Seetickets still useless vermin

[dirtysteve]

There seem to be several mentalities in this thread.

1; Smug people who have tickets and are taking the "stop whinging" line. I'd love to see you not whinge if you didn't get an order placed before it sold out because the server fell over continually.

2; People struggling for tickets against the See system and having a stressful time of it. I haven't seen any of these people say "stop whinging". And I doubt they will do when they (hopefully) do succeed in getting tickets.

3; People like me who have seen See's system admittedly improve over the years but argue that it hasn't improved anywhere near enough.

Let's all take a step back and consider for a moment that we are paying See for a service. That service is pretty crap, from point of sale and beyond. Anybody who's tried to talk to them in the months following previous ticket purchases may have some more insight here. Seetickets are a terrible company.

[Jason447]

Seetickets are a terrible company.

[ukslim]

This year's been much better than previous years.

And "sub-human scum" is going a bit too far.

But I got several server error pages, several timeouts, several blank screens, and I believe that with some effort, it would be possible to avoid this.

I think if an IBM, and Amazon, a Google were to attack this problem, they could go in the Guinness Book of Records as having sold 100,000 tickets in 1 minute. It's a very easy problem to parallelise.

That infrastructure could be reused for all sorts of big events, not just Glastonbury. Glastonbury's not the only time 100,000 people all want a ticket at the same time.

[eFestivals]

There seem to be several mentalities in this thread.

1; Smug people who have tickets and are taking the "stop whinging" line. I'd love to see you not whinge if you didn't get an order placed before it sold out because the server fell over continually.

2; People struggling for tickets against the See system and having a stressful time of it. I haven't seen any of these people say "stop whinging". And I doubt they will do when they (hopefully) do succeed in getting tickets.

3; People like me who have seen See's system admittedly improve over the years but argue that it hasn't improved anywhere near enough.

Let's all take a step back and consider for a moment that we are paying See for a service. That service is pretty crap, from point of sale and beyond. Anybody who's tried to talk to them in the months following previous ticket purchases may have some more insight here. Seetickets are a terrible company.

1. they can't sell more tickets than they have to sell.

2. there has to be some way of filtering the requests to buy, as no system would cope with all sales simultaneously.

3. the system has improved hugely since a few years back when some of us were sat here trying to buy for 36 hours.

4. See handle these tickets for just about no profit due to the deal that Eavis has negotiated with them. So you're paying for no service.

However 'terrible' you might think them as, a number of their customers have unrealistic expectations.

[Dark Star]

Let's all take a step back and consider for a moment that we are paying See for a service. That service is pretty crap, from point of sale and beyond. Anybody who's tried to talk to them in the months following previous ticket purchases may have some more insight here. Seetickets are a terrible company.

[Niblet]

If See (or any other ticket agent) spent a fortune on a massive system, what advantage would it bring them? Could they sell more tickets of a finite number of tickets? Nope.

Their systems are improving all the same.

[eFestivals]

I think if an IBM, and Amazon, a Google were to attack this problem, they could go in the Guinness Book of Records as having sold 100,000 tickets in 1 minute. It's a very easy problem to parallelise.

If a system like this was in place, there'd be complaints from those who logged on a minute after nine am and so didn't get tickets, so they'd be no less slagging off of See.

It really is a no-win situation from any angle.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

There seem to be several mentalities in this thread.

1; Smug people who have tickets and are taking the "stop whinging" line. I'd love to see you not whinge if you didn't get an order placed before it sold out because the server fell over continually.

2; People struggling for tickets against the See system and having a stressful time of it. I haven't seen any of these people say "stop whinging". And I doubt they will do when they (hopefully) do succeed in getting tickets.

3; People like me who have seen See's system admittedly improve over the years but argue that it hasn't improved anywhere near enough.

Let's all take a step back and consider for a moment that we are paying See for a service. That service is pretty crap, from point of sale and beyond. Anybody who's tried to talk to them in the months following previous ticket purchases may have some more insight here. Seetickets are a terrible company.

Edited October 4, 2009 by Rufus Gwertigan

[dirtysteve]

1. they can't sell more tickets than they have to sell.

2. there has to be some way of filtering the requests to buy, as no system would cope with all sales simultaneously.

3. the system has improved hugely since a few years back when some of us were sat here trying to buy for 36 hours.

4. See handle these tickets for just about no profit due to the deal that Eavis has negotiated with them. So you're paying for no service.

However 'terrible' you might think them as, a number of their customers have unrealistic expectations.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Glastonbury is tainted each year by the awful experience of dealing with See. My experience this morning lasted 15 minutes. It was awful. Glastonbury is tainted by that. I have a right to resent See for that.

[eFestivals]

1. Of course not, but they can sell the tickets that they have to sell efficiently and without causing their customers brain damage by managing their systems better. If the system was up to it and all tickets were sold out within 5 minutes, at least we would know that rather than having to potentially waste a long time refreshing crashed booking forms and getting stressed out! The quantity of tickets isn't an issue, it's the manner in which they are sold that is.

2. Where there's a will, there's a way. There's clearly no will at See.

3. I was one of those people and haven't forgotten that experience or forgiven See.

4. See striking a bum deal is not the customer's fault.

My expectations are that when I'm paying for a service, that service is delivered in a competent way.

Glastonbury is tainted each year by the awful experience of dealing with See. My experience this morning lasted 15 minutes. It was awful. Glastonbury is tainted by that. I have a right to resent See for that.

Fine. I'd guess you won't much enjoy your life of constant disappointment tho.

[choadus]

Steve's distaste for See is justified, but mate, you got tickets to the best festival in the world man, if i were you id be out partying and start looking forward to the awesomeness! Im guna give up in a bit i think, might try again this avo as after 2 hours 15 mins, im getting bored of:

"HTTP Error 500.13 - Server error: Web server is too busy.

Internet Information Services (IIS)"

[ianianian]

There seem to be several mentalities in this thread.

1; Smug people who have tickets and are taking the "stop whinging" line. I'd love to see you not whinge if you didn't get an order placed before it sold out because the server fell over continually.

2; People struggling for tickets against the See system and having a stressful time of it. I haven't seen any of these people say "stop whinging". And I doubt they will do when they (hopefully) do succeed in getting tickets.

3; People like me who have seen See's system admittedly improve over the years but argue that it hasn't improved anywhere near enough.

Let's all take a step back and consider for a moment that we are paying See for a service. That service is pretty crap, from point of sale and beyond. Anybody who's tried to talk to them in the months following previous ticket purchases may have some more insight here. Seetickets are a terrible company.

[sexyvictoria]

payment requires access to your own banks systems which will not take too kindly to tens of thousands of payments for G2010 alongside everyday transactions... with web traffic generally lesser in the UK at this time, count yourself lucky it was only 15 minutes.

[Francis Biley]

Just had a lovely chat with lovely lady at See, who was more than helpful, but also told me that they have new systems in place that were not coping at all; they can only queue 50-70 people at one time on the phones, and even then can't easily book people through into 'puters cause they are running so slow, or rather don't have much capacity. Hmmm...

She said that figures indicating huge quick sell outs are unlikely to be true as its all soooooo slow.

Anyway, got mine; so Im happy, and those still to get through, keep trying, seems like plenty will be available. x fingers for you.

[musky]

Steve, why not just admit that you've no idea of the infrastructure or costs involved in what you're asking, nor how much customers would have to stump up for the privilege. Then just move on.

[Langdale Wolf]

15 minutes ?

if it was like the 'old days', when one box office would physically sell them to a queue of punters (which some people still see as the 'fair' option), I'd have slept in the street (and have done in the past) to make sure I got 'em.

15 minutes in the comfort of your home... you poor thing

[bulb]

Oh yeah 15 minutes that's terrible ALTOGETHER.

2 hours 45 minutes and counting... /

[eFestivals]

Oh yeah 15 minutes that's terrible ALTOGETHER.

2 hours 45 minutes and counting... /

keep at it, there's defo less load on their systems now. I'm getting the various pages OK most of the time now.

[dirtysteve]

Steve's distaste for See is justified, but mate, you got tickets to the best festival in the world man, if i were you id be out partying and start looking forward to the awesomeness! Im guna give up in a bit i think, might try again this avo as after 2 hours 15 mins, im getting bored of:

"HTTP Error 500.13 - Server error: Web server is too busy.

Internet Information Services (IIS)"

[Langdale Wolf]

I hope you have luck soon mate.

I am well happy and very much looking forward to the end of next June and am going to the pub for a lovely roast and a few pints to celebrate.

See are still bastards though. And for those getting sand in their vaginas about me calling See "scum" and "vermin" that was in no way directed at any individuals working at See, rather aimed at the organisation itself in general terms. That said, I have had dealings with arseholes and imbeciles on the phone at See. The odd one or two decent and helpful types too. But my wrath today is at the company, not the people.

[dirtysteve]

Just had a lovely chat with lovely lady at See, who was more than helpful, but also told me that they have new systems in place that were not coping at all; they can only queue 50-70 people at one time on the phones, and even then can't easily book people through into 'puters cause they are running so slow, or rather don't have much capacity. Hmmm...

She said that figures indicating huge quick sell outs are unlikely to be true as its all soooooo slow.

Anyway, got mine; so Im happy, and those still to get through, keep trying, seems like plenty will be available. x fingers for you.

[dirtysteve]

15 minutes ?

if it was like the 'old days', when one box office would physically sell them to a queue of punters (which some people still see as the 'fair' option), I'd have slept in the street (and have done in the past) to make sure I got 'em.

15 minutes in the comfort of your home... you poor thing

[dirtysteve]

What WILL he make of any potential controversial headliners I wonder?

[eFestivals]

What a great day to be testing new systems!

We know you're not happy, but there's no need to be making stuff up. No one has said that they're testing new systems, just that they have 'new systems' - how new they are wasn't said.