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What is it with GW and their complete incompetence when it comes to digital matters? They finally make an app, which is basically useless and don't get updated for two weeks after a new iOS release (while most other companies fix theirs in one or two days).

Their web site crashes on every pre-order day. It crashed on the release of 9th, it crashed again today with the release of the new codexes and is still down. Maybe they should feed the hamsters running their servers once in a while or fire their entire IT department.

Is it going to be like this on every codex release?

I was logged in and made an order today, but when i was routed back from paypal, the GW site crashed. There is nothing in my order history when i DO get into their site in between the "Site down for maintenance" messages. However OF COURSE they have charged me.

I would recommend a new hobby.

Its not only 2 weeks after the iOS release, the beta for the new version was running for months.

I payed for 1 month for the app back then when they promised you will get 1 month for free. Well, i basically could not use the app, did not get the free month and payed more for it because i bought it over the iOS appstore (49 ct more compared to buying directly from gw).

Also it really seems they got rid of all digital codices. Thanks for forcing me to buy books again -.-

Overall their digital presence looks really bad. Even more if you compare it with other services like battlescribe, wahapedia.ru or the ITC battles app...

feelsbadman

(shrugs) As of 6:20am the US site is running.....

Maybe avoid day 1 releases?

Haha, I bought the Necrons codex plus the datacards (both EN) from Fantasywelt a few hours ago.

Welcome - you're new to the internet I see.

Major release events for any online retailer can run a high chance of crashing websites because they get a vast surge of customers, way above their normal server capacity. This is very hard for any retailer to predict and prepare for since on the one hand they need the site running smooth; but on the other they can't just add more servers to a global network. It's not simple nor cheap so they have to work within what they have sometimes.


Id' remind you that when Indomitus went for sale websites all over the net were crashing; smaller store owner were down as was GW itself having hiccups and slowdown. Again it was a freak surge in customers that brought things to a crawl.



You see the very same thing for computergames; when any major MMO type game launches it will inevitably have a very rough first week or so with server lag; disconnections and overwhelmed systems. Again its a vast surge all at once.



In the end only the GW site was down and only for a short window. You could easily get most of the content from other sites. The only limited content is the "buy it all with a bit of art" deal and the limited edition codex - which I'd note are nice, but in the end are just a silghtly modified front cover - the contents are identical to regular codex.

 Overread wrote:
Welcome - you're new to the internet I see.

Major release events for any online retailer can run a high chance of crashing websites because they get a vast surge of customers, way above their normal server capacity. This is very hard for any retailer to predict and prepare for since on the one hand they need the site running smooth; but on the other they can't just add more servers to a global network. It's not simple nor cheap so they have to work within what they have sometimes.


Id' remind you that when Indomitus went for sale websites all over the net were crashing; smaller store owner were down as was GW itself having hiccups and slowdown. Again it was a freak surge in customers that brought things to a crawl.



You see the very same thing for computergames; when any major MMO type game launches it will inevitably have a very rough first week or so with server lag; disconnections and overwhelmed systems. Again its a vast surge all at once.



In the end only the GW site was down and only for a short window. You could easily get most of the content from other sites. The only limited content is the "buy it all with a bit of art" deal and the limited edition codex - which I'd note are nice, but in the end are just a silghtly modified front cover - the contents are identical to regular codex.

lol the excuse used by all cheap companies. Is this the way it's going to be going forward then? Every codex pre-order day, the site goes down? Also, since they PREFER people buying from their web site instead of retailers, what with vouchers and extra stuff you can only get from their webstore, maybe they should get their gak together? I really love not knowing if my order has gone thru or not, funny how the "take money from customer" part of the IT-systems never fail however.

Careful, I think there's a storm brewing in this teacup.

 Overread wrote:
Major release events for any online retailer can run a high chance of crashing websites because they get a vast surge of customers, way above their normal server capacity. This is very hard for any retailer to predict and prepare for since on the one hand they need the site running smooth; but on the other they can't just add more servers to a global network. It's not simple nor cheap so they have to work within what they have sometimes.
Id' remind you that when Indomitus went for sale websites all over the net were crashing; smaller store owner were down as was GW itself having hiccups and slowdown. Again it was a freak surge in customers that brought things to a crawl.
You see the very same thing for computergames; when any major MMO type game launches it will inevitably have a very rough first week or so with server lag; disconnections and overwhelmed systems. Again its a vast surge all at once.

The trouble is... this argument used to hold more water back when it was unavoidable. I can forgive things like MMO launches from anything up to a few years back (let's say 2015) but since then - multiple server services have popped up to address day-1 spikes. It has a proper term, but for now I'm going to sum it up as "dynamic hosting" - you have a third party host your sites (which I'm sure GW already does anyway), and as well as some dedicated servers that that customer "keeps", that third party has a number of spare servers available too - to spin up for whatever customers have launches coming up. Once the spike is over, the servers get wiped so they can be prepped again ready for the next customer that needs it.

More recent MMOs use these services to great effect, and also many other sites that have release spikes (ticket resellers are the first example that spring to mind). I can understand small stores not being willing to set this up, but a company of GW's size should really be doing this by now. It's not even as though cost is an issue - because you only pay for the servers you're actually using, meaning it's a little extra temporary cost, that the spike in sales you need it for will more than cover anyway.

I suspect the real problem is one that affects many non-IT companies - budget. Thanks to how accounting works, profit never gets attributed to IT investment - the bean counters therefore see the entire IT expense as a "necessary evil" that should be cut back as much as possible, not realising that investing in it instead will ultimately bring in more profit.

"Their web site crashes on every pre-order day"

EVERY pre order? first time I've known it, and it's back AND nothing is sold out.

Chill your beans...

The real issue is that pre-orders crashing GW is rare. It happens perhaps once when there's a new edition of a major game (40K/AoS and honestly 2.0 likely wasn't anywhere near as big as Indomitus) and when there's a major Marine release since Marines make up a very large segment of the player base.

Otherwise it doesn't crash that often due to overload.


Plus there are big chunks of time between those releases where the market GW sells to makes big shifts in numbers. Plus don't forget with new editions and new rule books you get a big wildcard boost of sales from old-gamers coming back who might not be buying many models all the time. So you get a big customer spike that you can't easily guess how big it will be.


So yep I can accept GW getting caught short once or twice every few years

 Overread wrote:
Welcome - you're new to the internet I see.

(...)

You see the very same thing for computergames; when any major MMO type game launches it will inevitably have a very rough first week or so with server lag; disconnections and overwhelmed systems. Again its a vast surge all at once.

I'm not sharing in OP's overreaction, but I can't remember the last time I've had billing issues with a major videogame due to traffic. The third-party merchants used for order processing are not nearly as vulnerable as front-end client sites. Getting billed for an order that fails to go through is absolutely not the norm; I don't think I've experienced that in the last decade.

It might be an overreaction but what really upsets me is the "credit card charged, but no order registered" issue. Say that this had been a very limited item, or expensive. What should i do to make sure i get it? Place another order after a few hours when the site might have dragged itself up from the floor? It would probably be out of stock? and if it did exist i would be charged again, maybe i wouldnt have money to pay twice for the same item. GW needs to fix their damned servers, end of discussion.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Overread wrote:
The real issue is that pre-orders crashing GW is rare. It happens perhaps once when there's a new edition of a major game (40K/AoS and honestly 2.0 likely wasn't anywhere near as big as Indomitus) and when there's a major Marine release since Marines make up a very large segment of the player base.

Otherwise it doesn't crash that often due to overload.


Plus there are big chunks of time between those releases where the market GW sells to makes big shifts in numbers. Plus don't forget with new editions and new rule books you get a big wildcard boost of sales from old-gamers coming back who might not be buying many models all the time. So you get a big customer spike that you can't easily guess how big it will be.


So yep I can accept GW getting caught short once or twice every few years

It depends on what you define as rare, two out of three times I've tried to order in the last 2 months, the site has crashed. But what you are saying is as long as there isnt a big release or something new and popular released, everything is fine ^^. Their servers are only configured to handle an average day load. Cheap for them, bad experience for the customers. I guess we know what their priority is.

Also why do they insist on releasing stuff on the weekends, when their support is unavailable.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh great, I now see some of the items i tried to order and got charged for are "no longer available online". Just fething great.

Totto wrote:
Also why do they insist on releasing stuff on the weekends, when their support is unavailable.

...do we know this for certain? There's got to be some kind of on-call support, at the very least... and given how likely it is that they're using a third party for hosting, that third party is going to have engineers available on split shifts to cover support 24/7.

OP, you won’t have been “charged”. An authorisation was placed on your payment method by PayPal, but GW won’t have the money if an order didn’t go through and it will reverse off in due course, but that reversal timeline is set by bank/PayPal rather than GW. It’s a tedious thing where PayPal doesn’t reverse that pending authorisation for days. It’s sucks the site crashed and you didn’t get your order, but as someone who works in CS thought you should know this. Get calls about it all the time and might save you a rant at a GW staffer who literally can’t do anything.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Super Ready wrote:

Totto wrote:
Also why do they insist on releasing stuff on the weekends, when their support is unavailable.

...do we know this for certain? There's got to be some kind of on-call support, at the very least... and given how likely it is that they're using a third party for hosting, that third party is going to have engineers available on split shifts to cover support 24/7.

A company I used to work for was dim like this too. Office staffed all week. Script set to run to launch an offer when no one was in. If it failed, Directors and high-ups started ringing people at home to come in and sort the mess. Every damn time. So stupid.

Oh, I'll accept that it's possible - it just seems unlikely in a company that's happy to bring in its design team to host Saturday previews live over webcam.

Totto wrote:


lol the excuse used by all cheap companies. Is this the way it's going to be going forward then? Every codex pre-order day, the site goes down? Also, since they PREFER people buying from their web site instead of retailers, what with vouchers and extra stuff you can only get from their webstore, maybe they should get their gak together? I really love not knowing if my order has gone thru or not, funny how the "take money from customer" part of the IT-systems never fail however.

You don't staff (or in this case run servers) to the peak. The cost would be absurd and wasteful for the scant hour or so where you're slightly inconvenienced. Load balancers help, but they aren't perfect.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Super Ready wrote:
Oh, I'll accept that it's possible - it just seems unlikely in a company that's happy to bring in its design team to host Saturday previews live over webcam.

Basic support. The low-tier guys are probably there. The "gak hitting the fan" tier are at home and have to be called in.

Totto wrote:
What is it with GW and their complete incompetence when it comes to digital matters? They finally make an app, which is basically useless and don't get updated for two weeks after a new iOS release (while most other companies fix theirs in one or two days).

Their web site crashes on every pre-order day. It crashed on the release of 9th, it crashed again today with the release of the new codexes and is still down. Maybe they should feed the hamsters running their servers once in a while or fire their entire IT department.

Is it going to be like this on every codex release?

I was logged in and made an order today, but when i was routed back from paypal, the GW site crashed. There is nothing in my order history when i DO get into their site in between the "Site down for maintenance" messages. However OF COURSE they have charged me.

Simple underfunding. If you want your website to take more traffic you have to pay for more capacity.

This kids is what happens when you spend £4 million on a website and have your (ex) CEO's wife head the design of it.

But no, let's keep making excuses...

 Grimtuff wrote:
This kids is what happens when you spend £4 million on a website and have your (ex) CEO's wife head the design of it.

But no, let's keep making excuses...

See I've heard some say that GW got ripped off by millions for the website; and others state that it was actually way under normal rates when factoring in the stock control and warehousing elements that were bundled along with the website revamp.

 Overread wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
This kids is what happens when you spend £4 million on a website and have your (ex) CEO's wife head the design of it.

But no, let's keep making excuses...

See I've heard some say that GW got ripped off by millions for the website; and others state that it was actually way under normal rates when factoring in the stock control and warehousing elements that were bundled along with the website revamp.

As usual randos on the internet have no idea what is involved in making a modern website. You don't just slap wordpress on a host and call it good.

 Daedalus81 wrote:

 Overread wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
This kids is what happens when you spend £4 million on a website and have your (ex) CEO's wife head the design of it.

But no, let's keep making excuses...

See I've heard some say that GW got ripped off by millions for the website; and others state that it was actually way under normal rates when factoring in the stock control and warehousing elements that were bundled along with the website revamp.

As usual randos on the internet have no idea what is involved in making a modern website. You don't just slap wordpress on a host and call it good.

And neither does Tom Kirby's wife, evidently...

 Grimtuff wrote:


And neither does Tom Kirby's wife, evidently...

lol

When I started researching companies for a website my CEO had a sister who was a director at a design firm. We included them in our requests for quotes. Theirs came in higher, but price wasn't as much of a consideration as was the experience in the particular niche we occupy.

So, you're happy to assume the contract was handed over without consideration and that when the website goes down once in a blue moon it proves that its a bad website. Good on you.

Have you tried placing an order online?

Been charged, but can’t seem to find an order confirmation?

Why not try getting in touch with the company directly?

Just call them on uk.custserv@gwplc.com and see if, unlike a random Forum, they might be able to help!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


Have you tried placing an order online?

Been charged, but can’t seem to find an order confirmation?

Why not try getting in touch with the company directly?

Just call them on uk.custserv@gwplc.com and see if, unlike a random Forum, they might be able to help!

 Super Ready wrote:

Totto wrote:
Also why do they insist on releasing stuff on the weekends, when their support is unavailable.

...do we know this for certain? There's got to be some kind of on-call support, at the very least... and given how likely it is that they're using a third party for hosting, that third party is going to have engineers available on split shifts to cover support 24/7.

Customer support does work weekends, but most of them are still working from home due to the virus and their phone diversions aren't great - so keep trying or send an email. GW stores have emergency contact (and escalation) numbers if it was an in-store order.

 Daedalus81 wrote:

Totto wrote:


lol the excuse used by all cheap companies. Is this the way it's going to be going forward then? Every codex pre-order day, the site goes down? Also, since they PREFER people buying from their web site instead of retailers, what with vouchers and extra stuff you can only get from their webstore, maybe they should get their gak together? I really love not knowing if my order has gone thru or not, funny how the "take money from customer" part of the IT-systems never fail however.

You don't staff (or in this case run servers) to the peak. The cost would be absurd and wasteful for the scant hour or so where you're slightly inconvenienced. Load balancers help, but they aren't perfect.

It's also a matter of money. You can just buy resources to catch such large peaks, but they cost money. A lot of money. For most companies having their website go down for a few minutes until the system realizes that it has to scale or kill dead containers is usually magnitudes cheaper than spending money on those resources. Since they are apparently selling out their product despite going down, there would be no return of investment for fixing the issue unless they are angering a high number of customers.
Scaling is also something that needs to be built into the software and infrastructure, and the ability to rapidly scale from very little traffic on average to extremely high numbers of requests on big releases is not trivial and therefore expensive as well as you need to pay time and expertise in these areas. It's also extremely hard to integrate into existing software.

Considering how their webstore is extremely likely to be running on Azure, if the store is even remotely worth its money there should be no need for any IT guys to be woken up on weekends. They are likely to have contractors who do first and second level support for them. These guys are usually not located in places where working on weekends or at night is a factor. They get payed for every problem they solve, and the store going down under load is just one of them.

Fun fact on the "take money" part of the systems - these are usually not made by the store owners themselves, but provided as a service by other companies. No one would pay/use these services if they were unreliable, so they have a much higher interest in not having any system failures, so they invest into a more robust infrastructure. Today software development is all about needs vs costs, not about creating perfect software.

So I mailed their support at uk.custserv@gwplc.com on Saturday night, I also posted a response about my isssue on their facebook post regarding their "nurglings in the machinery eliminated, go ahead and order again" and on their Twitter tweet about it.

Still no response from them. What I did realise however is that there were quite a few people who had the same problem, most have not gotten any response from GW, except for one guy who got a: "You need to re-order, the money for your failed order will be refunded within 7-10 days".

And no mention of any compensation.

A few people had even gone all out on the necron overlords collection etc and gotten charged the $450 for it. It is also now out of stock so they can't actually order it anymore.

I don't know about you guys but I really don't think this is ok.

As an apology, they'll probably offer you a 3 quid discount on your next 157 quid of purchases, if you buy it within the next 7 hours and 31 minutes from receiving the email.