Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Webkinz loading problems? Join the club!

Longtime readers of the I, Lamont blog may remember an episode from a few years back, involving the Ganz Corporation's poorly planned and executed foray into virtual worlds. Our issues were eventually resolved, but many webkinz users were ripping mad over the technical problems.

But tonight we got another taste of Webkinz frustration, after attempting to log on following an interval of about 3 months. First, my child was greeted by a EULA about the length of the Constitution and equally impenetrable. Then, we watched the system get hung up on the "loading" screen. We waited for 10 minutes before I put her to bed, but I left it on longer, thinking it might need to reconfigure her "world" based on the long break since her last logon, or some other new introduced variable relating to the EULA, expired pets, or something else. I gave up another 20 minutes later.
webkinz problems
I don't know if we will bother anymore. There are other online worlds for kids, or we can do something else -- board games or books.


31 comments:

  1. I know it may sound naive, but as a VERY FRUSTRATED father I have to ask - why isn't there a lawsuit on this against Ganz? after all, it is not a free service, it is something we pay for.

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  2. I stumbled across this blog when the first post about Webkinz issues appeared, nice to know you're still posting them.

    The User Agreement speaks to lawsuits, class action and other litigation. Ganz specifies in the User Agreement that it is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. And the "Ganz group does not warrant that this website, the Ganz materials, or any website to which this website is linked will be available at any particular time, will be provided in an uninterrupted or error-free manner, or will be corrected if found to be defective." They also reserve the right (of course) to discontinue the site at any time without notice.

    Way to cover your butts, Ganz. I know that's fairly standard wording, but it's disappointing that they can hide behind it from so many people. I haven't logged in for some time, and I'm honestly not surprised that they haven't fixed the whole "please wait....." garbage.

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  3. Hi. I am experiencing the same problem. I looked at the network details and it seems There Is No Communication at this point, so nothing is actually loading.

    Have you made made any progress on this?

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  4. I am just about out of my mind over Webkinz. We have not been able to get past the home page for MONTHS! I have a Mac and navigate with Firefox. Today I decided that I am getting the the bottom of this, once and for all. I have cached, cookied, cleared, restarted, rerouted, called my internet provider, called Webkinz support (they will call me in a week), and surfed the internet trying to find possible fixes, chants, or magic spells to get access.

    Apparently, there is an issue with multiple and sometimes hidden IP addresses and a Real Player VS Flash issue. In fact, Apple Support has a lengthy thread on its discussion board concerning Webkinz, its IP's, and how to get everything to work. It made me dizzy looking at what needed to be done to make a $15 toy work.

    I am now on hour four and am giving up. I simply cannot devote any more time to this. It frustrates me that I have paid for this product over and over, and we are eligible to have access to this site until after Christmas, but we can't log in. Can't even get to the page to log in. Apparently all that purple log in button does is make time stand still.

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  5. I'm just glad to know we are not alone over here! I am super frustrated! I have done all the "fixes" per the Webkinz help tips and nothing works. Like Beth said, we can't even get to the screen to log in.... click the button and all we get is a blank, green screen. Unless I use my Mom's Mac, then it takes awhile but we get in. Home PC, and my work laptop get the green screen of nothing. What irritates me even more, is that Ganz doesn't put any real "help" info on the website! They say "please login and contact us..." blah blah. However, that is my whole freakin' problem, we can't log in!! Why don't they fix this OR give us specific, easy to follow instructions?? I just bought a Webkinz for a party gift and I'm hoping that little girl can log in... we still can't, it's now Oct 8 and we've been trying for at least 3-4 weeks.

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  6. The last few months our grandchildren have had so much trouble trying to get on to the Webkinz website. If and when they finally get on using my Mac they are booted out after a few minutes. None of the troubleshooting tips have made a difference. Each of our 4 grandchildren have 8 or more Webknz pets and are not able to even use the website. It is totally frustrating and a big waste of money. After we bought the first few Webkinz the site was working fine so we continured to buy more. What a big disappointment. We will never buy another Ganz product. JL

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  7. I get the plain green screen of nothing. :(

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  8. Well, it's definitely not the computer's problem in our house. My 3 kids have accounts and two of them can log on without difficulty but my youngest cannot at all. Again, that blasted green screen. And this is within a 30 minute timeframe. So they must have problems with accounts on the Ganz side.

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  9. Well I hate to say it but its nice to know I'm not the only one with a blank green screen that no one has a solution to. My daughter has about 12 Webkinz and can't play with any of them.

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  10. I'm having the same problem! Whenever I click on the log in button, I get a blank green screen and at the lower left bottom of the screen, it says done! Pfft! I only get to use my mom's computer and that's a rip off because I only get 30 minutes on it sometimes and I usually get 2 hours. She told me the computer might need to be reimaged, oh joy...

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  11. Do you think I need to get updated virus protection?

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  12. The same stinking green screen has been giving us problems too...FOR MONTHS. My kids have to feed their pets at our local library or grandparents' house. We're very frustrated and dissappointed too.

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  13. I have consistently been having problems with the Webkinz website for over a month now (I'm writing this November 8, 2009). Even if I can log in, it's only a matter of time (usually less than 5 minutes) before I get the "Please Wait" message. Once I get it, it NEVER resolves, no matter how long I wait. Sometimes it happens at particularly unwelcome times, such as when I've just completed a job and the Kinz cash is about to be deposited, or during a job which causes it not be able to be completed. It's also happened before I could choose whether or not to sell a gem from the curio shop, and forces you to keep the gem whether you want it or not.

    The Webkinz website customer service advice is not enough help. If you follow the instructions to clear your cache, it doesn't solve the problem. On my computer, a Lenovo Thinkpad T60, clearing the cache sometimes appears to help for about a minute, then the "Please Wait" returns. My suggestion to Ganz would be to have an online automatic update of the latest technical issues that can be accessed by users. If they know they are experiencing current problems, a user could find out and then realize it's not the fault of their computer. I would rather know that Ganz is having problems and just return later rather than wonder whether or not something is wrong with my computer. It does seem odd to me that I can surf the internet with no problem and even play games on other websites with no problem, yet Webkinz freezes up every time I attempt to use it.

    Perhaps we could start an email letter campaign complaining to Ganz in an organized manner. Does anyone have an email address for them that doesn't require putting in pets' secret codes or other inconvenient information? If we could make this information readily available on the major Webkinz user's favorite websites, perhaps we could convince Ganz to spend the money for extra bandwidth, or whatever it is they need to do to improve the website.

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  14. For a week we can't log in to Webkinz and if we do get in it freezes after a few Minutes, we get blank oe green screen most of the time

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  15. Today we were loading the "new" cafe walls and flooring and wouldn't you know now it is frozen... which means you cannot access any of your rooms. Customer support,really, how good is support when you can't get through to them. Then they ask for your secret code, please... Mother of 3 kids, really think I can keep track of the codes after entered.

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  16. yep - green screen here - without even the loading logo. very frustrating

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  17. We are very sad because Webkinz keeps closing down when I am in a game. I lose all the money I have earned playing a game.

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  18. My child is in tears over this silly virtual stuff. I'm sick of their constant problems. He got a webkinz from his dad for his birthday back at the end of October. I haven't let him play online with it because I was fearing something like this would happen to yet another pet. It ruins my evening for sure. Webkins leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I will never purchase them for my family or as a present for someone else. Also, I think it is a rip off that the membership expires. They are already overpriced!!!
    Amy - Houston, Tx

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  19. There have been problems for sure - like most recently on the first day they introduced the purple xmas tree if it was dropped into a room you were locked out of the room for the twp days it took them to upload the correct object to their servers.

    For the most part problems seem related to 'new features' added to the site not being properly tested first, or in some ways worse than that (since there is no excuse for it) when they do an update portions of the new code simply not being installed on the public servers when they do a roll out so the change doesn't run properly.

    That said, they should really make more of a point that the site is really only been designed for MS Windows based browsers. We are a home with both Macs and Windows systems - time and time again we have been locked out on our Macs for days at a time while we have rarely seen problems when logging in from Windows despite which browser we use. With Windows in 2007/2008 during peak hours we frequently got 'site full' on our first attempt but it rarely took over five minutes to get in... and even with kids logging in several times a day only found the site 'down' twice for service during regular hours.

    In 2009 the 'site full' has never occurred, and the 'site down for service' has only been seen three times with the breaks lasting less than a couple of hours. That said, they seem to have restructured the site so they are able to take individual portions down when a problem occurs as we have frequently found portions of the site down for service.

    Overall, unless you are using a Mac, the interruptions and other problems seem about par for this type site.

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  20. Guys, i know jow to solve this problem. Grab two screens of google and type webkinz in both of them. Next, wait until you log in. One of the accounts should work. The one that does not work then just close it down and play on your site. Otherwise, find another site. Ps: hope this helps! i have about 80 pets......

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  21. I always have a lot of problems with Webkinz. Like if i try to go to room to room in the clubhouse It ALWAYS freezes and if I'm in a room to long it freezes all i can do is log out and back in. I decided once not to go to the clubhouse so i tried the Arcade it FREEZES. I think it has to do with Google Chrome... I at least hope

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  22. Check your content filters, firewalls, router content filters, anything that is filtering keywords. I had what I thought were keywords being filtered on my router to avoid any porn sites from popping up. It turned out that one word was a partial hit on other words, apparently part of the load process, and it just hung up indefinently.

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  23. I have had some problems lately. For some reason, the site always freezes up and it will NOT load the trading room (very annoying!) I try every day and still nothing. Any help here?

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  24. OK PEOPLE LISTEN UP, I HAVE FOUND THAT THE GREEN SCREEN IS CAUSED BY YOUR INTERNET PROTECTION, FOR SOME REASON IT CAN RANDOMLY MISTAKE THE SITE AS BAD CONTENT...YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WEBKINZ IS AN EXCEPTION IN YOU PROTECTION OR JUST DISABLE THE PART THAT SCANS EACH LINK YOU SEARCH SO IT WONT BLOCK THE SCRIPT FROM LOADING.

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  25. I get a white screen and after a while it says " error occurred" the ads are still there though e.e

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  26. itS ENRAGING because i cant even get the home page screen i have been trying for a hour and i have 9 WEBKINZ its driving me up the wall!!!!!!
    i cant even get to the blank green screen of nothing

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  27. Does anyone know how to contact ganz for tech support? My daughter sent them an email to support@webkinz.com asking for help to get the log in page to appear and it was promptly returned to her as undeliverable. Thanks if you can help. By the way, she has been unable to access her webkinz account for nearly a month now.

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  28. From the Ganz website:

    "Webkinz Consumer Support at 1-866-932-5469, Monday-Friday between the hours of 9am-6pm Eastern Standard Time. Please note that we only speak to adults over the age of 18."

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for helping! I'll try giving them a call.

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  29. I can not even get past the log in page. It will not let me enter text. I type and no letters appear in the box. Complete rip off.

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  30. Hi, i am haveing a hard time trying to get into webkinz world and i want to get in but i am haveing to change my password EVERY time i need to get into webkinz and i do NOT like that at all. so can somone help me plaese?????? i need help and as soon as you can too!!!!!
    Live4Jesus

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