Registration for Botcon update

Discussion in 'Transformers Conventions and Get Togethers' started by Autobot City Comics 2008, May 1, 2015.

  1. Bed Bugs

    Bed Bugs Haven't gone postal yet...

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    It must be fun to live in a fantasy world where all the legitimate complaints about Fun Pub have no basis in your reality.

    Think we would still have to fax in our registrations if we didn't bitch about it? Think Botcon would be in California every year if we didn't bitch about it? Think you could get the custom class figure this year without being in the class if we didn't bitch about it? Think the Pre-Registration lines would as disorganized as they used to be if we didn't bitch about it?

    Change only happens when the customer base is unhappy and vocalizes that it is unhappy. You condemn anyone that still has grievances with the club as being a "hater" but I'm sure you'll be more than happy to take advantage of the changes that have been implemented thus far in response to the criticisms of the club.

    If you're complacently happy about where the club and convention are, good for you. But some of us want it to be better than it has been, and the only way to make it better is to continue to voice our complaints.
     
  2. Mudslide

    Mudslide Eyes rolled so hard they fell out of my head.

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    A-freaking men to both of these posts. :bowdown: 
     
  3. Shin-Gouki

    Shin-Gouki Retired Admln Veteran

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    [​IMG]
     
  4. Deceptigtar

    Deceptigtar Sworn Decepticon Assassin

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    We voice our concerns every year more than once. They just don't care.
     
  5. Shin-Gouki

    Shin-Gouki Retired Admln Veteran

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    Unfortunately there are enough people that will just shut up and take it and that's why nothing changes.
     
  6. Bed Bugs

    Bed Bugs Haven't gone postal yet...

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    Change is unfortunately slow, more often than not when it comes to the club. But silence leads to no change at all. ;) 

    For the record, I am going to Botcon and I do already have a room booked at the Super 8 down the road. I'm going General Admission since the toys don't appeal to me, but that's a personal complaint, not a business complaint.

    However, even though I didn't get a room at Pheasant Run, I've been paying close attention to the lodging options there. Likewise, even though I am not Pre-Registering this year, I'm paying close attention to what happens with Pre-Registration. It may not affect me this year on either front, but it's going to affect a lot of other people and it's going to affect how things happen next year. And that's why I give a damn about finding the problems this year and pointing them out.

    We still don't have any word on the airport shuttle that was promised in the brochure. I'm not flying in, but many fans are. This needs to be taken care of ASAP.
     
  7. Digilaut

    Digilaut Well-Known Member

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    Some people are literally scraping whatever small savings they can get together to go, making it a more last minute decision than for others.

    Either way, whatever the reason is for people booking late, one thing seems to remain the same for fhe Club every year: they're really, really late in coming forth with info, and registration is always a mess.

    Don't want to make it all about the toys - it's about having a fun con experience in the first place of course - but they do reveal the contents of their exclusive set low. They keep people in the dark as to which celebrities and artists will make an appearance (not sure if that's deliberately or because lf clumsiness - I could see it go either way). People have every reason to withhold booking expensive plane tickets, hotels and con admissions until they know it will be worth their money.

    What do you suggest? People booking earlier, making their bookings total gambles? And even if they had booked sooner..wouldn't that just have made the hotel sell out sooner? Because of the location THAT seems to be the problem: there is no adequate backup. In other years additional blocks were added.

    I'm sure running cons is a logistical nightmare, but shrugging off people's complaints about this - especially as they reappear every year- as 'vitriol' and 'haters' is pretty insulting. It's shutting yourself off from the genuine problems that exist - you might not agree with ALL of them but I'm sure you'd be able to judge some of them as genuine and important.

    Am I a hater? In your eyes, I probably am - and I've never even been to a Botcon (I do have some Funpub items though, and have interacted with it like all other fans have: online). I don't consider myself a hater: I try to look for the best in situations, and am not afraid to point out positive sides or things when kudos are deserved - but even to me, the list of Club slipups far outweighs the kudos I can give them...and that wasn't always the case. Quite amazing they managed to do that, because again: I've never physically made the trip. :eek: 

    To everyone who is going: hope you'll have a good time. To everyone who's having trouble finding a place to sleep: hope everything works out for you! To the Club: good luck with the convention - hope it will run as smooth and succesfully as you have planned, but also hope you'll be able to solve this problem. Maybe a hotel further away but WITH free shuttle bus service is something that can be looked into? It's not a perfect solution, but that way fans won't have to drive to and from the con on their own..a terrible experience to start and end a long and tiresome (but fun) day of slowly strolling through crowded halls... :thumb 
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2015
  8. Dragonclaw

    Dragonclaw Briefly the owner of KB Toys

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    It's not a shock...and that's the sad part.

    As for the registration, it falls under planning...If your plans are simply for the main convention, then yes, if you know you're going you should have your room and flight, but if you're going for more, like a custom class or one of the tours without knowing what you get for registration booking becomes much different. I'd hate to book my flight and room and then NOT get into the Wednesday class...what then? It's far enough from Chicago that it's not like I can hop the train and sightsee, and my idea of golf involves a colored ball, a windmill and some crazy loops and other obstacles. Normal golfing is just awful IMHO.

    This is the problem with registration that drags on (and as been said, in the case of JoeCon they had just under 2 weeks before the show before they finally got registration live!) and leaves people who wish to do more in limbo until the last minute. Why get stuck with an extra night of the room because you had to go with early airfare just in case and didn't get what you wanted? I had that happen myself when the custom class was fairly new. It's one thing to be last minute if you're a local show, but quite another when the majority of your attendees are flying in from all over the country, not to mention the rest of the world. These guys have had plenty of time to perfect the timing and execution of a reliable registration system.
     
  9. motorhead9999

    motorhead9999 Well-Known Member

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    Here's my deal, and why I'm more than likely not going to Botcon anymore, even though I reserved a room:

    I had no intention of going to Botcon this year. The ONLY reason I even considered going was when they announced that Frank Welker was going to be appearing. As soon as they said that, I told myself that if I could get a Welker VIP ticket, I'll go. I booked my hotel just in case (I can always cancel in advance if I didn't get a ticket).

    So the criteria is "If Welker VIP = yes, then Botcon = true, else Botcon = false". Which means I can't buy the ONLY thing that is non-refundable until I'm sure I'll be there: Airplane tickets." And of course, the sooner we get to the event, the more expensive the tickets get, and the harder it'll be to get the flight I need to make this work. So here we are, roughly a month from the convention, I still can't book plane tickets, and I'm looking at next week at the earliest to even chance this. This is ridiculous. From a first time Con organizer, I can understand. But an organization handling two multi million (billion?) dollar IPs for 11 years can't even get registration going a month before? Hell, TFcon Charlotte isn't til October AND THEY JUST STARTED TAKING DEALER RESERVATIONS!!!! I can go right now to the Texas Comic Con and buy a Frank Welker ticket, and that's not till August.

    At this point, I'm afraid I'm going to have to back off the trigger and say no to Botcon, and buy my tickets and such for Texas Comic Con instead. The thing I'm terrified about though is that I feel if Frank is going to cancel attending any convention, it'll be Texas (as opposed to Botcon).
     
  10. The Honey Badger

    The Honey Badger Tfcon2016 Chicago was a blast! TFW2005 Supporter

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    Boycott BotCon!! BcBc!!
     
  11. griffin-of-oz

    griffin-of-oz Ozformers site-owner

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    The problem is that FunPub often ignores people with legitimate concerns long enough for them to give up and walk away, rather than deal with it... so complaining about other legitimate problems is then considered pointless in even trying. :( 
     
  12. Shin-Gouki

    Shin-Gouki Retired Admln Veteran

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    And the rest are easily distracted by shiny baubles
     
  13. D-Bot

    D-Bot Well-Known Member

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    It's sad that the fax registration was faster then what FunPub has been able to accomplish with getting the web registration up and running.
     
  14. Autobot City Comics 2008

    Autobot City Comics 2008 Botcon S_T_A_F_F

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    So we taking bets on which day they say "oh maybe next week"
     
  15. Big Filipino

    Big Filipino John 3:16-17 says it all

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    I say Thurs.
     
  16. Grimlockimus

    Grimlockimus Wot?

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    I say we get an email tomorrow saying registration will be up Thursday. Then on Thursday we get an email saying it's delayed again for at least another week.
     
  17. Autobot City Comics 2008

    Autobot City Comics 2008 Botcon S_T_A_F_F

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    I see that happening
     
  18. videriant

    videriant Well-Known Member

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    I agree that silence and inactivity is bad and it's impossible to affect change when nobody speaks up.

    BUT...

    It's also almost impossible to affect change when every single person speaks up at the same time and gets offended at the every perceived slight.

    If we could talks and debate amongst ourselves civilly and provide a united front to the club, change could happen even faster. But it doesn't. Because forums are a crap method. *sigh*

    I hope this gets fixed before the con. Good luck. This is probably a big enough issue that I advise opening it's own thread.

    That's rubbish. We are not easily. . .oooo, news thread about CW Ultra Magnus. . .
     
  19. Bed Bugs

    Bed Bugs Haven't gone postal yet...

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    Still no update on the shuttle....
     
  20. Shin-Gouki

    Shin-Gouki Retired Admln Veteran

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    Yeah like telling the disabled that can't stand in line for 5 hours for registration pickup to buy a golden ticket instead of complying with the ADA.