We would like to update supporters with regards to the issues experienced by many who were attempting to watch our match against Preston North End on Saturday via iFollow.
We have now received further details from the EFL as to the cause of the problem and how it affected fans from all Clubs using the I Follow platform on match day.
We feel that I Follow users, whether Season Ticket holders who had been granted free access or match pass purchasers – who had put their faith in the service – deserve a more thorough explanation of the chain of events.
At 2pm, access to our match stream was successfully published on our website and EFL Digital confirmed that all fixtures being broadcast through iFollow for clubs across the Sky Bet Championship were delivering correctly via their streaming provider.
However, at 2.35pm, the increased traffic to the platforms caused the servers at EFL Digital’s streaming partner to overload. The end result was that no users across the country could log-in on any device. This happened despite EFL Digital explicitly instructing their streaming provider to gear-up for the expected traffic levels for all clubs in the division.
The issue was escalated, and more servers were initiated to cater for the load. The streams returned for all clubs unilaterally at around 3.15pm, with the first 15 minutes of match action having been missed. The delivery across the rest of the afternoon went smoothly. The EFL released a statement mid-match about the incident via their Twitter account.
We now understand that the issue on Saturday was caused by an overload in people hitting the iFollow billing system at the same time while either paying for, or redeeming codes to access streams.
Earlier this week, senior managers from Endeavour Streaming were requested to attend a meeting with club chief executives to explain the cause of the incident. Our disappointment, and the feelings of supporters was robustly communicated via our own representatives at the meeting.
Last week, a great deal of work went into distributing codes to the thousands of season ticket and match ticket holding ‘Legends’, so that supporters could access the matches from home.
These went out by email wherever possible, as well as with the help of the ticket office who manned the phones and general enquiries inboxes to ensure that everyone had access.
We also set out how-to guides and FAQs via our website to try and facilitate a smooth process for logging in and overcoming technical issues. Again, the ticket office and marketing teams did whatever possible to assist in the run up to kick off. We are comfortable that we did everything possible to prepare ourselves and supporters to be able to watch the behind-closed-doors match.
As such, we shared the strong sense of disappointment when so many were unable to log in and enjoy the opening stages of the match as a result of these issues that were beyond our control.
Assurances
EFL Digital have now received assurances from Endeavour – that every possible precaution has been taken to ensure this does not happen again. We trust that the relevant suppliers will deliver an acceptable level of service as we progress through the remainder of the season.
Although we fully accept how frustrating this episode has been, we would appeal to our supporters to also show the same faith in the iFollow service and continue to support the Hatters from home in the final fixtures.
- Supporters with season ticket Legends codes can log in and watch the match without needing to enter the code again.
- Supporters with individual match codes, please log in to your iFollow account, select the match to purchase and enter the promo code in the relevant space at the bottom of the form.
- Match passes are available for £10, click here to purchase your pass.
LOG IN EARLY
For supporters who are planning to watch our match against Swansea on Saturday, kick off is at 12:30pm. We would recommend that you log into your iFollow account from 11:30am – and as far ahead of kick-off as possible. Match passes are on sale now – we would also recommend that supporters purchase passes well in advance of Saturday, and again – log in nice and early.
Season ticket Legends access codes
By now, the vast majority of supporters should have their access codes. If you have, and were able to log in to watch any of the Preston match, you simply need to log in to your account again for future games this season.
If any season ticket Legends have not yet received their access codes we urge them to contact the Ticket Office on 01582 416976 as soon as possible.
Invalid Code Errors
If you are trying to redeem your code and are getting the messages ‘Invalid Code’ we have found in most instances this is because you have already activated your code.
To check this:
- Sign in to iFollow
- After signing in, click your name in the top right hand corner and scroll down to packages/purchases and click the + sign.
- If ‘Video Pass for Season Ticket Holder ‘shows then you are all set to watch matches.
Ticket Office Staff will be available to assist with code problems all day Friday and Saturday morning from 9am until 12 Noon.
Any other technical issues should be directed to iFollow, either through the messaging / chat service in the bottom right hand corner of the www.lutontown.co.uk website, or by email: ifollow@efl.com.
Again, we urge supporters to log in early on Saturday and stay logged in throughout the match.
We would like to thank all supporters affected for their patience and understanding.