http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20080214-49683.html
F1 fans fume over ticketing system
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WHEN tickets for the world's inaugural Formula One night race
went on sale on Thursday morning, fans were expecting a well-oiled
ticketing machinery at work.
Instead, what happened when the starting flag came down was
complete chaos.
A server error caused the entire ticketing system to foul up.
Fans tried for hours to get through the ticketing website and
failed.
Even as late as 5pm, fans called up The Straits Times to say
they were having problems getting into the F1 website to buy
tickets.
Those who tried calling also could not get through.
Some who tried both and failed rushed down in the hope they
would have better luck buying over the counter. They were
wrong.
Tickets sales on the ground too had run into problems. At the
one of SingPost ticket stations, the system was so slow that only
three fans were able to purchase tickets in the three hours from
opening.
Mark Benterman was whooping with joy when he finally got into
the Singapore GP website after one and a half hours of trying.
The British Airways pilot, who lives in Singapore, reserved two
Pit Grandstand tickets, each costing $1,388, but his session was
timed-out as he was filling in his particulars on the online
form.
When Benterman managed to log on to the website again an hour
later, he realised, to his horror, that he had lost his seats.
After four hours of trying, he gave up trying to buy the tickets
online.
'It was absolutely frustrating and a disgrace,' he slammed.
'I like Singapore for its efficiency but this incident is
unacceptable. I am trying to spend money but I can't, due to a
computer problem. If Singapore GP cannot sell it online, then they
shouldn't have offered the tickets on the Internet.'
Similarly, Mr Lim Yong Soon had unsuccessfully tried to get the
tickets online.
The businessman also tried buying them at the SingPost outlet at
Bukit Timah but was told that the website had crashed. After five
hours of trying, Lim gave up.
He said: 'It's very frustrating to keep trying for hours without
results.'
