I've finally had enough of this. Yet another weekend when the SH site is broken. The chatroom will not load, the 'contact us' page is not available - convenient, isn't it? I am not by nature a complainer, but when SH became a commercial organisation that charges members for access to a service, it took on certain obligations to provide the services for which it is charging. Nobody - other than serial complainers - expects 100% uptime, but paying customers should expect better availability than has been provided over the last few months by this fully commercial concern. I have a husband who works in IT support - no, he isn't one of the guys in the office who makes sure the printer has toner and shows secretaries how to use MS Word, he is the guy who consistently charges household name companies way, way bigger than SH £1,000 a day - yes, per day - for consultancy on how to make sure their customers do not get the same shitty value for money SH have provided over the last few months. Therefore I'm not speaking from a position of ignorance. Every web-based company can get caught out by excessive demand, hardware or software failure, or other unforeseen circumstances, but only the fly-by-nights do not plan for this by way of multiple redundancy, quick-to-market capacity upgrades and 24/7 expert support contracts. If SH suffers the occasional failure to provide the service for which they charge, then that's life. If, over an extended period, they cannot service the needs of their customers then that smacks of bad management, unsustainable business modeling, or simple profiteering.
SH is unable, or unwilling - over an extended period - to provide the services for which they charge their customers. They will not admit that there are any issues. They should either cut their shareholders' dividends and spend the money on providing a suitable hardware and software infrastructure to support the services for which they charge, or admit that they have failed and just go out of business. I'm not the sort of person who habitually complains, but after the long term poor service and failure to deliver provided by this company I have lost all patience. I would complain directly to the company via the 'contact us' pages if I could, but - guess what - they are not working. So I thought I'd post in the forum and invite comments from others who are probably equally fed up. Despite the many good points offered by this site, I've always felt that SH verged on the autocratic, and I think they are in danger of entirely forgetting who it is that pays their bills. Without us, the paying customers, they are nothing - it's about time they took their heads out of the sand and stopped denying any problems and started addressing them.
Please add your comments - with the 'contact us' pages being so conveniently unavailable it may be the only way to put our message across...
SC xx
...totally agree. I'm a new member of the site, not necessarily to the scene, but I've noticed no problems in the last 6 days up until tonight.
Problems seem to be on the chat*. servers which unfortunately seem to host most of the pics as well. So, no chat and no/minimal pics.
Saying that, I noticed a lot of spammy accounts being created tonight (I tend to look in the SM seeking Couples/Females) so it could just be a web-based attack
Anyway, hope it improves otherwise i won't be renewing
I've finally had enough of this. Yet another weekend when the SH site is broken. The chatroom will not load, the 'contact us' page is not available - convenient, isn't it? I am not by nature a complainer, but when SH became a commercial organisation that charges members for access to a service, it took on certain obligations to provide the services for which it is charging. Nobody - other than serial complainers - expects 100% uptime, but paying customers should expect better availability than has been provided over the last few months by this fully commercial concern. I have a husband who works in IT support - no, he isn't one of the guys in the office who makes sure the printer has toner and shows secretaries how to use MS Word, he is the guy who consistently charges household name companies way, way bigger than SH £1,000 a day - yes, per day - for consultancy on how to make sure their customers do not get the same shitty value for money SH have provided over the last few months. Therefore I'm not speaking from a position of ignorance. Every web-based company can get caught out by excessive demand, hardware or software failure, or other unforeseen circumstances, but only the fly-by-nights do not plan for this by way of multiple redundancy, quick-to-market capacity upgrades and 24/7 expert support contracts. If SH suffers the occasional failure to provide the service for which they charge, then that's life. If, over an extended period, they cannot service the needs of their customers then that smacks of bad management, unsustainable business modeling, or simple profiteering.
SH is unable, or unwilling - over an extended period - to provide the services for which they charge their customers. They will not admit that there are any issues. They should either cut their shareholders' dividends and spend the money on providing a suitable hardware and software infrastructure to support the services for which they charge, or admit that they have failed and just go out of business. I'm not the sort of person who habitually complains, but after the long term poor service and failure to deliver provided by this company I have lost all patience. I would complain directly to the company via the 'contact us' pages if I could, but - guess what - they are not working. So I thought I'd post in the forum and invite comments from others who are probably equally fed up. Despite the many good points offered by this site, I've always felt that SH verged on the autocratic, and I think they are in danger of entirely forgetting who it is that pays their bills. Without us, the paying customers, they are nothing - it's about time they took their heads out of the sand and stopped denying any problems and started addressing them.
Please add your comments - with the 'contact us' pages being so conveniently unavailable it may be the only way to put our message across...
SC xx[/quote
Now all i need is a 'like' button on here because this member has hit it right on the head :thumbup: Sorry but i am a whole heartedly with this member, admin plz take note as this is now getting a constant issue, you need to focus and maintain otherwise you will see us paying customers not wanting to be paying our monthly subs if you cant give the service that its members are paying for - are you willing to payback for the non service time ? Tis a shame really as i am a returning long standing member and this site has given me so much, yet you still cant give or get the basics of the chatroom etc right yet..............Come on lets focus on a sustainable product then try adding the extras after, if they dont work then take them out and re-try again with another version, but a maintainable service is needed 110% & your members require it now when they log on.
Guys give SH a break!
The best there is for swingers!
Join SDC guys pay an awful lot more for a chat room with cams that have a 40 second lag! Pay an awful lot more taboot! Join FAB and get inundated by emails from idiots!
If SH did have the support suggested in this thread and went to that expense then sure we would be paying an awful lot more than we do and lets face it it isnt that often if falls over is it?
YES IT IS A PROVERBIAL PAIN WHEN IT FALLS OVER AND WE ARE TRYING TO FIND A MEET TONIGHT BUT NO DOUBT IT WILL BE BACK SOON AND WE WILL HAVE ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS LITTLE BLIP TO SERVICES.
For it to last this long there must be a serious problem and in the wider picture of things with internet servers and such like it may not be their fault and beyond their control?
GIVE THEM A CHANCE!
Given that they've just moved servers which they claimed would fix this, it's now beyond acceptable.
I'm in a similar position to snow_cougar's partner, and this looks to be a simple capacity/redundancy and configuration problem. The address lookup doesn't even work properly now (go to swingingheaven.co.uk instead of www.swingingheaven.co.uk and you get their South African site!)
Although the chat points to a different web domain, it's still owned by Symbios, so no excuse there for blaming a partner company.
Yes, you can argue that no-one will die or be injured becuase the site is down, but we are paying for a service which has gone far beyond an aceptable level of availability.
Even a simple apology would go a long, long way to quelling the anger and frustration that's building up here, but the owners seem to be more than happy to ignore that becuase we still pay, and it's always fun to know that the longer you've been on, the less you pay.
Grumpy ramble over.
We pay for a service and should expect and receive a level service that is fair....
For the amount of fees x membership it's not being reached ...
We should receive a fair level of compensation for loss of service over a mean time in line with the service level agreement.
In English ... It sucks.... Come on SH pull ya finger out! and earn your fees!
Er just to add
"have been contacted"? whats that about? the site went down 11 hours ago or more? and we are being told that they are only now finding out about it ?
thats just really bad customer service I'm afraid ! . If any of out IT sup[port did that they would be sacked !
Someone on here has suggested we give SH a "break" comparing it to the other sites etc my suggestion is that we would all forgive issues like that had it have been something a "mate" knocked up for us or tried to fix .. but SH is supposed to be run by professionals not a bunch of mates giving thisngs a tryout .. So can we please stop this Admin are out mates game .. admin are the people who get our money and we just want a decent service from them .. everyonbe likes to be friendly but this just aint right ..
So instead SH GIVE US A BREAK ! by not charging us for a few months until the system becomes stable ..when it is and works and is tested then we can all start paying again happily . Thats anice friendly thing to do isnt it?
I have mentioned this before but there are issues somewhere that need dealing with .. I suspect that the people who have programmed or set up this system are just a very small team , fair enough but it needs to work and these days its not much bette than amateurish
The other problem is continually updating, changing and adding and tweaking ..I for one dont want all these new things I just want it to work.. why are you constantly changing things ? I wonder if there is something else going on here like you are using SH to test other modules or units on for someone else? dunno am no expert but what I do know is that this just isnt working , and you are telling the members very little about all these problems other than you are sorry and they have been fixed .. and then announcing more new (unwanted ) exiting new changes ..which just cause more probs ..
Is it just me? ar can anyone else hear getting louder by the minute chants of "we want our money back"?
I'm a volunteer, I do this in my spare time, so please don't have a go at me because the site went down last night. I only knew when I logged on this morning, so don't shoot the messenger!! I appreciate your annoyance at these problems, but I am limited in what I personally can do, which, at this precise time, is to inform Admin and to let you know I have done so.
Mal
If you're all so unhappy with the service, just cancel your memberships.
Jesus, chill will you lot!
A few hours without SH is not going to kill you, yes there have been issues of late but I'm sure the sites owners are addressing them as we speak, if you all remember the servers where moved recently to facilitate making this site better.
If you feel that strong on the issue maybe put in a support ticket, instead of whining in the forums.
Paddy
Firstly - i'm not new to SH, I was a longstanding PAYING member up until 12mths ago when i decided a break was in order.
Secondly - These are not new issues, those who have been here 5yrs etc will already know that. Peeps have already left to show their frusration with the company, why should they leave again ??
Thirdly & Lastly - those of us who do pay have the right just as anybody who is buying a product to expect and demand the service which they are paying for, you all get a reciept for your payment, the same as you get a till reciept with whatever you purchase - this i believe is your proof of payment and also your guarentee etc if you need to take the item back and complain of faulty goods, hence what this thread is.
I again thank Mal who cam on and dutely reported things to admin with regards to the fact that the site had gone down. He as already stated is only a Mod for the site and having known a few of these peeps know that they do this volunteraly so that you good people can have fun and enjoy the site.
SH and swinging is what you make it and only you can make it what it is. Other than the site 'hic-cups' i dont have a problem with it, but i do expect a decent service for what i pay for and unfortunatley this has been a problem now for a few yrs, but as they say Rome wasnt built in a day - but plz take note people need to see that progress is being made and that doesnt mean hiking the pricing system up either, i think enuf has been paid into the kitty.
but can fully appreciate the heavy chat room users woes.
