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Dear Friends,
The Pork Belly Ventures team has been hard at work today, and we'll stay with this process for as long as it takes. We apologize for the limits of our website and of our capacity to receive high volumes of registrations and payments. No one is more surprised than we are about that volume. But do read on for some encouraging information here.
This update goes out only to those
with a PBV registration form
for RAGBRAI services in 2023.
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Many people completed registrations quickly last night and then could not make their payments. Some of our services filled, or appeared to fill, in minutes. For several reasons, we have frozen some services for the moment. Last night's registrations are in tact and we will honor them. We have established waiting lists, and so the support and the rental tents will remain closed as we accomplish and clarify several things.
A lot of this work is not automated. It's manual, and please be assured that we are taking great care to be accurate and fair.
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Availability of PBV Services and
Duplicate Registrations
Due to a sense of urgency, some folks signed up multiple times, and we understand their reasons for doing that. Now, though, we have to eliminate the duplicates. Pete has been doing this manually. Once duplicates have been eliminated, we will have a better handle on real numbers and hope to clear people from the waiting list/s.
Usually we can give folks a sense of the availability of our services at this point, but we need a bit more time to quantify our duplicates and our waiting lists.
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Waiting Lists
Kay had a little team helping her with the waiting lists today, namely Bella, Grace, Nolan, and Ann. When a service sold out, the website instructed riders to write to Kay@pkbelly.com. The team has been constructing the waiting lists chronologically, so that we can continue to follow a first-come, first-served policy. Again, elimination of duplicates will be a key part of clearing folks from the waiting lists.
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Emails and Phone Calls
I, Tammy, have been working up from the bottom of my inbox today, providing some reassurance to those who signed up for services but had not yet received a confirmation. I have a long way to go. I hope to see the top of my inbox, maybe by tomorrow night.
I'm answering the phone, of course--but everything takes time, and there are many questions we can't answer until we do this work.
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Payments
For those who tried to make payment last night, Pete, with the help of our website administrator, is processing payments and sending confirmations by email. He's about 20% or 30% into the task. This may take a day or two. Please know that your services are secure. Some folks received these confirmations late today, and others should receive them tomorrow, possibly later.
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Canada
Some of our Canadian Porkers have tried to make payment--with no greater success than anyone else. Once we resolve the larger payment issue, we'll see if there's any problem with accepting/processing the credit cards for international riders. Don't try to pay right now. Later, when email settles down, we may need you Canadian friends to contact us again. We're taking it thing by thing.
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Other Questions
Because we're working on these issues, we are unable to get to your other questions--the normal questions we always field at this point in our season. In a few days, things should settle down. Hang onto your questions, please, about details of services and shuttles. Those are easy, and we'll be delighted to help you soon!
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What To Do
If You Didn't Get Services You Wanted
We have emailed and talked with some folks who were not able to sign up within that short window before services sold out (or appeared to sell out because of many duplicate applications).
If you have written to Kay about the waiting list, then we hope you will bear with our process. If you've written to me, I'm working my way up through the inbox, and I hope I'll get to your email soon!
Regarding Weeklong Support, we expect to clear quite a number of people in the coming days.
If you have a burning question, you can call me, Tammy, during the day: 712-328-0161. Sometime tomorrow, we hope to be further along in the process and may have better information for you.
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Capacity and Quality
Although we hope to accept more riders from our waiting lists when the duplicates are gone, we will necessarily have a cap. We will host around the same number of riders as last year. It's possible that we'll scout campsites and feel greater confidence about expanding our numbers slightly, but it will always be a priority to preserve the quality of our service. To do that, we must have a cap.
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Thank you for many kind notes today from those who are concerned about these issues and about us. You made a long day better! | |
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So Sorry.
Once again, we founded our business on a couple of principles. One of them is "We try to say yes." We are still trying, folks, and we regret causing you worry.
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Thank you for your patience, and we'll continue to be in touch with you. | |
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Pork Belly Ventures LLC
Tammy: 808-375-8921 c, tammy@pkbelly.com
Pete: 402-681-2613 c, pete@pkbelly.com
www.pkbelly.com
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