Monday, September 27, 2010

Is This a Joke? - The New England Dessert Showcase Saga Continues

A new email from Anthem Group regarding my refund. Another step to the process. Clearly no one knows what they are doing....

Hi Alexis,

Thank you for your email and I am sorry you did not enjoy your experience at The New England Dessert Showcase. We have spoken with the management of third party discount websites and the quickest resolution is to email them for a refund. The preferred method of refund was internally via Anthem because we want to ensure that you are refunded and refunded properly. With that said, as you purchased through Living Social, please email help@livingsocial.com and please copy support1@anthemevents.com. This will provide us with a record of your request. If they do not refund you please contact us and we will help facilitate your refund.

Now, each card is different- some may credit mid-week while others may wait until the next statement. It should be no longer than the next statement. I definitely want to see you refunded and will talk with any credit card company necessary if the refund does not go through for whatever reason.

Best,

Anthem Group - name changed to protect the slightly not really innocent

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

An Apology from The Anthem Group

Below is an email from Anthem Group apologizing for their mistakes. It takes major pumpkins to do this and I greatly appreciate them for doing it.

Hello,

Please excuse the mass e-mail. This was the easiest way to connect
with everyone that has e-mailed, filled out a contact form, etc. We
were not open on Sunday because of post event wrap-up and have been
sorting through the e-mails, calls and ticket lists in order to get
back to everyone in the most efficient manner. You will receive an
individualized e-mail response over the course of the week regarding
your specific comment/request.

We do sincerely apologize for those that were unable to gain admission
to The New England Dessert Showcase or for any ill experience you had.
There was an unexpected and unprecedented amount of walk-ups
attempting to purchase tickets the day of the event. Although no
walk-ins were given admission, this did further clog the lines. The
hotel security staff also falsely informed many patrons that the event
was closed when in fact we were still allowing patrons in as there
were still several exhibitors sampling. There was enough to last to
the end of the day. Nevertheless, The Anthem Group accepts full
responsibility and wants to rectify the situation.

If you requested a refund and purchased through Anthem we will be able
to connect with you within the next day or so in order to authorize
this. If you requested a refund and purchased through a third party
site (Living Social, Groupon, CoupMe) we are simply waiting on these
sites to let us know if we should refer any refund requests directly
to the site itself, or if Anthem will be able to send a check for the
refund. Anthem prefers to handle the refunds internally as that would
be most efficient and ensure that no one falls through the cracks.
However, we do need to collaborate with these third-party sites before
action is taken on our end. Ideally, this should all be settled
today/tomorrow and we will then instruct you on who to contact at the
appropriate site, or get the necessary information from you in order
to process the request ourselves.

We assure you that all e-mails, calls, contact forms will be returned
this week. The process of verifying admission to the event, proof of
purchase and most notably waiting on the third party websites is time
consuming but we will rectify the situation as quickly as possible. As
a company that has been in business for ten years and has managed
events that (literally) have half a million more patrons, our entire
team understands the importance of the event experience. It is because
of that sincere interest in every individuals' experience and
expectations that we not only will move promptly but also personalize
each response as soon as we collect all necessary information.

Best,

Erica Johnson
The Anthem Group
The New England Dessert Showcase

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.