|
|
Rank: Crazy Flinger
Joined: 2/28/2008
Posts: 369
Location: Suburban Kansas City
|
I have been shopping woot! since 2005, and have a TON of orders with them with very few problems . . . recently I have noticed a terrible turn for the worse in their customer service (I had a terrible issue with them on a GPS unit) and also I posted a joke tonight about a product (a joke about an ipod being mac compatible) and they suspended my posting privileges for five hours. Complete idiots, all they did was take a great customer and make me never want to buy from them again - over something so petty, they thought alienating me would make me want to continue buying from them . . . idiots. I may never buy again - if they suspend my forum postings on a whim what could / would they do to me if I had an issue with an order? They obviously didn't think this one through because I think I am through with them.
At least here I can bitch, moan, crack a joke, even call the King an @ss and they still let me post - and I still buy - I've four or five orders pending here right now. So keep up the good work TF, you may bury them yet (although I would source a little more product, personally).
Screw woot!.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Uber Flinger
Joined: 5/2/2007
Posts: 968
Location: Northern VA
|
Heh, so did anyone miss out on the BOC yet again the other day? They had one for their anniversary I gather, I have never actually been successful in buying one of those, though admittedly I've only been actively trying the past couple of years. But the "fun" in trying is fadeing, it wouldn't be so bad if I had a shot, but my last few attempts including this one, were thwarted by an obviously overloaded/crashed server on their part. Never even get to the buy page, just an error, or worse nothing at all like up to a few days ago. 'Course the one time I THOUGHT I finally got it, I quickly learned what I got was the "BOC... crappy calendar edition". Now, I wonder if they realized at the time of creating that item that the inclusion of BOC in the description would trigger programs such as Wootalyzer to set off BOC alarms and follow BOC buying procedures (going straight to the buy page as per default)?  Well I couldn't say. Haha, I don't think I've even taken the shrink wrap off any of those. (just jumping on the woot bashing bandwagon for a sec)
|
|
|
Rank: Royal Flinger
Joined: 1/24/2008
Posts: 2,082
Location: Florida
|
OMG..that's too funny...I have 4 calendars from Woot sitting around with the wrap still on them too!!  Honestly, I have only seen a few items on there that I even want. At the MOST, I think I've bought 4 maybe 5 times. I've only been in the forums twice. I was not impressed! 49 Flings Flung and WAAY more to come!Female in case you don't know LMAO 
|
|
|
Rank: Royal Flinger
Joined: 1/30/2008
Posts: 106
Location: Illinois
|
I think I saw your post last night. I laughed at the mac posts, thought they were funny. I went back and looked at woot and I didn't realize how many posts they delete. If you look at the post numbers, there are many missing numbers. Wow. And I've never gotten a BOC. I have an older computer, so I'll never have a chance unless I upgrade. I think you need a super fast computer to get one before the servers crash. 50 flings (84 counting multiples), $1622 spent!
|
|
|
Rank: Crazy Flinger
Joined: 2/28/2008
Posts: 369
Location: Suburban Kansas City
|
scaredwitless wrote:Heh, so did anyone miss out on the BOC yet again the other day? They had one for their anniversary I gather, I have never actually been successful in buying one of those, though admittedly I've only been actively trying the past couple of years. But the "fun" in trying is fadeing, it wouldn't be so bad if I had a shot, but my last few attempts including this one, were thwarted by an obviously overloaded/crashed server on their part. Never even get to the buy page, just an error, or worse nothing at all like up to a few days ago. 'Course the one time I THOUGHT I finally got it, I quickly learned what I got was the "BOC... crappy calendar edition". Now, I wonder if they realized at the time of creating that item that the inclusion of BOC in the description would trigger programs such as Wootalyzer to set off BOC alarms and follow BOC buying procedures (going straight to the buy page as per default)? Well I couldn't say. Haha, I don't think I've even taken the shrink wrap off any of those. (just jumping on the woot bashing bandwagon for a sec) I've scored a bag of crap seven times in about four years, but that was / is a lot of luck and some hard work tweaking connections and roboform type programs, etc. All but two I got were completely crap, but at least they had a "fun" factor (gag type stuff) - in the best two I received a brand new Teac radio ($140.00 on Amazon) and a refurbished Roomba (which is still going strong). The BOC the other day was a joke, the servers crashed so badly that the MAE in St. Louis actually flipped them off routing for fifteen minutes because they thought the load was a DDOS attack the likes of which they had never seen, apparently they were pushing 20+ million page requests - I haven't heard how many of those were unique (well, at least packets requesting pages, as they weren't getting through) a second. I have no idea what little macro someone has written that causes the issue, because those can't be real customer requests, they must be automated to flow like that in real time. Anyway, the sellout didn't occur until 19 after the hour because no traffic was getting to their servers for the better part of fifteen minutes, they were essentially black holed. Seems like it happens every night now at midnight, five or so minutes of non-response, then finally, they open up and you can see the product for the day. Frankly, IMHO, they ought to change their business model to one deal until gone, or similar to TF, as it would make for a more enjoyable expereince (and relieve the clogging issues). The Mac posts WERE funny, and to be expected - not for the life of me can I understand WHY they deleted them, they had to know people would make the joke, it was a given.
|
|
|
Rank: Crazy Flinger
Joined: 2/28/2008
Posts: 369
Location: Suburban Kansas City
|
dkferret wrote:I think I saw your post last night. I laughed at the mac posts, thought they were funny.
I went back and looked at woot and I didn't realize how many posts they delete. If you look at the post numbers, there are many missing numbers. Wow.
And I've never gotten a BOC. I have an older computer, so I'll never have a chance unless I upgrade. I think you need a super fast computer to get one before the servers crash. I think they delete more than they "allow" . . . . getting pretty old in my book. Of course, there's always a few that deserve to be deleted, but for shit's sake, when you post an Apple product, of course people will ask if it is Mac compatible. Its a running joke they should embrace - the community likes to be FUN - but they would rather be post Nazi's.
|
|
|
Rank: Uber Flinger
Joined: 5/2/2007
Posts: 968
Location: Northern VA
|
dkferret wrote:I think I saw your post last night. I laughed at the mac posts, thought they were funny.
I went back and looked at woot and I didn't realize how many posts they delete. If you look at the post numbers, there are many missing numbers. Wow.
And I've never gotten a BOC. I have an older computer, so I'll never have a chance unless I upgrade. I think you need a super fast computer to get one before the servers crash. A nice speedy modern computer'll help if your computer is ancient, and timing and skill are factors too, but it has a lot more to do with your net connection--not how fast your net connection is, in theory a person on dial-up should have a chance if the cards are right for them. Essentially the less hoops your data has to jump through between you and woot, the better. And as it pans out, usually geographic distance will translate into that, so someone living closer to Woot's server physically should theoretically have a better chance than someone on the other coast (like me).
|
|
|
Rank: Uber Flinger
Joined: 5/2/2007
Posts: 968
Location: Northern VA
|
Well the impending BOC hit slickdeals and fatwallet, as someone got smart and remembered woot's anniversary, so I am sure that did not help. I watch woot, but do not often find anything I want to buy, I purchase from shirt.woot the most often.
|
|
|
Rank: Royal Flinger
Joined: 1/30/2008
Posts: 106
Location: Illinois
|
I agree about the mac jokes. SOMEONE always asks if the item is compatible with mac, even if it's not an apple product. I think it's hilarious! I smile when I see the mac comments, it's funny. I don't understand what the big deal was that the posts needed to be pulled. Just seeing the missing posts was an eye-opener for me. Wow again. BIG difference between there and here at TF. And thanks for the info on BOC chances. Actually, my computer is old AND I have a slower net connection, so I just don't have a chance. I've tried and given up. Geographically, I'm not sure where I stand because I don't know where their servers are located. I'm in Illinois, so central. 50 flings (84 counting multiples), $1622 spent!
|
|
|
Rank: Crazy Flinger
Joined: 2/28/2008
Posts: 369
Location: Suburban Kansas City
|
dkferret wrote:I agree about the mac jokes. SOMEONE always asks if the item is compatible with mac, even if it's not an apple product. I think it's hilarious! I smile when I see the mac comments, it's funny. I don't understand what the big deal was that the posts needed to be pulled. Just seeing the missing posts was an eye-opener for me. Wow again. BIG difference between there and here at TF.
And thanks for the info on BOC chances. Actually, my computer is old AND I have a slower net connection, so I just don't have a chance. I've tried and given up. Geographically, I'm not sure where I stand because I don't know where their servers are located. I'm in Illinois, so central. Servers are in St. Louis. Don't give up, use Firefox with FasterFox plug-in set for max. simultaneous connections and use PayPal to pay, not a credit card - they process faster through the gateway - plus, have your woot! password stored so you can paste it in instead of typing it in and make sure you have previously made a purchase with them via PayPal to set up the billing arrangement. Sync your PC clock using Dimension 4 (free program that they use) at 11:59. At fifteen seconds to midnight, start rapidly refreshing the page. Once the item changes and your browser's status bar says it is connecting, let it sit on the page to load while opening another browser instance and bang the refresh button. When the initial window (the first browser instance) brings up the page outline, go to where the buy button should be (I want one), your cursor will change like it is there, click it, change the quantity to three and paste in your woot! password. Hit the enter button, then do it again when the page refreshes (press enter). You may get one yet. Takes some practice but works for me. You can dry run it any night at midnight . . .
|
|
|
Rank: Royal Flinger
Joined: 1/30/2008
Posts: 106
Location: Illinois
|
devilish69fling wrote:Servers are in St. Louis. Don't give up, use Firefox with FasterFox plug-in set for max. simultaneous connections and use PayPal to pay, not a credit card - they process faster through the gateway - plus, have your woot! password stored so you can paste it in instead of typing it in and make sure you have previously made a purchase with them via PayPal to set up the billing arrangement. Sync your PC clock using Dimension 4 (free program that they use) at 11:59. At fifteen seconds to midnight, start rapidly refreshing the page. Once the item changes and your browser's status bar says it is connecting, let it sit on the page to load while opening another browser instance and bang the refresh button. When the initial window (the first browser instance) brings up the page outline, go to where the buy button should be (I want one), your cursor will change like it is there, click it, change the quantity to three and paste in your woot! password. Hit the enter button, then do it again when the page refreshes (press enter). You may get one yet. Takes some practice but works for me. You can dry run it any night at midnight . . . WOW, thanks for all the advice. I have paypal but I always pay with debit card. I thought paypal would take longer as it has to go through the paypal server. I think I'll pay with paypal next time to check it out. 50 flings (84 counting multiples), $1622 spent!
|
|
|
Rank: Crazy Flinger
Joined: 2/28/2008
Posts: 369
Location: Suburban Kansas City
|
dkferret wrote:devilish69fling wrote:Servers are in St. Louis. Don't give up, use Firefox with FasterFox plug-in set for max. simultaneous connections and use PayPal to pay, not a credit card - they process faster through the gateway - plus, have your woot! password stored so you can paste it in instead of typing it in and make sure you have previously made a purchase with them via PayPal to set up the billing arrangement. Sync your PC clock using Dimension 4 (free program that they use) at 11:59. At fifteen seconds to midnight, start rapidly refreshing the page. Once the item changes and your browser's status bar says it is connecting, let it sit on the page to load while opening another browser instance and bang the refresh button. When the initial window (the first browser instance) brings up the page outline, go to where the buy button should be (I want one), your cursor will change like it is there, click it, change the quantity to three and paste in your woot! password. Hit the enter button, then do it again when the page refreshes (press enter). You may get one yet. Takes some practice but works for me. You can dry run it any night at midnight . . . WOW, thanks for all the advice. I have paypal but I always pay with debit card. I thought paypal would take longer as it has to go through the paypal server. I think I'll pay with paypal next time to check it out. If the billing agreement is set up previously with PayPal (as in you have made a past purchase with PayPal on woot! and you haven't changed any preferences), then it actually is faster - the PayPal gateway is a second or two faster than the gateway used to clear the credit/debit cards. MAKE SURE you have enough in your PayPal account to cover the amount of the transaction OR you must have a bank account as your primary back-up funding source, or it won't work at all, as woot! does not accept e-check payments via PayPal. You avoid that by having a positive balance or by setting a CONFIRMED bank account as your primary back up funding source. Follow the simple directions to confirm the account - takes about four days . . . Good luck. I REALLY wish TF would put together an inexpensive MB similar to the woot! bag of crap - it would totally bring over a ton of people from woot!.
|
|
|
Rank: Royal Flinger
Joined: 1/24/2008
Posts: 2,082
Location: Florida
|
You know..there's actually 2 things I want to touch on..lol First being the moderating on the other sites.... I know that every once in awhile (   ) someone comes here and posts some crap...whether it be bashing TF or us flingers... but I think that as a group, we have managed to stay on top of it...occasionally taking on the anger ourselves....atleast I know I've been in the middle MORE the I care to mention BUT...TF has allowed us that freedom to post what we will WITHOUT removing posts OR banning people. I have to say that I appreciate that. We ARE after all adults here. I find that taking away your posting privileges...as Woot does quite often..is really rather childish. Especially when it's something so innocent as a joke. Second...What Devilish said: 'I REALLY wish TF would put together an inexpensive MB similar to the woot! bag of crap - it would totally bring over a ton of people from woot!. ' I kind of agree to this! It seems that Tf...though I love them dearly...has been upping the prices more and more as of late. I don't know if it's because they're NOT getting enough product in to give us the savings OR if they are getting greedy trying to make a buck. Granted I know that's the whole REason they're IN business...but still.... A TF BOC would be awesome!! Maybe they should re-consider the whole MB thing!! 49 Flings Flung and WAAY more to come!Female in case you don't know LMAO
|
|
|
Rank: Royal Flinger
Joined: 7/1/2007
Posts: 76
|
A couple more tidbits of interest regarding BOCs...
There are two dates each year that are almost guaranteed to be BOC dates - 12/25 and their birthday (which occurred last weekend). Those two have been BOCs for a few years now.
Secondly, their pages update only once every 60 seconds. I've tested this over and over during their occasional events with orange flashing lights where they DO go to one deal at a time and continue to an arbitrary point. If you call up your computer's clock to the point where you can see the seconds passing and watch it while doing continuous refreshes, you'll find out where the 60 second refresh point is (and save a lot of wear and tear on your F5 key).
Other than that, it's just virtual brute force and luck. I've been able to get one bag over the past few years, and it had a couple of things I could use (the youth-sized athletic supporter was NOT one of them...) - but they had to send me a replacement because the package had gone into Fedex's black hole.
I used to buy way too much stuff from deal of the day sites - I still troll them on a regular basis, but I don't purchase nearly as much as I used to. There are still some good bargains out there on stuff I can actually use - I just have to wait and be patient.
Now if they could only offer the Samsung Q1 ultra-portable PCs when I actually have enough money to afford them, I'd be a lot happier. (They always come up during 'off events - and I'm almost always financially challenged during those.)
|
|
|
| Users browsing this topic (does not include guests) |
|
Guest (Hidden)
|