Update to the Webkinz World logon situation: While parent company Ganz has reactivated the virtual world's logon servers, at least some users are still unable to get to their rooms. We updated to Flash 9 (as recommended by the site) on December 28, but this did not make the site perform any better than it had on December 23, when we first observed problems getting into our daughter's dog's room. I have also tried multiple browsers on two different computers (a five-year-old iMac running Tiger, and a brand-new T61 ThinkPad running XP) but the same thing happens: We click "My Room" and the Flash animation stalls on "loading furniture" (see inset image). Is this what everyone else is seeing?
People are definitely getting upset about this. I received lots of traffic from Google since my last post on Webkinz World, and the search terms are mostly related to site loading problems. Four people left comments, including this angry message from "Spitting Angry Kitty":
It seems pretty rotten of the Ganz company to sell overpriced stuffed toys (not to mention the charms, body sprays and trading cards!) with the WebKinz world tie-in as the big selling point, and then NOT have sufficient server capacity to make it a fun, non-frustrating experience for all its old and new customers. It's sure soured me on future WebKinz purchases for my daughter, and I'm definitely more tempted to check out some of the new competitive sites. Shame on you WebKinz!While there are other virtual worlds aimed at young people (such as Habbo Hotel and Club Penguin) I don't think there are any that have such an extensive real-world toy tie-in. That just adds to the frustration -- lots of people bought Webkinz animals and trinkets as Christmas gifts for children, and now the kids are unable to fully enjoy them. The terrible customer support on the Webkinz site, which is compounded by nonexistent or inaccurate messages about site outages (as noted by this commenter) has compounded the fury.
If this were a MMORPG or adult-oriented social virtual world, I would categorize it as a textbook lesson on poor customer support and P.R. practices. But companies like Blizzard and Linden Lab have really learned a lot about support in the past few years, and understand the importance of keeping customers informed when World of Warcraft or Second Life goes offline. Ganz, it appears, still doesn't get it.
We still cannot get into my little girls room. She got two Webkinz for Christmas, and she has gotten over 6000 kinz cash. She wants to decorate her room so bad. :( I sent the useless email to customer support and got an auto-response that they would email me in 1-3 business days, unless it takes longer. No really, that is what it said.
ReplyDeleteToday I gave up and bought a new webkinz and tried to register it under a completely new account.
All is well and the rooms and everything works fine.
I hope I will hear back from the precious folks so that I can still use my other account. We have spent HOURS playing, and I spent HOURS on the useless CS pages.
I read something that if you buy pets within 30 days, and register them under different accounts, you can "merge" them via Customer Service, but you lose all from the account you are closing. Great.
Anyway, glad you posted this as I could not find much info on it. I will stay tuned.
Right now the crying has stopped thanks to our new bunny.
Thanks, Nancylynn -- that is very useful information, although in our case we only have one animal and lots of extra trinkets, so creating a new account doesn't seem to be an option.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone else confirm this strategy to get into a room? If so, that's great for new customers but it's a shame for existing customers who have spent a lot of time and effort building their virtual rooms and pets.
Exactly, very sad.
ReplyDeleteShe got her two new pets for Christmas, but I just checked and she has over $7000 kinz cash and lots of furniture and clothes.
I kept playing with her thinking - hey, the room glitch will get fixed any day now, might as well build stuff up while we wait.
No.
So I caved and bought another pet.
No problem in registering, but I may have gotten lucky.
She has me and daddy playing games for her trying to raise her new pets kinz cash :(
Would love to hear from others.
I will let you know if I hear from the Grand Customer Service crew after I filled out their form --- twice.
I just reread your post.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the extra post - but you had yours before the holidays, got into your room, fixed it up, and now cannot get back in?
I would be irate.
My daughter received a Webkinz dog as a party gift about two weeks before Christmas. Until about December 23, she was able to get online without any problems, build her room, take care of her pet, etc. She really loved it, especially shopping for her pet, dressing it up, and decorating her room.
ReplyDeleteShe was first unable to load her room a few days before Christmas. This worried me, because I knew that even more people would be setting up accounts on Christmas Day. Sure enough, the site buckled -- no one was able to even log on for a few days. Since then, the logon problem has gone away but still she cannot get into her room.
Sorry no sad kid story, just an angry mom that got tired of playing on my childrens games so Santa got me my own. Wow my penguin is soo cute, but I can't get into my room! Now how am I supposed to keep up with my kids?
ReplyDeleteI too am having a problem getting to the pet's room. That is the best part of the whole thing, my daughter is sooo disappointed that she can't decorate, play, etc with her new pet. Very disappointing so far. Not spending another dime on their products---Ganz should be ashamed!
ReplyDeleteOur 4yr old received her first webkinz for Christmas. We still haven't been into her room. We just get logged out.
ReplyDeleteThis company has sold a service which they had no means to provide. This is fraud. When they defraud a vast number of people in many different states this is grounds for a class action lawsuit. I'll join it as soon as it gets started.
It is comforting to know that we are not alone in Chicagoland. Since Christmas night my daughter has yet to be able to gain acess to her room. I will probably have to break down and buy her another of the same toys. Question: How does a company get away with not having a customer service phone number????
ReplyDeleteWe still cannot get into our daughters room on the site and the customer service number is 1-866-webkinz gives you some boo haha of oh cannot leave messages and if you have basically a secret code number you can talk to someone. This is ridicilious and they should be able to do better and if anyone has a solution let me know and one comment from another person said they broke down andbought another pet and got in the room with no problems. Sounds like a racket and it is truly a shame to dissappoint so many children. Lets hope it changes soon. Thanks for listening!!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is having the same problem, logged out after trying to access "MY ROOM". She is so sad and doesn't understand (she is almost 4). I will keep checking back here to see if anyone comes up with a solution. Thanks
ReplyDeleteMy son (5) recieved a Tiger for Christmas. We had a great amount of difficulty registering and has been unable to enter his room. He visted "Dr Quack" who told him the Tiger needed rest and to put him to bed; but, since he can't get into his room he's been unable to do so, which upset him. I'm disappointed to say the least with Ganz and whoever mentioned class action-count me in! Ganz has made millions on these over priced stuffed toys (which are supposed to include the use of this wonderful [yea right] website) they should be ashamed of not being proactive when they knew they were going to get slammed upon Christmas. If there is another comprable toy and site please clue me in. I also e-mailed Ganz and have heard nothing and still no access to the room.
ReplyDeleteMy poor son. He fell in love with his pug (because he couldn't get a real one for Christmas). We've had nothing but problems. At first, we couldn't adopt. Then we found out that we had to buy another Webkinz (so we bought a pig)to get a room to play in. Then, we finally get the room. Great, except most of the time we get the picture of the chair and Webkinz telling us that the website is not available and will be logging us out whenever we try to enter it. I bought another Webkinz for myself and added it my son's account (1/4/08). The site logged me out and wouldn't let me back in until today and I cannot get into the room to feed my new pet. I ended up having to feed his picture. Hmm...And his health is still not good, yet I cannot do anything to help him. Taking him to the vet did not help. I think this is unacceptable for Ganz to be putting all these children through this. They should have been prepared, especially after Christmas, when they knew they were going to have an influx of adoptions and other activity. Bad form, Ganz. Ganz needs to find a way to make this all up to its customers. Still cannot get into room - Posted at 10:19 a.m. EST 1/5/08.
ReplyDeleteGo to Customer Support on the Webkinz home page. Click on "I keep getting an error message" and at the bottom of the list on that page there is a option,"I cannot load my room". You can enter your name and such - they claim they will get back to you w/in 1-3 days. HTH
ReplyDeleteMy daughter recieved two animals for Christmas 2007 and enjoyed playing with them for several days..... then her little horse is stuck in it's room starving to death. Now I can't even log onto their website. I have used multiple browsers (Mozilla, IE, Etc.) on 2 different laptops. We assumed hijacking of the website until I read your blog. Anyone else have the same problem of being able to log onto Webkinz.com?
ReplyDeleteMy grandson also can't get into his room. Of course, if he plays games, etc., his poor little pet gets hungrier and hungrier. Is there a real person at Ganz to respond to this problem? If so, I sure would like to tell them a few things!
ReplyDeleteI think we should all find our receipts and do a mass return on these pets. Yes, the kids would be disappointed, but aren't they already? And getting traumatized at the same time by not being able to take care of their pets properly. Ganz owes us all.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I am going to take one back right now. Its the pet of the month and it won't even let us register. Keeps saying that the code is already used. of course we emailed them with NO response. Ganz and their customer service sucks and they need to know that we are not just going to sit by and be made fools of.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't pleased to get talked into an expensive little poorly made stuffy in the first place, let alone the virtual nightmare encountered this evening. got through the registration process and then went to the load screen and waited, and waited, and waited, GAH! Holy dog biscuts GANTZ, my MMORG games take less than 5mins maximum to load, and here this piece of gimmicky junk sits near an hour later with me consoling a cryin' kid. Needless to say we gave up and all it did was confirm what a cheap piece of work the whole thing is, if I was a kid I'd wanna kick those guys in the nads, heck, I feel like it now!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's Webkinz is finally working after two weeks. First we had the problem of not being able to use our code. Then we had the problem of not being able to sign in. We could finally sign in and then our room, chat, and tournament area would log us out when we tried to load them. A few days ago we signed in and checked the room and it worked. It's been working ever since. I had filled out every form and emailed Ganz at their headquarters while we were having problems. I finally heard back from them today saying my account is working and they didn't see why I was having a problem. Ugh! I'm not sure if I am going to renew my daughter's account when her year is up as I was not impressed with Ganz customer service and do not want to support this company.
ReplyDeleteThis back and forth, we can get in we can't get in. Sometimes the site is working, sometimes its not. We will be looking for new internet pets to buy. We have decided not to invest anymore money than we already have into this company. They would have to pay us to stay at this point. Yes, the customer service is maddening. Like it was your fault? They didn't see why you were having the problem? They are denser than I thought. Or was that just a lame excuse for having a poor product that doesn't live up to it's claims? It's a fun site when it's up, my child really enjoys it (when he can get on), but to not be able to log on consistently is still causing trauma to these children as they try to take care of their animals. The very nature of this program makes it necessary for Ganz to get itself together! Wake up Ganz!!!
ReplyDeleteHello everyone,
ReplyDeletePlease note that I was able to get back in. Read the following post to see what we did to get our account returned to normal:
Webkinz outage, part IX: They're baaa-aack!
Has anyone received this message?
ReplyDeleteYou are currenlty in line to get into Webkinz World!
Your play time will begin in NaN seconds!
Have fun!
And then nothing happens-
I did, but they came through...that was Sunday. Now I can't get into anything, the page comes up but we can't get to the food, or anything to feed the webkinz. Can't get in the room, nothing. It has been days like this, I will never buy another webkinz for my kids again. My son is afraid his is going to get really sick and die. Real good for kids huh.
ReplyDeleteI have been getting the same message of your play will begin in NaN seconds. What in the world does that mean.
ReplyDeleteFor my daughter and I, this NaN issue seems to only occur when we try to logon using WiFi. When we use our DSL line WebKinz works fine.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
i have the same problem! i got webkinz for christmas and cannot use it on our home pc. i know that apple couldn't be flunking, so i knew it must be the site. then, it suddenly doesn't work at my cousin's, and it had worked perfectly before. i'm gettimg ticked off!
ReplyDeleteWe are also having problems since 12/25. We went through the process of activating and when we got to the "word verification" it did not except the letters entered. Problem is, it excepted the code. When we log in, it does not recognize our username or password.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know a way we can get through to their sorry customer service without the username or password?
Why is webkinz world still down? Or is it just me? I still see the mesage that it will reopen on Feb 13th.
ReplyDeleteOMG... Webkinz needs to fix this problem. I refuse to resolve the situation by buying yet another pet, when we have 13 already! That is not a solution to the problem!!!
ReplyDeleteI have 3 upset children that are not happy with being able to feed their pet, check daily checkup, empty kinz cash, empty docks, nothing in the rooms, not able to garden, etc...
I have also tried to email them using the useless question/ answer to avoid the actual problems!
I also found out through information, GANZ does not list an 800#. Also, according to the pets' tag says GANZ is located in Cheektowaga, NY... they don't have a phone number for information (411). I did get a Buffalo,NY number:716-692-0450, which when called LONG DISTANCE- says their voicemail has not been set up and hold while we transfer you to an attendant, which DOESN'T EXIST!!!!
I called back to information and complained about a bogus number and they said they checked for GANZ nationwide and they have a number in ATLANTA, GA. I left a message for someone there... I don't know if I will get a phone call... I won't hold my breath!
Once again, GANZ experienced lot of traffic around Christmas- with santa delivering nothing but Webkinz... Should we blame him or GANZ...???? I just hope they can help all of us with our children not understanding why we can't get them into their sites!!
I actually have turned to TY Beanie Babies 2.0.
WEBKINZ needs to help us!!! Once again, you created this... please help us!
- Jocelyn in MN
I'd like to respond to all of the people who are still having trouble with their Webkinz.
ReplyDeleteFirst, my apologies for not responding sooner. I just changed jobs to a high-pressure position, and only recently has my personal life returned to some semblance of normality.
Second, I would like to say that after listening to all of your complaints and pleas for help, and watching my own daughter become more and more attached to this game, I can't wonder if our desperation to get the game back in working order isn't somewhat misplaced.
So, here's my advice: If you have tried the various tips offered by me and the many commenters on these pages, and your Webkinz is still not working, my advice is to forget about it. It's tough for the kids who have put so much into it, and for you, after spending money on the toys and gifts, but it's just not worth getting angrier and angrier at a company which is clearly unable and/or unwilling to help. The lawsuit will benefit no one, except for a bunch of class-action lawyers.
There are other toys and creative options for your children. And I know this seems like a radical suggestion, but maybe it might be fun to take some time away from glowing screens and instead spend a few hours playing with them in the real world. Get out the board games, soccer ball, and drawing pads, and have some fun with them. Talk with them while you play, and listen to what they have to say. They may not like to be pulled away from the computer at first, but your attention means a lot to them, and the more you interact with them, the higher all of your "heart" settings will become.
There will be plenty of video games to play with later on, but the time you can spend with son and daughter at this age can't ever be replaced.
Sincerely,
Ian (author of this blog)
i cannot get into another room! it goes fine when my elephant is in one room but when i try to go through a door to see my hippo it stalls while loading.
ReplyDeleteWe bought our daughter a Webkin for a webkinz party at school (It's some kind of reward) We keep getting the message that our username is wrong. It seems as if this is a common program. If it were up to me I would just write this off as a learning experience and never buy another product from this company, but my daughter will be left out of the school reward party. I guess I will try again with another webkin. There goes another $15.
ReplyDeletei keep getting the "play will begin in Nan seconds" how is this fixed?
ReplyDeleteI've been working on the NaN issue as well. When I turn off the firewall on my desktop, I can log in. If I turn the firewall back on, I get the NaN message. I'm now trying to figure out how to configure my figure out how to allow the Webkinz traffic through.
ReplyDeletewhenever I try to get onto webkinz world the sceen turns white with a quicktime sybol thing on it. I don't know what to do and i was able to get on before. what do i do?
ReplyDeleteI can put in usser name and password , but hten when I click begin playing nothing happens. Any help would be greatly appricated.
ReplyDeleteIt's very annoying. My brothers webkinz is not letting him in. It says wait NaN seconds! What n the world does that mean?
ReplyDeleteI am very mad because I cant get into my webkinz room! I have 111,893 kinzcash and my main money maker is my garden FULL of plants and I cant even care for them!!! Im going to loose sooo much money if webkinz cant fix this problem!
ReplyDeleteIf webkinz doesnt fix this problem than ill stop playing on webkinz!
I know ganz is making evreyone mad it wont let me in to a chat room
ReplyDeleteThis company should be sued!!!
ReplyDeleteHi My daughter just got her first webkinz. What a nightmare-- we are only one day into it and we have wasted hours trying to get in. What I didlike the most is all the tips in cleaning your cache etc. so you actually change your system for no apparent reason as the site is simply over taxed. Trust me this webkinz is going to be an only child.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to NaN on the webkinz web site, NaN is a software error called Not a Number (NaN). In their code a parameter was passed to a function or subroutine that was not numeric where as a number was expected. For instance if the code ends up with 2 + &%^ = , this is absurb. Its a big fat Bug uin their SW.
ReplyDeleteWe have been getting the "NaN seconds" error for months now after trying to log in. My kids, too, are very upset.
ReplyDeleteI AM CURRENTLY UNABLE TO LOG IN AT ALL! THE LOGIN SCREEN HAS SAID "CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE, THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE". MY PATIENCE HAS RUN OUT ABOUT THREE DAYS AGO. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
ReplyDeleteWhen I click on "new member" and get into the new member screen, the strangest thing happens. In place of the words on the screen, there are X's. On top of that, the sound doesn't work. Anyone else encounter this problem?
ReplyDeleteI have thirteen webkinz, i adopted 3 of them today, but the ones I just adopted don't have a room, does any one know how to contact ganz????
ReplyDeleteFor people that always get that webkinz is under maintance like all the time, here's something that may work. Go to webkinz.com and down below one of the boxes should say Customer Support, click that and when you get there on the side it says login or new user click what ever you want. Maybe that should help with some of you.
ReplyDeleteOur system kept saying down for maintenance. We cleaned out "cookies" and it fixed the problem.
ReplyDeletesame here. she just tried to adopt 4 new webkinz, (gifts for a broken arm) and all I get is xxx's and no sound. What a ripoff. Has anyone found a patch or update to correct this? Hard to explain to a six yr who just had major surgery!
ReplyDeletemy webkinz room isint even loading at all and could you please fix it as soon as posible
ReplyDeleteWe are having trouble too....anyone have a fix??? even tried to call GANZ but the line is busy...I have 2 very sad birthday twins!
ReplyDeleteWe are also having a problem getting into My Room, W Shop (very important to buy food), and the Curio Shop (gem hunt). We can get the daily Kinzcare (but the icon is different), so there is some food for the little guy, but not enough and his levels are dropping. Oddly enough we can also get into the Fairy Star Search. There is no message or assitance from Ganz. This is going into the third day.
ReplyDeleteWe tried cleaning cookies and entering through the customer service entrance, neither seemed to help.
I've had the same problems (not being able to go load the curio shop, W shop, academy, or room) for the past three days. I looked on the "Customer service" icon on the main website and it suggested going to www.adobe.com and updating my flash player. I did that (took a whole 60 seconds) and Vola! everything works! Give it a try, I know how frustrating it is not being able to water your garden... Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI can get into my rooms and play games,but it is logging off or it says please wait in the middle of a game.It has been doing this for atleast two weeks now.I cant even play through a whole game without it knocking me out from playing.It would be nice to be able to talk to a real person from customer support?????????
ReplyDeleteI am ten and have a webkinz. Some times it logs me off, but most of the time it does not. I have a lot of fun, and it hasn't had any problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.
ReplyDeleteI just bought my son a new Webkinz and was able to adopt and all, but get stuck on the loading screen. I emailed CS and got a pretty response to clear my cache and try F5. It still does not work. I also think it's pretty crappy not to offer a customer service phone number. I really feel ripped off as a consumer!
ReplyDeleteUPDATE!!!!
ReplyDeleteI just spoke with support @ Webkinz
1-866-webkinz
Just wait for an operator and you will get a live person...ask to be directed to webkinz support. She told me to check my browser and if still having problems go to www.getfirefox.com to install a new browser for free. I'm going to try this....but if it does not work, at least can call back and get a live person!
like well anonymous at 12:54 pm GOD THTS A LATE TIME 4 A TEN YEAR OLD! NEARLY THE NEXT DAY! but anyway im a bit like them because well i have one webkinz and nothing has happened yet even though ive only had a webkinz for a couple o weeks.i have a load of fun on it
ReplyDeleteim still waiting 4 webkinz to stop their WE ARE UNDER MAINTAINENCE THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE. its taking ages and even more, WEBKINZ IS MY LIFE! i probaly sound real cheesey there...
ReplyDeleteTY BEANIE BABYS OH WOW IM GOING THERE!
ReplyDeleteHas WEBKINZ run its course? After hours of frustration "Please Wait..." messages and "temporary maintenance", I guess it has.
ReplyDeleteI've recommended WEBKINZ and bought several for friends as gifts but no more.
Their abyssmal computer support and almost total absence of information regarding the computer issues they are having is disgusting.
WEBKINZ is dying. Don't waste your money!!!
We have been so mad at ya"ll. We hate it now!
ReplyDeleteYet again -- down 3 days now. Really a pain.
ReplyDeleteAnd no good way to complain or get explanation. Must log in to send message to them. Horrible.
i am a kid (11 years old) and i have 10 webkinz all of a sudden when i try to log onto my webkinz i keep getting this
ReplyDelete(NaN seconds)
can you please tell me why this is happening someone and how to makle it stop please!!!!!! :)
Webinz hasn't been the same for a long time. so
ReplyDeleteget rid of this CRAP so called NAN seconds!!!!
it's RETARDED!!
why so many problems.................
ReplyDeletei spent thousands of moeny on a garden and now cant get on it makes me VERY mad and sad. All i ask is why?! :'(
ReplyDelete