Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 19:01:21 -0400
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Re: BusDepot.Com Beta Test - STILL TESTING
In-Reply-To: <00b501c32e0d$48f0a990$0100a8c0@RON>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The BusDepot.com beta test will continue overnight, as I have had so
much help from list members that I am not done fixing everything! (I
prefer to look at it this way, rather than from the negative standpoint
of their being so much to fix. :-) New "hoped for" live date is
sometime tomorrow. I'd rather be cautious than jump the gun.
I have implemented many suggestions made by people who sent comments,
and have some to do still. The site will definitely be easier for you to
use and more accurate, directly as a result of your input. So keep
sending your comments, bug reports, etc. You are determining much about
the final look/feel of the site (and are finding plenty of stupid part
errors, too, which is great). Everything helps.
I have copied the section of my original email regarding the beta test,
below, explaining some of what I'm looking for. Please go all the way to
placing an "order" if you can. (It will not be filled if placed while we
are beta-testing, but it will help us make sure everything works.) Also
we have had isolated complaints about people being unable to set up an
account, shopping cart abnormalities, and the checkout form adding up
the prices plus shipping incorrectly. (!) Let me know if any of these
happen to you. And please provide as much detail as possible, i.e. what
page you were on, what browser, if you got an error message what it
said, etc.
I will extend my offer to send a 10% off coupon to anyone who sends me a
bonafide list of bugs, errors, problems, etc.
Once again, the test URL is http://venus.webappcabaret.net/busdepot .
I will post here when the site goes live and the testing is over.
Thanks again for all your help. You're all great!!!
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
BETA TESTING OFFER (AND DISCOUNT COUPON)
I need as many eyes as possible looking at this site for me. You will
really be doing me a favor, as I'm bleary eyed and just can't finish it
up without some extra sets of eyes. (I've been working on this for six
months now - and 80 to 90 hours a week for the last month. I'm ready to
drop!) But the site is still rough, even with all that work. It just
takes forever to manually sift through hundreds of thousands of entries
looking for errors, so there are lots that weren't found yet.
So what I'm asking is this. Put the site through its paces. You can even
place an "order." As long as you do it before 3 AM Monday morning (on
the new website, not busdepot.com), it will not be processed, since we
are only testing. Look for anything and everything, and send me a list
of whatever you find. Hopefully, a long list! Email it to me directly
- ron@busdepot.com - with BETA included in the subject header.
If you send me a legitimate list of problems/errors/issues (there are
plenty to find!), I'll reciprocate by sending you a coupon code for 10%
off a Bus Depot order (good for a limited timeframe). That's double the
normal listmember discount. (Same terms as normal listmember discount
will apply.) If you want, while you're testing the site, you can even
put together an order for your 10% discount, save it under your account
using the Want List feature until the site goes live, and then later
retrieve it and apply the coupon. (Note: See Want List bug below.)
The types of problems that I'd like to know about include (but are not
limited to):
1) Graphics or cosmetic flaws: i.e. a line break in the text that
shouldn't be there, causing one word to sit off by itself, or any other
cosmetic flaws. Since many of you have different web browsers, the site
may look slightly different for you than for me.
2) Part data errors:
- Part application errors (i.e. when you click on the part, the details
show that it doesn't fit the VW model it is listed under)
- Part descriptions that are wrong, don't make sense, missing, etc.
- Duplicate parts (i.e. the same part listed twice under different part
numbers, perhaps even at different prices)
- Please look over the CAR listings too. This is particularly important
since I haven't looked at them much myself. If you have a VW car, browse
for parts for it and tell me what you think/find.
3) Picture errors: i.e. the wrong picture, a picture that still says
"click back on your browser" from the old busdepot site, etc.
4) Bugs in the way the features work, navigation, etc. Coupon code
(i.e. PROJECT800), want list, etc. (Exactly what were you doing that
made the bug show up?)
5) General comments and suggestions. Be brutally honest. I really want
to know.
KNOWN BUGS: (hopefully fixed sometime on the weekend):
I) WANT LIST: for the time being you MUST LOG-OUT (using the "my
account" screen) before you exit your browser, or the want list will not
be saved.
2) HOT BUYS and BARGAIN BIN parts do not automatically display at the
bottom of each page as the page says they should. (However there is a
click-to-display option for the Bargain items.)
3) Emailed order-confirmation letter needs some work.
4) I still need to update (reduce) some Eurovan prices.
