May 14, 2008...4:15 pm
Latest Feedback
Falls to me to post the latest on the new site, and other stuff going on here. I hope you found the previous posts by Graham informative.
We’ve spent a great deal of time over the last week or so talking to our customers about the new site, via surveys, email, phone conversations and doing some prototype testing of new features with some of you. Thanks again if you’ve contributed. It’s been a good experience throughout, getting to the heart of what people really miss about the old site, and now that the new site’s a bit more familiar to customers, what’s working well.
Problems really comes down to the fact that we’re not yet fully optimised for the frequent, ‘heavy’ user of our services, particularly professional and commercial customers. We’re seeing a good response however from customers who wish to make a relatively simple order - 100 6×4s, for example, or a Photobook. Indeed our new book manufacturing facilities are running pretty busy already!
I’m confident however we’ll continue to improve for all our customers. As previously posted, we’ll go live with a much improved high-volume print order screen very soon, which will reintroduce the features on the old site. FTP will go back up in the next few days. Performance on some of our key pages will also greatly improve, as promised, in the next couple of weeks or so – development of the required tuning is already well-advanced.
Back to the theme of getting feedback from you. Apart from this blog, we’ll be increasing the amount of co-development & testing we do directly with customers. Just recently some of you have worked with us on a new ‘prints user journey’ and it’s been invaluable for us. We aim to continue with this kind of approach to ensure our customers remain at the centre of our thinking. Post your views on this via this blog, and let us know if you’d like to participate in the future.
Finally, an update from our customer service department. Stuart and the team have worked much overtime fielding the initial wave of questions and problems as customers changed over. Thanks for your patience if an answer’s taken longer than normal. I’m glad to say service levels are returning to normal, but if you could call outside of our peak 9am to noon period it would be appreciated.
More soon
Mark
73 Comments
May 14, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Thanks for the regular updates. We didn’t realise how much we liked your old site until we didn’t have it any more!
Good luck - don’t envy your task having seen the feedback on the blog (much of which I agree with, though I’m not a heavy user so I don’t come across many of the issues - it’s the speed of the new site that gets me down).
May 14, 2008 at 6:26 pm
We are a heavy user of this system and have had a nightmare without http://FTP. We can’t upload any files now and keep getting message “PROXY NOT FOUND” We are professional photographers and this is now becoming totally unacceptable
May 14, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Please can you add the photo description back to the slideshow feature. I really like the slideshow feature as it allows family to see my photos easily but I have just entered descriptions for all 65 photos in my album only to find that when I share it with my family they can not see them. The description used to display next to the photo in the old slideshow.
Hope you can do this for me
Thanks
Jason
May 14, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Whilst I too have experienced some of the problems with the new website, I think Photobox should be congratulated on their openness and willingness to receive and respond to feedback.
How many other organisations would allow such overwhelmingly negative comments on their blog, let alone link to that blog from their homepage?
May 14, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I just spent over an hour trying to do up what I would consider a pretty simple order. I found it very frustrating to have to go into the “change” “dialog box” every time I wanted to to a simple “shrink to fit” (which used to be an easy selection on the old system.) I was also unable to change items from 4X6 Matte to 4.5X6 Matte. I ended up ordering prints that I am not thrilled with (size or finish wise). I hope the system becomes more user friendly, as I do not plan on ever spending that long on an order again.
May 15, 2008 at 6:00 am
It’s a good thing that you are trying to resolve some of the problems, but what about those of us who aren’t “heavy” users? I emailed your Customer Service department well over a week ago as the “Fast” uploader isn’t working on the new site with my PC. I got one email back, but when that suggestion didn’t work and I asked for further help, all I have had is one of your surveys asking me about the problems. I am more than happy to help as I really liked Photobox (note past tense) but that hasn’t helped me solve the problem and I have heard nothing back from Customer Services since. I am now using another site which has the functionality of the old Photobox and the added bonus that my friends don’t have to sign in to see pictures. I understand that you need to work for the pro guys who are your bread and butter, but it’s a sad indictment of current thinking that small users don’t seem to count. It saddens me to say that I won’t be back in a hurry.
May 15, 2008 at 9:41 am
I you think your customer service has returned to normal then you are sadly mistaken.
I placed an order and paid by PayPal on the 8th May. Two hours later the order was still marked as unpaid, so i emailed photobox with the PayPal transaction and invoice ID. A day later I got a reply saying you needed a copy of the original PayPal confirmation email. I forwarded it immediately to you. A day later I got a reply saying you could not open it. On 11 May I sent the copy email again, on 13 May I emailed trying to see what the status of the order was, I received no reply. On 14 May I tried calling customer service, but spent 10 minutes on hold. I’ve currently spent 15 minutes on hold to customer services, and am just about to put the phone down.
May 15, 2008 at 10:03 am
The pictures do not look clear and crisp as they did on the old site. They look blurry - which puts me (and anyone els) off getting any prints.
May 15, 2008 at 10:17 am
Not a reflection on the new site, but poor quality of printing and another moan about customer service, I’m afraid.
I recently placed what was a large order for me (over £100) and it consisted of several files(pictures) being printed to different sizes. Sadly when I received them, the small prints are too light, the large ones are too dark. I wrote to customer service and several days later (I do realise you were launching the new site but..) and was told that the prints are printed on different printers. Surely, I am not the first to want the same picture printed to different sizes with consistancy ?
I was told I would get a refund for the larger prints, and then TOLD TO ADJUST THE FILES MYSELF to suit the different printers then re-order. Do you not have any way to calibrate your printers ???
I find this amazingly poor customer service. What if the prints were being sent direct to a client ?
In the past, I have enjoyed good service and products from Photobox, but have just re-ordered my UNALTERED files from another printing company - does that tell you how I feel ?
My prints were meant to be on display last week in my town hall - I have had to apologies, making me look unprofessional, and am loosing sales
I would appreciate some decent feedback on this before getting even more vocal on the various forums I belong to.
May 15, 2008 at 10:47 am
I can’t be the only artist to rely on postcards to promote my artwork - I spent over £1,000 on them last year. They still haven’t appeared on the new site. I emailed about this when the new site was being tested and received a reply to the effect that they’d be available soon. I’ll have to begin looking elsewhere - a shame, since I loved the quality of the printing and the thickness of the card used for the old ones.
May 15, 2008 at 10:55 am
I am another that much preferred the old site, your cookies no longer retain my login info and it’s a pain having to insert my card details for every transaction I am looking at alternatives (sorry guys). Your printing standards appear to have slipped quite a bit since I first used your site and I feel that customer service is also eroding (along with my loyalty)
Tez
May 15, 2008 at 11:47 am
Overall I think the new site is good: it looks much cleaner and is more intuitive, but I have to echo the comments of Ann(i)e above and say that having to click on “change” for every photo I want to shrink-to-fit is incredibly annoying, and unbelievably time-consuming. It was so much easier in the old version, where you could tick-box the photos you wanted to shrink-to-fit and update them all at once.
I really hope you can do something about this, as it makes ordering photos such a hassle that I would consider using a different company if this continued.
On a positive note, I have always found your customer service team to be very helpful and quick to respond to any queries I’ve had.
May 15, 2008 at 12:56 pm
The ftp login is not working again because the “server rejected the password”. The password is correct, the login details are correct, please sort out the problem, it’s been ongoing for months, hasn’t customer services told you of the problems?
May 15, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Hey guys what’s happened to the Weather competition - closing date was April 18??
May 15, 2008 at 5:16 pm
This is a poor site and functions are not as good. How many albums can I have. On the old site you could see what youe album space was. Now I seem to have lost this?
May 15, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Three weeks ago I ordered 6 photobooks under your 2 for 1 offer: two weeks later, only 3 arrived. The ‘new’ style is poor: the space in the front cover through which you see the first photo looks like its been done with a biscuit cutter. Who decided that that was an acceptable change? I ordered based on the quality of a book of yours I had been given 12 months ago, its much better. Come on photobox, change back immediately before you lose any more custom.
Big problems with customer service: its taken from Friday night until today (Thursday) to get through. My complaint email went unanswered, the customer services manager doesn’t answer, and I spent 40 minutes getting through to customer services today.
NOT impressed.
May 15, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Well done Photobox you are obviously listening! When I saw last week that with the new site you had to click on “options” on each photo to enable you to see the photo number I screamed! With several hundred photos in each of my albums it would have taken me ages to sort the photos I wanted to order. It is with great relief that I now can see the photo name/number over each thumbnail.
Any chance you could do something about storing credit card details? I place several orders each month and it is a real pain that you now have to enter credit card details each time you order.
Also, what has happened to the extra storage space you used to be given with each order? Is there no restriction now on how many photos you can store?
Thanks.
May 15, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I like the new site, the appearance and the speed of loading. I have wandered around inside it, its easy to navigate, very intuitive. Slide show worked well, not sure what the negative comments are about.
I have yet to upload any photos and order, one or two of the comments seem to think its more long winded. I will have to test it out.
May 15, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Where has the little red box that I used to use to pick which bits of the photo I wanted to print when I was picking an aspect ratio (6×4, 7×5 etc)? I’m not willing to go ahead and spend money just hoping that you choose the areas of the photo I want.
What was wrong with the old functionality anyway???
May 16, 2008 at 8:57 am
What have you done? This new site is just terrible.
Really bad navigation and somehow (goodness knows how you managed it!?) it’s even slower than the old site.
My family and I (6 members in total) are currently looking for a new host for our photos.
Sort it out - fast.
May 16, 2008 at 9:49 am
I have been struggling with the very slow performance of the new website, but now I finally get to ordering my photographs I am astonished how much harder it is. I am ordering 100 or so photographs, some of which are 6×4 format some 6×4.5, so I said ‘print all 6×4.5′ as usual, and I would usually now tick the 50 or so that are actually 6×4 and change them on bulk - no tick boxes. I can’t believe you would remove such a useful feature. Now I have to select each photo, wait while it loads, change it, wait while it saves… 50 times. This is not only useful for huge orders, anyone ordering more than 10 photographs is likely to use it! I would also have ticked some to enlarge but I really don’t think I can be bothered.
May 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm
What have you done ??
I had no significant problems with the old site whereas I am now looking for someone else to do my printing.I have now spent two afternoons just trying to sort out 100 pictures –the first time they got from my basket in the transfer from the old site to the new and the second time I diid eventually manage to order them but only after the basket empty message appeared several times in the process which was very worrying and annoying.
Everything now takes so long and until all these problems are resolved I shant be back.
May 16, 2008 at 1:52 pm
hi, You had an excellent site, easy to use, easy to edit and delete images either singularly or as a selected group. Images were simple to upload. Now…oh dear.
Why on earth did you change it?
May 16, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Furthermore, why are you adding shortcuts to my system with quick launch’s added to my toolbar?
I will decide whether I need another quick launch. This is my work pc and I’ve no desire for you to do this.
May 16, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Iv’e not had a chance to play with your new site as yet so can’t comment as others have regarding its speed. I am however extremely disappointed that all my order tracking information along with all my photo’s stored have been simply wiped off.
I have used your services a great deal over the past years and to have visited to choose a picture and get it print only to find that all my images as well as my login doesn’t even exist any longer has made me less than happy.
If this is how you have treated all your customers then perhaps they like myself will re-consider what ‘we’ actually mean to you. After this episode I have now used one of your competitors and although the selection is less so is the price they charge.
Consider that before you upset even more people!
May 16, 2008 at 2:27 pm
What on earth were you thinking? Sure, the old site could have been improved - what site couldn’t? To forcibly transfer people over to a clearly unfinished site without warning is business suicide. If you wanted to build a new site, you should have started by asking your customers which features they liked about the old site and what improvements they wanted. Then you should have built the new site in line with their responses - in close consultation with a panel of customers, of course. You could have unveiled the new site and invited everyone to take a look round, have a test drive, provide feedback, and let them switch their accounts IF AND WHEN THEY WANTED. In the end, if the new site was better, everyone would switch.
Oh, any chance of actually being able to log in at some point without being told my e-mail address isn’t registered? Why would you force-redirect people to the new site when you haven’t even transferred their login details?
May 16, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I thought I was the only one who thought the new site was dreadful. What have you done? I loved Photobox they way it was and had no sooner recommended it to my friends and you change it into some kind of spooky amateur site which takes for ever and a day just to log on to. Please change back soon
May 17, 2008 at 9:45 am
Just received my first new photobooks off the new site after having Dozens of books printed previously and am not impressed with the quality of the printing also the books are smaller and lighter can anyone recommend an alternative supplier that can give me the quality that we used to have from photobox? VERY DISAPOINTED!!!
May 17, 2008 at 11:45 am
I am a pro photographer in Ireland and use your services for printing proofs. I liked using the Laser facility, equivalent of Switch in the UK, but find it has disappeared on the new site. Also, prices appear as Sterling only and not Euro as before.
Customer service try to tell me to use Maestro, which is an ATM only facility for payments, which obviously don’t work.
Please put up your old payments page again, I don’t want to use credit cards as it has a limit. Thank you.
May 17, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Ive realised in my comment on 16th May I left out the vital word ” lost ” in the sentence about my basket with the transfer of my account to the new site.Hence all my efforts with putting 100 photos in my basket disappeared on transfer which is why I had to spend another 3 +hours re-doing everything.
Having said that I have today received my order placed 2 days ago and it is fine other than photos no longer have the date taken printed on the back which is a feature I really like–or is that an opt-in feature somewhere on the site that I have missed.
I intend to wait now, see if photobox sorts out the new site and if it doesnt then I shant bother with it again. I suggest the old site should be made available in the meantime ( otherwise it looks like lots of professionals and amateurs like me will vote with their feet.) and all those members of staff who thought the new site was better should consider changing careers !!
May 18, 2008 at 1:26 pm
The new web site is so much worse than the original that I will be looking for a new photo printing site.
The site does not work properly with Firefox. Are you getting a kick-back from Microsoft?
A classic case of fixing an unbroken product.
May 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Dear photobox I am still having problems navigating to my old/or new pro gallery admin page, can anyone help with a step to step guide! Also concerned whether your bringing back the standard calendar formats as opposed to the new swish black one which isnt very practical as a calendar! Also could you apply a text box function so we can now annotate our calendar photos?
Cheers, Phil
May 19, 2008 at 6:00 am
I would greatly appreciate you reinstating the ‘retouching’ service. Previously, your team has added enormous value to the colour/resolution quality of my prints. I’m afraid I do not have enough technical knowledge to be sure that my screen is properly calibrated, and I am very happy to pay for help. For the time being, I’m afraid I am using another lab, which is charging me more, but which can help me get the quality of print I’m looking for. You had a great unique selling point - please reconsider your decision to cancel it. Many thanks, K
May 19, 2008 at 9:25 am
Can you please improve the basket view. When I select a border to my photos - or shrink to fit I can see no difference to when I don’t apply these options - it would be nice to see what I am likely to get before I order. Also what if I want a border on some but not on others that doesn’t seem to be an option in the basket and I think it should be (by the way it would also help if you could give some idea of the size of the border too)
May 19, 2008 at 11:20 am
I have to echo Phil’s comments about calendars. For the past three years I’ve ordered a Photobox calendar for myself, as well as sending them as gifts.
I now won’t be able to do this, as some genius decided that the calendars should be printed on black paper with no space to make notes under each date — which surely is the point of a calendar!
Please bring back the old formats - they were simple, clean and uncluttered and looked great but more importantly were USEFUL. The new ones might look nice but it’s style over content as they are utterly USELESS!
By the way, for anyone looking for quality photo books I have one word: Blurb.
May 19, 2008 at 2:02 pm
What an awful unmitigated disaster, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it !!
154 photographs took a whole evening to upload 6pm-1130plus, (I went to bed before it finished !) I’ve just wasted an hour on trying to resize photos from your site. In the old site you could resize and see the effect very quickly. I uploaded 154 photos 34 of which would need resizing from 6×4.5 to 6×4, this is very quick on the old system. Now it chuffs around and when it makes changes all it appears to do is crop the picture anyway. Previously changing size gave you the full image. I know it’s possible to change them in Photoshop prior to uploading, but the whole point is that it was possible on your old site.
So hey ho let’s delete the ones I need to resize and continue with the smaller order- but the site won’t let me delete them ! I won’t waste my money on ordering 34 photos I don’t want. Result I’m not inclined to PLACE ANY ORDER with you.
In short the site is slow, very slow, clunky and unresponsive, give us back the old site please. Its so slow I thought I’d gone back to dial up internet.
Another dissatisfied customer
Off to find another site, Digital Photo recommended you and you’ll see from our orders we were always satisfied with the speed and quality of your photos. What a shame, I’m even in credit with you . I do hope you read this and respond .
Malcolm
May 19, 2008 at 2:08 pm
As a Pro user I’m amazed you switched off VAT receipts with no warning. I enquired a couple of weeks ago and was told they would be turned back on in a couple of weeks.
Really need VAT receipts please ASAP.
Also, hate to say it but the new site is slow and I detest Java based apps as they take forever to load. Your old site was easier to navigate and way way quicker to order and change order without Java trying to reload each little change.
If it ain’t broke why did you try and fix it???
May 19, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I loathe this new site. It is a complete muddle. I recently shot some images at a party and gave them my web gallery address for this site only to find that it had all changed. Now there is no way any clients can search for my gallery and select their event from it. This is a huge, huge mistake as clients cannot search for their photographers albums.
It is not possible either, to provide a link directly to a specific album as the addresses don’t work.
Absolutely hate it - why did you change it when it was almost perfect?
I am seriously considering removing my custom from here and it is not sour grapes. This site can no longer deliver to my clients a) easy access to their images b) simple to use site in order to purchase prints. I will lose money from this and am earnestly looking for other gallery hosts.
Sorry, but you have ruined it.
May 19, 2008 at 9:13 pm
This is my first visit to the new site and it is soooooooo slow. It has taken me all evening to order less than 100 prints and 10 identical cards! (NB cards not postcards - what happened to the postcards?) It really has been painful. Here’s hoping its sorted before I next want to order prints as not sure I can face going through all that again….
May 19, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Oh dear! I’ve been a fan of photobox for a few years now but this ‘new’ design is terrible and why is it so slow? Im going to give it a couple of weeks to see if things improve, but if not im off! Please Photobox, sort this mess out.
May 20, 2008 at 12:58 am
Thought I’d add my voice to the comments listed. Been using Photobox since the word go when you guys were exhibiting at Excel in London (2002?) I’ve always extolled your vitues to many fellow snappers - not anymore, tonight was perhaps the final nail in the coffin trying to place a simple order. New web site is utterly useless to say the least, been struggling with it for two weeks now and enough is enough. I use you guys a lot both for client prints and Pro gallery as you used to offer a good service for prints at areasonable price, but your quality has slipped, the order process takes me 10-15 times longer than it ever did, your upload system stinks, mind you it’s been that way for the past year or more and to even try to multiple change items in the basket is a joke. Please do us all a favour and switch the old system back on!! I am reluctantly going to blow the dust off of my Sony UPDR100 and consider starting printing my 7×5’s and passport photos here in the office.I have a Kodak 1400 which does a superb job of 10 and 12 x8’s. Costs me quite a bit more, but without the hassle, as I can’t see you guys regaining any decent system any time soon.
May 20, 2008 at 7:42 am
A bit disappointed with the changeover. Very slow page loads with an extremely clunky feel to the whole thing. Also the print crop facility simply did not work - which was a big inconvenience (although that looks like it may have been fixed). How can you not have tested a major bit of functionality like that ?
I also find it pretty confusing trying to figure out how to get to the edit/crop/delete screen to fine-tune my order. You really need a bigger and more obvious button for that.
However, I’ve been reasonably pleased with prints. I mainly order B&W and the two sets of prints since changeover have been the closest-yet to true Black/White (i.e. zero colour cast).
May 20, 2008 at 8:54 am
Sorry to moan again - but I have selected Matt in my preferences - but if I order anything other than the stated preference print size I am given gloss - I don’t want gloss! I prefer a matt finish on all my prints not just the 6×4 and its a pain in the proverbial to have to remember to keep changing it if I orderr a larger sized print - the two options should be independant or at least give me the option to select if for all my prints if I want to.
May 20, 2008 at 9:08 am
I have to say that this new site is terrible. The old site was user friendly and most importantly, quick. This feels slow and quite frankly, unusable. I’m very disappointed after being a photobox user for a number of years now.
Bye
May 20, 2008 at 11:08 am
What have you done photobox?
I am a pro photographer and this new site is a nightmare, I use the pro gallery to sell images and have wasted hours trying to get this new site to work.I left images uploading last night to the new site, which was really slow then to discover that you can not link folder in the new site to the old pro gallery one !
I am sorry to say but I think that you have grown to big and you have forgot about the quality of prints and the customers, the prints are not to the standard they once were and this new site is a complete shambles.
I was always a big supporter of Photobox but I will be looking for a new company as the main thing I need is good quality of prints and a website that works fast and well and that is just not what you are offering now.
May 20, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Does anyone at Photobox read the feedback and care. You have a fundamentally great concept but the website is designed by/for geeks. The basic function of trying to load photos requires a PhD and huge patience. Yet designing mugs, cards etc is easy - but your average amateur user doesn’t have the time or the inclination to learn geek speak to load their photos. My working life is busy and at the end of a hard day getting pictures of my precious spare time should be simple. I lose track of how many times I scream at your website! For heavens sake cure the problems… this is so brand destructive. I assume you just don’t know how - engage IT consultants who do before it is too late
May 20, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I like most people above loved the old site and recommended it to many but not anymore.
It seems much slower to do anything and many of the items I just to order have now gone. The postcards and the notebooks. When are they coming back? Have a holiday coming up but I’m not sure I will be printing the photos via photobox.
May 20, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I am also a pro photographer and very disappointed with your new site. It seems to be geared to the complete beginner who wants a 6×4 glossy print. Your old site was great, but this is terrible. Even a small order is tedious and frustrating to prepare. Orders are taking hours to input. I am also looking for a new supplier for my printing. I have already started to move my pro albums. I hate to think what your next “upgrade” will be like.
One last thing - if the machine says “please be patient” one more time (I think I will scream…..
May 21, 2008 at 1:34 am
Nearly everyone is asking you to revert back. Why will you not address this question as a separate response on your next blog update
May 21, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi, Im a “heavy user” of PhotoBox and have to say that although the new site does look “pretty” - it’s lost all of the speed and functionality that it had.
It is incredibly time consuming for me to place orders now, and there are several additional steps that I have to go through which did not exist on the old site, all of which are not required.
Losing the ability to send customers a message on the order form is a real pain too - I used to send a message hoping the order was ok and if not to contact me, not PhotoBox. Now this has completely gone.
File size now seems to be an issue too. Printing large is a regular thing for me, and now I cannot send large file sizes needed to get the correct quality of print?
Unfortunately, it looks like your Tech Team have either been given poor advice on the new technology you have on the site, or you consulted the wrong users…
Either way, I too am seriously looking at an alternative printing service for my business - my reputation counts much more than my loyalty to you.
I have been a PhotoBox customer pretty much since you started - and this is the worst thing you have done to date.
May 21, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hello
I have used Photobox for years, although the last time I did I had a real disaster with over £150 of photos being delivered wrong - I received someone else’s wedding photos and none of mine - but I thought that was a one-off. In January I went on a group holiday and organised for an online album on this site for everyone in the group to upload their photos to, and then we would create photobooks and archive CDs for everyone. The Archive CDs have been out of stock permanently since January. I have gone in this week to try and create the Photobook for people in the group to order, and it won’t let me. I am logging into the site above no issue and finding my album and seeing all my photos - but when I try to click on ‘create photobook’ it auto diverts me to the new website where it hasn’t recognised I’m logged into the old one and isn’t recognising my login details, so it looks like despite being a customer I have not been migrated across? Therefore I can’t create my photobook and can’t even get an archive CD, so my holiday photos are sitting uselessly on this site’s album and I can’t get them back offline where I can do what I need to do with them. This is a completely rubbish experience.
May 21, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I’ve had to switch to a different website. I was relying on photobox for my friends to buy my photos but the new site is so slow and the slideshow is fuzzy I’m sure they would just think I was a terrible photographer. It’s slow with Broadband so it must be impossible if you use dial up!
If you switch back to the old site I might consider returning as I love the speed of your delivery.
May 22, 2008 at 10:46 am
Can we please have the store credit card details switch back on? It’s a real pain to have to enter credit card details each time I place an order. Also why will the site not remember me? I have to sign in every time even if I click the remember me button!
May 22, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I know the speeds are gradually improving, but I thought I’d let people know that I tried it with Firefox 3 today and it seems to be faster still (other sites seems faster with Firefox 3 too).
This might help others who are having speed problems (though it won’t solve the general problem of trying to make the site ‘pretty’ and ‘Web 2.0′ at the expense of usability).
Firefox users can go to http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/test
if you fancy trying out FF3 without messing up your FF2 installation.
Following that potential tip, I’d like to add to the general misery about the revamp - why didn’t you just introduce new features slowly rather than make the site fall down overnight? Didn’t the beta testing flag up these issues??
May 22, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I agree with Lorna that the slideshow is fuzzy aand that the new site is very slow. The old site was easy to use and the slideshow quality was excellent. Also I like to put comments next to my photos but these no longer appear when showing the photos as a slideshow. PLEASE put this feature back.
But MOST IMPORTANTLY please improve the QUALITY of the photos in the slideshow.
Remember the old adage “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. The old site wasn’t “broke”.
May 22, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I really like the new site except for one problem…
The ‘Checkout’ button is not working, so am unable to order my minibooks and prints - very frustrating.
May 23, 2008 at 10:58 am
Dear Photobox team
After being amongst the first to criticise the new site on various issues. I would now like to say that I see a vast improvement. As promised you took away the “please be patient” part - thankyou. The quality of photos on the slideshow needs more clarity but apart from that I feel that things are now going well. Because of the early problems I used another photo service but kept returning to check the progress of your site - I’m glad to say I have now returned hopefully for good.
May 23, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Has anyone else commented on the fact that so few users have blogged here out of the total proportion of photobox users? What has happened to the silent majority of potential complainants? If 2 out of 10 users approx. had probs. with the new site and here we get a total of 50 -100 blog complaints, what is going on? A lot of people solidiering on ( can’t spell!)?
Is it still so, that the thumbnails in the checkout / basket area are still too small to really see?
And anyone else inconvenience by the lack of log of uploads to which i have drawn notice to the services team?
May 23, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I’m afraid to say that your updates have made it almost impossible to rapidly load photographs to support our business and we have no choice but to find an alternative. food luck with your updates -its a shame that you don’t seem to have taken pro users into account.
May 25, 2008 at 9:48 am
Have left an essay on a previous blog entry but felt compelled to say one thing:
SNAPFISH.
In a selfish way, I am glad so many people are experiencing similar problems! I still think I might hold the record for hanging on the line at 55+ mins.
I don’t care if the prints I will get from Snapfish are inferior as to be honest, I was never altogether impressed with the ones from here!
My old stylebook had better arrive on Tuesday or I might actually consider it the proverbial straw and speak to my solicitor. And don’t think I won’t bother as I get free legal work.
May 26, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I have just spent 4 hours trying to create a new photobook from my safari photographs and it has been a disaster. I couldn’t save it as I went along or at half done because it has to have a picture in every slot: first of all it was terribly slow, then suddenly it froze, then shut down and I have lost the lot. I couldnt switch between proper albums to the thumbnails that appear at the top. I used to recommend this to friends, but I am so frustrated by my wasted day today. I agree with the other comments about time to upload; at least choosing the pictures to upload is now faster, as long as you realise it will take hours for the programme to actually upload them.
May 27, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Unfortunately I agree with all the other posts, and I have to confess that my entire family (who have been avid users) are all looking at other alternatives, which is a real shame.
Can I ask why the choice of speed for the slideshow has been removed, and how this increases customer service….?
May 28, 2008 at 10:28 am
not happy with some features of the new site either, slideshow rubbish, no features and images look blurred, hope prints will be better that what is displayed online.
May 30, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I too am very disappointed with the New Website, I have so much trouble just trying to log-in, once I have managed to log-in and upload images, they must be ordered there and then because if I log out, then it can take days before I will be allowed to log back in to order them. This has been going on since the new site went live and is now getting past a joke.
I have been a loyal customer with orders just about every couple of weeks of 12in x 8in prints, which I have been pleased with the quality. It is just the fact that I can’t access my account when I want too.
Bring back the old website which ran perfectly. otherwise I’m having to start to look else where for on-line printing.
June 1, 2008 at 8:38 pm
What a pity. I’m all for progress but these changes seem senseless. I have used Photobox for years and had no problems. In fact I have raved about it to friends and family who have shared many of my albums. I have ordered many items including enlargements and gifts. However, now you seem to have an identity problem. I have had to upload new albums on the new site AND the old one. The shopping baskets are different on each site and your technical help guys didn’t seem to have a clue why I found this frustrating. Please sort it out. I am happy to use the new site but only once all my old stuff is transferred over and I have had no indication if or when this will happen.
June 2, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I managed to log into my account tonight, so I was able to upload ten 12in x 8in prints and get them ordered, good job that I did order before logging out. As I have been trying again ever since and just cannot log back in. Everytime I enter http://www.photobox.co.uk it sends me to the old photobox site and when I try to log in it just tells me that my password is invalid.
Why can’t you remove this old site if you want us to continue using your new site, it is just a real pain.
On past experience I now know that by about Friday this week I will be able to log back in again, but only for a short while.
I’m sure that you must be losing a lot of custom from us loyal customers as I’m having to order from other suppliers now when I can’t log-in to your site, although I would much prefer to deal with you for your image quality, but if I can’t log-in then I can’t upload and order.
These comments must also be putting off potential new customers.
We can only put up with this service for so long.
June 3, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Sorry Guys I have tried to live with the new site but it’s now time to move on.
I spent the best part of 5 hours trying to order 28 A4’s 3 10×8 & 1 20 x16 and gave up the struggle at 9.45 last night. I have been using you for the last 5 years and if you check out the orders, have spent quite a bit of money with yourselves and now it grives me to have to look for another lab. However I havent the time to muck about trying to order and the new site is just soooo clunky and slow that it gets tiresome and I’m afraid I’ve lost the will to live.
Even trying to get to this blog took enough time to make a sandwich and a cupper.
Maybe when you get over all the problems I might have another go but I wouldnt hold your beath, I tend to stay with the ones that work and I’m afriad to say that you did but dont no more.
Just a thought, have you got the guy that did Trem 5 at heathrow working for you?
June 3, 2008 at 5:52 pm
guys,
I can put up with the clunkiness of the new site and get used to the was it works. but I ordered a test print of some photos and was not happy with the quality at all. I adjusted m pictures and that solved the problem, more or less, the point is I cannot do two sets of prints to ensure that I get what I want; reading through this blog shows that I am not alone.
it seems is urgent now for you to provide downloadable colour profiles for us. I cannot duplicate prints and a refund does not do the trick because I still have to process the pictures again, upload and reorder.
please get you tech guys to create foolproof profiles.
Marcelo
BTW. you customer service rep (Ben) was prompt and helpful. no complaints there!
June 4, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I have to agree with the majority of comments. The new site sucks. Like others I have used your site to sell photos. I have also recommended it to various friends/Clients/Family and local schools. Oh dear what will they think of me now.
The most annoying thing is that when you create a new album I cannot view it from my old professional gallery.
Some upto date feedback on your blog might show you are listening to all the above comments
June 5, 2008 at 7:30 am
Command: PORT 138,208,83,25,6,216
Response: 200 PORT command OK.
Command: LIST
Response: 150 Opening data connection for file listing.
Error: Timeout detected!
Error: Could not retrieve directory listing
This is all I get when connecting via ftp - no success with ftp at all on the new site despite your assurances to the contrary and a pleasant chap assuring me on the ‘phone that all would be sorted out in a day or two - about 2 weeks ago! The new site is a catastrophic step for users of the old site. Are you so confident of expansion that you can afford to lose customers? You were the best by a wide margin for some time but no longer, I fear
June 5, 2008 at 11:31 am
Thanks for my photos. My first time on photobox, won’t be the last. Excellent prints and very fast service. Truly recommended. Thanks again.
June 5, 2008 at 3:47 pm
It seems such a shame that what was an easy to job to deal with your website has turned into a big mess
I want to be able to see the full title of all the 700 albums I have on Photobox and the creation date would help. Today my albums are in some random order and even though my settings require tyhem listed in creation date this will not happen
Eventually I found a specfic album that I wished to send an ivitation for my son to link into but the site just rotates me around not allowing me to enter an email address.
This is all very frustrating
Please try to sort it all out
June 7, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I can now report that after the Technical team at Photobox contacted me, we were able to find out why I could only occasionally log-in to my account, it appears to be a problem with my ISP (tiscali) redirecting me to the old site, The technical team has now given me another route to my account which seems to work every time until there can sort out why I’m being redirected by my ISP. So I’m now happy, as I,ve always been happy with Photobox in the past, my problems was not being able to access my account, but now sorted.
Thank you.