Sunday, September 19, 2010

New England Dessert Showcase Fail

Back-story

2 months ago I saw on Living Social a deal for half off the New England Dessert Showcase on Sept 18th, 2010. I was very excited because my boyfriend's birthday was coming up and I thought it would be an amazing surprise for him. He has a major sweet tooth.
So I purchased 2 VIP tickets which was supposed to include admission to the showcase, 2 VIP gift bags, and admission to a VIP party the night before.

So here's what happened...

Yesterday, Saturday September 18, me and 10 other friends headed down to the showcase that was supposed to start at noon. On our way there (a little after noon) a friend called me and told me that the line was over 400 people deep and they hadn't opened the doors yet. We got there and she texted me to say the line was moving so we rushed upstairs. To our surprise the line was going all the way from the Copley Westin in the Prudential Center. A very very long line. We figured since it was moving we would just go a head and wait in line.

That was not to be. We got in line and a hotel person came up to tell us it would be a 2 hour late the show was OVER SOLD and OVER CAPACITY. It would be a 2 hour wait. A guy walked by at the same time and said don't bother it sucked, too crowded, and is a waste of time. So guess what, my boyfriend who had been excited for 2 months to go to this event, could not go and neither could me or any of my friends. The chances of an over capacity event having any dessert left after a 2 hour wait was definitely slim to nothing.

So dear ANTHEM GROUP here is what you HAVE TO LEARN FROM THIS EVENT
a. DO NOT OVERSELL YOUR SHOW
b. Sell tickets in wave time slots or extend it to 2 days
c. Tell people to purchase tickets there and when the show is sold out it is sold out. So that all of the people who PRE-PURCHASED tickets don't get left with a ticket and NO DESSERT
d. Do not put tickets on LIVING SOCIAL and GROUPON without a cap. YOU WILL SELL OUT AND OVER SELL.
e. You better issue refunds to every single person who was not able to attend this event due to your under planning and over selling.
f. Apologize to the Copley Westin for what you put them through, not a single person going was happy and a fair amount of people were rude to them. I didn't see a single person for you company come out and apologize.

In conclusion, I vow to ensure Anthem Group will be hearing fro me every day until I receive a refund for a very disappointing event. And I will never ever go to a single Anthem Group Event. Ever.

So thanks Anthem for ruining what was supposed to be an amazing birthday for a true sweet tooth.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Personally, I had a great experience at the showcase! I arrived around 11:30, there was a HUGE line, of course, but that just goes to show how much excitement the event had behind it. I believe that this showcase had an excellent concept..We all have sweet tooths, right? So why not bring in the best exhibitors from across New England for all of Boston to enjoy? They had a HUGE boston creme pie which was hilarious and a variety of excellent exhibitors, I understand that you did not get in, which stinks! I own a business myself and have attended Anthem events for quite a while and can't help to see this from a business perspective.... this showcase is an excellent concept ..however, only problem was, is that there was WAY too many people flowing in at once! Instead of bashing Anthem for catching the attention of so many maybe we should all have some constructive criticism for them so we can ALL enjoy a spectacular showcase next year. I have been to numerous events of theirs and met so many staff members. They are 100% dedicated to delivering an enjoyable entertainment experience for their customers...do you all honestly think that this is what they intended for you all to experience? NO WAY...all they wanted to do was bring an exquisite and delightful experience to boston, where something like this is unique...the staff was very overwhelmed that day as well because there was so much going on, I was observing it all. I was floating around for the whole day and came in early and came back around 4. I couldn't believe how crazy it got. However, they DID offer refunds for those of you who did not get in...which is fairly reasonable i would say.....and I wouldn't personally complain if i was getting a refund anyways. Also, from my understanding, living social and groupon were 3rd party websites that advertised the wrong times and probably did not track how many tickets they were selling off their website as long as they were making money themselves...that could be a major reason as to why this event was so overbooked...so we can't blame Anthem fully...People were also taking WAY too many samples...Regardless, I had a great time and am looking forward to next year's showcase and hope you all can have an enjoyable experience there as well since there will definitely be improvements so that everyone can get in and enjoy everything! All I'm saying is that the only problem was that it was overbooked, and this is something that can easily be fixed next year, just don't lose hope!