Just as I was about to post a little edit to the last article about Torchsong, I got this in my inbox.
"TO ALL OF JOHN’S LOYAL FANS:
We are, all of us, very upset about John’s severe injuries that prevent him from traveling to be in Chicago to participate in TORCHSONG; however, everyone including John, has put in herculean effort to continue what cannot be cancelled 1-2 days before any event.
At this point before any event, the facility (convention center) has been paid, the hotels/banquet hall (food) has been paid, non-refundable air tickets have been purchased, regional and national television ads have been paid for and run, audio/visual equipment rentals have been delivered, as well as a myriad of other event related expenses have been fully paid. Despite what some may believe, there is no pool of funds from which refunds can be paid. As stated on the web site from Day One: “There are NO REFUNDS after March 30, 2009.”
When the star of a Broadway/West End show gets injured, he is replaced by the understudy. After all, “The Show Must Go On!” All of us at TORCHSONG are doing much better than that for you, John’s loyal fans. John will still be at TORCHSONG CHICAGO via live 2-way video conference, known as SkyChat. He will be a part of the programming a number of times throughout the event, including the Cabaret! Further, within a day of our being notified of John’s injuries, we were able to arrange performances from the other TORCHSONG participants, as well as adding Peter Wingfield to the event and Cabaret.
Attending Premiere and Deluxe Members will get a signed photo of John Barrowman from San Diego Comic Con International 2008 (John’s first U.S. convention appearance), as well as Peter Wingfield’s signature and Photo-Op as part of their Premiere/Deluxe package.
All previously purchased John Barrowman Autograph tickets will be honored with the SDCC signed photos. If anyone has brought a special item to be signed by John or Kai, please speak to us directly.
Everyone attending TORCHSONG CHICAGO will receive Peter Wingfield’s autograph, No Purchase Required.
All unredeemed John Barrowman Autograph and Photo-Op tickets, as well as all unredeemed Memberships will be honored at our next event that John attends. Depending upon John’s recovery and rehabilitation, he will then be able to discuss his schedule.
For John’s fans who are attending TORCHSONG CHICAGO this weekend, rest assured that membership tickets to our next John Barrowman Event will be offered to you at a discount.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Jonathan Harris & MaryLee Holzheimer"
We'll see how everything sorts out.
26 comments:
Complaints can be filed against Space Debris and Chez Lee Production with the FTC, their number is 1-877-382-4357 and you can also file online as well. (FTC.GOV) Additionally, the Florida Better Business Bureau at 561-842-1918 or 561-842-9278 or online at www.bbb.org.
That's truly too bad about John not being able to make it.
Cons, the way I have always understood it, aren't run at a profit, so no refunds is pretty understandable.
Get over it folks, shit happens. I doubt the BBB or the FTC will do much and probably have the same take.
Actually I've already talked to both the FTC and the BBB. Both felt we have a legitimate claim.
It's a convention with more than one guest, even if the main guest is too ill to be there in person. There are going to be vid links with JB, even for the cabaret. Not ideal obviously, but these things happen. This often happens at conventions, sad as it is for attendees.
This all seems reasonable. People just need to accept that sh*t happens, he's a human being and not a commodity.
Just suck it up.
His health and well being is more important than any damned convention, in my opinion.
Completely agree Marie.
It's sad for all concerned, but the event is still happening, John's still taking part by vid link (more than he should be doing considering the pain he is in), and everything is already set up and paid for with all the guests and many of the attendees there. It has to continue.
It's really, really douchey of people to be pissed off at the convention organizers because a guest is medically unable to come. Especially when so many arrangements have been made to cater to the fans as much as possible so the con experience is not seriously diminished.
tl;dr: Shit happens, can we please act like adults about it?
People aren't pissed because John canceled - we all feel bad for him. We're all pissed because of the way the con organizers handled this - aggressive and rude when they bothered to say anything. When you pay $500 for a weekend that has gone irreparably south, you want to know what they plan to do try and make it better. We found things out via word of mouth and John's site, not them. $150 for a concert with someone most of us have never heard of? That's not okay. The con can go on, it'll be fine, but that cabaret is especially problematic.
I also heard Tom Price got hit by a car. Broken arm but okay for the rest.
This convention is cursed lol
As far as I can see, nobody is complaining about Barrowman personally. The issue is the con was organised as a John Barrowman event. People paid hundreds of dollars just for the concert, to see JB up close and performing live, as well as a meet and greet. A video link is nowhere near the same as that!
If you had bought tickets to see Britney, Beyonce, George Michael or any other solo artist perform and they got injured, you wouldn't be satisfied with a video link and an autograph from Peter Wingfield!
A proper set up would have sufficient insurance to deal with issues like this. From the desperate tone of the mis-spelt emails from MaryLee, Space Debris have none!
J-chan, I don't think it's the disappointed concert goers who aren't acting like adults!
As for offering people discounts for the next Space Debris/JB event, what a joke! Nobody should touch such a badly run organisation with a bargepole. Barrowman should seriously consider his relationship with these people. If he works with them again, it will reflect very badly on him!
Well, no-one knows that they don't have insurance - just people saying it (I'm not saying they do, but we don't know they don't).
And it was advertised as Barrowman *and guests*. Yep, Barrowman's not there, but the guests are! And Barrowman is apparently appearing via a link. That's where you may run into trouble with any legal case - the organisers can say they did all they could do. And to me it looks like they did.
It's not fair to criticise misspelt words - many people have dyslexia or similar issues.
seems 2 me the organizers cant win - they r trying to make it up 2 people by bringing in xtra guests, offering discounts etc. Its a difficult situation and u cant please everyone
I was not going to be able to atend this con as I will be heading to London for a seperate con. The Main Attraction for most of us attending the London con, is also unable to be in attendance. Cons usually have a disclaimer stating NO REFUNDS will be given if an actor or headliner cannot attend. I copied this directly from the TORCHSONG site " All Guest appearances are subject to professional commitments."
While this is not due to a professional commitment, I think you would agree that a person's health is the most important consideration here. I wish John a speedy recovery. And I look forward to seeing him perform in person in the future!!!
I should have mentioned that I am flying to the London con from Tennessee, USA. Surry, I needed to make my point!!!
They should have gotten Matt Rippy in John's place. He was in that one extraordinary episode, and got rave reviews at the Hub 2 convention a couple years ago I think.
I'm guessing "Anonymous" has never run a convention of any significant size.
It has nothing to do with the size of the con, and of course those of us who are here are concerned for John's health - we're his fans. Of course we want him to be healthy and happy. How idiotic to think otherwise.
The problem isn't that John was hurt - hey, shit happens and there's not a lot we can do about it. The problem is the communication with the organizers and how they seem to come across. They're doing their best, now (from what I can tell), to "make up" for things, but I must say that the comparison of John's cabaret to a Broadway/West End show is apples to oranges - we don't get tickets to a musical (or play) performance only for the actor or singer. We get tickets to the show and we know that occasionally, an understudy will go on. But the show is still the show.
This was supposed to be a John Barrowman Cabaret - would you want to buy tickets to Coldplay or Elton John (or whoever) and hear only hours before curtain that Britney Spears is replacing them? Or some no name singer? I wouldn't. And that's a more fair, more honest comparison. And you all know it.
We're having the best time we can, given the circumstances. But unless you're here, unless you've spent the money, flown the hours or driven the miles, and paid for the hotel room or whatever, you have no right to tell us to suck it up. So don't. Please. With all due respect.
Jo (who doesn't like hiding behind Anonymous...)
focus- My issue isn't with John, Tom, or any of the guest. "MY" issue is with the organizers!!
my take - they were rude and condensending when posting about John not making it. The responses since the first statement have been even more rude. The way they treated people who just found out tonight as they were registering that John wasn't going to be here was TotallY Rude, horrible, mean, degrading and so on. There wasn't one sentence they produced that had any compassion in it. They have treated the paying folks as lower class folks. They appear to be looking down at them and shrugging as if to say "It's an act of "God" and i'm equal to Him"
i haven't seen such unprofessional people in a long, long time. The manner in which they have handeled this that should be looked into. No connection with the shock of the paying folks.
Considering the responses I'm sure these people have gotten from the GET GO that John couldn't attend, no wonder they're being rude and uncooperative with you people.
It's been A DAY and you're expecting ROME.
Two of their acts had to cancel because of personal issues and had to scramble at the last minute to accomodate people the best way they knew how. Now they're getting threats of lawsuits and civil action all the while trying to salve the damage done.
I don't know people. Good luck trying to get any money out of these people, because as I said. After lawyers fees, court costs, paperwork, you may not even see a dime and it will end up costing you waaaaay more in the long run.
Issue is this was specifically a 'John Barrowman event' and advertised as such, not a Torchwood event or JB and guests. They did not add other guests until later. It's the same as booking for JB's concert and finding out he's not performing but who cares, no refunds because you can still see the support act. If they don't have insurance, question is why not?
No it wasn't, it was ALWAYS 'john barrowman and guests,' right from the start (it actually says this on the website, and has from the get go). John and Carole were announced from the start, and the website said that other guests would be announced nearer the time - and they were.
So what? It was a 'John Barrowman' event from the start. How any events -- whether it's a con, a cabaret or a concert -- do not have someone else, a support act or guests? The fact it said, "and guests to be named later" is not relevant. Fact is it was supposed to be a JB event/performance. Would you hold a concert if the headliner cancelled, and tell everyone they should be happy with just the support act?
"but I must say that the comparison of John's cabaret to a Broadway/West End show is apples to oranges - we don't get tickets to a musical (or play) performance only for the actor or singer. We get tickets to the show and we know that occasionally, an understudy will go on. But the show is still the show."
Sorry? But that's not always the case. I can name plenty of shows that I've gotten tickets to [On Broadway, but I think we can agree that Broadway and the West End are definitely comparable] for a specific actor. Yes, there's the understanding that there could be an understudy, but there's a lot of bitching if there IS one.
Case in point was the number of people last year who went to see "Speed the Plow", expecting to see Jeremy Piven who basically backed out without a good excuse.
So, no, people have EVERY right to be upset about the Cabaret and seeing an understudy rather than the main attraction. I wish I would have been going, and I want nothing more than a speedy recovery for John. I've done what he did and it's not fun at all.
Actually I've already talked to both the FTC and the BBB. Both felt we have a legitimate claim.
They say that about every complaint brought to them. However, the BBB has absolutely no power whatsoever and most of the complaints they receive are not at all legit.
I work for cons, and most are operated not for profit. It is literally impossible to give refunds because of how expensive everything is and especially in the first couple of years, they tend to be operating in a financial hole. In fact, I work for a con that uses the Rosemont Convention Center, and I know just how expensive it is.
That's not to say that Torchsong wasn't already overpriced - it was - but a no-refund policy is a no-refund policy and especially this close, there really is nothing that can be done.
I found out John wasn't going to be there at the convention.I never received an email,I guess it was because I didn't buy the 500 dollar ticket and was not worth the effort. My real problem was the cabaret,we should have received a refund. We bought the tickets to see John and everyone knows it
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