You can just hear the frustration in Tammy MacDonald’s voice as she describes the problems with the Hair Massacure website.
The organization has been fielding 60 to 100 email messages each day from people trying to register for the event or make a pledge to sponsor a participant. They are trying, but not succeeding.
“It’s a headache!” the event’s organizer vented. Explaining that she tries very hard to conduct her business in a way that has a positive and ultimately professional impact, she talks about what kinds of problems many members of the public are experiencing. “It’s horrible. We’re feeling really bad about it but we can’t do anything about it.”
“They say, ‘Your website’s not working’,” she said, recalling the standard comment. “The fact that it’s glitchy. We’ve had quite a few problems with it. Glitchy and temperamental, I should say.”
Part of the problem, she suggests, is that many people need to update their Internet browsers.
“That’s one of the most common issues right now with it. For some, it’s been slick, but not for everyone.”
She hopes that a sense of patience prevails. While the site’s developer won’t be able to fix it so that everybody can access the troublesome pages before the big event on Feb. 12, she prompted people to download a pledge package from the site and grit their teeth through the extra work while understanding that it’s only an electronic issue, not an organizational one.
“We don’t want that to be a reflection of our integrity. It’s a very poor reflection on how we manage our event. We try and put as much integrity into the event and think about people and all the needs. Then this happens and it misrepresents what we’re trying to do.”
She added that she would be working on a long-term solution over the summer in order to prevent this problem from cropping up again.
Apart from the downside, the Hair Massacure looks like it is continuing to grow. MacDonald said more schools have been coming on board and that business is otherwise good. She did encourage current participants to sign up for afternoon head shaves as most of the evening slots are already booked up. Some of the Edmonton Rush players will be going under the razor during their game this Saturday.
