Don't lose your dog today

[stinkwheel]

The degree of IT fuckwittery I just witnessed today beggars belief.

So. By tomorrow, all dogs in the UK have to be microchipped. By law.

Having implanted a chip, you register the owners and animals details on a database via a website.

So.

With the above in mind. You are in charge of the IT system at the largest of the microchip databases.

Which day do you pick to do the live roll-out of a brand new website?

a) A couple of months before the microchip deadline.

b) A couple of months after the deadline.

c) The day before.

Yeah.

So. Predictably, their website is down. The online submission form when we did get to it is buggy as hell (mobile phone number is a mandatory field. Not everyone owns a mobile and many people wouldn't want this database to have their mobile number).

Can't even call to complain, because their phone lines are engaged.

So don't lose your dog today, your microchip is useless. Nobody can check the database.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[andym]

I don't own a dog so it isn't a problem for me, I'm just replying about the phone numbers thing.... I've been filling out a few job applications recently and some have had mandatory home and mobile numbers, I have both but can never remember my landline number (even though I could just phone my mobile and save it in my own details).... so I just put my mobile number in both boxes

[orac]

11 random numbers - problem solved.
also what the hell did you expect.
the question I am thinking, is why the hell wasn't your dog microchipped long before this. all the people I know who have dogs had them microchipped and registered years ago.
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[sickpup]

Wasn't even aware all dogs had to be chipped.

[Ste]

Chip owners who don't pick up their dogs eggs.

[recman]

[Rogerborg]

Find dog. Dog not chipped. Fine dog?

I'm sure police forces all across the country will be off down the local "traveller" camp to enforce this tomorrow.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[scorps]

ive had all my pets chipped, dont see the point in having to go through the hassle to try and get back a pet thats stolen if i have no proof of ID. Although no one seemed interested when my cat was being stolen by stealth feeding mode.
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Do not presume that I am male.

[G]

Could be worse - you could have to use the Dartford crossing!

[arry]

[G]

About 3 months into it, I sent them an email.
About 6 months in I got a reply thanking me for my 'recent correspondence'.

Some high up person didn't even know how the basics of charging vans, as was written on their website etc.

They kept trying to blame DVLA for everything, when that was clearly not the case.

Still not sorted.

[lihp]

[recman]

No.

[Shaft]

[G]

I asked the transport secretary about penalty clauses for the Dart charge project.

He merely passed me on to someone in the company, who didn't want to disclose such things to me.

[chickenstrip]

I have a pet microchip. Do I have to register it by law?
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[P.addy]

Place bets that it's Capita behind the scenes.

[MCN]

There is a chip shop about 1/2 a mile from our house and dog shite everywhere?

I don't know what the solution is.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[331X2]

I had my dog chipped but didn't notice any performance gains at all

[Rogerborg]

[skatefreak]

[stinkwheel]

Just to be clear.

I'm the one putting the chips in (anyone can do it, not just a vet although there have been some monumental fuckups by lay microchippers) and I or my staff register them online for our clients because many of them are either illiterate or very hard of thinking. We don't have to do this for them, they could go home and (fail to) register it themself, but we charge more than say a dog groomer to put a chip in and consider this part of "value added" service.

There are several databases out there, all of which are, and always have been, privately run. We use the largest one which is called petlog.

Their website is still down. Their phone lines are still constantly ringing unobtainable.

If you tell the British public they have to do something by a certain day, yes some of them will do it in advance but most of them will wait until the last minute (tax returns for example). Especially if it's something they have to pay for.

This was entirely predictable, the legislation has been on the books for the last 2 years which is why we stocked up with ten times our normal stock of microchips at the beginning of last month. The chip manufacturer upped production last year. It's obvious the increase in web traffic was going to be immense.

The new website is also one of those "tablet" type ones and a nightmare to use from a desktop PC.

We've managed to stay on the website without it falling over to put in details for 2 of the animals we chipped last night. We're a tiny practice. Others must be banging their heads off the walls. As it is, we've got a full mornings work for one of our lay staff to clear the backlog.

Currently, if someone comes in with a chipped stray, we have no way at all of checking who it belongs to because the petlog website is constantly falling over. If it's one we put the chip in I could find it off our own records.

It does also make me wonder if it's going to lose details registered during this period. I reckon there could be a whole load of these freshly chipped dogs whose details have fallen off the radar.

It's an idiotic idea anyway. I just had someone in now who said that there's no way they're paying £14.50 to chip their dog. When they asked what would happen if it wasn't chipped, we told her if it was picked up straying by the dog warden and found to be unchipped, she could be fined £500. The response? "That's easy then. If it wanders off I wont go looking for it.".

I forsee a huge increase in unclaimed strays in the near future as a direct result of this law.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[lihp]

[stinkwheel]

[Rogerborg]