GEN CON Registration

[CarlZog]

However, I just saw this on the registration page:

We are aware that there is an error within the system. We are fixing the code. No one is getting hotels at this point so please be patient while this error is fixed. Thank You!

:\

It looks like a pretty silly screwup. I put a badge in my shopping cart, but the site wouldn't let me check out, because the 2005 badge was listed in the system as a 2004 "event". It kept telling me I had an item from an old con in my cart and to remove it before I checked out.

I tried to redo it, but by then ( about 12: 20 pst) the site was crashing.

Whether their server would have handled the spike in traffic without the bug is up for debate, however pointless the debate might be.

Carl

 

[jmsetzer]

"Please be patient?" Three years is pretty patient.

It wouldn't be so bad if the GEN CON IT guy hadn't been on the forums in the previous weeks INSISTING that they had the probelms licked. He even was pretty rude to the people who were expressing concern over reg problems in the past, like, "Back off man, I'm a professional."

So much for that.

 

[blindrage]

I'm on the phone right now getting my hotel. I'm not screwed out of a room on Wed. Night for the third year in a row. And I can wait till Friday or Saturday to get my badge.\


edit: should got my room in Jan. Nothing dowtown right now. They got everything tied up or charging over $250 a night for a room. GRRR!!!

 

[jmsetzer]

BTW, I'd post this to the GEN CON forums...

But they are down.

And the IT guy INSISTED that the problem had nothing to do with bandwidth... except for all the "server busy" errors we're getting. And honestly, I don't care why it doesn't work. I care that it doesn't work after promises and more promises.

Simply pathetic.

Yes, I'm being harsh. But I was patient the first two times. Third time's the charm for me to get mad.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

What's the benefit of getting a hotel off-site? Cost?

Cost is probably about the same, or maybe a little cheaper. The biggest benefit to me is knowing that if for some reason I need to cancel or modify my reservation, I'm not going to get slapped with a $50 "convienience" fee that the booking system slaps you with for cancellations. By booking directly with the hotel, you can cancel up until 24 hours (or in some cases, 6pm day of) without any fees.

Plus, I like having the actual confirmation from the hotel now, instead of 2 weeks before the con.

 

[herald]

The problem they are having is that the store is screwed. I know this for a fact because once I chose my ticket and checked my shopping cart, and tried to check out. It said I had things from last yerar in there and would have to remove them. Sure enough, I had 2004 gencon tickets. I removed them and tried to go back, but then the whole system was fubar.


I have spoken to customer service about this. FOr the life of me, couln't some one done a dry run of this just to be on the safe side?

 

[francisca]

Cost is probably about the same, or maybe a little cheaper. The biggest benefit to me is knowing that if for some reason I need to cancel or modify my reservation, I'm not going to get slapped with a $50 "convienience" fee that the booking system slaps you with for cancellations. By booking directly with the hotel, you can cancel up until 24 hours (or in some cases, 6pm day of) without any fees.

Plus, I like having the actual confirmation from the hotel now, instead of 2 weeks before the con.

Not to mention the lack of anxiety concerning housing arrangements the day registration opens.

 

[Dirt]

Yeah, I posted earlier on the GenCon forums regarding last years problems and what they intended on doing (because I knew that it wouldn't be taken care of). CJ (their resident tech guy) didn't respond favorably....so I let it drop (knowing that there would be problems again, but holding on to the slim hope that we would see SOME resolution).

I'm pretty tired of all the problems.

 

[freebfrost]

I have spoken to customer service about this. FOr the life of me, couln't some one done a dry run of this just to be on the safe side?

I'm a testing manager for software applications for a large bank, and I cannot see how they could have passed this through any levels of testing.

It's just absurd.

 

[The_Universe]

I already have a reservation at the Westin due to prior arrangements for the whole Con - but I was hoping to hop on and get a badge to check my deal against the average Gen Con rate - too bad I can't even *sign on* to start looking.

Highly annoying.

This problem surfaces 2x per year (badge and event registration) and they're *never* prepared - absolutely ridiculous. How much would it cost to rent some server space for 4 total weeks a year (2 weeks for badges, 2 weeks for events) to handle the flood traffic?

Ugh.