The company handling the online tickets sales for Glastonbury 2004 claims that despite being bombarded by an unprecedented two million users on Thursday night, the site is still functioning -- albeit slowly.
Reports circulating around the Web claiming that the site had melted due to record demand were denied by a spokesperson for Aloud.com, owned by Emap Performance Interactive Solutions, who said that the site was still functioning and tickets were still being sold.
"Some people are getting through. What can I say, it's a phenomenon. It's unbelievable to think we had two million people at one time hitting the site last night. But tickets are being sold; it's simply that supply can't match demand," she said.
But despite Aloud's assurances, would-be festival goers have been left frustrated and disappointed. "Last night I thought I would order mine on the Net, as you do when you work in IT. The stipulation was that the site would not be open until 20:00 but you could go in and fill out your details on the booking form and then submit them when the time had come. At 20:03 the Web server had a total meltdown and hasn't been seen since. I honestly don't think anyone has got any tickets from it. Or if they did, they were bloody lucky," said Nic Saint, IT Officer, The Wessex Reserve Forces and Cadets Association, Somerset.
About 80,000, or 80 percent, of the total 104,000 tickets allocated for this year's festival are expected to be sold online this year. At the time of writing, despite some reports that the festival has sold out, there are still an estimated 30,000 tickets left, according to Aloud.com.
Aloud claims that extra "bandwidth and capacity" were added to its infrastructure in preparation for the event but that the traffic levels were completely unexpected. "It's gone crazy. We did build in extra capacity, but did we expect two million people to hit the site? Who would have thought of that? How much capacity can we have?" the spokeswoman said.
Aloud claims that the whole process has been slowed by the new security measures introduced this year to avoid ticket touting. Tickets can only be bought using debit cards, and names and addresses must be supplied, which slows down the whole process significantly. The spokesperson said that despite clear instructions on the site, some people had still been "trying to jam their credit card numbers" into the site -- slowing processing still further.
According to the Aloud spokesperson, the show's organiser, Michael Eavis, was "extremely annoyed" after some tickets were sold on eBay for up to £800 last year and the change to the ticketing sales system was designed to prevent similar action this year.
The spokesperson put this year's unprecedented traffic levels down to people realising that they would be unable to jump the fences -- a traditional route into the alternative festival -- and opting for buying a ticket instead.
Click here to read Rupert Goodwins' "Crashing out at Glastonbury".
Talkback
I've trying to use the site on and off since 8pm yesterday... and it hasn't handled things well at all.
I've got through with a completed form a few times only to be bounced back with messages telling me there weren't enough tickets to meet my request (what, not two tickets spare?) or that there was a general, unspecified error with my application although what it was I had no way of checking.
All in all a very frustrating and badly organised time!
re: your article on Glastonbury, and the facetious response from the organisers:
'She said: "The phone lines are working really well. Keep trying. We’ve sold 60,000. They’re going at a rate of about 100 per minute. But please keep trying. Nothing has crashed. Don’t worry. There’s nothing that’s not working and everything’s running well."'
The website is extremely poorly designed - understandably the site was busy so some delays are expected. But even once you got through to the site there was no guarantee you would be able to purchase tickets.
I tried constantly throughout Thursday night go log onto the site, and entered my debit card details, name, address, etc about 50 times. In nearly all cases, the Submit button caused the site to crash, erasing all the information I had entered.
Occasionally I was told "there is a problem with some of the information you entered" but was not given a reason. At other times, using the exact same information, I was told "there was a problem with your card number".
I finally got through - only to be told I was successful and to await an email confirming this. I am still waiting 6 hours later, and have not been given a confirmation number or any guarantee the tickets were really purchased.
The site needs to restrict the number of users who are able to reach the secure page, then once they have entered their details they should be guaranteed access to the next stage. A confirmation number should be given for a successful transaction - just like every other e-commerce site in the universe.
Re: the debit cards only debacle, and the assertion that "there are benefits for everyone. This measure has allowed the Festival to cut the booking fee charged from £5 to £3 per ticket"
I would gladly pay £2 more as a booking fee to save this hassle - at least give us the choice.
It's My last year in the U.K .... :-( I have to get a ticket! Been up all night trying, now falling asleep at work after 2hrs sleep... AND STILL TRYING!!! Why oh Why !!!
I managed to purchase tickets this morning on behalf of my son.On the booking site, at the bottom when you go to submit the order nothing happens, it doesnt say order received/confirmed, but I received 3 emails telling me I had tickets.It looks like I have 6 tickets as they all have different reference numbers, I thought this system was foolproof and only 2 tickets per debit card were allowed
If anyone else can get through and book two tickets (one for me and one for my sister) I will give them the cost of the tickets plus £100 for themselves and £100 to the charity of their choice (must be a UK registered charity).
Call me on 0118 9267181 for my details. I have been trying for 16 hours and 23 minutes with a three hour sleep break and need to go to work now.
just got a ticket been up for 15 hours now but it was worth it!
KEEP TRYING - i got through on the international line and so did my mate.
DREADFUL, 14HRS OF PHONIN AND BEIN ON THE WEBSITE WHY WAS THERE NO QUEUES
SYSTEM
Having also been one of the 2 million trying, I have had various levels of success in being able to make an online booking.
It is clear to me, in a very frustrated way, that the web site has been very badly designed. Adding more power isn't ever the solution.
FAO Simon, have you got an email address?
May be able to help "for free"
Well the year I finally decide to go and I have no chance of getting a ticket. It is damn obvious from the demand that something needs to be done.
Perhaps a lottery system - at least people would have a chance.
PS - I am going anyway - They can arrest me as I go over the fence. I will happily pay them -
Very upset
Sounds suspicious Simon
this method seems to work quite well:
* sod the website
* get as many colleagues as possible (who are in range, but do not want to go) to keep phoning as often as possible, offering copious amounts of booze/I.T favours etc to whoever gets through..
Nothing suspicious, just don't want to see people ripping themselves off. Just had a little tip to give!
At no cost!
Having also been one of the 2 million trying, I have had various levels of success in being able to make an online booking.
It is clear to me, in a very frustrated way, that the web site has been very badly designed. Adding more power isn't ever the solution.
My email address is simon.painter@empoweredlearning.co.uk
All help gratefully accepted.
Just an update from my Comments in the article. We still haven't got tickets - none of our mates have got tickets. I live in Somerset 15 miles from the site and all the local radio stations are saying that the locals can't get tickets. This is an absolute disgrace and shambles.
The one year I decide to go it comes down to this. Aloud.com I hope you learn from this but I doudt if you will, you'll just come up with another patronising excuse.
Lynne-- If you have 6 tickets then we will buy excess off you because we have been trying since 8pm last night and still can't get through.. Pleas do get back and let me know.. -owen
Anonymous-- Do you have any tips to help me purchase a ticket??
Its got to be the most poorly run fiasco i've seen, how could they not expect the amount of hits that they where going to get?? The fence was up last year too, so this seems like a very silly comment to make. They where not ready for it and should have not been employeed to sell tickets for this festival. There seemed to be nowhere to go as soon as the server had gone down. They should have had numerous servers dealing with different sections of the ordering process... Alas a money making company doesn't care that people will be pissing around on there site all nite.
This is a complete shambles - I'm an IT consultant used to assessing requirements for public-facing information systems. One glaring mistake - the handling of the form should have been done by a different server to the one from which it was obtained. That way processing is simplified and speeded up. Another mistake - the server providing the form is running https - typically 15x the overhead of a straighforward http exchange - YES - the submission of the form should be done via https but not the delivery to the user. Feeble thinking I'm afraid.
And yes - I've been up most of the night without success - once got to the completed form stage and then the message that there were no more tickets - this at 22:15 Thursday night!
Aloud and The Way Ahead Group Limited/See should never be trusted to do this again. Their head office phone number is 020 7837 1100 should you wish to make this point yourselves.
Still trying with the ticket application ...
Nic Saint said :"Aloud.com I hope you learn from this but I doudt if you will", well I hope they go out of business, or at least never get the task of dealing with a big event like this... stick to the small stuff guys.
"Their head office phone number is 020 7837 1100 should you wish to make this point yourselves. " - funnily enough their head office number is down too! I shall be sending an email round to all my friends asking them to phone up and give them hell first thing monday morning.
Add me to the list of dissatisfied Aloud customers. It I'm not sure if it is Aloud's fault for not being prepared or if it was just a bad idea to have a single ticket seller when everything sold in less than a day last year. I do fault Aloud for claiming thisngs are only slow. Their website is inaccessable and I only get as far as a BT recording when I try and call thier number. If you beleive ALoud when they ay things ar fine but slow, you will also probalby beleive that the Iraq war was over months ago.
Come clean Aloud and acknowledge what so many people are saying. we've all been trying to get tickets since 8:00, but can't get through to your website or phone number. Why can't anyone admit failure anymore? At least I could respect them for being honest, but I have no patience for "spin". If they are running the show next year, I won't bother trying to attend.
A shambolic and disreputable approach to sales. My son really wants to go, I was up to 2 am trying, he got up at 4.30 and did 2 hours, I'm still at it and am beginning to actually pray that I get through. Thankyou for the head office number I'm now trying that, it's not down but engaged.
Good luck. I wouldn't go to the event on principle now.
Jim Noonan
I tried all last night with no success, but got up at 6am and tried again. I thought it had been unsuccessful and went back to bed, but found a confirmation email waiting for me when I got to work later on.
Little hint: If you get to the form, save the web page. Then open it from your computer, but when you click the send button, change the local path in the address bar of your browser to:
https://www.wayahead-secure.co.uk/majestic/storeData-glast.asp and reload the page - This will save you waiting to get to the form, but obviously wont mean you'll get the transaction through right away. I hope this is useful.
it is just MAAAAAAAAADNESS!!!
Been up all night, trying trying trying. Went to lectures, rushed home, no joy, still, I cant even afford the damned thing, this all just makes me want one more than ever.
Keep telling myself its ok, but then I remember how amazing last year was, hotdamn, keep trying people, some of us have gotta get them!
At least last year if you did not get through you could go on ebay and enter a bidding war.
And besides... doesn't this favour the unemployed rather than taxpayers who should be at work today?
Read it and weep...
Thank you for your order
You have ordered:
2 ADULT 17+
for Glastonbury 2004
Your reference number will be emailed to you along with confirmation of your order
Please allow at least 2 hours for this to be delivered.
To receive additional Glastonbury approved information direct from Aloud.com, please sign up to the free Glastonbury Info Mail Service, click here to enter your details.
- So no actual confirmation there... I have to just hope that there has not been an error as there is no reference for me to quote if there is a problem - I even like the fact that after all that they expect you to want to sign up for their spam... something which they tried to do before hand as well by offering a priority service to those who signed up to their newsletter.
has ANYONE who got to the page thanking them for their order actually got an email confirmation???
14 hours later and still NO email?
People either seem to be getting no thanks page but then randomly getting email confirmation or getting the thanks page but no email with ref no etc.
Worried that although I have a sheet saying thanks.... I wont actually have a ticket!
HOW MANY TIMES AM I GONNA FILL IN THE ORDER FORM AND THEN IT JUST DISAPEARS!!!!!! IM NOT A HAPPY BUNNY!!!!!! ALOUD SUCKS BIG TIME!!
i've never been fortunate enough to go before, so this year i prepared myself for being up at all hours,five of us sat at work on five computers fourphonelines and three of us persisted till 4 in the morning, i wanna know if none of us got through, then who the hell is? this ticket system is crap, a group of friends don't have a chance going together and it looks like this will be another year i'll miss out on.
According to Legend (wayahead's ISP), their network is experiencing 'some disruption' : http://www.legend.co.uk/misc/sstatus/ I think wayahead suck, and Mr. Eavis should have opted for someone who had a proper pipe, although I reckon he or someone is doing this on purpose to make it look like people had more of a chance this year, which is utter bullshit.
I have gotten a mailout - but it does not make sense...
I checked the headers... and this bit made me wonder... is someone shitting me?
Received: from host217-46-241-157.in-addr.btopenworld.com ([217.46.241.157] helo=nobody.com)
I have been trying since 8.30pm last night, stopped at 2.30am and have been trying again since 9am.
At 1am last night I got through to the order form, entered details and received a message that 'There were insufficient tickets available to fulfill your order. (I ordered 2 Tickets) Please try again later when we may have more tickets available'
I haven't got back into the order form since!
Same story with the phoneline. Fair enough only two tickets per person, but if you're going to do that then why not have more than one website available to order from, which could decrease the web traffic to each site and when you call, why not have a waiting queue so you know how long to expect to wait before someone answers? I would rather pay even £40 extra waiting in a queue on the phone than hitting the redial button for 10 hours and listening to the BT lady or Aloud girl tell me that the network is down and that I have not been charged for this call !
Please please Mr Eavis take on board these customer comments and use them to improve the web and phone service offering so I might get a chance to go next year!
It is possible that in desperation to get tickets people are falling victim to fraud...not clear yet whether the below site is legit or not, but due to failures to get ticket through site direct shortcuts have been taken via:
https://freya.wayahead-secure.co.uk/glastonbury2004/orderform.asp?showcode=110000&pricetype=7&pricetype2=9&pricetype3=10&filler1=glastonbury
It may all be fine, but I worry in case it's not and thousands of us have fallen victim!! Afterall who wouldn't take a shortcut after a sleepless night of utter frustration, esp. when you are supposed to be working!!!
Cripes this is nuts!!!!!!!!!!
Ive hit redail upwards of 8,000 + times, ive refreshed hundreds of times, Ive got back weird messages saying Im requesting too many tickets (urr ONE).
I dont know who these wonderfully lucky people are who are getting tickets but this system stinks.
Freya appears to be legit... it appears to be on the same rack as the webserver I got to through the main link. It was working better than the regular site a while back however now that it has become common knowledge it may begin to suffer performance problems.
It also may just be a test server and not linked into the 'live' system at all.
I spent 5 hours last night on-line and logged on again at 6.30am. I filled in the form but kept getting the message 'service very busy, please try again a little later.' Jarred off, I decided to check my e-mails at about 2.00pm.I was dumbfounded, to say the least, to find 10,yes10, e-mails confirming my booking for Glastonbury, the first of which apparently arrived at 7.58am. Silly me, I thought the site would confirm the booking when I submitted the application. How many other people are still labouring under the impression that they haven't been able to get their booking through the system and, like me, wasted the best part of a day on the internet and the telephone? How many tickets are still in fact available because the booking system has issued multiple tickets to people who think they've been unsuccessful and haven't checked their e-mails? Now I'll have to spend ages sorting out the multiple issue. I tried the emergency help line and guess what? 'This is a BT announcement.......'
Cindy in Somerset
how do you know when youve booked?
i filled in all my details, pressed send and then got a screen up saying it was busy, try again. Does this mean im in or not?
Help please!The short cut https://freya.wayahead-secure.co.uk/glastonbury2004/response.asp?trans=780488&showcode=110000&pricetype=7&pricetype2=9&pricetype3=10&filler1=glastonbury, Does it work or is it a test site?
Not sure whether I have actually got me a ticket!.
It says I do, but who knows?!
AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH
I am SO annoyed. I have now be trying CONSTANTLY for twenty hours to get two tickets. I've had a mobile permanently stuck to each ear whilst sat in front of the computer. I'm very close to losing my sanity and STILL no tickets!!!!
I'm disgusted. It's always been a case of "well, you should have got there in time" - now it's a case of "tough s**t, don't care how hard you try".
Pah.
re: lyndsey - it seems to be pot luck whether you're in or not - a friend told me about the freya link about 9 am this morn (like everyone else i;d been trying virtually non stop since 8pm last night to no avail) and me and most of my mates managed to get tickets through this - im now trying to get tickets for another friend who can't get to the internet and i must have sent her details about 300 times; some people apparently have not got a confirmation on the actual website, but then get an email confirmation - so if i were u i would go on the freya link and just keep sending your details in the hope that one will give you an email confirmatiobn! good luck
FAO: Helpful IT Fairy from Swindon:
my email address is angharad@sgriptcymru.com
if you or anyone else has any tips on how to get my mitts on a ticket...
Never been before (too skint) , but I've been saving since Christmas and now I'm not allowed to go (even though I've been constantly phoning and caressing that goddamn mouse......heeeelp!)
xx
I work in IT as a developer and I defy anyone to tell me the difference between being unable to purchase a ticket via a website over a 21 hour period and that site being down. To me the site has been down for 21 hours. Stop talking rubbish aloud.com. One other point, if you prime all of the uk ticket buying public for weeks in advance that the tickets will be available at 8pm on Thursday and are then surprised that you get a hit count of several hundred times last years level you are even more foolish than the quality of the solution appears to indicate. And what is the excuse now 20 hours later. In my field if this had been my project I would have been removed from any further position of responsibility.
21 hours of trying - 2 phones, Web. When do I call it a day & get some sleep. I'll be a Glastonbury virgin forever if things don't change.
Got the same thing here with a friend of mine. She's now got 4 tickets per person! I wonder how many they've ACTUALLY sold? And whether they're just going to have to start all over again... This would have been my 8th Glastonbury - now I'm just narked off.
I have just spoken to someone at Worthy Farm, and some woman just had a couple of words to say 'KEEP TRYING' it didnt give me much hope!!!!!.
I maybe lucky I got 2 tickets for me and my girlfriend but I need one more for her sister who's flying in from canada so if i don't get one more I am f****d.
!!!!!!!!!SHAME ON THE ORGANISERS SHAME!!!!!!!!!
Yes, frustration was an emotion I experienced at around 8.30pm last night, but patience is indeed a virtue and after 3 hrs much needed kip, I finally managed to purchase 2 tickets at around 7.30 this morning (Friday) Whoooopie! Not sure what was going on with the phones though. See you all there, well some of you anyway. x
I have just spoken to someone at Worthy Farm, and some woman just had a couple of words to say 'KEEP TRYING' it didnt give me much hope!!!!!.
I maybe lucky I got 2 tickets for me and my girlfriend but I need one more for her sister who's flying in from canada so if i don't get one more I am f****d.
!!!!!!!!!SHAME ON THE ORGANISERS SHAME!!!!!!!!!
HERE IS THE FARMS NUMBER: 01749 890254 give them a ring and let them know what you think!!!
Lyndsey - If you were successful, you should have got confirmation by email.
Fingers crossed hey!!