Really unimpressed by Philly Marathon communication.

[Susie]

So the race website says, under "For runners" --> "Race packet pick up", that "Runners will receive a confirmation email from the Philadelphia Marathon one week prior to Race Weekend with more details regarding race packet pick-up."  These emails contained bib and corral assignments.  I didn't get one (I checked my spam folder to make sure), so I emailed them Sunday.  I didn't get a response so I called and left a vm Monday morning. 

Monday I stalked their FB page and found that there are a bunch of us who didn't get emails, found the link on active.com that had bib #s and corrals, and got a friend to forward me the email.  Gets the job done, I suppose.

Then today I finally got a response from the race:

--

I picked up your message from our marathon information line.

You are registered for the half marathon. I suppose that it is possible that our pre-race email was filtered out as spam.

I have attached the generic version of the email for you. It contains instructions for how to confirm your registration and see your bib/corral assignments.

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia this weekend.

--

In addition to not being super timely, the bolded part annoyed me.  I was really clear in my email and vm that I checked my spam folder, it's not there.  Own it, you guys had a glitch.  There are a whole bunch of us on the FB page that don't have them either.  There are also a lot of complaints on the FB page that the live tracking signup link is broken.  The race is not responding to any of these concerns.  Meanwhile, they keep posting useless stuff on FB, like "Runners: Are you ready for the big day? We want to see the sneakers that will take you all the way to the finish line. Send us a picture using #PhillyMarathonSneakers and our favorites will be posted on our Instagram page!"

Gotta say, for a $100 HM (that was the pre-June 30th fee), I'm really underwhelmed with their responses.  I will definitely remember this come race calendar decisions next year. 

[gt7301b]

I'm sorry, that really sucks. Hopefully you will have a better experience on race day. For what it is worth, I thought the actual marathon went off really well last year.

[al320]

ive generally been unimpressed with their communication. it's basically been nothing until last week. i guess steamtown spoiled me? i dont know. im pretty sure ive done small, local 5ks that have been more communicative than this race. i figured a "big city" race would be better about stuff too. but i guess i cant complain becuse i did get the email last week. ugh, im sorry, that's a crappy response.

[kyleeb]

I didn't receive a confirmation email either. Which is a huge hassle considering a friend was picking up my bib for me as I work during the hours of expo. I've emailed and called them to no response. This is very frustrating. They posted a link that shows your bib and wave, but nothing to sign for someone to pick up your stuff for you. Very very poor communication.

[2doxies]

I agree, for a race this size the communication has been minimal. 

There was an interesting article this past week in the Philly Inquirer about fixing the race; basically that it's not as well run as it should be and that the management of it should be combined with the Broad Street Run: 

www.philly.com/philly/health/sportsmedicine/philadelphia-marathon/20141115_Time_to_fix_the_Philadelphia_marathon.html

[Susie]

Wow. My OP about this was from last year's Philly communication mess! I'm sorry to hear they are not doing better this year.

[gummybear]

I just realized I haven't gotten shit. My brother is picking up my bib. I guess I should look into this, shouldn't I?