So I registered for LotusSphere yesterday. Something odd happened - I didn't get a confirmation number or email. This disturbed me since it is a pretty good chunk of change. This morning, still nothing to either of the email accounts I gave them. I really don't like having nothing at all back, not even a reference number. The website had sent me on to make my hotel reservation, which I did. 
So this morning I called the customer support line. I was told that the LotusSphere reservation system was not a live system (for feedback, yes it was taking reservations). That the information was sent on to the accounting department that would send out an invoice. 
I'm pretty sure I got something last year, and the nice lady was able to confirm that my registration is in the system, pending for accounting. But what sense does this make? The registration site doesn't look like it was done in Xpages, and we all know how easy it is to give a reference number in that case with Notes. So who came up with this system? What project manager decided it wasn't necessary to give the customer something at the end? What is this coded in that a confirmation number can't be created? Can this be described as something besides "stupid"? It's a standard function for registration/purchase systems, and not having a confirmation number is very bad customer service. 
Yeah, I'm complaining - this is a big purchase and if something goes wrong, I want something I can point to when I'm getting things addressed. Heck, I read the stuff the utilities send me, and messages from vendors in case they actually tell me about changes. And when I make a big purchase, I want to know it's gone through and I've not just sent out thousands of dollars to someone for fun.
Cheers,
Brian