Classic ASP (VBScript) - Type mismatch: 'URLEncode'

Just a quick note - half aide memoir and half you-never-know-when-this-might-come-in-handy. We do quite a lot of maintenance work on Classic ASP (VBScript) sites and there are loads of gotchas.

Back in the day when it one of the main technologies I used they got me less, I seem to remember, but nowadays thats not entirely the case!

It's the obtuse error message that got me this time.

baseString = URLEncode(baseString)

Generates this error:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a000d'

Type mismatch: 'URLEncode'


The fix? Simple.

baseString = Server.URLEncode(baseString)

DOH! Hopefully if this trips you up, you'll find this post in less time than it took me to realise what a doughnut I was being..!

lastminute.com - our top secret hotel saga Part 2!

Well. Phew. We've made some significant progress on the 'lastminute.com top secret hotels' front.

Because I made a big fuss on twitter (and here), I managed to get a lovely lady from the lastminute.com VIP desk to look into our problem and it has been more or less sorted out.

At least she actually listened to / read / understood the problem! While I'm happy that it has been adequately dealt with, the misleading information correct and we have been compensated (with a room upgrade!), I'm still somewhat peeved by how hard it was to get the same simple message through via their standard support channels.

I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't used social media to complain, though.

Apparently they are going to investigate the awful asssistance we received - I shall report back with the outcome (if we are kept updated, can't remember if they said they would or not)!

lastminute.com top secret hotels? Just Say No!

The title kinda says it all. I won't go into details yet, but we are currently involved in what I will politely call a "wrangle" with lastminute.com.

Their customer service is frankly disgusting. It is the worst experience I have had with a company when something has gone wrong for a VERY long time.

Will post more once the matter is concluded (for better or for worse). However, in the meantime, my personal advice is - if you are thinking of booking a top secret hotel via lastminute.com, just don't. It's not worth it.