The Minnesota Zoo is rolling out a new online customer service system, but the early going has been marked by some technical glitches.
The Apple Valley zoo sent an e-mail to members last week notifying them of the website's hiccup.
In the message, titled "Please Excuse Our Mess," Beth Burns, vice president for external relations, apologized to zoo members who had problems with online account activations, membership renewals and camp registrations. "We've got some bugs to work out," she said.
"We had hoped for a seamless transition."
Zoo member Megan Ferden of Richfield went to the website this month to give her husband a romantic surprise. She wanted to take part in the zoo's Valentine's Day promotion to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after a loved one for $10.
When she went on the website to name a cockroach after her husband, Erik, she could not pay, she said.
"When I clicked on it, it didn't go to the page," she said. "I'm all for streamlining as long as the technology is up to date and working."
The problems were shortly resolved, Burns said.