Tour Guide Mike

[Disneyhappy]

"But the key is that he has a 100%, no questions asked refund policy."

Gosh, I wish my cable company would offer a refund for the time that it is not working! The amount would probably pay for a trip to WDW! In the words of Forrest Gump, "**** Happens!" In my words, how we deal with the s--t defines our character. I guess I would not think of getting a refund for something that is down/malfunctioning/unavailable etc for a relatively short period of time. If I joined shortly before my trip and the site is not up in time to assist in my trip, I would probably ask for a refund.
I hope TGM finds a solution fast for all that are in dire need and also for us that just need our TGM fix!

 

[damgi]

To come over here to find out what was going on??

Glad to know I'm not the only one that needs their fix!!

 

[DisneyMommaTGM'er]

I'm guessing they still haven't located the problem! I'm also glad to know that I'm not the only one who "needs" a little Mike in my life!! LOL!! Our last trip, DH finally told me I was not allowed to bring "Mike" to bed anymore!! I've been much better this time around, but will be tempted to pop online throughout this evening to see if TGM site is up yet!!! Happy Planning!

Dana

 

[rhiannonwales]

I think some folks are getting a little too worked up over this...
First off the site went down yesterday afternnon, so its about 24 hours not DAYS like others have said.

Second, would you rather Mike spend his time composing emails and posting here, or getting to the problem and seeing its fixed?

Third, This also affects Mikes VIP buisness i'm sure.How many clients itineraries can he not access right now? He probably has his hands full trying to do that at the same time as get the site back up.

Fourth although i'm sure it's an inconvience to you, please try to remember that you are just one of many and we are all waiting and we are all equally important to Mike.

 

[dtm316]

I'm travelling from Friday evening (flight is not till saturday though) and I've been trying to get onto TGM for the past couple of days so I could print off the March busy day guide, does anyone have this saved anywhere?
You'll be a life saver
Thanks

 

[Tissa]

I know we all pay our $20, but this is a website, not a hospital. If it goes down, nobody will get hurt.

Ken

No but my family might

 

[scoutsmom99]

No but my family might

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I think some folks are getting a little too worked up over this...

But just look at him.

He just sits at the top of the screen grinning that evil grin at us. That mocking smile... just feeding off of our frustration.

I too came on here to figure out if anyone had posted anything about the website. I should have known when I saw the thread had this many responses, that someone, somewhere, had gotten PO'd.

 

[XxStaceFacexX]

I was at work all day today (a job that doesnt have a computer around) and I actually called 2 of my friends during the course of the day to find out if it was up and running again. I want to know if the September least crowded park charts are up and running yet!

I do agree that the site could stand an update though.

 

[jcemom]

Hey, there is an UP side to this!

My house is getting cleaned for a change!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Just got home from work, I was really hoping TGM would be back up and running now. I'm just really anxious for the Sep LCPC, but I need the second half of those, so even when TGM comes back, I'll probably still have to wait for them.

 

[shammes53]

To me, it's amazing that people constantly expect 100% from anything computer based. Do we expect that any car we purchase (and not $20 but rather $20,000) will work 100% of the time and nothing would ever break? Of course not, the basic facts of life indicate parts and machinery will die at one point or another... Your engine turns at a maximum of 6000 rpm, a SCSI drive spins around 10,000rpm. Parts move, parts die. It becomes a matter of what is acceptable in the grand scheme of things. If we agree that 99% is good, then Mike's site could be down for 3.5 DAYS per year. 99.5% = 1.8 days. Reality time folks, we paid $20 and so far Mike's service has not dropped below that 99% level. Yes, any outage is frustrating but it's not the end of the world, and it's not beyond the realm of reason.

Well said!

 

[luvgrumpy]

It's a little different when you're paying to view the website. At which pont, you're a customer, not just a visitor, and you expect something to be working when you want it to when you register.

I know about sites going down plenty. I have my own website. However, nobody pays to use the information on it. Being down for a few days when you have paying customers is unacceptable.

Like I said it happens to websites large and small. Paid and unpaid. I've also seen it happen to websites where I needed to pay a bill and I have to hope it get's back up in time to pay it.
Another example of paid services is trash collection. In recent bad weather they missed a week but they still expect to be paid. And another in all my years of paying phone bills There have been times of interuped service due to line problems. Only once have we ever been able to get a partial credit for non-service.
I pay for TGM's services and I feel that I more than get my moneys worth. If he has server problems he gets it up and running ASAP. Yes I would be panicking if I were leaving soon. I have offered help to some today that needed it by PM.
As others have pointed out if someone is really not happy they can request a refund no questions asked.

 

[leonger]

What? I'm not supposed to be playing cards at work?

Fortunately, I have a subscription to both TouringPlans and TGM (TGM was free thanks to TheMagicForLess), so I can get my planning fix from the other site.

speaking as a wife who's husband works on this type of computer issues, servers, etc...... trust me when I say those technicians probably haven't sleep since the problem started. I would bet money that they have management (i.e. Mike) breathing down their back to get it fixed.

I am sure they aren't just sitting around playing poker and having a good laugh.

 

[moosemom]

Hey, there is an UP side to this!

My house is getting cleaned for a change!

Tracy!!!!

Mine too - sigh
cherie

 

[LoriMistress]

Their site is still down. That makes me a Sad Panda.

 

[jcemom]

My DH is happy it's down. He says it should go down more often!

I scrubbed a wall in the kitchen, scrubbed pots and pans, and cleaned up the yard today!

 

[jjdurrant]

To me, it's amazing that people constantly expect 100% from anything computer based. Do we expect that any car we purchase (and not $20 but rather $20,000) will work 100% of the time and nothing would ever break? Of course not, the basic facts of life indicate parts and machinery will die at one point or another... Your engine turns at a maximum of 6000 rpm, a SCSI drive spins around 10,000rpm. Parts move, parts die. It becomes a matter of what is acceptable in the grand scheme of things. If we agree that 99% is good, then Mike's site could be down for 3.5 DAYS per year. 99.5% = 1.8 days. Reality time folks, we paid $20 and so far Mike's service has not dropped below that 99% level. Yes, any outage is frustrating but it's not the end of the world, and it's not beyond the realm of reason.

This is true.. But any reputable web hosting company has disaster recovery procedures that include spare\redundant servers and co-location. I am not pinning the the blame on Mike. I would be awfully upset at his hosting provider is this was me. Assuming it was a hardware failure, moving or restoring a web site to a new server is not hard.

At a minimum the web host should point the DNS record to a working web server that says the site is having technical difficulties. Having a generic "page not found" error not only leaves customers wondering, but is very unprofessional. A 24 hour outage for what I assume is Mike's primary source of income is not acceptable. I would be on the phone hourly harassing people.

 

[labattblue]

At a minimum the web host should point the DNS record to a working web server that says the site is having technical difficulties. Having a generic "page not found" error not only leaves customers wondering, but is very unprofessional. A 24 hour outage for what I assume is Mike's primary source of income is not acceptable. I would be on the phone hourly harassing people.

Absolutely correct. This could be knocked off in an hour or less. No excuse.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

At a minimum the web host should point the DNS record to a working web server that says the site is having technical difficulties. Having a generic "page not found" error not only leaves customers wondering, but is very unprofessional. A 24 hour outage for what I assume is Mike's primary source of income is not acceptable. I would be on the phone hourly harassing people.

While I'm not freaking out too bad about the outage at this point, I do agree that at least it would be nice to see a "We're working on it" page. If it drags on this could become a real disaster for TGM. Here's to hoping they get it all patched up ASAP