Ruffnut Thorston Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 (edited) I make this day three of no Hornby Forum... Oh well, it’s not that important I suppose... Edited January 24, 2021 by Ruffnut Thorston Clarification Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Just checked back myself - nothing doing on the forum ... Trying to wean us off it? Al. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwich station Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 5 hours ago, Ruffnut Thorston said: I make this day three of no Hornby Forum... Oh well, it’s not that important I suppose... 5 hours ago, atom3624 said: Just checked back myself - nothing doing on the forum ... Trying to wean us off it? Al. But it says why it's not available at the moment. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Most major forum updates take perhaps one day ... but 3-4 days? Let's hope for progress today. Al. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I wouldn't hold your breath - there is so, so much wrong throughout the site I find it difficult to understand why it was allowed to be launched in such a raw, incomplete state, 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Another day.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 (edited) I withdraw my early comment in this thread praising the new website, it is a disaster, it shows 49 early crest BR engines in 5 pages in 'shop now' but crashes after 24 entries, it lists models randomly it appears to have been written by incompetent people best abandon it and re-instate the old one in the meantime if possible and fire the software supplier. I haven't bought much directly from Hornby due to their long-term policy of exorbitant postal charges to NZ, but possibly a couple of thousand pounds worth over the years. It doesn't inspire confidence given the apparent move to more direct marketing. The writers of the site do not even know that engines or locomotives are not exactly 'trainsets and rolling stock' in any normal use of English. The words 'engine' and 'steam' and 'diesel' appear in options further along from initial choices. As to a filter like 'steam' or 'diesel'... nope, i some iterations of the page it has to be era.... where the products on offer may typically span three eras. The architecture of the site is also clumsy. At first glance I thought it was just me, unfamiliarity and so on, but the more I look at it, no, it is downright hopeless and I'd be ashamed of it if I had anything to do with it. Hurrmmpphhh!!!! I had something between 8 and 10 attempt to log in with various methods and eventually took up the option to re-set my password, which I did, re-setting it successfully to my exact old password, which had failed continually, sigh, and in viewing my old orders discovered that these were still being copied to the new site... Now if Hornby could design a user-friendly direct marketing site as good as say Hattons or Kernow they would be hard to beat, presuming they could offer good prices and fair postage, but it seems a long way off Edited January 27, 2021 by robmcg added comment 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
truffy Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 6 hours ago, robmcg said: it shows 49 early crest BR engines in 5 pages in 'shop now' but crashes after 24 entries, it lists models randomly This is not dissimilar to the problem that I faced last Thursday. I did raise the issue with Hornby, and gave them my email address for them to follow up. Needless to say, my inbox remains unsullied. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Rolling out a new website just after announcing your new product range is more than inept, its suicidal... 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 The is just one thing the new website offers, practice in the art of negotiating bad websites. Whether or not it can be made user-friendly is an open question. If Hornby do return to profit , it will be in spite of this website, not because of it. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 I had another go at browsing the new site, and apart from the annoyance of having to negotiate from 'trainsets and rolling stock' to 'locomotives', to 'steam' and the then apply a filter like 'high to low price' it was unbridled joy.... oh, I could have 8 pages with 24 items rather than 12, how nice. I'm trying not to be sarcastic but it really resembles a great leap sideways. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 (edited) Well, just checked and they're still 'transferring files across' from the old Forum .... is somebody dragging and dropping one-by-one? !! So far, not particularly impressed. There again, Heathrow T5 was a disaster initially, now it's one of my favourite terminals I travel through - when able / permitted! Al. Edited January 28, 2021 by atom3624 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted January 28, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2021 13 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said: Another foot shoot bang on target . Why indulge in another confusionfest ? Actually,after spending a few minutes with it,I think my post is over harsh,so I’m withdrawing it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHC Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Should have put this here first. But are they releasing the ex Lima 33 seeing as it is shown on the front page. I could do with some new power units. Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyKarl Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 On 27/01/2021 at 09:14, cbrooks122000 said: I entirely agree with all your comments. I just thought it was me, I do tend to be a bit critical. I went through the same process of it not recognising my password. Even when it did, the website crashed, although eventually I managed to order a product. I used to work in software and for a while I have had my doubts about Hornby's software support, this seems to bear them out. I had the same issue when trying to reset my password as per their email. First time it crashed with unexpected error, so the site is clearly still buggy. (I had to repeat the whole operation and it worked the second time, but I would have probably given up for a while had it crashed a second time.) I would hesitate to buy at the moment as I can see my basket filling up and then all being lost at some crucial stage of the transaction. For my online shopping, I'll stick with Hattons, Rails, Derails, Burevalley, Kernow, et al. (other excellent model shops available) for now. Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 This site? https://uk.Hornby.com/ Looks like their CSS is broken as well. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Can somebody send out a search party for the Search Function? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
djo Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 All I've got is the occasional front page, otherwise 504 or 502 errors. Talk about shoot both feet off with a cannon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said: This site? https://uk.Hornby.com/ Looks like their CSS is broken as well. 4 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said: Can somebody send out a search party for the Search Function? Not just the CSS, its a 502 Bad Gateway now! Gone quite wrong? Some sort of an understatement... Edited January 28, 2021 by Hroth Damn 'puter, I typed 502... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyKarl Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Hornby has just sent out a second email re the new Engine Shed - and after several attempt all I get is a 502 error too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hilux5972 Posted January 28, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2021 Just now, JeremyKarl said: Hornby has just sent out a second email re the new Engine Shed - and after several attempt all I get is a 502 error too! Yep I just get 502 as well 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 If only Hornby would produce a (Class) 502, or a 503 for that matter... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 On 27/01/2021 at 03:01, robmcg said: I withdraw my early comment in this thread praising the new website, it is a disaster, it shows 49 early crest BR engines in 5 pages in 'shop now' but crashes after 24 entries, it lists models randomly it appears to have been written by incompetent people best abandon it and re-instate the old one in the meantime if possible and fire the software supplier. I haven't bought much directly from Hornby due to their long-term policy of exorbitant postal charges to NZ, but possibly a couple of thousand pounds worth over the years. It doesn't inspire confidence given the apparent move to more direct marketing. The writers of the site do not even know that engines or locomotives are not exactly 'trainsets and rolling stock' in any normal use of English. The words 'engine' and 'steam' and 'diesel' appear in options further along from initial choices. As to a filter like 'steam' or 'diesel'... nope, i some iterations of the page it has to be era.... where the products on offer may typically span three eras. The architecture of the site is also clumsy. At first glance I thought it was just me, unfamiliarity and so on, but the more I look at it, no, it is downright hopeless and I'd be ashamed of it if I had anything to do with it. Hurrmmpphhh!!!! I had something between 8 and 10 attempt to log in with various methods and eventually took up the option to re-set my password, which I did, re-setting it successfully to my exact old password, which had failed continually, sigh, and in viewing my old orders discovered that these were still being copied to the new site... Now if Hornby could design a user-friendly direct marketing site as good as say Hattons or Kernow they would be hard to beat, presuming they could offer good prices and fair postage, but it seems a long way off @robmcg - Have to agree with most all of that. It smells to me like a website with the front-end (presentation layer) designed by Marketing, but with little thought, priority or budget given to the underlying technology. Perhaps with a "Go Live" date insisted on by some Senior Person Who Must Be Obeyed, so little things like Testing and Bug Fixing falls off the end of the project's critical path. Some might say it's a Hornby corporate culture issue. Any resemblance to Hornby models that look nice but don't work very well is entirely coincidental. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 (edited) I suppose "testing" was done by the developers and the commissioning department, who knew what they wanted it to do. They didn't test it using real-world subjects who had no idea of how it was expected to be used and who click willy-nilly approach the website in unforseen ways. I always found it a bit of a bu@@er when users attacked software in unusual ways! Edited January 28, 2021 by Hroth typing is off today 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 An improvement! Someone has got a 502 handler working. Next, they need a proper 404 handler as well. https://uk.Hornby.com/xyz 502 Bad Gateway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts