The Big Man

We are not unfair and we are there to provide people with the chance to get as many photo ops , signings , talks and autographs that they want. We do help everyone we can on the day and as there was so many guests over the weekend there were going to be lots of clashes. As you will see very few did not get what they wanted and paid for, so this did work quite well for most people. I do not think anyone need to start quoting the law as we are on your side and run our shows so they are fair. We give refunds if we have to move the photo op's on the day and people miss out, as that's down to us, and if a guest is cancelled we always refund everyone. We will also consider refunds if there was just to many paid for photo ops or talks you are committed to on the day, but things like clashes with free talks etc thats not down to us and a refund will not be given for that, or we will have to be refunding everyone for whatever issues everyone has, and refunding costs us money and in the end we would have to charge more to cover the costs of everyone asking for refunds for anything ? We have also refunded anyone that has a photo op that did not have a entry ticket if they could not get in. We would advice that in future everyone buying a talk ticket or photo op buys a entry ticket as well. So we are fair and treat people with real issues fairly like we would like to be treated ourselves. hope that helps jason I and many others I'm sure, will be relieved to hear this. I only advised people of their rights as there were a lot of worried people and no communication from Showmasters until your response to mine (so I'm glad that I did post that as it got the response from you that people were waiting for). I will look forward to receiving my refunds for 2 photoshoots that took place but I could not get in as was stuck in the now legendary Saturday queue. I sent an email on Mon 14th July outlining this situation yet have had no reply. Any time-frame as to when I will receive a response?

I honestly can not see what legal entitlement Showmasters would have to keep the money no matter what their policy on refunds is if they failed to provide the service that has been paid for. Personally I would email Showmasters explaining the situation and enclose a scan of the photo ticket (which ought to still have the stub attached as it wasn't used) as evidence. Perhaps a member of Showmasters team will give some proper guidance soon?

Haven't read this post in full but understand that it looks like people will not get refunded due to Showmasters policy on refunds. I would like to point out to people that in policy law there is such a thing as "unfair contract terms" which I feel this would fall into. Essentially this means that although a business may have stipulations and clauses they can still be challenged if they are deemed unfair. In this case for example, if a photo did not take place then how can the organizer keep the full money for it? If the organiser did not suffer any financial loss then why should they be allowed to keep it. Furthermore if people were unable to attend photoshoots due to issues created by Showmasters than "the service/product was not fit for purpose" and again should be refunded. And in case you're wondering, yes I work in legal and regulatory matters. Hope this helps.

So essentially Jason you have; dismissed pretty much everything that went wrong blamed the people who turned up at the event rather than your poor policing made up some random entry times that supposedly everyone got in by - despite the many people stating that isn't true thought of a new way to make even more money by charging for an exclusive new ticket that guarantees an auto from an A lister brushed over all the issues that were happening outside the event repeatedly patted yourself on the back and congratulated yourself for doing an excellent job This is why your events will never improve. In your eyes you can't do any wrong and do not learn from your mistakes. I've emailed an official complaint which I will await a response to in due course.

He was probably stuck in the line outside to get in !!!

I think you should post this on Showmasters facebook page as there will be a better chance of Stan Lee/his team seeing this feedback and maybe his own twitter/facebook if there is one. How they spoke to your children is disgusting. I hope you receive a formal apology from Showmasters for that.

Your average person doesn't check forums though just the main website which had no real details. Still at least you were able to get in. I was amongst the thousands who couldn't.

Nice one thanks Good job I asked as I haven't been to one of these in a while and I'm sure the earlybird used to only be for an hour with standard entry at 10am. I've ordered 2 photo sessions for the Sat so these better be after 11am !!

So what time does it open then for standard entry on Saturday? The website homepage says the hours are 9.00 - 6.00 Sat/Sun (which I think will confuse a lot of people as it doesn't say 9.00 is for early bird tickets only) so unsure??

Yes definately want some more Alien guests!! But if it's matching up with John Hurt then how about some Hellboy guests as well?? Ron Perlman would be a fantastic guest. I understand he has done one before but I didn't know anything about these events back then.

Last year was stupidly busy and you're right that an accident at these events is on the cards if it isn't properly managed. I felt bad for the helpers last year cos they were telling people that there wasn't any point in waiting around the Heroes table but people just didn't listen. I struggle to see the fasination of standing around watching someone sign stuff from a distance but hey thats just me. The only other solution would be to box of the guests behind screens so there would be no point in standing around getting in the way. Yes there were queues, but most of them kept moving. The worst I was in was for the left over medallions at the end! For me the biggest queue was the Mark Hamil talk. I will never forget the look on peoples faces as they walked past and realised just how long the queue was. But I guess queuing up is what being a Star Wars fan is all about!!

Summer Glau would be fantastic and with the new terminator TV show she is staring in, it would be good timing from a promotional point of view

Excellent guest !! Have wanted to meet him for a while now - fingers crossed he wont cancel this time around

Is that due to the fun and games over Celebration Europe? That was the best event I've ever been to, I've always wondered if SM regretted pulling out of that. Really?? I had a ticket for all 3 days and onlt did the first two cos I just found it so overcrowded it was stupid. But anyway - Carrie yes please bring her back. I met at her at LFCC '06 and did manage to get quite a nice photo with her but would happily meet her again.

Amazing guest - probably the best Showmasters have ever got. Does anyone know if he has done cons before?? Only what is the chance of him cancelling before then??

Wow that's dedication!! Wonder if I could get away with dressing up like her as well? I'm a 6ft 6in 24 yr old man but still....

Yay , Just be careful though as you may not get what you paid for ...... Gav How do you mean??

Yeah she'll turn up ....

I am so glad you posted this cos it confirms eveything I thought already. The photoshoots make huge amounts of money in a very short amount of time so it's clear that if the only way to get a pic witha a guest is through a photoshoot people are gonna pay that extra. Take me for example, last year I wanted to meet Nathan Fillion and get a pic with him. He was only doing a photoshoot so I had no alternative to pay for that as well. If he was doing photos over the desk I would not have paid for the photoshoot. End of as simple as that. Photoshoots are just a way of making more cash. I don't have an issue with people making money I just wish the organisers would admit to it rather than all this crap like 'its just in addition honest' Actually, someone posted that it was William's choice. Showmasters would allow posed photos. Robert Englund said that he thinks it's unfair to do free photos because others are paying, and William agreed and adopted the same policy. The guest's choice, not Showmasters'. I'm not totaly disagreeing but let's look at it from another point of view then. Say your the guest and you know you stand to make a lot of money from doing the photoshoot. You also know that if you don't do over the counter photos people will get forced to pay for the photo. So by stating you wont pose for photos over the desk you will make more cash. So that's what a lot of guests are going to do which is fair enough cos why shouldnt they. So whether it was intended or not, with the creation of the photoshoot it has meant that guests that would have otherwise posed for photos wont any more. Which means we have to pay twice the price. Fact.

I am so glad you posted this cos it confirms eveything I thought already. The photoshoots make huge amounts of money in a very short amount of time so it's clear that if the only way to get a pic witha a guest is through a photoshoot people are gonna pay that extra. Take me for example, last year I wanted to meet Nathan Fillion and get a pic with him. He was only doing a photoshoot so I had no alternative to pay for that as well. If he was doing photos over the desk I would not have paid for the photoshoot. End of as simple as that. Photoshoots are just a way of making more cash. I don't have an issue with people making money I just wish the organisers would admit to it rather than all this crap like 'its just in addition honest'

Moan, bitch, grumble ! Why wasn't everything tailered exactly to me ????? I doubt very much that AP&MV will see too much of your alleged 10.8k - it will help SMs pay the bills, some will go to agents, managers etc. It's far from THAT straight forward !! Admitedly I don't know exactly how all the money works out but I was hardly saying 'why wasn't everything tailored to me' you complete jerk. What I actually said was 'I kind of expect a smile and a polite hello.' You may be used to people walking all over you and treating you like crap but I'm not.

He was a nice guy. Got no idea what he wrote on the pic though - it looks like 'be good' - anyone else get that that can confirm it??

Let's not feel too sorry for these guys here. I got ticket no. 360 so lets say I was the last to get a ticket (though I know for certain I wasn't) at £30 x 360 = £10,800 they made in little over an hour. That's like nearly £5,400 they made each for standing there for an hour. For that sort of money I kind of expect a smile and a polite hello. Guess that's too much to ask.

Well Hayden signed my pic and did'nt even to look up at me. I said thank you politely and she just moved on to the next without a word. Yeah that was £20 well spent...

I don't like posting negative comments but I have to agree with pretty much all the neg comments here. I was one of the ones who didn't get either of the lads autographs cos my VT was in the 800/900s and they only got to 700 cos of the long photo session. I was right at the back of the queue (I was the tall guy with a ponytail for all those others at the back!) and when I finally got in the security guy shouted at the poor lad in front of me cos he dared put his arm on Milo's shoulder!! It's hard to explain the looks on the lads faces - they were just so pi**ed off looking. Adrian didn't even look at me, Milo at least managed a smile and a Hi. So anyway I stood in the middle of them and with the telling off the guy in front og me got in mind, I didn't put my arm around either of them. So I found it very odd then that Milo then put his arm around me! Talk about mixed messages!! Then cos the photographer was in such a hurry he took the shot and must have missed out my head (cos I'm tall) and said he had to take it again. This did lighten the tension a bit as Milo smirked then stood on tip toes while I crouched slightly. Adrian on the other hand just continued to look pi**ed. All I can say is on first impressions these Heroes guys aren’t nothing like the friendly Firefly cast.