Totally Useless App
Sat in the middle of the main garden site, want to view the map, go to app, the site shows 1 tent… nothing else. Absolutely useless app. Disservice to the festival.
Where is 2025 update
Not updated for 2025.
Atrocious app. A 2010 experience in 2024.
I attended the Lit Fest again this year and thoroughly enjoyed my weekend, as usual. All those involved in putting on the show do a fantastic job. However, I wanted to provide some feedback on the website/app experience as it is, after many years of iterations, still a complete mess. I’d appreciate it if you would forward this on to whoever is responsible for your IT operations.
You need to team up with someone who can drive the adoption of improved tools/systems with far greater urgency. The process of booking today is awful - my sister had three events that simply didn’t book properly the first time…it didn’t even tell her which events hadn’t been booked - just those that had been. She was able to go back and fix this after the fact, by cross checking what hadn’t been booked, but there is NO EXCUSE for not also giving details of the failed transactions when they occur or, better yet, eliminate the occurrence of failed transactions completely. Additionally, it is CRAZY that I can only book the same number of tickets for all events…it should be possible to book 2 for one event, 1 for another and 3 for another…people don’t always want to see the same events…my wife and I have different tastes, so why make this process so restrictive. I don’t know if you actually solicit any feedback for your web-based system, but it certainly doesn’t feel that you do, as these shortcomings never seem to get fixed.
On a separate point, lack of any cloud support in 2024 is also INSANE. I should be able to log-in from any web browser or your app and, once logged in, see all my favourited events before booking and, after securing tickets, I should be able to view them on the same platform…but this appears still to be stored on the device locally only. I can’t see any cloud support at all. This is the most basic functionality that I’d expect you to support in the cloud.
Additionally, I could see you were testing the use of barcode scanners for entry but you need to make it easier to use phones for tickets, if you want to pull this off. Pulling up PDFs on a phone is the kind of solution I’d expect 10 years ago…not today. Your app should have the tickets in it. It should automatically show the tickets for your next event at the top so you just click a button and they open, in a format that makes the barcode as large as possible, within the capabilities of the scanners used. Again, this isn’t complicated and could integrate with the cloud support that I mention above.
I’m not going to make a hollow threat, saying that I'll go to some other festival, as you offer the best literature festival in the country today - I love the mix of content and the venue - but please please please address areas that need improvement. I’ve attending the Lit Fest for years, and your systems have changed somewhat, and are unquestionably better than they used to be, but of all the people I know who attend the Literature Festival, not a single one of them is happy with your favouriting/booking/purchasing/ticketing systems. I know you don’t have a lot of money to throw around, but there is mature technology available to address all of the issues I raise above and you really need to embrace some of that…as what you have today is frustratingly bad.
You need to team up with someone who can drive the adoption of improved tools/systems with far greater urgency. The process of booking today is awful - my sister had three events that simply didn’t book properly the first time…it didn’t even tell her which events hadn’t been booked - just those that had been. She was able to go back and fix this after the fact, by cross checking what hadn’t been booked, but there is NO EXCUSE for not also giving details of the failed transactions when they occur or, better yet, eliminate the occurrence of failed transactions completely. Additionally, it is CRAZY that I can only book the same number of tickets for all events…it should be possible to book 2 for one event, 1 for another and 3 for another…people don’t always want to see the same events…my wife and I have different tastes, so why make this process so restrictive. I don’t know if you actually solicit any feedback for your web-based system, but it certainly doesn’t feel that you do, as these shortcomings never seem to get fixed.
On a separate point, lack of any cloud support in 2024 is also INSANE. I should be able to log-in from any web browser or your app and, once logged in, see all my favourited events before booking and, after securing tickets, I should be able to view them on the same platform…but this appears still to be stored on the device locally only. I can’t see any cloud support at all. This is the most basic functionality that I’d expect you to support in the cloud.
Additionally, I could see you were testing the use of barcode scanners for entry but you need to make it easier to use phones for tickets, if you want to pull this off. Pulling up PDFs on a phone is the kind of solution I’d expect 10 years ago…not today. Your app should have the tickets in it. It should automatically show the tickets for your next event at the top so you just click a button and they open, in a format that makes the barcode as large as possible, within the capabilities of the scanners used. Again, this isn’t complicated and could integrate with the cloud support that I mention above.
I’m not going to make a hollow threat, saying that I'll go to some other festival, as you offer the best literature festival in the country today - I love the mix of content and the venue - but please please please address areas that need improvement. I’ve attending the Lit Fest for years, and your systems have changed somewhat, and are unquestionably better than they used to be, but of all the people I know who attend the Literature Festival, not a single one of them is happy with your favouriting/booking/purchasing/ticketing systems. I know you don’t have a lot of money to throw around, but there is mature technology available to address all of the issues I raise above and you really need to embrace some of that…as what you have today is frustratingly bad.
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No literary festival available yet
The literary festival tickets have gone on sale but this festival still isn't available in the app. Frustrating!
So close to being brilliant
The app makes putting a wish list together and seeing your schedule based on that easy.
Brilliant
But
You can’t buy the tickets in the app and your wish list is not transferred to the website. So you need to look at the wish list on the app and use the web to book.
And there is no way of transferring what you’ve booked to your calendar
Technically really easy to make this mind blowing:
Wish list transferred to shopping cart
Ability to buy tickets in app (some complexity as often different types of seats as well as number of tickets being purchased for an event but not impossible)
Add tickets to calendar (easy)
Provide in app tickets (or transfer to wallet) so can use to enter event.
And potentially use app to collect reviews on events so can collect feedback to inform future years.
Brilliant
But
You can’t buy the tickets in the app and your wish list is not transferred to the website. So you need to look at the wish list on the app and use the web to book.
And there is no way of transferring what you’ve booked to your calendar
Technically really easy to make this mind blowing:
Wish list transferred to shopping cart
Ability to buy tickets in app (some complexity as often different types of seats as well as number of tickets being purchased for an event but not impossible)
Add tickets to calendar (easy)
Provide in app tickets (or transfer to wallet) so can use to enter event.
And potentially use app to collect reviews on events so can collect feedback to inform future years.
Show more
