Guest cancellation: Henry Ian Cusick

[Lizzy]

Jason, look up their email address on ur lil mod panel n match it with one used to order

[hurricanebtvs]

Imagine if DavidB was batirogue lol im kidding

[crippsy_99]

I started reading through this, to find the same crap over and over from the same minority of people, and I just have one comment to say to those of you whining and bitching about guests and refunds and whatever else..

 

Whats so hard to understand about the words: "Guests appear subject to work commitments"..??

If you book for one specific person, tough! Thats your problem for being stupid enough to book for just the one person, knowing that they may cancel, and gambling so much of your 'hard earned cash' on things going your way. Deal with it and shut up.

 

99% of the time I book conventions having no idea of ANYONE announced..I just trust that there will be SOME guests there, who cares who they are really, theres still 4 guests going and im sure they'll be just as good, if not better, as any main cast you were hoping for.

 

If you've booked non refundable hotels and transport etc, then you might aswell just go anyway and have a weekend away right, seeing as its been paid for..if not, then just dont go if you dont want too..yeah you lose the money you paid for the ticket but then thats your problem for choosing not to go, just because your so damn fussy and whiney..

 

So back off, shut up complaining, and let Jason and his team work on making the event as enjoyable as possible without the added stress of a few of you giving them grief.

[sebastianillyria]

Now you really are just going on and on and on and on .

So give it a bye and decide for yourself whether you do or do not want to go, you have said enough

 

Sorry i didn't see your message.

I did never doubt whether i would come or not come

It's sure I will come

When i opened the topic "to go or not to go", it was only to know what people was going to do...

If i did not come, it would be a long time i would have stoped to post.

All is not refundable (except hotel).

 

But if someone doubts about that, I never asked a refund

[slaycandy]

Haha trust me, I've been an argumentative b!tch on here for years now, and I've never got any preferential treatment .. I know I'd have to kidnap Jessica

 

If you're talking Alba, we had a deal! We get her together!!!

 

SJ

xox

[TommyT]

Realistically, i want nothing.

Well god help us when you actually want something, because if you post this much when you want nowt, the bloody server will melt if you ever do want something...

[TommyT]

its comment like this that makes us wonder why we run events, Mark and I do not do this to make money, thank god some of you understand were we are coming from and who we are

 

well tonight i will not have good dreams as this stuff upsets me

At times like this I really feel for you.

I've given, and continue to give, SM some stick for shortcomings in their practices and procedures.

But kudos too for a number of things

* very good guests

* allowing so much criticism on a site that you pay for

* being responsive to criticism and striving to improve

amongst other things...

 

I appreciate (from my own experience of organising events) how much work you and your team put in. I see how often you're up in the middle of the night, dealing with stuff, because you need to be able to talk on Hollywood time or similar. You're not going to make up guests just for the sake of it or for advertising purposes; the unfortunate cancellations (and ensuing sh*tstorms) happen too often for that - nobody would willingly put themselves through that grief so often just to pimp some extra tickets; you're a victim of the vagaries of filming timetables, which i know can change daily. Let anybody who thinks you make these guests' appearances up either take their supposed case to trading standards for false advertising, or keep the peace - they should put up or shut up; I'm sure you could prove a contract for every guest announced were they to take you to court - the simple fact is you have to give these guests the option of following their primary career or none of them would sign up to come.

It's obvious from what you say at times on here that you do an awful lot of this for the love of it, not the money. I don't always agree with what you say, but I respect you for saying it. Broadly speaking, I think you're one of the good guys.

I think you're just going to have to accept that you're damned.

If you announce a guest early, you're damned.

People get excited for a few weeks, and then a month later, they want to know when the next guest will be announced. "Give us more!" they cry, and damn you for not giving us more immediately.

And heaven help you if the guest then cancels - it was obviously just a plot by you for publicity reasons! Such tosh. I've known a number of actors in my time, and as far as forward planning went, that meant knowing what they were having for lunch! (In all seriousness, most actors really aren't terribly sure about anything beyond about "the end of the week after next"). So you're damned by the vagaries of the acting profession.

And if you don't announce guests until whatever people deem is "too late", you're damned because they've already have other plans, or it's too late to get the cheapest travel, or the hotel is booked.

Face it Jason, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, damned if you will and damned if you won't.

You're going to hell in a bucket - I just hope you can grab a chance to enjoy the ride!

[lams9999]

Please don't speak about a friend when you are speaking about someone who tell always what the person with he is speaking want to hear... My friends are always telling what they are really thinking...

 

Fair enough and well noted.

 

But instead of writing things here that make totally no sense (refunds, responsabilities, etc), you maybe should have come and talked with me to Jason on saturday night. I spoke to him about the madness that was LFCC and told him clearly that I was very angry about what happened then for example. I spoke to Jason, does that mean I turned into evil ? That does not mean that I will trust him blindly ! Neither will I trust the other organizers blindly. I never felt comfortable with this Lockdown event and feared what happened. Therefore I did not buy a ticket in the first place and seeing what happened after, I think I made the right choice. But maybe this is part of the reason why you are mad about me ?

 

You said that I think like you but do not dare posting it but that was certainly not the case concerning refunds. After having done like 10 events, you should be aware of how conventions work. Those arguments have been discussed many times and no single organizer will ever allow refunds except in very peculiar cases. When you book for an event, you have to trust the organizer and you bet on the quality of the event itself. That's why I always say you have to book for the show itself and not specific guests. The fact that I know that many friends will be at the event helps a lot as well as we know that parties and discussions near the bar are a big part of what makes a good convention for me. What else did you accuse me ? That I did not dare saying that Jason runs events to make money ? Sure he does, that's a business ! But do you think that Bryan or Sean do not try to make the more money they can with their events ? I have also written several times in the past about the prices of autographs at some signing events that were obviously too high. But for Eclipse, I think Jason made a nice gesture by decreasing the prices of autographs by £5. It's still more expensive than at other events ? Definitely but then I bought less autographs. Always critizicing does not help, what matters is what you're doing. And I really don't understand why you book so many tickets and spend so much money at Showmasters events and always criticize them here ? It doesn't make sense at all. Another reason why I did not book for Lockdown was because I wanted to support another event the week after and I made a choice of supporting the other organizer as well. Three conventions in one month was not financially viable and I decided to not attend Lockdown. What else ? The fact that we were sure HIC would cancel ? After Jason's posts a few weeks ago after the strike's end, it was indeed pretty obvious but I see that not so many people here were surprised as they all expected this to happen. Could Jason announce this cancellation earlier ? Maybe but I can't prove it so I don't see the point of posting that here. You will never win in any case and that does not change the fact that HIC will not attend Lockdown. What else ? The Jacqueline Mc Kenzie's story maybe ? I thought I would have liked talking about it with Jason but I forgot it at Eclipse but I will definitely do it next time we meet. I argue with Jason about it on the forum because then I had some good arguments to talk about it. But I didn't spend two full days arguing on the same subject over and over again. So, yes sometimes I do not agree with what Jason says, sometimes I'm not happy with late cancellations as well but I try to expect them as much as possible, that's called experience and I thought that after 3 years of going to conventions and signing events, you would have learned from it and did not start all this. Obviously you did not .... the only thing you managed to do is to have Jason and the whole forum against you.

 

I'm not going to post anymore on this subject.

Edited March 21, 2008 by lams9999

[DavidB]

If you're talking Alba, we had a deal! We get her together!!!

 

SJ

xox

 

Well if they get her and Kevin then we can just have one each

[Lambourne]

I started reading through this, to find the same crap over and over from the same minority of people, and I just have one comment to say to those of you whining and bitching about guests and refunds and whatever else..

 

Whats so hard to understand about the words: "Guests appear subject to work commitments"..??

If you book for one specific person, tough! Thats your problem for being stupid enough to book for just the one person, knowing that they may cancel, and gambling so much of your 'hard earned cash' on things going your way. Deal with it and shut up.

 

99% of the time I book conventions having no idea of ANYONE announced..I just trust that there will be SOME guests there, who cares who they are really, theres still 4 guests going and im sure they'll be just as good, if not better, as any main cast you were hoping for.

 

If you've booked non refundable hotels and transport etc, then you might aswell just go anyway and have a weekend away right, seeing as its been paid for..if not, then just dont go if you dont want too..yeah you lose the money you paid for the ticket but then thats your problem for choosing not to go, just because your so damn fussy and whiney..

 

So back off, shut up complaining, and let Jason and his team work on making the event as enjoyable as possible without the added stress of a few of you giving them grief.

 

I completely agree with this post. This has gone on too long. Fair enough if you have something new to add whether it's positive or negative everyone one has a right to say how they feel... BUT Seb is carrying on far to long, posting the same thing over and over and over and over again.

 

It's not helping anyone and is wasting SM's time which could be spent getting us a replacement guest which I'm sure everybody wants.

 

As I have said numerous times in this section, I can't wait for Lockdown and can't wait to meet all the guests. Sure I was negative in the past during the few months when we had only two guests but we then ended up with 4 amazing (in my opinion) guests and I thank SM for that and for there hard work (No, before someone says it I'm not trying to suck up, that is how I feel)

 

Everybody knows how everybody else feels now, let's just leave it at that and look forward to Lockdown together because at the end of the day, it's going to be awesome!

[rodrigo1991]

we should all stop arguing. two weeks today we're gunna be meeting and i dont want it to be where the are groups of people huddled in different corners, no-one talkin to each other, coz thats the way its heading. lets all just get along and have a good time

[DavidB]

Nah I wouldn't worry about it. Everyone argued before Eclipse and nothing happened there lol

 

Best to let everyone get it out now

[nadatron]

Oh my word.

 

 

I've just read thirteen pages of a few good points swamped entirely by utterly pointless infantile banter and digressions into a bitch-fest of general (exaggerated) grievances. Creating an alternative account on here just to invent support for your case? If your case was strong enough it would support itself.

 

 

 

I was actually going to attend this event, I really do love LOST and was only holding out on a ticket due to the possibility of starting a new job. I got the job, and started full time this week on shifts that mean in the end, I can't go.

 

But, despite the recent cancellation, if I had the time, I would still travel from Manchester, book a hotel and attend the event, becuase having been to many Showmasters events over the past couple of years I know from my experience that they have produced the best events that I have been to.

 

Tried, tested and TRUSTED.

 

I've been to some awful events arranged by now-defunct companies over the years. On one occasion I paid £175 for a ticket to a weekend event, then got there and found that they had doubled all the autograph prices and then added an extra £10 to each price for the 10x8 photo, cancelled a few guests without letting us know, cut a day off it (!), not arranged the parties and just sent us all off into the bars in Manchester, oh and they hadn't staffed the event either so me and my friend ended up physically staffing the thing itself for the full weekend without any recognition other than a place of the "organizers photo" which we only got because the guests demanded we were put on it for our hard work. ("Bad Girls on Parole" Piccadilly Hotel Manchester Sep 2006 if anyone is interested lol).

 

So I know that there are dodgy people running dodgy events out there, but Showmasters being directly affected by the strike, something that we all know has happened and nobody can change, is just an unfortunate circumstance, and certainly nothing malicious or in malpractice of any kind.

 

If you are not happy with Showmasters events, then please feel free to attend other major events, or chance it with the events held by unheard of companies.

 

 

Showmasters events are run by genuine fans, from the "bosses" themselves (in ""'s becuase I doubt from their intense involvement they would attach such a formal address to themselves) who strive to put something on from a fan-perspective, to those great guys and girls who devotedly staff the nationwide events.

 

 

I think any accusations of money-centred focus are wholly unfounded, as it would likely be more sensible from a solely immediate financial perspective to cancel the event. But then the fans would miss out, and not just now but in the future too.

 

Yes it sucks if you have paid for a Gold pass with the intention of meeting A-list guests, and nobody is saying anything different - but just the same as you bought them in good faith they were sold to you in good faith. Any non-refunds policy must be in place across the board to avoid utter chaos any time a guest needs to cancel for any show for whatever reason.

 

I'm sure Showmasters will strive to provide an excellent experience, and "sort out" those with Gold passes to make the very most of their extra price paid, be it in this event or in the next one (which looks to be ACE with Sky's potential involvement).

 

 

So..

 

 

Like going to events and meeting guests? Then don't bite the hand that feeds - If you attack people who put an event on for you becuase they are hit by very publicly obvious external circumstances like a writers strike then where is the incentive to put any other events on should such circumstances happen again? It's bad enough that the strike severely affected our favourite shows and upcoming movies, and I for one would be gutted if any future industrial action in the industry would lead to a drought in events too just becuase event management companies were too wary of putting anything on in case revolts like this happen every time a guest pulls out becuase of outside events that nobody can help. Its not like Showmasters did this on purpose, he isn't allowed to leave Hawaii, there really is nothing at all that they can do to change that (apart from moving the event to Hawaii which would be nice lol).

 

 

Wanna blame someone? Blame the writers who went on strike in the first place I guess! lol

[nikstar1989]

Blame J.J LOL

[Mylene]

we should all stop arguing. two weeks today we're gunna be meeting and i dont want it to be where the are groups of people huddled in different corners, no-one talkin to each other, coz thats the way its heading. lets all just get along and have a good time :D

I totally agree with that, and for the recall, I don't consider I was arguing with anyone, I was just expressing myself and not accusing SM of anything. I'm shocked to read stuff like "those who are not 100% happy are not real fans". I am still going to the convention and thanks God I am still looking forward to it but one of the main reasons why I bought a ticket was because HIC was on the front page of Lockdown's website page.

I think that in democracy everyone has a right to think for oneself and that's what I did and will always do no matter what, I think I did, in a diplomatic way. I think it's fair to think about my interest's as well and all this debate over the group photoshoot offered.

That's the last time I'll talk about it here though.

 

I just wanted to add that people like you crippsy_99 are being insulting and rude, calling people "stupid, fussy and whiney" and telling them to "shut up". If you had read better and weren't as much blind as you are you would have seen that the 'minority', as you call it, isn't there to stir trouble. Nothing is perfect and if you cannot stand to read different opinions than yours, then you may should not come to debate on a forum about a convention, where it's the natural place for people involved to speak their mind. I have been polite, so you should have been, JMHO. And, yes I am taking it personal because of the way you directed your post.

I won't waste another post talking with YOU, feel reassured.

 

I was actually going to attend this event, I really do love LOST and was only holding out on a ticket due to the possibility of starting a new job. I got the job, and started full time this week on shifts that mean in the end, I can't go.

nadatron, the same thing happened to one of my friend who bought a ticket for the convention, fortunately she will be able to come, even if for only one day and a half (on saturday and sunday as for her it's two days off). I hope you could find some kind of arrangements. :)

 

Two weeks from now we are all going to this convention and meet actors who shared the Lost experience and it will be nice enough to talk about our passion about LOST for three days!

Now I am looking forward for a planning for the events like a timetable maybe? or some further instructions about where to to go at what hour, people who are used to conventions to give tips about where to get the food and all these tiny details that makes the preparation to the event more exciting.

[night_sky_dream]

Blame J.J LOL

 

Heee, blame the strike.

 

 

Now I am looking forward for a planning for the events like a timetable maybe? or some further instructions about where to to go at what hour, people who are used to conventions to give tips about where to get the food and all these tiny details that makes the preparation to the event more exciting

 

ITA. It would be nice to know the details.

Edited March 21, 2008 by night_sky_dream

[Krypto]

some peoples behaviour on here is just disgracefull....its like some people think cus there buying a ticket they have a right to treat people involved in showmasters like a punching bag....its like you wouldnt go into a shop buy something and then shout and abuse the staff you'd be thrown out the store so fast it would make your head spin...im sorry but i dont care some people on here act and talk in a shamefull way towards jason and showmasters

[showmasters]

hi lams9999

 

it was good to talk to you at the con and put a face to the name

 

2 things i would like to say

 

thank you for being fair on this matter

 

when we meat next time i would love to talk about Jacqueline Mc Kenzie as we have noting to hide at all and a lot to say on the matter

 

but we were asked not to say anything on here about it which we have done but talking about it in person i would be happy to do

 

see you soon

 

jason

[lams9999]

hi lams9999

 

it was good to talk to you at the con and put a face to the name

 

2 things i would like to say

 

thank you for being fair on this matter

 

when we meat next time i would love to talk about Jacqueline Mc Kenzie as we have noting to hide at all and a lot to say on the matter

 

but we were asked not to say anything on here about it which we have done but talking about it in person i would be happy to do

 

see you soon

 

jason

 

I'd be glad to hear your views on this problem even though that's history now for me. And I agree some things are not meant to be posted on a public forum.

 

I tried to be as honest as possible in my previous message. Not moaning all the time on a board is not

lying, it's called diplomacy

 

It's just silly that this discussion led to break a friendship when obviously there was absolutely no reason for that.

[pez]

i cant read all this as you lot keep posting faster than i can read....

 

but as for there only being 4 guests... 4-6 guests is what it states.

 

you booked for a LOST con not a guest con...

 

when zach cancelled for eclipse it came as a double blow as we were scedueled to do something with him whilest he was in the uk outsde of eclipse but it happens. eclipse lost zach and hayden and there the main charecters really.

 

some people need to know about it early several of our Sarmy members travel from over seas and need time to get cheep tix and so on ,

 

jason and the crew do a fantastic job and i think its not far to have a go at them, they do there best and the writers strike hit everyone bad, yes it's not a great lineup but there may be someone that sm can get hold of that will come and play with you all over the weekend.

 

failing that i can come dressesd as a palm tree and you can have my autograph no charge!

 

 

Eclipse was an amazing experiance and like people have said Joslyn was one of the smallest guests in billing but turned out to be one of the most amazing guests as far as the con went.

 

 

have faith a lot of us booked up for eclipse 2 and for all we know there might just be us and jason with his flag dancing around a handbag....

 

we booked that on the faith that its going to be an awsom event.

 

 

thanks for being so honest with us jason you could have just said that the guests were canceled at the event.

 

P.s im not coming but my sister and her b/f are and there still exited after i told them the fun i had at eclipse.

[DavidB]

failing that i can come dressesd as a palm tree and you can have my autograph no charge!

 

Clearly that'd make up for all the problems

[pez]

failing that i can come dressesd as a palm tree and you can have my autograph no charge!

 

Clearly that'd make up for all the problems

 

 

obviously you missed me being the statue of liberty on sat night that was worth ticet price alone i thinkyou will find....

[sebastianillyria]

we should all stop arguing. two weeks today we're gunna be meeting and i dont want it to be where the are groups of people huddled in different corners, no-one talkin to each other, coz thats the way its heading. lets all just get along and have a good time

 

Nah I wouldn't worry about it. Everyone argued before Eclipse and nothing happened there lol

 

Best to let everyone get it out now

 

Don't worry rodders, David is right.

We can speak on the message board and have different opinions...

There will not be little group in different corners in the park inn because of our discution on this forum.

[DavidB]

And sometimes it's good for people to be able to discuss things in-person anyway .. you know how easy it is to misread tone on here etc, plus things get a lot more heated on here. Things tend to be a lot more sensible and normal in-person so it's a good chance to talk.

[King Steve]

Well if we are all going to be in groups, the Jedi Chefs and guests are calling the bar.

You lot can do whatever else you want with the rest of the hotel.