New Axminster Tools & Machinery Web Site Launched!

[RogerS]

Axminster aren't alone in seemingly not taking into account the helicopter view. Many many years ago I did an OU course called 'Systems Behaviour'. That really struck a chord with me as we were encouraged to always take a step back, forget all the clever whizzy bells and whistles and actually ask ourselves 'how is this going to work in practice'. Change management is one factor and ignored by Axminster. It isn't rocket science. But the same mistakes are carried out regularly by other companies. One almost gets a sense that the script-kiddies have taken over the asylum. Way way too introspective.

For goodness sake, there are enough experienced grey hairs on this forum who could easily have provided input from a users perspective.

 

[SuperAB]

Yep I thought someone would say that but I can assure you I'm nothing to do with them, other than spending far too much of my money with them.

I'm a long time lurker first time poster on this forum. I was just sticking up for my profession as I was so annoyed at some of the comments posted.

I'd actually quite like to work for them.... Think of the staff discount!

Cheers.

 

[RogerS]

Yep I thought someone would say that but I can assure you I'm nothing to do with them, other than spending far too much of my money with them.

I'm a long time lurker first time poster on this forum. I was just sticking up for my profession as I was so annoyed at some of the comments posted.

I'd actually quite like to work for them.... Think of the staff discount!

Cheers.

Fair enough and so welcome to the forum!

I think you will find that the comments posted do not reflect that of an IT-hater but an annoyance at the way this has been implemented and the apparent lack of any cognisance being made of human factors.

 

[Damion]

Thank you all very much for your feedback.

The new site has been designed and developed in house and will constantly be improved to ensure we’re providing the latest features to our customers and remain compliant with relevant legislation. We have made a significant investment in both the site technology and the hardware on which it’s hosted to ensure the site is reliable and available at all times.

We anticipated teething issues and we are working on some of the issues highlighted on this forum.

The site is by no means a finished article and I don’t think it ever will be - web technology is always moving forward and we intend to keep up with the pace and the demands of our online customers, this includes responsive design for smartphones and tablets which is our next priority. Now that we have brought development of our site fully in-house we hope to be able to bring new functionality much faster.

Password Reset
We appreciate and apologise for the frustration and inconvenience this may cause. However, passwords are encrypted for your own security, it would therefore have been wrong for us to copy this data and transfer it to a new location. It is good practice to frequently review all your internet passwords on a regular basis. That said there is nothing wrong with reusing your old password.

Search Engine
The search engine on our new site is different to our previous web store and we’re working on honing this to improve results.

Order History/Saved Baskets
Order history and saved baskets will shortly be available. We always intended for these to be there from launch but we have experienced some technical issues with this.

I’m still keen to hear constructive feedback and I can assure you I value your comments. If anyone has a problem with the site or our internet services please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team on 03332 406 406.

All the best. Damion

 

[SuperAB]

Yep I thought someone would say that but I can assure you I'm nothing to do with them, other than spending far too much of my money with them.

I'm a long time lurker first time poster on this forum. I was just sticking up for my profession as I was so annoyed at some of the comments posted.

I'd actually quite like to work for them.... Think of the staff discount!

Cheers.

Fair enough and so welcome to the forum!

I think you will find that the comments posted do not reflect that of an IT-hater but an annoyance at the way this has been implemented and the apparent lack of any cognisance being made of human factors.

Thanks for the welcome.

Yeh I can understand the annoyance. We get it quite often where I work (public sector)
People often say what's the point in changing it etc but actually there is likely to be a number of reasons mostly for forward compatibility and for a lot of our software, security issues. Due to the size of us (1000's of employees) we can only test on a small scale as we could never move forward with testing in large numbers and accept there may be teething issues when we release.

Look how quickly Apple had to release a security update to iOS7. It's really hard to get this stuff right first time.

We recently changed our rostering system and initially everyone hated it as it was VERY different to the old system however, most now wouldn't be without it as they have realised the benefits of the added features and really the small inconvenience at the start wasn't anything significant.

At the end of the day change will never please everyone and working in IT is a thankless task as everyone takes it for granted. You never get thanked or praised for a job well done, just moaned at when it goes wrong and everyone assumes they can do the job better.

So whilst I appreciate people are venting a frustration, please bare in mind that it's probably the culmination of a lot of hard work by a group of people.

Anyway, as I say thanks for the welcome. It's taken me a while to feel the need to post. I hope to continue now I've broken my posting cherry!

Cheers.

 

[PAC1]

Damian
I am pleased you will reinstate our histories
Can we bill you for our time debugging your Beta site?
You need to get someone from technical sales to work through the site. For instance Veritas Apron plane there are 3 options the last of which is a bargain at 10% of the price of the other 2. There is nothing on that page that says all you are buying is a replacement blade and not the plane itself. I am not complaining of a missed bargain but inaccurate information

 

[petermillard]

I like it; feels faster, and renders nicely on an iPad. The password reset thing is an irritation, but it just took me literally 30 seconds to sort out. Ditto with previous orders not being available for viewing, though it does say on the site (and Damien confirms above) that they'll be available shortly - and I'm sure if you were to accidentally spend, say, another 470 quid on a Festool drill, forgetting that you'd already ordered one last week, then Axminster would be only too happy to sort you out...

The few random searches I just tried had the items I was looking for well up near the top of the list, so overall, it's a thumbs up from me.

Cheers, Pete

 

[Myfordman]

So how does the password reset work then?
I don't see an option for that?
I've got a 5 digit account number but there seems no way to enter that.

These might only be small niggles but it makes looking other suppliers an easier option
The regular change of website seems to smell like the supermarket principle of moving stuff around the store from time to time just to make shoppers look harder and hope they bump into other things to buy in the meantime.

 

[Mike.C]

So how does the password reset work then?
I don't see an option for that?
I've got a 5 digit account number but there seems no way to enter that.

These might only be small niggles but it makes looking other suppliers an easier option
The regular change of website seems to smell like the supermarket principle of moving stuff around the store from time to time just to make shoppers look harder and hope they bump into other things to buy in the meantime.

You have to click on Forgotten Password and follow the email link to reset it.

Cheers

Mike

 

[RogerS]

.....However, passwords are encrypted for your own security, it would therefore have been wrong for us to copy this data and transfer it to a new location.....

Many thanks for the feedback, Damion.

However, your explanation above is not logical. If the old passwords were encrypted then there is no reason why you couldn't simply copy the encrypted file over, surely?

I understand that you are working on restoring order history which I appreciate. However, do you not appreciate how much better Axminster could have handled this from a change management perspective? I think that the team have concentrated too much on the technical issues at the expense of the human factors (and I do say this with a modicum of professional experience). Particularly as you had similar issues the last time you updated your website.

 

[nanscombe]

That rather assumes the same method of encryption is being used which might not be the case.

They may have needed to decrypt then re-encrypt them, if that were even possible, which would probably be a big no-no on the privacy front.

Even if they did transfer them they would probably have to download them from one server into a file, manipulate them, then upload them into the new system on another server which is fine if you are a full time IT person who knows all about data migration.

Then there is the matter of storing the file, moving it were necessary and securely disposing of it afterwards.

It's probably a darned sight easier to get users to reset their password, once you've explained it to them.

 

[Benjamin]

Rubbish

 

[Benjamin]

Having spent sometime using your new site i like it now, my first thought was " if it's not broke, why fix it! I guess people just don't like change...

 

[RogerS]

That rather assumes the same method of encryption is being used which might not be the case.

They may have needed to decrypt then re-encrypt them, if that were even possible, which would probably be a big no-no on the privacy front.

Even if they did transfer them they would probably have to download them from one server into a file, manipulate them, then upload them into the new system on another server which is fine if you are a full time IT person who knows all about data migration.

Then there is the matter of storing the file, moving it were necessary and securely disposing of it afterwards.

It's probably a darned sight easier to get users to reset their password, once you've explained it to them.

All of these are, of course, possible. However it could have been handled much much better with good Change Management.

 

[MickCheese]

What I would like to see is my history including what I purchase in store as well as on line.

Although that may just frighten me.

Mick

 

[Scouse]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

This is the funniest thread I have seen in a long time!

Seriously, "a helicopter view of change management"? What does that even mean?

Keep it up though, because you guys are really funny... although maybe a load of negative feedback and threats of shopping elsewhere from now on against a successful British company trying to make a few improvements, take the shine off the comedy.

Perhaps applying the logic of a 'helicopter view' to a few minor niggles would be a good idea. It's a shop that changed their website, they didn't get Dawkins to re-write Christmas!

Cheer up.

 

[RogerP]

.............
Perhaps applying the logic of a 'helicopter view' to a few minor niggles would be a good idea. It's a shop that changed their website, they didn't get Dawkins to re-write Christmas! ...

They asked

I’m really keen to hear your feedback good or bad on the new site, please let me know!

... and that's what's happened.

 

[RogerS]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

This is the funniest thread I have seen in a long time!

Seriously, "a helicopter view of change management"? What does that even mean?

Keep it up though, because you guys are really funny... although maybe a load of negative feedback and threats of shopping elsewhere from now on against a successful British company trying to make a few improvements, take the shine off the comedy.

Perhaps applying the logic of a 'helicopter view' to a few minor niggles would be a good idea. It's a shop that changed their website, they didn't get Dawkins to re-write Christmas!

Cheer up.

Whatever.

 

[maxtheman]

Bring back the Euro prices, please!
Catalogue download does not work, clicking the link brings you back to the front page...

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Mick,

What I would like to see is my history including what I purchase in store as well as on line.

Although that may just frighten me.

It would frighten me if my wife ever found out. :lol:

Neil