Dear BBC Management, As a long time BBC member who has joined the club before it officially opens in January 2008, I had been utilized the facility and enjoy playing badminton over at your facility for the past 2 years. Unfortunately, my enjoyment at the BBC has been significantly tarnished due to some players / group cheat the queuing system and constantly occupy several courts for their own uses, especially during the peak evening hours. Their inconsiderate actions have frustrated many other players. I have personally overheard some new players complained their cheating actions in the past and decided NOT to come back anymore. To make things even worse, on last Thursday March 25th, 2010 evening, I witnessed a frustrated member attempted to confront such cheating group and the situation became very hostile and unpleasant at BBC1 in Burlingame. I personally also have been suffered from those cheating players. They signed up the court for the first game and then have their friends to log their names off the court while they were still playing inside the court. They immediately rejoined the queue in the same court. Their action has caused the queue for me and my partners to promote as the current players in the court without our knowledge. When it was our time to play, our names have been eliminated and replaced by their names again. I also noticed those individuals cheated the system by entering the names of other players who have been left the facility. For example, you can see 4 girls playing in the court with 4 men’s name in the queuing system. This unpleasant environment has been frustrated us for the past months. Despite numerous complaints to the on-site staff, those individuals keep cheating the system and hold up the courts for their enjoyment. In my opinion, it is BBC’s obligation and responsibility to foster an environment that enables its members and other players to use the facility fairly. I understand that it is difficult for the staff to maintain “a perfect world” if ones constantly explore the loopholes and cheat the system. However, the management team from BBC needs to do something to remedy this situation. The followings are the suggestions that BBC can implement to deter players from cheating the system, espeically DURING THE PEAK HOURS: - Sudden spot check on the court. If any player is found playing on the court without his/her name on the system. He or she will be penalized by sidelining them off the court and not allowing them to join the queuing system for 30 minutes. - To prevent people from using their friends’ names who have left the facility, BBC may set a time limit on everyone for like 2 hours upon sign in and require them PERSONALLY to “re-login-in” to the queuing system from the front desk for time reset. These are just some of my suggestions. If anyone has a better solution, feel free to suggest it here in the thread. I am looking forward to BBC management team taking appropriate actions and remedying this unfavorable issue. Sincerely, C. Lee, a badminton player at BBC
I also share your frustration. I too have been a faithful member of BBC since its inception in 2008. Its a shame that this particular group ruins the entire experience for all other BBC members or dropin players. There have been many times where i am waiting my turn and i over hear other players asking why does that group of people play all night long without waiting. The worst part about it is that I and all my friends have just renewed for another 2 years. There are many other locations we could play at (which we may consider), however we like BBC with is central location to all my friends, large facility, other players are friendly (with the exception of this particular que cheating group), and plenty of parking. I have witnessed people in this group literally stand next to the computer and remove themselves from the court (waiting till the last minute to exploit the "bug" in the system) so they can sign up again. They could stand there for several minutes while other players are waiting to sign up. Not only that this particular group also shares thier pin numbers (at one point the had paper fan with all the pin numbers written on it) so other members of this group can help them sign in. There should be some sort of penalty for these members. Such as immediate removal from the court on 1st infraction, 2nd infraction banning the player for that day, or forcing them to sign up at the front desk all the time. If management does not do anything, i don't see why anyone else should follow the rules.
I was in charge of a badminton drop-in gym for many years and tried many different court queuing systems (clothes pins, tags, rackets, white boards). I did not have the opportunity to try a computer based system but it seems that all systems have a weakness. The one system that I found that worked the best and used for more than ten years was a simple manually managed one (just like a restaurant host). I hired one of the local high school students to do the following in order of priority. #1 Ensure the safety of everyone in the gym. Keep all possible hazards (ie, racket bags, open container drinks, chairs), anything that might increase the possibility of an accident. #2 Ensure that everyone understands the proper court etiquette and protocols. #3 Manage the court system (waiting list on a sheet of paper, 45 minute time limit). Assist players in getting a court, reminders on expiring court time, finding doubles partners and prevent court disputes (watch for players attempting to cheat the system). This system may not work at every place but it worked for me. Just ask anyone who played Sunday Drop-in Badminton as Gunn High School.
Altezza, did you bring this up to management? Although this is frustrating, I suggest you always bring up conflicts with management. If this is something small then you can hopefully deal with it yourself, but for something like this, which in my opinion is quite serious, it should be brought up. I can tell you this happens every where with computer systems, bbc, g2, and also bintang sunnyvale. Its not bbc's fault, but rather the poor sportsmanship of the players there.
Same here. I am a member of BBC since opened, a long time supporter that just renewed the membership for another 2 years even knowing another new club is about to open. I know exactly what happens because I am a victim there too. It is very very frustrating when you see those group doing the same trick to cheat the system over and over again. And I don't even understand how can they enjoy playing knowing people are waiting and staring at them. This is not a first time that people cheated in the system. I know people filed complaint before and this group of people was warned before. I know the difficulty of a perfect queuing system. No matter how perfect it is, cheaters will always think of a way to cheat. It is sad to see BBC could not able to doing anything to stop this specific group of cheater. I heard the other night that some drop in players was frustated and mentioned will go to other club instead. I think it is up to BBC's action to maintain a good envoirment in the court and keeping other members happy to stay in BBC. Other members should not be suffered because some individual's bad behavior. I really hope they don't overlook this problem. My suggestion to BBC is not to make inconvinence for others. One thing they have done before which I found it works pretty well is to assign "new" passwords to this specfic group everytime they play. That way will make them hard to share passwords or use other members' that left the facility. and it is easy for their staffs to enforce. Also take the member's name off the queuing system once they leave the facility by scaning the people that walkout the club.(because I know this specific group use other players name that just left) BBC should also encourage members to report problem to the front desk. Just like Illusionpro said it is really just the poor sportsmanship of these players. BBC should just address the problem directly to them.
We DID bring this issue to the on-site staff and the management. BBC1 used to have a very proactive staff who response to our complaints and react the situation on site right away, but I think she works in different location now. Like a virus, those inconsiderate groups / players' bad behavior returns again and keeps finding loophole to cheat the systems. I have been told this weekend those groups also cheated badly when they used to play at GGBC1 too.
You are correct it is poor sportsmanship of players, however I believe its management's job to enforce the rules not other members/players. This has been an ongoing issue. Although I was happy to see new rules posted at BBC. We'll see if that helps.
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']This is a common practice across all the clubs in bayarea..cheating the queue systems..[/FONT] [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']most of the clubs are crowded.. Although you might add your name[/FONT] [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']and play..but just for 30mins its not enough for anyone..hence folks restore to cheating mechanism [/FONT][FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']As Badminton is getting super popular in bayarea..[/FONT] [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']We need more and more clubs to play..not for 30mins but for atleast [/FONT][FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']1-2 hours ..[/FONT] [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Fixing the queue system is not a complete solution.. adding more courts/clubs is the key[/FONT]
This is a common practice across all the clubs in bayarea..cheating the queue systems.. most of the clubs are crowded.. Although you might add your name and play..but just for 30mins its not enough for anyone..hence folks restore to cheating mechanism As Badminton is getting super popular in bayarea.. We need more and more clubs to play..not for 30mins but for atleast 1-2 hours ..
1-2 hours definitely is too long to occupy the court. You are just paying 1-2 dollars a day (assuming annual membership). Please don't expect that you can play for the whole night.
I agree, 1-2 hours is way too long. I think the current time of 30 mins are sufficient, given you can push 3 set of game. At the end, those cheaters simply keep their names in the court so that they don't have to wait among themselves.
