Just an update on where we are with things.
In trying to get the site to perform better, we've been chasing configuration options and looking at adding tools to to improve the load speed and performance, but it looks like we've maxed out those options and some users are still experiencing issues. We've had a really good conversation with our web-hosting company and although we didn't even consider that the site might have outgrown the current server set up, it appears it has. Because of this, the server is struggling to cope at times which is causing random slow-downs and meaning that things such as email alerts etc are working when the server isn't under too much pressure but otherwise aren't working.
All of this explains the inconsistent performance of the site. So, we to fix it, we're moving to a much more powerful server. Three times as powerful to be exact and we've been told that not only should this fix the inconsistent issues with the site, that it should make it a fair bit faster overall.
With in the mind, the migration to the new server is in a queue to be actioned by their technical team and we should see this completed no later than Monday the 9th of May.
I'd be grateful if anyone who is still experiencing issues with the site if they could please email me at info<at>deutschespeed<dot>com so that we can log and track any issues. It seems that many have been suffering in silence and it's only with feedback that we can track down and solve these issues.
Thanks very much for your patience and for sticking with us.