LaserGirl

Hooray - refund appeared in account today.

Nope

I hate to switch sides but the fact is that there is nothing you can do if you booked a non-refundable hotel room. If you book your room as instructed on the Con website, you will be refunded if it's cancelled. If not, then you must read the small print or live with the consequences. I too am angry that they left it so late to cancel. I too have lost money on a non-refundable room, but I knew it was a risk and made sure it was an amount I could afford to loose. It really sucks I know, but all you can do is treat it as a learning experience and move on.

So exactly how last minute do people have to leave it to book their flights & hotels? Do we always have to wait until 11 days before an event to make sure it's going ahead? It's my birthday tomorrow so I'm going to put all this out of my head until Wednesday, then I'll think about whether Showmasters/Massive Events ever deserve my custom again...

Aaarg. This is exactly the problem. You've known for days (possibly weeks) that it wasn't happening that weekend, and you still let people carry on booking time off and paying for non-refundable hotel rooms!!!! You should have let us know it was cancelled/postponed much earlier.

"are we really expecting them to post sorry guys we dont kno yet?" YES that's exactly what we expect! At this stage just ANY communication at all! I (and I'm sure a lot of others) don't care any more about knowing what is DEFINITELY happening. We just want to know what is NOT happening. If it's NOTat the Park Inn, we need to know now so we can go about getting refunds. If it's NOT that weekend, we need to know now so we can cancel the time off and the cattery etc. If I hear one more person say "try and be patient" I will scream.

Well said Julie, I too have been considering complaining to Trading Standards. I don't know why they think they don't have to provide the same level of customer service as any other company.

Urgh. So sick of this. Just want my money back (before christmas) so I can spend it on something else.

"but have faith in showmasters, they've not let anyone down yet" Please tell me that's sarcasm. Showmasters have been cancelling LOTR conventions on me since 2007. My advice, don't get too excited. If it happens, hooray, we'll all have a great time. If not, we get a refund and can spend the money on going to see The Hobbit another 10 times

Excellent, I've set up the Yahoo Group and to get the ball rolling have designed a logo, posted an explanation for the name and uploaded photos of my creations so far (including the dress I wore to Oxonmoot). To join just send your email address to: heather_coleman "at" btinternet "dot" com and I will add you to the list, you should then get an invitation describing how to log in. For those who are not familiar with Yahoo Groups, they are driven more by emails than a typical message board/forum. You send an email to a central group address, and it is then forwarded on to the other members. There is also web space for photos etc. So please drop me a line, the more the merrier, Heather

Hey Guys, I've been thinking of starting up a Yahoo Group, if anyone's interested, called something like "Minas Tirith Seamstresses Guild" so we can keep in touch on all things velvet now that this forum has a limited lifespan. Let me know what you think (I might even see if I can make it a TS smial)... Heather

No need to worry at all. Most people seemed to be there to eat, drink and be merry. There were lectures going on (I only made it to one) but I don't think that Merry & Pippin's dance class could be considered intellectual . Heather

Hey Jo, Although I was really excited about another show, I can't say I was totally gutted about the cancellation because last weekend I attended my first "Oxonmoot" (the annual knees-up of the Tolkien Society) and I had the BEST time . I was able to wear one of my costumes and everyone was so lovely and friendly. So my advice is to join up and you're guaranteed a LOTR event at least once a year. You might also be interesteed in the upcoming "Tolkien's Birmingham" residential weekend: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateConte...0&MENU_ID=0 Heather

I haven't touched any of my dresses in months. However I've just been signed off work for 2 weeks so I'll be getting the sewing machine out again soon. Heather

Hi Jo, I actually meant your NEW dress. The lilac shot viscose with the great gathered cloak over the top. Anyway, mine was going to be very experimental, so there's plenty of time for me to mess it up. I'm really chuffed with the way the Pre-Rapaelite one is turning out. I wanted to come up with a very simple pattern that used less fabric and not much construction, leaving me to concentrate on decoration and be able to splash out on more expensive fabrics. What I've ended up with only needs 3-4 meters of fabric (depending on sleeve style). So the question that I've pondering for some time now is...exactly how many frocks is it sensible to have for the whole weekend. I reckon if you intend to stay in costume the whole time it's about 5 (or is that just going over the top). Any thoughts?? Heather