Cc Website Being Updated

[ivan leslie]

See a note on the CC website that parts of the members section will be out of action from tomorrow evening for a couple of weeks or so. Can't say we haven't been warned. hope there aren't too many who will moan about them again

[Scales]

See a note on the CC website that parts of the members section will be out of action from tomorrow evening for a couple of weeks or so. Can't say we haven't been warned. hope there aren't too many who will moan about them again

 

Well, as part of the log in process the club have my e-mail address.

 

Like many others I don't check the C. C. website regularly for outages so I'd expect the courtesy of an e-mail if it's going to be down for 2 whole weeks.

 

Scales

[Bill Lord]

Well, as part of the log in process the club have my e-mail address.

 

Like many others I don't check the C. C. website regularly for outages so I'd expect the courtesy of an e-mail if it's going to be down for 2 whole weeks.

 

Scales

THis is what it says

 

Availability of Club Services – Important Information

We are now in the final preparation stages of upgrading The Club’s computer systems (as mentioned in December and March Club Magazines).

 

As we move from old systems and processes to new, we will need to withdraw certain services for a short time, firstly from the Club website and then later from our contact centre. For example:

 

Between Wednesday 18 - Sunday 22 March, UK Club Site bookings, amendments and cancellations will be affected

Between Friday 6 - Sunday 22 March, you will not be able to amend your membership details, renew membership or register as a website user via the Club website (NB registered members will still be able to login)

From Monday 16 March, until further notice you will not be able to place online orders for brochures and Club Shop items

The Club website will be 'closed' from the evening of Friday 20 March and is expected back up around noon Sunday 22 March

Please click here for full details of all planned changes

 

This area will be updated with the latest information about what is and isn’t available, times/dates and advice, so please come back regularly for updates as the information is subject to change rather than calling our contact centre.

 

Help us to help you

In the run up and once we 'go live', our staff will be wearing L-plates for a little while so if you do not urgently need to call, you may prefer to wait until early April - or use the website instead.

 

This will help us to keep to a minimum the amount of time you might need to wait before speaking to someone in our contact centre.

 

We are making every effort to minimise any disruption and keep things running as smoothly as possible - your patience and understanding will be very much appreciated.

[Scales]

I must admit I'm behind with reading the magazines too!

 

Scales

[Entwood]

Well, as part of the log in process the club have my e-mail address.

 

Like many others I don't check the C. C. website regularly for outages so I'd expect the courtesy of an e-mail if it's going to be down for 2 whole weeks.

 

Scales

 

So you don't use it . .. but expect to be told, personally, that some bits might not work ???

 

BTW . . there is a note about "Service Interruptions" right in the middle of the "home" page of the CC site . .in bright Orange. .... ... so you don't need to "check for outages"...

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2009 by Entwood

[ivan leslie]

Well, as part of the log in process the club have my e-mail address.

 

Like many others I don't check the C. C. website regularly for outages so I'd expect the courtesy of an e-mail if it's going to be down for 2 whole weeks.

 

Scales

as I said, its only a small part of the site that is down for 2 weeks and I suspect that if they did advise everyone personally, some might complain about them wasting time and money etc guess the CC can never win.

[thelonegroover]

Have to say, if our emplyees were without our computer system at work, for days on end, heads would roll, not least mine! The Caravan Club should have a develpment system and a redundant system ready, so its a simple switch over if a failure occurs.

[NeilD]

Have to say, if our emplyees were without our computer system at work, for days on end, heads would roll, not least mine! The Caravan Club should have a develpment system and a redundant system ready, so its a simple switch over if a failure occurs.

 

I agree.

 

I, like many systems developers, must envy the CC development team for being able to dismantle a live system during the introduction of a new one!!! No "normal" business could endure such a restriction in operations.

When I introduced a General Ledger system a few years ago both old and new systems had to run in parallel to prove the integrity of the new.

 

Neil.

[klyne]

I am sure the Caravan Club must have sought advice on the best way of completing this changeover. If I recall correctly the Club previously had two systems which did not talk to each other so perhaps there is an issue of running both (or three!) systems together. I am no IT expert but I have been an end user of system/s that have undergone major change. When systems are run in parallel we found that it either slowed one or both down to a snails pace which was both frustrating and compromised our ability to provide good customer service. One trusts that this change will be for the better in the long term so it might be best to put up with a little convenience now in order to have a better future.

 

David

[beejay]

Well, as part of the log in process the club has my e-mail address.

 

Like many others I don't check the C. C. website regularly for outages so I'd expect the courtesy of an e-mail if it's going to be down for 2 whole weeks.

 

Scales

 

Along with 350,000 others ?

Edited March 6, 2009 by beejay

[ian dunning]

Hi,

It's not going to be a life changing situation so I guess we should just get on with it after all I'm sure if we really wanted to use any of the missing services we could pick up the 'phone ,

Regards,

Ian.

[Artleknock]

Along with 350,000 others ?

 

Spammers have no problem with millions :wacko:

[RogerL]

I agree.

 

I, like many systems developers, must envy the CC development team for being able to dismantle a live system during the introduction of a new one!!! No "normal" business could endure such a restriction in operations.

When I introduced a General Ledger system a few years ago both old and new systems had to run in parallel to prove the integrity of the new.

 

Neil.

These are indeed the "normal" standards for IT system development - or at least they were last century when I was working!

 

The CC is a commercial organisation, charging commercial rates to customers and no doubt paying commercial rates to suppliers - so why aren't commercial standards being applied to this system development? Staff at East Grinstead, and sites, may have extra tasks to perform and I'd expect the IT staff are under extreme pressure but the customer shouldn't notice.

 

If CC was a members club, staffed by volunteers, I could understand the acceptance of this outage but that isn't the case so there's no excuse in my book.

 

Having kept in touch with a handful of IT professionals, I know that the technology has changed out of all recognition since my time - but overall standards of service haven't - so why is IT at East Grinstead letting the side down?

 

Does it actually cost anything to send 350,000 emails - if you already use email?

[Fab]

As long as they get it right in the end I really couldn't care less.

 

CC bashing seems to be a popular pastime these days.

[Martin63]

As long as they get it right in the end I really couldn't care less.

 

CC bashing seems to be a popular pastime these days.

 

Sure does. .......and I'm never sure why?

 

Seems to be a case of being damned whatever - as you say, as long as they get it right in the end, who cares?

[RogerL]

As long as they get it right in the end I really couldn't care less.

That's the spirit, keep them complacent !!

[Fab]

That's the spirit, keep them complacent !!

 

Not complacent, just believe in a little give and take . .. also just don't see the point in getting worked up about such a small issue.

[Martin63]

Not complacent, just believe in a little give and take . .. also just don't see the point in getting worked up about such a small issue.

 

Totally agree. I can't say that the issue of part of the CC website not being available, keeps me awake a night!

 

It's pretty small fry stuff, let's face it.

Edited March 7, 2009 by Martin63

[RogerL]

Why shouldn't CC customers expect normal commercial standards - and complain when it doesn't happen?

[Martin63]

Why shouldn't CC customers expect normal commercial standards - and complain when it doesn't happen?

 

If I paid £20 odd pound a MONTH rather than the £20 odd per year, I might feel that way, I guess!

 

But some like to complain full stop, it seems to me.

[klyne]

Why shouldn't CC customers expect normal commercial standards - and complain when it doesn't happen?

 

Roger

 

I know you are always saying 'its a commercial operation' but to most of us its a Club that by and large provides us with what we want. I tend to agree with Martin, its not something that keeps me awake at night. If you really have an issue with the way the Club does things you really need to express these views to the Club. As you seem so keen to complain about this have you actually done so?

 

David

[RogerL]

David - this level of disruption to customers/members (call us what you wish) is (or should be) unacceptable for professional system developers. It may be acceptable in other service industries, I wouldn't know.

 

What I find difficult to understand is that some members feel a lower standard is acceptable because CC is known as a club. CC prices are set comparable to competitive commercial organisations - in other words we don't get anything cheaper because it's a club. so why should we accept lower standards of service?

 

There's no point complaining to East Grinstead - at best they'll acknowledge receipt of the letter/email and then do nothing - but typically they don't bother even acknowledging - indeed why should they, the CC knows very well there are considerable numbers of members who accept lower standards just because it's a club.

[Martin63]

I think you are being quite harsh, Roger, in truth.

 

I do get somethings cheaper. My caravan insurance - considerably cheaper than I could get anywhere else I've tried - and I do the rounds when the renewal comes in, every year. I also benefitted from advice recently from the legal helpline, got cheaper recovery insurance than I could find elsewhere and when I go on holiday, I know that I can expect a decent pitch on a well run site.

 

The fact that part of the website is down, really is not a big issue to me. It happens to many commercial websites - my own Company included - from time to time. It's a fact of life.

[klyne]

David - this level of disruption to customers/members (call us what you wish) is (or should be) unacceptable for professional system developers. It may be acceptable in other service industries, I wouldn't know.

 

What I find difficult to understand is that some members feel a lower standard is acceptable because CC is known as a club. CC prices are set comparable to competitive commercial organisations - in other words we don't get anything cheaper because it's a club. so why should we accept lower standards of service?

 

There's no point complaining to East Grinstead - at best they'll acknowledge receipt of the letter/email and then do nothing - but typically they don't bother even acknowledging - indeed why should they, the CC knows very well there are considerable numbers of members who accept lower standards just because it's a club.

 

Roger

 

I suspect the truth is that the majority of members are totally unaffected by the small inconvenience of parts of the system being down to allow the introduction of an ungraded system. They don't see it as a lowering of standards, in fact many might see it as a positive and a price worth paying to get better services.

 

I am surprised at your rather defeatist attitude to communicating your views to the Club. In the last year I have contacted the Club on various issues about 5 or 6 times. On every ocassion I have had both an acknowlegement and a reply which has been as detailed as I require. If you have chosen not to contact the Club and make your views known how can you complain about the way they do things?

 

David

[chapmag]

I accept all the above comments about it being a club, being reasonably priced (if not downright cheap) and the fact that most people will and should put up with some level of inconvenience on occasions.

 

I worked in IT for nearly 35 years. .. on mission critical applications (Airport Systems) in the latter years.

 

The backup and restore capabilities, the need for parallel running applications during proving periods, the system testing, end user testing, acceptance testing and very importantly end user education/buy in were very, very important depending on circumstances.

 

I'm not sure what the CC pay for IT services. . I hope not a lot as they are not getting the best of service.

 

But that said do we need the best of service 24/7/365?

 

We recently heard of so much distress/unhappiness/indignation/vitriol/abuse of CC systems 'cos the computer system could not cope with a peak loading for one or two days!!!

 

If you want a system that has 100% availability, is capable of meeting maximum contiguous users at all times and has a full back up/continuity of service provision. ... then your membership fees will soar. .. 'cos that capability does not come cheap.

 

I accept the CC for what it is, a membership oriented service provider of a high standard (people moan about the CC, but how many other organisations meet the same standard???).

 

Be glad of what you have 'cos it would be a whole lot worse if the CC went the way of other institutions!!!

 

G.