Wheedle down and out

Wheedle has permanently closed online operations after a second day of maintenance trouble on it's newly launched site.

The Trade Me rival posted "Due to unforeseen technical problems we have postponed further activity on the website. Thank you for all your support, it has been tremendous. We will be back soon."

The new online buy and sell website revealed its intention to close for a thorough update of its systems and processes, while claiming the the introduction of a new competitor in the online trading market has attracted an exceptional response.

“We have received an extraordinary level of interest from the New Zealand public, demonstrating the real demand for competition in this space,” says Carl Rees, Wheedle MD.

“However, operating issues were identified and our determination to ensure we can provide a level of service we are satisfied with means that we have elected to close the site until we can complete a comprehensive audit of our systems and make the necessary improvements.”

Rees says Wheedle will be made available again when the management team are completely confident its performance and processes meet the standards expected by New Zealand consumers.

“We will return to the market when we are totally satisfied that the site will provide the high level of experience we want our customers to enjoy," he says.

“In the meantime, however, we would like to thank the New Zealand public for their interest and support, and we look forward to reintroducing Wheedle as soon as possible.”

After failing victim to the offline bug yesterday, Wheedle general manager Carl Rees told NBR the site was taken down briefly for "fine tuning and [to] fix a few small areas."

As reported on TechDay through out this week, the new site has endured difficulties since the launch as industry figures mocked the slow start.

“Wheedle: verb. To struggle with technical problems. ‘I’ve been wheedling away at this site launch for ages, but IIS keeps failing’,” tweeted Ben Gracewood, blogger and software developer.

Gracewood was not the only one jumping on Wheedle bandwagon, with the phrase "to Wheedle it" adding further embarrassment to the struggling company.

Taken from the common term "to Google it", the new catchphrase in technology circles essentially means to badly cock-up a launch, with the site desperately hoping for a turnaround in the coming days.

Was Sam Morgan right to call Wheedle a joke after it's closure? Tell us your thoughts below