HEREFORDSHIRE COUNCIL WEBSITE DOWN

[Ubique]

1045/270217

 

Herefordshire Council

Service unavailable

Due to essential maintenance the council website is currently unavailable.

 

You can contact us through facebook, twitter or the newsroom.

[twowheelsgood]

1.21pm - still offline - quite ridiculous - absolutely no excuse for this, when it is fundamental to the running of the Council and serving the County.

[Ubique]

Just checked and " Welcome to our new website " ! Greeted me. ,

 

If it is new just appears to be the wrong time to change it , thought that it would have been best during the night - but what do I know - perhaps I missed the information stating that the website would be down before it happened ?

[twowheelsgood]

2.58pm - still offline, but now we have the rubbish 'rebranding' logo. Their facebroke page says 'we are moving across to our new website it should be back up and running shortly' - that was an hour ago - how long is shortly?

[Ubique]

2.58pm - still offline, but now we have the rubbish 'rebranding' logo. Their facebroke page says 'we are moving across to our new website it should be back up and running shortly' - that was an hour ago - how long is shortly?

That brings up that well known reply from the film Airplane - " Don't call me Shortly "

( Apologies , couldn't resist it )

[Cloudberry]

I really don't like the new logo. It is not attractive, not friendly. What was supposed to be wrong with the green apple?

[twowheelsgood]

I really don't like the new logo. It is not attractive, not friendly. What was supposed to be wrong with the green apple?

 

We'll never know. Nor will we know the true cost of the new one. We do know it won't make a jot of difference, save to leave us even poorer.

 

As British Airways found when it changed its plane tailfins, while a rebrand can breathe new life into a company it can all go horribly wrong if it isn't embraced by customers. http://www.businesszone.co.uk/branding-disasters-the-rebranding-of-british-airways

[twowheelsgood]

4.39pm. Still off - that'll be it for today then. It's a very long shortly is all I can say. I'm sure lessons will be learned.

[Denise Lloyd]

Still off at 1654 hours. Essential maintenance should really be done over the weekends.  How many man hours have been lost today by no work being done I wonder.  They could not organise a whatever saying you choose to use ............. I wonder if this is the true reason

[Ubique]

Not sure what's going on - I can visit the website so to my mind it's up and running ( I think ! )

[twowheelsgood]

Still unavailable to me - a whole day's work schedule messed up. The Council blame my ISP - I don't see how it can be BT's fault. Tried on several different computers - unavailable to all of them.

[Denise Lloyd]

Not available to me either - lots of loss of earnings claims heading towards HC then!

 

Timed at 1908 hours

[Ubique]

That's spooky- I can get onto the Council website.

My problem is them accepting that I have paid my January Council Tax . I alway pay monthly and luckily save the receipts - they have a copy of the January receipt but after 9 days have not had the decency to apologise and agreed that Jan payment was paid. ( I only found out that they had no record of my Jan payment when I went to pay Febs dues - their amount outstanding was more that what I thought it should be )

[Denise Lloyd]

Well that is very interesting Ubique - I thought no more of what I read on Facebook this morning until now.  Quite few people who opted to pay over 10 months their  Council Tax have been charged Council Tax for Feb which  in theory should be a free month.

 

I think you will see in my post that I just wondered if there is more to this than meets the eye.  I think there is.  

 

Please most companies have a back up system - this is very odd indeed

[Aylestone Voice]

I can now access the website. I know such changes take some getting used to but my first impression is that it is a bit clunky

[Denise Lloyd]

I too can access the website and I agree with AV it is a bit clunky but we will stick with it rather than have them spend even more money!

[twowheelsgood]

And we're back after almost 24 hours offline - imagine if Marks & Spencer did that - they'd lose millions and heads would roll. Herefordshire Council - it's just another day - they get paid regardless.

[twowheelsgood]

Just wasted 40 minutes trying to submit a pre-app - twice - jumped through all the hoops, pressed the submit... and ... nothing. Filled in the contact form to complain, pressed the submit... and ... nothing

 

So, we've no doubt paid spacecraft digital a small fortune and they've jumped in saying "We are experts in understanding your organisation and helping you realise your desired outcomes. That’s our commitment, our passion." Yeah, right.

[twowheelsgood]

Complained to spacecraft who have responded "I believe that part of the site is powered by a system we do not look after I’m afraid. I have forwarded your email to our contact at the council." Dear oh dear.

[Ubique]

We are all doomed ! From FB posted 1115 today

 

Hereford Town Hall office and Shire Hall are currently without communications.

 

If you wish to register a birth, death or marriage, please contact Leominster (01432 261555) or Ross-on-Wye (01432 260854) registration services between 10am and 2pm.

[twowheelsgood]

It was too good to last - Herefordshire Council get your act together.

[twowheelsgood]

Well, it is no longer down, for now at least, but it's barely useable - loads of links to pages go to this;

 

Page not found

Oops. Something’s missing…

 

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

[adamski]

Ha! It might as well be down, for all the use it is. I had cause to use it today to try and contact trading standards, lots of different links, all leading to...... NOTHING!

[twowheelsgood]

Now we have 'intermittent performance issues' and its not even the weekend!

[the casual]

I hope Two Wheels is sat down before he reads this... http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/15145175.Council__39_s_new_website_cost___260_000/

[Ubique]

I hope Two Wheels is sat down before he reads this... http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/15145175.Council__39_s_new_website_cost___260_000/

That is outrages - they are going on about Central Govt is not giving them the money for Child Social Service etc plus Care for Elderly , bus routes being cut etc.and they , that is Herefordshire CC spending £260000 on upgrading a website which to my mind worked perfectly well. - I guess that someone or the secret Cabinet authorised this expenditure . This expenditure is going to bit them just below their rear waist !

 

They ain't leading us to the promised land ... As Bobby 47 would say " We are doomed "

[bobby47]

How do 'they' manage to do this sort of thing over and over again? Well, it's all relatively easy. You take the ideology of Common Purpose, use LinkedIn and your many other contacts hoovered up after years of playing the public service game and then, and this is the crucial piece of the game, you take a 'suit' and place him or her in charge of the procurement of the IT software.

Importantly but easily guaranteed, that suit must have and will have reached his or her own personal level on incompetence several pay grades below where they actually are now, ensuring that when they sit down and negotiate with the private sector suit the disadvantage and unfairness of this fiscal encounter can easily and profitably be exploited at a huge cost to us the paying public.

The result? On behalf of the people, the Council acquire a hugely expensive piece of software that doesn't work, will never work and no matter how much money you throw at it thereafter, and it's guaranteed they will, the software cannot work because the procurement process was founded upon the Council purchasing and installing the exact bit of kit that they shouldn't have acquired in the first place.

Then, and this is the sugary bit for the private sector, they've steered the Council to sign up to a contract with a friendly company who agree to pop in from time to time at a hugely inflated cost to iron out any birthing problems that over a period of several years turn out to be extremely harsh and frequently regular birthing problems that then alert some other 'suit' to the fact that perhaps, just perhaps, collectively, they've managed to repeat the mistake they've made on several other separate occasions and acquitted a bit of kit they never needed in the first bloody place.

And round and round it goes!

[Colin James]

How much!!

 

This is an obscene amount of money to spend on a website! I would of questions it had it of been £60k but quarter of a £Million pounds?

 

I know quite a bit about websites having run several for over 20 years and I cannot believe this figure, I thought the council had no money?

 

They cannot afford to maintain the grass, tree's and bushes in our close but they can find £260k, this is unreal it really is.

[Denise Lloyd]

Oh well relative newbie Councillor David Harlow says it is money well spent - watch this guy he is either destined to go far or is being groomed as yet another scapegoat.  Word on the street is he is very willing to be helpful.  Is he being used?

[toroidal]

Just proves Alice in Wonderland is alive, kicking and well !!  Utter bloody madness I tell you.