Is this forum softwware flaky?

BKMD

Seems half the time I try to connect to the forum, something goes wrong.

Examples:
Click the Travel Forums link under Community and the "loading" circle spins forever
Shows my name at the top, but then says I'm not logged in and unable to post.
Bring up the forums and the latest posts are listed, but the individual subforums are missing.

I've used both Firefox and IE and had this behavior with both over the last several months.

CHRM

I have had the same problem with Chrome. Some days it works, some days it doesn't. I just try again later....

AlanS

Tauck IT has been working on it for several days. The issue is NOT a result of the WannaCry virus.

Claudia Sails

Good to know it's the website not at my end. I've had trouble with it using both my Kindle Fire and my PC using chrome.

AshvEd

I've had the same issue with Safari on my iMac, iPhone and iPad. In addition it seems to take "forever" for pages to load.

BillHolman

I found that logging out, then back it fixes the quirks.

British

BillHolman wrote:

I found that logging out, then back it fixes the quirks.

This didn't help me on this past mess. Tauck website has always been the slowest website I encounter

AlanS

British wrote:

This didn't help me on this past mess. Tauck website has always been the slowest website I encounter

We never did get the promised "new forums."

[Deleted User]

It's ironic that when I saw this topic a couple of days ago and thought I'd reply, I couldn't get the Tauck forum to connect to anything but dead links or serving up raw HTML code.

So, yes, flaky.

And also, yes to AlanS's comment about missing, promised enhancements.

What has always disturbed me about the Tauck website is that we love Tauck--a dozen or so trips with more scheduled--but their website leaves a lot to be desired and is bad public relations for a high quality brand.

Claudia Sails

What's really frustrating is when I've written a post/reply - assuming I could get to the forum and not be in "Guest" mode - when I've gone to hit post the text box is emptied and I get error code 500. The text disappears into the void and I either give up or retype. Learned to do a right click, copy on the text before hitting post.

And yes, as a marketing tool, the site needs some work. This is what I said in another thread about the ship redesigns that started with the Emerald and Sapphire this year and more to be done next. Bigger staterooms and fewer passengers, but also more expensive. On top of that no pictures were available until a few weeks ago (even though both ships had tours starting the beginning of Apr) and the one provided shows very little and doesn't have a write up that particularly sounds like value added.

Makes you wonder whether anyone from marketing looks at the forum.

Tauck Emily

Claudia Sails wrote:

What's really frustrating is when I've written a post/reply - assuming I could get to the forum and not be in "Guest" mode - when I've gone to hit post the text box is emptied and I get error code 500. The text disappears into the void and I either give up or retype. Learned to do a right click, copy on the text before hitting post.

And yes, as a marketing tool, the site needs some work. This is what I said in another thread about the ship redesigns that started with the Emerald and Sapphire this year and more to be done next. Bigger staterooms and fewer passengers, but also more expensive. On top of that no pictures were available until a few weeks ago (even though both ships had tours starting the beginning of Apr) and the one provided shows very little and doesn't have a write up that particularly sounds like value added.

Makes you wonder whether anyone from marketing looks at the forum.

\

Hi Claudia,

We apologize that you and other guests are having issue with the Travel Forums and the website. Thank you bringing the error code 500 to our attention, we will definitely look into it. Just like guests' feedback on our trips, feedback is also very important to us and how we make improvements to better server our guests online. I have forwarded you comments to the appropriate departments.

Thank you,
Emily

Claudia Sails

Emily, we appreciate your looking into this. I know we can sound whinny but its because we care. Have a nice holiday weekend.

BKMD

Still the same issues.

TauckEmily - you really need to replace your IT people. The bugginess and S L O W site is really a detriment to the company.

grandinroad

I am on many message boards, and Tauck's is by far the worst board I have encountered. This is not a new problem, and I truly cannot understand why a company as well known for its commitment to customer satisfaction as Tauck is, continues to have this problem. I believe so many people have just given up on the boards because of this. Please, Tauck, get new software.

British

Even I am getting frustrated with the forums inability to connect and slowness. It is the only forum I use and I do not have Facebook or anything else, so it interesting to hear how bad it really is in comparison to other sites. It might be better for Tauck to discontinue altogether because it is so bad now and so very very few people actually know about it, which is just as well for new customers because as mentioned, it does not reflect well on the company's product.

Crackeroo

I agree that it is getting frustrating trying to access the forums. If I get that 500 error message and the circling figure on the screen again, I'm going to lose it. Doesn't seem it should be this bad for so long. Hopefully Tauck won't discontinue it and will fix it. I get a lot of good information from these posts.

AlanS

Crackeroo wrote:

I agree that it is getting frustrating trying to access the forums. If I get that 500 error message and the circling figure on the screen again, I'm going to lose it. Doesn't seem it should be this bad for so long. Hopefully Tauck won't discontinue it and will fix it. I get a lot of good information from these posts.

They are aware of the issue and still working on it. It appears to be a problem with one of the two servers that support the forums. No ETR. I would rather it be the forums that are affected than the main site.

Sandman1

i think they need a 15 year old computer savvy kid to fix what they can't. That's what I do for tech support!

igiveup

Yes,flaky. Thats why my forum name is "I give up" Great tour company. Lousy web site,an embarrassment for a reputable company!