admin & other info
Website & Ordering Problems
Several Ways to Order
This unique self-published book can be ordered by fax, phone and mail, as well as online. If you find any errors on this website or have a problem, I would very much appreciate it if you could let me know, so I can fix it. Thank you.
A perfect system is non-existent - unfortunately - so sometimes there are glitches.
If you are having problems with this website that are not explained by any of the below points, or if you discover any errors that need fixing, I'd very much appreciate it if you could contact me and specify exactly what is wrong. And apologies in advance for any problems you may have had.
Please email any 'error' messages you have received, and I will contact you as soon as possible. Orders can always be placed by fax, phone or mail, if you have had trouble ordering online.
Had difficulty submitting an order?
- First - please ensure all fields on the order form are completed in full. And if the spelling of your first name is identical to your last name, you will need to enter a second initial into the field containing your first first name. This is because a lot of robot spam automatically enters identical information into all fields, so all emails & orders received that have identical information in different fields, are now rejected by the system.
- Visa Card and MasterCard are accepted, but no other credit cards, nor debit cards. So if you are trying to pay with another card, your order cannot be processed.
- Occasionally there are temporary National Australia Bank website outages. Online payments can only be processed when the NAB website is online.
- Ensure that 'cookies' are not disabled on the computer you are using to place an order. Cookies are often disabled on public or employer-owned computers, for good reasons. However tracking cookies are legitimately used, and essential, for online ordering. Cookies are required on this website so that the National Australia Bank payment website can take you back to the administration part of my website, to complete the ordering process. If cookies are disabled you'll need to order on another computer, or place your order by fax, phone or mail.
- Ensure Java Script is not disabled on your web browser, because the online ordering system on this website cannot work if Java Script is not enabled (that's just the way it has been programmed to work).
Had difficulty sending an email via the 'Contact & Comments' page?
- First - please ensure all fields on the 'contact & comments' form are completed in full.
- If a website html. link is typed into your order or email then your order or email will not be accepted, so delete the link and explain in the 'comments' section that you'd like to send me one. A lot of spam contains html links to dodgy websites, so any emails sent via this website, that contain a html web link, are not accepted by the system.
Website glitches & errors:
Problems at my end:
- Very occasionally there are temporary website server problems (we might be on the case, or maybe we don't even know there is an outage yet).
- Occasionally, an outage is caused by optic fibre cable problems. As in - excavators cutting through the main optic fibre cable connecting cities along the Queensland coastline. (If that's the case right now, then you're viewing a 'cached' version of the website, i.e. a version that is stored, not 'live'. In which case, if you click on 'refresh', you'll get a 'website unavailable' message.)
- Dead website links. Sometimes these are due to temporary problems with the other website, but more commonly, a dead link has occured because the website page name has been changed, or it has been removed altogether. So I need to update or remove the website link.
- Programming glitches - every time the website programming is updated, it is tested with the most common types of systems etc. However sometimes a problem slips through the net. Please let me know if you find a problem, because we can't fix something if we don't even know there's a problem!
- Spelling, grammar, punctuation etc - there are more than 80 pages on this website, so updating it is a major job. Proofreading doesn't pick up every mistake. Please let me know if you spot a stuff-up!
- If you've taken the trouble to let me know about any website problems that need fixing and I'm not yet aware of, then you'll go in the thank-you prize draws that occur throughout the year.
Problems at your end:
- Maybe due to temporary problems with your computer server or email setup.
- Slow connection speed or poor internet connection is one of the first things to try out, if the page is slow to load. Test it by going offline then reconnecting, and checking to see if the download speed is better.
- Browser incompatability - this website is designed to suit the most commonly used browsers, but sometimes a compatability problem escapes the testing. Programming is a very complicated business. The less common the browser is that you are using, the more likely an incompatability problem is.
- Computer low on virtual memory - this will cause delays or difficulties when trying to order online or use any of the pages that involve more complicated programming, such as the 'future books survey' page. (This is a problem I've had myself.)
- Make sure you are seeing the most recent version of website pages that you have visited previously, by clicking on 'refresh' or F5. When you have visited a website, the pages you viewed are temporarily stored on your computer ('cached'). If you revisit the same pages of a website, you may be seeing pages that have since been updated.
Apologies for any problems you have had. Please contact me by phone (below) or email (all hours) so that I can fix whatever it is possible to fix.
A Million Acre Masterpiece can be ordered by fax, phone and mail as well as online.
