|
Post by mark687 on Aug 14, 2024 14:10:06 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Ela on Aug 14, 2024 14:13:34 GMT
That link doesn’t work for me.
|
|
|
Post by randomcomments on Aug 14, 2024 14:14:01 GMT
And this time they emailed the full text of the announcement, instead of just a link to the website!
Edit: Full text below for those who can’t access the page on the site:
AN UPDATE AND AN APOLOGY Last week I wrote to you about all the changes we’ve been making at Big Finish. Over the past 18 months, we have overhauled our business-critical systems, to ensure we can continue to provide top quality audio dramas now and in the future.
Big Finish is a company of two halves; not only do we make exciting audio adventures to thrill and entertain you, but we are also responsible for selling and delivering them directly to you, the customer. To continue doing this, on a larger scale, requires essential upgrades.
So, here is what we did: 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.
To address some of the queries that this may raise, please let me reassure you that all historic purchase, order and release data from the previous website was backed up and the Big Finish team has also carefully recorded all purchases made through the new website since then.
All this information will be merged and made available, via the familiar interface of the previous website and app when this is restored.
There may be a brief outage while we migrate the date back to the previous website and app, to ensure everything is checked and double-checked before the website is brought back online.
You will be able to login to the “previous” website and app with the same password you used before.
All purchases made on the new website have been logged and will be honoured in your account when the previous site is reinstated. No additional changes will be made to the pricing of pre-orders, multi-buy discounts or postage; whatever you have paid for/downloaded remains yours.
Once all the above has taken place, 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.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Very best wishes
Jason Haigh-Ellery
|
|
|
Post by nardolespinoffwhen on Aug 14, 2024 14:14:16 GMT
I appreciate JHE's honesty in this message. I really do wish Big Finish the best because I really value their output.
Let's hope that when the changes do come again it runs much smoother.
|
|
|
Post by charlesuirdhein on Aug 14, 2024 14:15:51 GMT
I'm in relatively good position of being a BF fan for the last 20 years or so. So I've got a healthy set of purchases that are mostly there and I can relisten to/redownload them and so on. I for one am not letting a couple of weeks of cock up ruin my enjoyment of the majority, the vast majority of BF's output. So with fingers crossed I await the needed updates and fixes to the website and then on we go.
However I, and others with my history and sentiment, are not the issue here. Sure, I want the website to work NOW and to have my new releases available, but I can't in good conscience (like I've done in the past) recommend to any friends unaware of BF that they should check out the website for great Doctor Who audios (and others besides). This isn't a good look and I haven't seen a functional update to the website in over two weeks now. Still the same number of downloads (not the full amount purchased) and still in an order that makes no sense and very definitely isn't newest purchase to oldest.
|
|
|
Post by nottenst on Aug 14, 2024 14:19:16 GMT
Another good apology. Rolling back to the old website is definitely a decision that came hard, but should have come earlier. Get the new one working and tested before switching
|
|
|
Post by The Brigadier on Aug 14, 2024 14:22:41 GMT
While it is good that they have taken action to at least try to rectify some of the damage done to their reputation with the website migration, I for one will be screenshotting each and every order from the past ten years and double checking then triple checking the total number of downloads on my account the moment the temporary switchback happens. Once bitten and all that…
|
|
|
Post by shallacatop on Aug 14, 2024 14:35:01 GMT
To rollback the site and app over two weeks post-deployment is pretty unprecedented. You either do it within hours or leave as-is with a timeline of resolution. That suggests to me that either the fixes will take quite some time or they’ve had a lot of feedback that even with the fixes in place, accessibility of the site is far below standard and I can only assume they’ve taken an absolute dive in sales and are at panic stations.
Will be interesting to see if the rollback goes without issue and the pre and post deployment states are merged without issue.
|
|
|
Post by sherlock on Aug 14, 2024 14:38:28 GMT
Welp that’s a big retreat and probably much easier said than done. Degeneration is all the rage these days.
I am grateful for their clearly apology though. Learn lessons, and test the customer end properly next time round.
|
|
|
Post by theillusiveman on Aug 14, 2024 14:42:17 GMT
Great news to have the old website back
Secondly for those who changed their passwords on the new website Would that effect the log in for the new website or can you use the old password?
|
|
|
Post by kipperserver on Aug 14, 2024 14:45:02 GMT
Interesting that there's nothing in that about where the fault lies. But reading between the lines the new app/website teams have been sacked off.
|
|
|
Post by sherlock on Aug 14, 2024 14:51:04 GMT
To rollback the site and app over two weeks post-deployment is pretty unprecedented. You either do it within hours or leave as-is with a timeline of resolution. That suggests to me that either the fixes will take quite some time or they’ve had a lot of feedback that even with the fixes in place, accessibility of the site is far below standard and I can only assume they’ve taken an absolute dive in sales and are at panic stations. Will be interesting to see if the rollback goes without issue and the pre and post deployment states are merged without issue. Given the silence on social media last three days I assume decision was made Monday and last two days has been figuring the how the hell to actually do it. They never bothered to remove the old app from the App Store (on Apple at least) so that’s one problem they haven’t got to worry about.
|
|
|
Post by coreywt on Aug 14, 2024 14:52:23 GMT
When the old app comes back I think I'll download a years' worth of listening so I can avoid the new app/site as long as possible. I saw how bad it was, I tried to download something I owned on the new app once and couldn't find it. This has gotta be BF's biggest cluster***
|
|
|
Post by Ela on Aug 14, 2024 14:54:40 GMT
While it is good that they have taken action to at least try to rectify some of the damage done to their reputation with the website migration, I for one will be screenshotting each and every order from the past ten years and double checking then triple checking the total number of downloads on my account the moment the temporary switchback happens. Once bitten and all that… Same, at least for ones I haven’t downloaded yet. I printed off a list of my orders before the launch of the new site, but I’ll be interested to see what the old site thinks I have. I think, also, that now is a good time for me to send my email to BF regarding features I have been missing on the new site. Many of them have been mentioned already by others but a little reinforcement won’t hurt.
|
|
|
Post by Star Platinum on Aug 14, 2024 15:00:28 GMT
I think the rollback is the right call, hopefully it means they can get new releases flowing again.
I would take this moment to remind everyone to take advantage of one of the few benefits of the new website. The unrestricted access to subscriber bonuses.
I would recommend anyone that owns Army of Death or Demons of Red Lodge outside of a subscription to download those for access to The Five Companions and The Four Doctors respectively. who knows when those two stories will again be available for nonsubscribers.
|
|
|
Post by number13 on Aug 14, 2024 15:05:42 GMT
Change (back), my dear, and it seems not a moment too soon!
Well done BF for doing the sensible thing. I'd started to think a rollback wasn't possible for some reason because it seemed the safe and obvious option they hadn't taken. But now they have (or will soon) and hopefully calm will be restored.
And when we - eventually - see the new website again, it will have grown up and have all the capabilities it should have had the first time round.
|
|
|
Post by sherlock on Aug 14, 2024 15:05:46 GMT
I think the rollback is the right call, hopefully it means they can get new releases flowing again. I would take this moment to remind everyone to take advantage of one of the few benefits of the new website. The unrestricted access to subscriber bonuses. I would recommend anyone that owns Army of Death or Demons of Red Lodge outside of a subscription to download those for access to The Five Companions and The Four Doctors respectively. who knows when those two stories will again be available for nonsubscribers. We never did get to the bottom of whether that was intentional or not. But sorts my listening for tonight I suppose.
|
|
|
Post by number13 on Aug 14, 2024 15:11:15 GMT
I think the rollback is the right call, hopefully it means they can get new releases flowing again. I would take this moment to remind everyone to take advantage of one of the few benefits of the new website. The unrestricted access to subscriber bonuses. I would recommend anyone that owns Army of Death or Demons of Red Lodge outside of a subscription to download those for access to The Five Companions and The Four Doctors respectively. who knows when those two stories will again be available for nonsubscribers. We never did get to the bottom of whether that was intentional or not. But sorts my listening for tonight I suppose. I'm guessing it's simply a byproduct of the decision to put everything connected with each release into one zip file id'd by (as Ela pointed out) ISBN. And at this point in time they aren't bothered about what people may or may not have been entitled to get with MR release X a long time ago, so long as everyone who got access to everything can still do so.
So, scripts, extended extras, subSTs, bonus CDs, stuff it all in and zip it up!
|
|
|
Post by timleschild on Aug 14, 2024 15:23:13 GMT
And this time they emailed the full text of the announcement, instead of just a link to the website! I haven't received any email? Has anyone else had the latest JHE response land in their inbox?
|
|
|
Post by sherlock on Aug 14, 2024 15:25:03 GMT
And this time they emailed the full text of the announcement, instead of just a link to the website! I haven't received any email? Has anyone else had the latest JHE response land in their inbox? Arrived for me.
|
|