18 replies to this topic

[CherokeeRose]

Sorry to make a thread about this however my internet is a little dodgy and won't load anything else, I have only ever been to 1 convention a few years ago, this was my first proper big one, I had it booked months ago to come down & meet Norman Reedus however obviously he cancelled but I was very pleased that Michael Socha was put on the list as he made it worthwhile (honestly one of the nicest, friendliest, loveliest - and most handsome but it goes without saying - celebrities I have ever met). I came down from Scotland and this is the first time I've ever been to London so my friend and I made a weekend out of it.

Really disappointed about the photo system, my shoot with Michael Socha was at 1.10 to 1.30 and we were ready to leave by that time but decided to wait a few hours to see if the photos came out, when they finally came out around 5pm only half the batch was there and typical my photo wasn't, I came all the way down from scotland and had tickets for the theatre booked in covenant gardens at 7.30pm, we were planning a nice meal out before hand, just before we left we went back to check and spoke to a blue shirt - who then told us that they were having problems with printing machines and we could fill a form out. We were very angry that we had been told that 5 hours later - when we could have left beforehand! we missed our meal and got to the theatre by the skin of our teeth so ruined our whole plans for the saturday afternoon/night. I really think that for next year something more sensible needs to be done about that because for such a big event that has other events around the country, the photo situation was very amateur!! You are meant to be professionals at this by now!!

[Kayla1991]

I also came down from Scotland and was still waiting at 5.50pm for a photo.
All the photos before and after mine had come and gone from the table hours beforehand, whenever I asked what was going on they kept saying they'd "lost a batch"
Luckily for me a pit boss took me right into the printing room and I was able to get it printed then and there before I left to come home that evening.
But I sat waiting for that one photo for 3 hours when I could have also been out enjoying a meal with friends.

[plushroom]

You do have the option of having your photos being posted to you if you don't want to stay to the end of the convention time, I know it's obviously frustrating if there is a problem with a photo batch being printed but if you want to leave you just fill out the form and they come about a week later - I really don't think they can do much better than that because as you yourself mention it is a large convention meaning they are dealing with thousands of people, thousands of photos and technology that as we all know isn't perfect by any means (Because technology never is lol).

I'm sorry you feel that they are the reason you had to miss your meal, but the staff are very professional and always do their bit to help and advise you. As soon as my last shoot ends I go to the photo tables and ask for a rough estimate on print returns and then pop back every now and then to check. If it doesn't look like they are going to come and I want to leave early I tell them and they give me the form to fill in for posting them to me. No system can be perfect but they work very hard and do their utmost to get everything done as soon as they can.

[Swissangel4616]

I didn't had any problem. Only Adam Baldwin's photo shooting began one hour later and on another place. I was expecting already to to wait 2 hours and maybe more to get my photos on the desk. So I pre-planned anythings already.

2 photo from saturday i picked up then sunday morning because I had to leave a bit earlier because I was seeing then a musical "Singing in the rain". for me it was everything fine.  But yes... saturday it was bit chaotic but a lot people have visited the event and i my mind... the CREW/Showmaster did everything they could do.

[adam_bomb]

Good to see someone else say it. The fact is I waited for a Gillian Anderson picture till 7pm on Saturday before finally being told it wasnt going to arrive because a batch had been lost. Considering the photo session was at 1.10pm, the wait was bad enough but then to not be informed of anything by the staff was even worse.

On the basis of this, I decided it wasnt worth attending on Sunday as I didnt feel valued as a customer. I saw Jason note that the situation was much better on Sunday, but my friend attended and his photo didnt arrive either so it doesnt appear that was the case.

As for the age old photo argument, all i would say is there are massive conventions in the US who email digital copies or put them on memory sticks rather than making punters hang around for 6 hours with no end result.

[bergy]

I'm 12 and i got all my photos on the Sunday and i had no problems, my mum was crewing so i had 5 photo shoots  to get  and then had to collect them all myself .

Edited by bergy, 11 July 2012 - 07:48 PM.

[CherokeeRose]

plushroom, on 11 July 2012 - 07:33 AM, said:

You do have the option of having your photos being posted to you if you don't want to stay to the end of the convention time,

I wasn't told this until 5.30, by that time I had been waiting for 4 hours!!

[CherokeeRose]

I also don't agree about the staff being professional, the majority of staff I talked to couldn't answer my questions, were not helpful and they all kept telling me different information. Some told me they didn't know how long photos would be, others couldn't understand or simply wouldn't listen that the batch of photos from my shoot had been printed and my photo was missing, I had been hanging around for 4 hours until someone told me that I could fill out a form for my photo to be sent, and then half an hour later another staff member informed me there was problems with the printer and they were having them all day. I don't understand why I couldn't have been told this earlier so I could leave! Poor, poor, poor customer service.

[Clarkey]

bergy, on 11 July 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

I'm 12 and i got all my photos on the Sunday and i had no problems, my mum was crewing so i had 5 photo shoots  to get  and then had to collect them all myself .

Good for you!

Although comparing Sunday to Saturday is a big fail!!!

[Clarkey]

CherokeeRose, on 11 July 2012 - 11:22 PM, said:

I also don't agree about the staff being professional, the majority of staff I talked to couldn't answer my questions, were not helpful and they all kept telling me different information. Some told me they didn't know how long photos would be, others couldn't understand or simply wouldn't listen that the batch of photos from my shoot had been printed and my photo was missing, I had been hanging around for 4 hours until someone told me that I could fill out a form for my photo to be sent, and then half an hour later another staff member informed me there was problems with the printer and they were having them all day. I don't understand why I couldn't have been told this earlier so I could leave! Poor, poor, poor customer service.

Showmasters is what should be professional, as for the staff they are volunteers. But some are very professional others don't have much of a clue. Harsh but true. Anyway I praise all of them for making an effort to volunteer so that the show can go on and we can attend and meet the guests we dream of meeting.

[touchthesky]

We waited ages for Danielle Harris shoots on Sunday. Same with Anthony Heads..they were shambles too..We kept getting told "more are over there" then we'd go over "there" and get told there were none!

[Berber Anna]

I actually had quite a good experience with the photo shoots, apart from Chris Judge's costume not really being a proper Teal'c costume.
I had all of them done on Sunday, and every time we had a clash, staff helped us get to where we needed to be with enough time to spare. Yes, there were long queues, but I'd kind of expected that at an event this size. Collection was easy enough for me because my cosplay made me fairly recognisable -- once or twice, I even had random people come up to me with my photos because they'd seen me around and recognised me. But I guess if you weren't  wearing something distinctive, it may have been a bit harder, especially as some shoots were spread out over several tables. Personally, though, I can't complain.

[MrCharisma1066]

Not only was the photo situation a shambles, but when I went to ask one of the crew members about Hayden's photoshoots. I received a rude response, he could have just told me they haven't all come out yet.

[Murph]

If they could find a way to stop the idiots standing at the tables for ages, i think it would be fine.

[touchthesky]

Davids comment has gone?

[DavidB]

There are some forum log-in issues we're looking into.

[Rockstar6662]

Murph, on 14 July 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

If they could find a way to stop the idiots standing at the tables for ages, i think it would be fine.

This is the only real problem. The time it takes the photos to come back is to some degree not controllable. Personally I found all my 13 came back at pretty reasonable times but then I could hang around all day. But in terms of collection, the problem is caused by people just standing there thinking their photo will just suddenly appear.

The crew can't put out more until some have been collected and if you can't see yours, just move out of the way for a while. It really is annoying. I wait for a gap, pop in, have a look and get out the way for maybe another half hour or so.

What you need is some way to make people move around the table in one direction and keep moving. A barrier around it maybe with an entrance and exit. It really isn't hard to spot yourself and there's no need to just stand there for ages.

Maybe it's just because I'm used to it and have the patience to wait that I dont have many problems. It isn't a great system but work with it and it needed be quite so much grief either.

[touchthesky]

Normally it's not as bad as this though.

[Not_Pennys_Ship]

Clarkey, on 12 July 2012 - 04:48 AM, said:

bergy, on 11 July 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

I'm 12 and i got all my photos on the Sunday and i had no problems, my mum was crewing so i had 5 photo shoots  to get  and then had to collect them all myself .

Good for you!

Although comparing Sunday to Saturday is a big fail!!!

Honestly, is that an appropriate way to respond to a 12 year old?