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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/22/2021 in all areas

  1. I'll preface the following with "I had a fantastic time, and the event was well run, and the staff were brilliant as always. But"... I know it can't be helped, and is the risk with this type of event...but the number of guest cancellations, and the lateness of many of those cancellations, was quite a dampener on the event this year. And it was made worse by very poor, inconsistent, and in some cases non-existent communication from Showmasters. I originally bought all of my tickets in 2020. And like many had the disappointment of postponment after postponement of LFCC due to the Covid pandemic. Obviously I don't hold Showmasters responsible for that...it was just a disappointing side-effect (no pun intended) of the pandemic. But, once the November 2021 date was announced and started to look like it was actually going to go ahead, the first of the cancellations started to come in. It was once guests started to cancel did I discover that Showmasters had changed their policy of automatic refunds for cancellations to one of issuing vouchers (and more recently 'rolling' tickets over to another event). Now, again, I don't blame Showmasters for taking that action. It is inconvenient for us...but I do understand that the pandemic has had a considerable negative impact on business...and Showmasters like many businesses needed to to take action to ensure their viability. But equally...the pandemic has impacted ALL of us...and many of us, myself included, have also suffered signifcant negative impacts on our incomes. I'm not sure Showmasters have fully taken that into consideration. But...to make the "vouchers instead of refunds" situation worse, there seems to have been a lot of confusion as to the amounts vouchers have been issued for. With no clear indication of what vouchers covered. In my case for example, I received vouchers that actually amounted to more than my original total order, which lead to a few back-and-forth emails with Showmasters to correct them, and to obtain assurance that my non-cancelled guest tickets were still valid. And...may I just say...the process for redeeming vouchers is really bad. You can ony use vouchers to purchase a SINGLE ticket, and if you don't use the entire value of that voucher for that SINGLE ticket, you'll be issued another voucher supposedly for the remaining balance. So, I can't purchase more than one ticket and use my voucher as payment or part-payment against that order...which is the proper way of doingt things. Showmasters - you really need to get that sorted! Anyway, once I got the vouchers sorted, and received confirmation that my remaining tickets were still valid I thought things were all good. But of course, more guest cancellations followed...a couple of which were less than a week before the event. And emails to Showmasters were greeted with an automatic reply stating that they were out-of-the-office preparing for LFCC. Hmmm...think about it Showmasters, is this really good customer service? So, I personally went from six guests in 2020 (two of which were diamond pass guests) down to two guests for this years event. And continued confusion over vouchers/refunds...and no method of communication with Showmasters. And I had originally purchased a Gold pass, which over the years has really diminished in value anyway, but now for me this year was looking to be a complete waste of money (just at a time when money was an important consideration). But, I had already booked hotel and train tcikets, so I was now committed to go. Because of the cancellations etc, I decided not to bother going into the event Friday. I was in London...but it seemed kind of pointless. So I went Saturday. And joined a single queue to enter the event. So, given I had purchased a Gold pass, where was the priority entry? And I thought Gold pass people were going through a different door/entrance as priority? But nope, a single queue to enter the event, and then a rather ridiculous Gold Pass lane leading to the hall once you were inside. Not exactly priority entry! Oh...and once inside, picking up my last remaining diamond pass for...Robbie Coltrane, finding out that he had become ill over-night and cancelled. Now again, I don't hold Showmasters responsible for that at all. And of course I wish Robbie well and a speedy recovery. But equally it was very very disappointing...and now I was down to just the one guest for a 3-day weekend. Yipee. Once inside the actual hall, it was plain to see the effect the pandemic has had on LFCC this year. It was soooo much smaller, and although I have no idea of the attendance numbers it "felt" like there were considerably less attendees. And one thing I did notice was that the stage area was on the lower ground, and could be overlooked without any kind of cover from the upper areas. So, you could quite happily watch "paid" for talk that you hadn't paid for. Now there weren't exactly many paid for talks this year, but I could imagine people not being happy that they'd paid for a talk when that talk was pretty much open for everyone else to watch anyway. Not to mention the complete lack of security for the poor guests (I mean, there's nothing stopping anyone throwing something...or even themselves...onto the stage/guest). Now the likelyhood of that happening is probably remote...but you only need to watch the daily news to see crazy stuff like that. Anyway, as I had only one guest to see, and get autograph from, it wasn't exactly going to be a busy day for me. But, I stayed the whole day...and as I stated at the very top of this (rather long) post, I still had a fantastic time. Despite the above. But...I do think Showmasters need to consider the points I, and others, raise in these type of posts. I can only hope they do.
    3 points
  2. I loved the way SM did the screen shots so clever and I love my photos, and my Bernard Hill photo where is a floating head has got to be one of my fave photos of the weekend as it makes me laugh out loud every single time I look at it
    2 points
  3. I totally understand that some guests were happier having a separation screen during their photoshoots, and the way it was done with a black line along the leading edge of the screen and a black background meant that it was more or less invisible. However, could someone please mention to future guests that if they want their photoshoots done this way, to wear any colour other than black! I’ve got a lovely photo of me next to Bernard Hill’s floating head! Bernard Hill
    1 point
  4. Mark Boone Jnr for me was amazing. Spent about 15 mins with him at the start chatting about everything SOA. I saw him around the venue about two or three times and he remembered my name each time and again at the photo. Went to say goodbye to him and got chatting again for 10 mins or so. Lovely guy. Kim Coates - EPIC Tommy Flanagan - Lovely but I was so starstruck by him that I just couldn’t think of anything to say! Came across shyer than I thought one on one. Still a dream to meet though! Staz Nair - ran over the say hi as we share the same birthday. He was lovely, very friendly and super chatty Robert Patrick - gave me some of his haribo’s (!) and just seemed to want to talk to everyone. Surreal moment but such a nice guy! My favourite con so far hands down.
    1 point
  5. They need to bring Hattie and Norman from Red Dwarf in to do this. I’d 100% buy that photo!
    1 point
  6. King Richard was a very good story about Venus and Serena Williams rise to fame and great performances from everyone. Would have preferred a little more about their professional career to be featured though.
    1 point
  7. I have to say every guest I met this weekend was lovely, so list below not totally exhaustive. Appreciation for.... Robert Patrick lovely chat at autograph table and was fun and engaged in photoshoot as well. Great fun guest George Takei lovely man. Manahed to get his auto fairly easily even tho he was reduced hours and he was so sweet and a lovely chat at auto. He was same again in photo. Love my photo with him. John Wesley Shipp i was so looking forward to meeting him after he had to cancel the last time and it was worth the wait. What a lovely lovely man both at auto and photo. Also noticed how engaged he was with anyone at his auto table anytime i walked by. Sandra Dickinson met her late Sunday and she was so sweet. Shared some interesting stories and chatted away for ages as it was quiet. Total sweetheart. Ben Browder such a nice guy. Great chat, so approachable and friendly. Great guest. Marina Sirtis lovely lady. Even remembered me at photoshoot from first meeting at auto. Lastly, Brian Blessed. What a character. Was really sweet at photoshoot. Managed to get his auto and although could tell he was starting to flag a bit (understandale) he was still full of fun and had me giggling and smiling and i love his dedication on my auto.
    1 point
  8. Peter Davison Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy Paul McGann Mark Williams John DiMaggio Billie Piper
    1 point
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