Being kicked out - avoidable or not??

[Tartan_Glasto]

It’s just all pure luck. This is my 4th year of trying. Always used laptop and couldn’t get close first three years. Had to rely on friends. 

This year I was on holiday and used phone with 4G, got through after about 20mins and payment page worked first time.

 

[bucko]

I'd be happy to pay the deposit in the week before the sale then have it transfered back if i never got through if it means the last steps of the process run better.

I'm one of the lucky ones this time around but it does seem more people had payment problems this year than others.

 

[mandolin]

4 hours ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Of course it does, but then most people aren’t going to just stick to one device when they know everybody else will be using as many as possible. It’s a a self fulfilling prophecy, but as an individual if you just stick to one device you’ll still have all the problems of the extra traffic everyone else is creating and less chance yourself.

I’m not techie at all, but all the payment issues confuse me. In my non techie mind the way I see the system working is that you’ve got literally millions of people trying to get through on the see tickets link, which is why people get white screens etc. Nothing can be done about this as this is the first line of the process.

You've then got people refreshing the holding page (but nowhere near as many as are/were trying to access the see tickets link) And you can only get through to a booking page when one becomes free.

What I don’t get is I would’ve thought that there would only ever be enough slots opened up that the system could actually cope with, these people would be let through to another server or system to process their payment, this should then be unaffected by all the traffic on the holding page and trying to access the see tickets link.

I sort of think of it like having an angry mob knocking on my door, I only open the door and let in however many I can cope with at a time then shut it again, what happens in the house is not affected by the growing number of people outside banging on the door.

But obviously it can’t be as straightforward as that?

 

 

 

This, exactly this. Why let in more people than you can deal with?  Wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to me as I never got past the holding page.  As disappointed as I am, I don’t feel as though something has been  stolen from me but surely if you get through to entering registration numbers you should be safe if you’re doing it fast enough?

I  have to admit that I was slightly perplexed as soon as I heard about the 6 minute thing.  Why would that even be thought of?  Were they aware that their systems weren’t going to be as they should?   If you are applying for tickets normally, you know you have to have the relevant details to hand - usually it’s your name, address and method of payment.  For most people that just requires making sure that you have your bank card to hand, the rest being easily remembered.  In this case, the registration number, postcodes and method of payment were required.  The first two would be difficult to remember; though not difficult to have to hand.  It doesn’t take 6 minutes to type that lot in unless you have some physical difficulty (and, frankly, there should be a more accessible way for people with physical/cognitive difficulties to get tickets too). 

In short, I feel the problem was with See - whether that’s due to the price they or the festival are willing to pay or not I don’t know.  I also don’t know whether the post-ticket day controversy damages the festival or adds to its cachet.

[Rose-Colored Boy]

2 hours ago, bucko said:

I'd be happy to pay the deposit in the week before the sale then have it transfered back if i never got through if it means the last steps of the process run better.

I'm one of the lucky ones this time around but it does seem more people had payment problems this year than others.

 

YES. This is such a good idea, as long as it was 100% refunded to unsuccessful people. Having to cough up a bit of dosh to enter the bloodbath would absolutely make the ‘bucket list’ bores think twice about going through the effort of trying for tickets on the off-chance they got them, and would also stop people waking up on the Sunday morning and thinking “fuck it, might as well”. Absolutely must be a total refund though, else it immediately becomes very very problematic.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Rose-Colored Boy

[stuartbert two hats]

5 hours ago, eFestivals said:

ultimately it's just another version of not-getting-tickets, which happened to many others who got less of a sniff of getting tickets.

I got tickets, but still found having my reg details post timing out 10 times in a row utterly infuriating. What's the point of the "queue" page if it doesn't throttle the forms pages enough for them to reliably work?

I'm aware it's a hard problem without a strong commercial incentive to solve, but it's still bloody annoying.

[incident]

29 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

I'm aware it's a hard problem without a strong commercial incentive to solve, but it's still bloody annoying.

My guess is that the demand / server load will have taken them by surprise a bit this time round - the previous few years they seemed to have got it broadly about right, it was (and while demand vastly exceeds supply always will be) a pain getting a session in the first place, but once you'd done that it mostly seemed smooth from then on.

Then this year we go back to it being a lot more messy, a bit like it was at the start of the decade. So I'm wondering if they got caught short with a combination of the demand being massively up on previous years (the number of ticketless on here would imply that), and the fact that people are throwing more devices at it now than they would have 2 even years ago. Be interesting to see if/what changes are made for the resale and for 2020.

[Rose-Colored Boy]

Yeah, assuming they refuse to change to a different system, they at least badly need to make quadruple-sure they’ve ironed out the problems ahead of next October. The TDay demand for the big 5-0 will make this time around look like a relative cakewalk.

[JacquelineS]

The hard to get aspect of ticket buying does make the whole thing a bit more alluring though don't you think?  And if you do get tickets you certainly have bragging rights and I don't blame anyone for it. I did not try for tickets this year but had I tried and lost I might not be so glib. Truth is, that there are not enough tickets to go around so people are going to lose out no matter how quick or slow the process is. But damn. Congrats to Glastonbury on selling out in just 36 minutes!

[eFestivals]

11 hours ago, Pinhead said:

Yeah but you're up all the time - see rents the s3 buckets for the brief duration of the sale then shuts them down?

it'll be cost effective because of that occasional use, but it still ain't cheap. 

[Keithy]

9 hours ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

Having to cough up a bit of dosh to enter the bloodbath would absolutely make the ‘bucket list’ bores think twice about going through the effort of trying for tickets on the off-chance they got them, and would also stop people waking up on the Sunday morning and thinking “fuck it, might as well”. 

This bucket list bashing is becoming quite mean spirited, self righteous and completely at odds with the inclusive atmosphere of Glastonbury.

Why are they bores? What’s wrong with waking up Sunday morning and thinking “fuck it”? What’s even wrong with having *something* you especially want to do one day (as I hate the bucket list term).

I’d much rather have people at Glastonbury who are seeing it for the first time, enthusiastic, overawed and discovering it rather than some entitled dick.

[Keithy]

9 hours ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

YES. This is such a good idea, as long as it was 100% refunded to unsuccessful people. Having to cough up a bit of dosh to enter the bloodbath would absolutely make the ‘bucket list’ bores think twice about going through the effort of trying for tickets on the off-chance they got them, and would also stop people waking up on the Sunday morning and thinking “fuck it, might as well”. Absolutely must be a total refund though, else it immediately becomes very very problematic.

I also have no idea why your pre deposit scheme would stop your ‘bucket listers’. If it’s one their list to do, they’ll pay the pre deposit like they have to pre register.

infact the system is against spur of Sunday morning people. You have to register in advance. So also having to pay a deposit in advance is no issue.

 

[RichardWaller]

Aye another one who thought this thread was gonna be about getting kicked off site rather than website...

I didn’t even get close to holding page this year, didn’t even get close last time I tried in 2016 either but sister sorted both out cos she’s good like that. Echoing everyone else, it is just the luck of the draw. I’m not that savvy with servers and shit but I can’t imagine See being willing to invest in a system that can accommodate the demand, doesn’t matter how many times it fucks up they'll get their booking fees no matter what. Surprised that isn’t higher now, too. Just gone on their site to check other booking fees, randomly picked Metallica, £14.45 booking fee on a £95 standing ticket... it must be the festival’s doing that the booking fee is only a fiver? Thought I it was down to the agents to decide what that was, probably be £30 if See has their way.

Soz, that was a tangent.

[Rose-Colored Boy]

28 minutes ago, Keithy said:

This bucket list bashing is becoming quite mean spirited, self righteous and completely at odds with the inclusive atmosphere of Glastonbury.

Why are they bores? What’s wrong with waking up Sunday morning and thinking “fuck it”? What’s even wrong with having *something* yu especially want to do one day (as I hate the bucket list term).

I’d much rather have people at Glastonbury who are seeing it for the first time, enthusiastic, overawed and discovering it rather than some entitled dick.

Yeah that was very nasty of me, I sincerely apologise. Genuinely enthusiastic people who are ready to love it are obviously more than welcome, and rightly so.

 

25 minutes ago, Keithy said:

I also have no idea why your pre deposit scheme would stop your ‘bucket listers’. If it’s one their list to do, they’ll pay the pre deposit like they have to pre register.

 

Obviously if people have their absolute hearts set on going they’d absolutely pay the deposit, I mean more people whose heart isn’t really in it - if you bring money into the equation people would almost certainly think more seriously about whether they really wanted to try for tickets, even if the cash was refundable. 

25 minutes ago, Keithy said:

 

infact the system is against spur of Sunday morning people. You have to register in advance. So also having to pay a deposit in advance is no issue.

 

But I mean like, if you’ve registered at any point in the recent past you don’t have to do anything to be eligible to just casually decide to roll up in any given year, so you can just wake up at 8:55 and be in exactly the same position as people who’ve spent weeks curating groups and working out tactics. Actively having to faff around paying the deposit in advance means you’d have to decide whether or not you actually wanted to go, and understand the gravitas of the situation just that little bit more.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Rose-Colored Boy

[Keithy]

2 minutes ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

But I mean like, if you’ve registered in the past you don’t have to do anything to be eligible to just casually decide to roll up, so you can just wake up at 8:55 and be in exactly the same position as people who’ve spent weeks curating groups and working out tactics. Actively having to faff around paying the deposit in advance means you’d have to decide whether or not you actually wanted to go, and understand the gravitas of the situation just that little bit more.

1. Apart from this year when there was very clear guidance to review your registration.

2. So? Nobody has a greater right to get a ticket than anyone else. 

3. But 'bucketlisters' have already decided they want to go. It's on their 'bucket list'. All your solution might stop are the the ones that (a) have registered, (b) then checked it's up to date, (c) not really thought about Glastonbury in any depth and then (d) woken up on Sunday morning and decided to try for a ticket. I think that lot are very few.

There's also an added cost to Glastonbury Festivals for your plan in that they will have potentially tens of thousands of deposits to refund given the numbers that try compare to tickets available. There is a banking cost for those refunds. People already lose £10 if they don't pay off the balance in April

Plus I'm not entirely sure you can make people pay a deposit for goods they do not have. You could call it a 'registration fee' but there are probably quite complex contract laws about charging people for fees and then refunding. Again it's also a cost to process.

Fundamentally though, you are still trying to put in place barriers to people wanting to try for a ticket which is completely counter to the inclusive, welcoming ethos of the festival. 

[Hotchilidog]

15 hours ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Of course it does, but then most people aren’t going to just stick to one device when they know everybody else will be using as many as possible. It’s a a self fulfilling prophecy, but as an individual if you just stick to one device you’ll still have all the problems of the extra traffic everyone else is creating and less chance yourself.

I’m not techie at all, but all the payment issues confuse me. In my non techie mind the way I see the system working is that you’ve got literally millions of people trying to get through on the see tickets link, which is why people get white screens etc. Nothing can be done about this as this is the first line of the process.

You've then got people refreshing the holding page (but nowhere near as many as are/were trying to access the see tickets link) And you can only get through to a booking page when one becomes free.

What I don’t get is I would’ve thought that there would only ever be enough slots opened up that the system could actually cope with, these people would be let through to another server or system to process their payment, this should then be unaffected by all the traffic on the holding page and trying to access the see tickets link.

I sort of think of it like having an angry mob knocking on my door, I only open the door and let in however many I can cope with at a time then shut it again, what happens in the house is not affected by the growing number of people outside banging on the door.

But obviously it can’t be as straightforward as that?

 

 

 

I always use one device, one browser, one tab and 13/14 aside this has worked for me. If you have each applicant submitting multiple requests it has to have an affect on the servers in general and on your own local connection I'd have thought. Or maybe not....

I cannot imagine anything crueller than being kicked off the payment page, my genuine sympathy to those who suffered this fate.

[gizmoman]

Seetickets system is imperfect so even getting to the payment page is no guarantee of a ticket, thats just the way it is. The problem of registrations being locked is worse IMO as there is nothing you can do for 10 mins.

From TOS.

"5. If the page ‘hangs’ and you can’t get any further, try pressing back once and then continue your booking from that point. If that doesn’t help, close your browser and start again. Please don’t continue to refresh the page more than 10 minutes after entering your details as your access to the page will have expired. You will need to close the browser and start again to gain fresh access to the booking page. "

If you're 20 mins into the sale and you get locked it's game over, no way will you get back in in time to book. There's a strong argument for having a second registration to use if you get locked out. Bit of a logistical nightmare if you're in a big group and aren't sure if tickets have actually been bought by someone else or the regs are just locked though!

[Rose-Colored Boy]

14 minutes ago, Keithy said:

1. Apart from this year when there was very clear guidance to review your registration.

Not the norm.

 

14 minutes ago, Keithy said:

 

2. So? Nobody has a greater right to get a ticket than anyone else.

I know, but it’d be nice if there could be some way of giving just the smallest leg up to the people who make the festival what it is. I’m not even talking about people like me here but people like Neil etc. If we’re saying that it doesn’t matter how high a percentage of attendees are regulars or people who are prepared to put a bit of effort into securing a golden ticket then you might as well just ballot it.

 

14 minutes ago, Keithy said:

 

3. But 'bucketlisters' have already decided they want to go. It's on their 'bucket list'. All your solution might stop are the the ones that (a) have registered, (b) then checked it's up to date, (c) not really thought about Glastonbury in any depth and then (d) woken up on Sunday morning and decided to try for a ticket. I think that lot are very few.

 

I don’t, but fair enough if you disagree.

 

14 minutes ago, Keithy said:

 

There's also an added cost to Glastonbury Festivals for your plan in that they will have potentially tens of thousands of deposits to refund given the numbers that try compare to tickets available. There is a banking cost for those refunds. People already lose £10 if they don't pay off the balance in April

Plus I'm not entirely sure you can make people pay a deposit for goods they do not have. You could call it a 'registration fee' but there are probably quite complex contract laws about charging people for fees and then refunding. Again it's also a cost to process.

Yes, I confess I hadn’t remembered that, and I obviously wouldn’t want the festival to lose any money (not least because that cost would inevitably be passed onto us in one way or another).

Edited October 11, 2018 by Rose-Colored Boy

[slash's hat]

23 minutes ago, Keithy said:

1. Apart from this year when there was very clear guidance to review your registration.

2. So? Nobody has a greater right to get a ticket than anyone else. 

3. But 'bucketlisters' have already decided they want to go. It's on their 'bucket list'. All your solution might stop are the the ones that (a) have registered, (b) then checked it's up to date, (c) not really thought about Glastonbury in any depth and then (d) woken up on Sunday morning and decided to try for a ticket. I think that lot are very few.

There's also an added cost to Glastonbury Festivals for your plan in that they will have potentially tens of thousands of deposits to refund given the numbers that try compare to tickets available. There is a banking cost for those refunds. People already lose £10 if they don't pay off the balance in April

Plus I'm not entirely sure you can make people pay a deposit for goods they do not have. You could call it a 'registration fee' but there are probably quite complex contract laws about charging people for fees and then refunding. Again it's also a cost to process.

Fundamentally though, you are still trying to put in place barriers to people wanting to try for a ticket which is completely counter to the inclusive, welcoming ethos of the festival. 

I agree, my friends say would love to go, but each year passes because can't be bothered/organised enough to even register, so I think registration process alone is a reasonable indicator of wanting to go. 

As you said before, if it's on a bucket list then they want to go, you don't shell out cash or put something on a bucket list unless you want it.

[gizmoman]

38 minutes ago, gizmoman said:

Seetickets system is imperfect so even getting to the payment page is no guarantee of a ticket, thats just the way it is. The problem of registrations being locked is worse IMO as there is nothing you can do for 10 mins.

From TOS.

"5. If the page ‘hangs’ and you can’t get any further, try pressing back once and then continue your booking from that point. If that doesn’t help, close your browser and start again. Please don’t continue to refresh the page more than 10 minutes after entering your details as your access to the page will have expired. You will need to close the browser and start again to gain fresh access to the booking page. "

If you're 20 mins into the sale and you get locked it's game over, no way will you get back in in time to book. There's a strong argument for having a second registration to use if you get locked out. Bit of a logistical nightmare if you're in a big group and aren't sure if tickets have actually been bought by someone else or the regs are just locked though!

Quoted wrong section!

6. If an attempt to book is already held against your registration number, or your 6 minutes on the booking page elapses, your registration number will be locked for up to 10 minutes whilst the transaction is attempted, but will be released if the transaction fails, to give you the chance to try again, if there are still tickets available.

[Garrett_Salas]

1 hour ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

Actively having to faff around paying the deposit in advance means you’d have to decide whether or not you actually wanted to go, and understand the gravitas of the situation just that little bit more.

Haha!

I think a simpler way to artificially reduce the numbers would be to reduce the registration window.

Serious question - for anyones first time getting tickets were they as 'on it' as they are now? Point is that most people catch the bug after they've been once, so I don't see any point in raising the barriers even more. 

[tumbles]

If see had a faultless system what would happen? The first 150'000 to hit refresh at 9am would be in to process tickets and the sale would be over in 5 minutes flat.   There is never going to be a perfect solution when demand outstrips supply by at least 5-10x

I do think having mulitple tabs on the same device may have had an issue this year. I had two open when I got in and noticed the second one was on the registration screen. I'd already processed my tickets and went to get a friends but when I hit next it went back to teh queue. Had the second page refreshed while I was doing the first I do wonder if I'd have booted out completely.

ISPs also get away blameless by many on here - part of the infrastructure you pass through to get to see is through them. It's no wonder I've had less issues when using our dedicated line in work - its got to factor a part sometimes. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by tumbles

[Rose-Colored Boy]

4 minutes ago, tumbles said:

If see had a faultless system what would happen? The first 150'000 to hit refresh at 9am would be in to process tickets and the sale would be over in 5 minutes flat.   

Like the ticket sale for literally any other gig in the world then. There is no way of ‘perfecting’ the current system, the only way of making it significantly better would be to change to a completely different way of doing it. And while it sells out every year and the chaos doesn’t generate them too much of a bad press, that’s not going to happen unfortunately. 

[Dangertappy]

Luckily someone else in the group got ours but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get passed the registration page without getting a time out page! Cleared the cache and everything but no joy 

[Havors]

20 hours ago, airwaves said:

Having had time to reflect on my own personal experience of 2019 Ticket Day - I was in South Africa on holiday trying by Samsung Tab 6 on hotel WiFi, got through to payment page twice but kicked out before payment processed, ended up with nothing; the 4 others in my group back in the UK between them never got past holding page - it is also clear from various posts on various threads (and FB and Twitter ) that many, many people had their hopes raised by getting to registration details pages and beyond, many, like me, all the way to 'buy tickets', only to get kicked out? 

So, what are the thoughts and learning points before April resale?

Was it our fault? Could WE have done something different to ensure not getting kicked out? Could our choice of payment card have made a difference? 

Was it SEE's fault? Was there a glitch in their programmes somewhere? Did they not put in enough capacity at critical parts of the chain? Should the 'time out' period have been greater than 6 minute given the volume of traffic? 

Was the 'fault' somewhere in the SEE to banks link?

If I hadn't got through at all, then ok - that's the luck of the draw so to say. But to have tickets in my hand,  sort off, only to have them snatched away really really pissed me off!

Some people handle the reg and payment pages badly. i.e. if it times out when you click continue... DO NOT REFRESH! just click back button and try again. There must be lots of people who sit there for ages doing nothing and lots who hit refresh and lose the slot. 

[Havors]

2 hours ago, tumbles said:

If see had a faultless system what would happen? The first 150'000 to hit refresh at 9am would be in to process tickets and the sale would be over in 5 minutes flat.   There is never going to be a perfect solution when demand outstrips supply by at least 5-10x

I do think having mulitple tabs on the same device may have had an issue this year. I had two open when I got in and noticed the second one was on the registration screen. I'd already processed my tickets and went to get a friends but when I hit next it went back to teh queue. Had the second page refreshed while I was doing the first I do wonder if I'd have booted out completely.

ISPs also get away blameless by many on here - part of the infrastructure you pass through to get to see is through them. It's no wonder I've had less issues when using our dedicated line in work - its got to factor a part sometimes. 

Not quite... there will be a limit on the amount of people on the booking page at anyone time... not 150k all at once. Otherwise they would sell out in 2 mins and they dont have the server capacity to deal with that.