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20 hours ago, Diabolik said:

Exactly! I had a DP and didn’t even collect a VQ from the person stood with the placard, just walked the 5 foot or so, and then back to the signing desk - ridiculous!

Three types of people here - helpful, shoulder-shrugger, and jobsworth. Helpful are the rarest breed, but worth their weight in gold.

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On 11/2/2022 at 3:54 PM, Diabolik said:

DP was to prioritise those who’d paid the premium, not least, so they can get everything they want in one fell swoop.

 

No a DP is just supposed to Guarantee's you get A Autograph and A Photo

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16 minutes ago, scifisteve said:

No a DP is just supposed to Guarantee's you get A Autograph and A Photo

You are also normally allowed to purchase an additional 2 autographs. In some cases an additional 5. The wording of the terms has been changed after people have purchased

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1 hour ago, scifisteve said:

No a DP is just supposed to Guarantee's you get A Autograph and A Photo

Well yes, that’s what the rewording of the DP amounts too now, you are right.

But nevertheless we were previously allowed to purchase further autographs at the same time, which if nothing else meant a majority of punters could get their autos, leave and avoid any congestion issues.

Oh wait, sorry this is SM, over crowding at venues has never been an issue, has it?

No two ways about it, a major beneficial facet of the DP was getting everything you wanted without having to wait inordinate amounts of time. For me it was certainly persuasive when asked to pay £40 -£50 more for a DP. It’s definitely not the cruddy mug or print that makes me feel better about a DP purchase.

The fact that SM changed the wording after purchase for a lot of customers is sharp practice, pure and simple.

I’m not going, so I have no skin in the game here, but I’ll certainly think twice about purchasing a DP if this becomes standard policy going forward. 

Frankly though, I don’t think it will because it is a recipe for disaster, as SM will likely discover over the con period.

Good luck to everyone getting all their David Tennant/Matt Smith autos…
 

 

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I had emailed SM about the VQs for DPs on one autograph and this is the response:

The current limit is 5, however this may change due to demand.

So, get there early for a low VQ, and I’d almost say use the VQ first if possible, and then use the DP.

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18 hours ago, Mayhem said:

I had emailed SM about the VQs for DPs on one autograph and this is the response:

The current limit is 5, however this may change due to demand.

So, get there early for a low VQ, and I’d almost say use the VQ first if possible, and then use the DP.

Thank you for doing that, it certainly clarifies everything.

And excellent idea on using the virtual ticket first if the chance presents itself. 

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8 hours ago, goldmister said:

I’m not a regular goer but  I thought a DP meant you get to meet the guest and get a photo and signature pretty much guaranteed?,  as opposed to getting a lot of stuff signed and slowing down anyone else who wants to meet them?

genuine question.

Whilst I certainly agree with the principle that with a rare and/or popular guest it's nice to be able to have as many people as possible get to meet them. 

My only bugbear is the T&C's for some DPs were changed AFTER purchase without any notification. Personally for me if the limit is now just the included auto I will consider it money saved as I can't be asked to queue again and will be happy with what I have. 

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19 minutes ago, Peter Capaldi Fan said:

My only bugbear is the T&C's for some DPs were changed AFTER purchase without any notification. 

That’s quite an allegation. If you can prove that, then you presumably also have confirmation of the T&Cs at the time of purchase, and they’re the ones that SM have to adhere to. 

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3 hours ago, yellowmarlin said:

That’s quite an allegation. If you can prove that, then you presumably also have confirmation of the T&Cs at the time of purchase, and they’re the ones that SM have to adhere to. 

It's quite an allegation for sure, but it's true. I have a DP for Matt and that was definitely changed after I bought it. 

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33 minutes ago, The Friendly Dalek said:

It's quite an allegation for sure, but it's true. I have a DP for Matt and that was definitely changed after I bought it. 

If your e-mail confirmation proves that, then you should insist that they honour that. Assuming you want more than one autograph.

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On 11/4/2022 at 11:27 PM, goldmister said:

I’m not a regular goer but  I thought a DP meant you get to meet the guest and get a photo and signature pretty much guaranteed?,  as opposed to getting a lot of stuff signed and slowing down anyone else who wants to meet them?

genuine question.

Getting up to 5 or so extra items signed at the same time by the one guest doesn’t slow down anyone else, certainly as much as having to re-queue with a VQ ticket will, or indeed having dealers in the queue getting 50 plus items signed at a time.

Genuine answer.

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11 hours ago, Who101_1 said:

I had 5 items for matt smith to sign and 5 for david tennant

wasnt really interested in the photos but went diamond passes to make sure i could get my autos

absolute joke. Last time i buy a dp

You would have likely only been able to get 3 as it's been 3 max for a couple of shows at least now. but I agree.

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Long time attendee, first time DP holder looking for some maybe obvious advice…

If I don’t want any VQ tickets, is there any benefit to me showing up super early? I have DPs for Matt and David. Can I just rock up in the afternoon and (assuming they’ve got to my batch in the DPs) just join a reasonably short queue to get their autos?

I have no photo Ops in the morning, so while I’m usually there at 9am for early photos, it looks like this time I might be able to get lie ins! I’m just not clear if as a DP holder I need to do anything special..?

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2 hours ago, Matt Dale said:

Long time attendee, first time DP holder looking for some maybe obvious advice…

If I don’t want any VQ tickets, is there any benefit to me showing up super early? I have DPs for Matt and David. Can I just rock up in the afternoon and (assuming they’ve got to my batch in the DPs) just join a reasonably short queue to get their autos?

I have no photo Ops in the morning, so while I’m usually there at 9am for early photos, it looks like this time I might be able to get lie ins! I’m just not clear if as a DP holder I need to do anything special..?

You can arrive later if you prefer, if they have called your batch already you can just join the back of the queue.  If they have reached VQ's, identify yourself to the crew and they usually try and slot you as far forward as possible, though you may need to join the end of the queue as DP's only have priority whilst they are calling DP's.

They have changed the DP auto allotment now though so whilst you still get the one included, you can no longer get extra's at the same time, if you want more than one, you need to get a VQ and wait until that VQ is called.

So if you only want the one included auto for each guest, then you can turn up a bit later, though make sure you factor in when they are in photo's/talks and don't leave it too late, but if you want extra auto's you need to be there to get a VQ.

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On 11/6/2022 at 4:52 PM, Diabolik said:

Getting up to 5 or so extra items signed at the same time by the one guest doesn’t slow down anyone else, certainly as much as having to re-queue with a VQ ticket will, or indeed having dealers in the queue getting 50 plus items signed at a time.

Genuine answer.

It does, they can sign 1 person five items or 5 Persons 1 item, you start to multiply that that lot a of people they can get through, I believe there may have been instances last con of DP holders not getting their 1 item signed, and this may be to help prevent that........  Also, People are assuming that they will even get to VQ tickets, have done many an event where they have only done the DP's.

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Beg to differ, been to enough of these cons over the last 20 years to know. You’re assuming a long and laboured discussion about each item to be signed, which SM staff are quick to stamp out. 

This is how it goes: Quick greeting, several items passed conveyor belt style to the guest, signed in quick succession, job done, thanks given and attendee on their way.

So to recap - one single greeting, multiple items signed, thanks and cheerio. Negligible signing time or discussion involved. Next customer please, by the way no reason for attendees to hang around all day to have additional items signed causing congestion.

This new way means attendees have to hang around, go back with the VQ, creating even more queuing, additional greet time and discussion, inevitably slowing down the process unnecessarily whilst creating general annoyance for con-goers all around.

Re DP’s not being fulfilled, ultimately if people haven’t got an item signed from the DP, this more likely comes down to SM overselling them.

The upshot of the new rule means that you not only have an undervalued DP in terms of SM overselling it, but then under-delivering in terms of VFM.

This leaves a nasty taste even before you consider the legality of arbitrarily changing the terms/conditions post sale of the DP’s.

As the late, great Stan Lee (whose last U.K. appearance was so bungled and oversold by SM, thus giving rise to the DP) said: ‘Nuff Said.

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22 hours ago, Raylenth said:

You can arrive later if you prefer, if they have called your batch already you can just join the back of the queue.  If they have reached VQ's, identify yourself to the crew and they usually try and slot you as far forward as possible, though you may need to join the end of the queue as DP's only have priority whilst they are calling DP's.

They have changed the DP auto allotment now though so whilst you still get the one included, you can no longer get extra's at the same time, if you want more than one, you need to get a VQ and wait until that VQ is called.

So if you only want the one included auto for each guest, then you can turn up a bit later, though make sure you factor in when they are in photo's/talks and don't leave it too late, but if you want extra auto's you need to be there to get a VQ.

Thanks. That detail is massively appreciated! I’ve been doing these things for ten years now but never done a DP and wanted to make sure I understood. Fortunately I’m only looking to get one item signed by each so all sounds like it will go according to plan. Brilliant :)

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