and app cannot remain as they were while our audience grows, and new listeners discover our great and ever-expanding catalogue of audio dramas. We need to adapt, and we cannot do that without upgrades to the technology that underpins our online store.

That said, we have listened, and we have learned.

In the future, I promise we will seek out more involvement from our loyal customers up front and we will be clearer about what we are trying to achieve when it comes to website and app development so that you are prepared when they inevitably regenerate into something bigger and better.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

I would have been using the app this week to listen to some stuff but it hasn't been working. I keep MP3 downloads for all my purchases anyway so I've been listening through an audio book app instead.

[The Doctor]

I suspect they have been forced into this action before their business goes under. It'll be a while before I'll have confidence buying direct from them again.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Now the old site is back I have regained access to all my downloads and can once again easily filter and search within them. You know, the basic stuff that vanished on the new site

Now to ensure I download backups off all 1094 releases before the site is fucked again.

It will be a long time (if ever) before I buy direct again though. Trust has been broken.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

BF still fucked:

www.bigfinish.com/news/v/temporary-bf-app-solution

Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if they will be an ex-company soon.

Their sales must be in freefall.



-ralph

[Pinwig]

I see what's happened there. The app was probably never stress tested for that level of synchronisation because people would have synced along the way as they bought things. Doing a few at a time the problem never came up, but now long term buyers are being forced to re-sync entire collections the app can't cope. That should be fixable in the app, it would just need a queuing system to work through the list until it gets through everything so it's doing a few hundred at a time by itself instead of forcing users to do that manually.

Still, that workaround isn't going to please anyone; it's a clunky fudge. I don't think this is going to kill Big Finish, I mean I'm not that fussed as I know they'll fix everything eventually and nothing is actually lost - it's not like purchases will never be accessible again - but it's certainly not good PR.

[The Doctor]

I don't use the app, I use the website. When it was 'upgraded' I lost loads of stuff and could no longer search within my library. It's ok now the old site is back but I am not touching their site with a barge pole and have stopped buying in case it goes tits up again...and I speak as a die-hard fan who bought their first product in 1998! I have lost confidence in making purchases I will be able to listen to.

I can see more casual fans just walking away.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Mar 16, 2023 19:45:05 GMT Pinwig said:

Well hello Timeslip volumes 3 & 4 :)

And this weekend I actually listened to them. Made the painting fly by. I think these two were better than the first two, helped by the fact they are four episodes not six, so they don't wander so much. 3 is a nice historical set at the time of the Suffragette movement and 4 is set in the 2050s using rising sea levels as the climate change disaster of choice for the time. Both stories very in keeping with the original series.