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  • Sent payment to be a vendor at a show, now no contact...

    Okay, so bear with me, this might take a little explaining.

    I make jewelry and charms, and I vend them at anime and Japanese culture conventions in central Texas. My husband and I went to A-Kon, one of the biggest anime cons in the U.S., a couple of weeks ago (not as vendors, just as attendees.) Usually the chairperson for a con will go to another con and set up a table to sell badges and what not for their own con, since the crowd for these kinds of conventions are pretty much all the same.

    So, at A-Kon, I saw the table for another con that I've been to, Ikkicon. I've never vended at it before but I've been there and it's similar to A-Kon and San Japan, the convention I'm vending at next month. So I asked the people at the Ikkicon table if registration for their Artist Alley tables was open yet. The person I talked to, who said he was the chairman, said that I could fill out the registration form right there if I wanted to, which I agreed. However, I couldn't provide payment immediately since I didn't have enough cash and they didn't have a credit card machine. So he told me to pay via paypal when I got the chance and gave me the email address to send payment to.

    When I got home, I sent payment to the email address that he gave me...which seemed like a legit Ikkicon email address, it was an @ikkicon.com address. This was on June 7th, almost 2 weeks ago now. I put a note in the paypal transaction that I needed more info regarding getting a second Artist badge, and I also sent them a separate email asking them about the Artist badge and a few other things.

    As of this last Monday, June 14, I hadn't gotten a reply, so I went to the Ikkicon forum thinking I'd leave a message for them there. Under the Artist Alley forum, I saw a message asking a similar question as mine, with the OP stating that they had sent 5 emails to the same email address that I had sent payment to, and had gotten no responses via email. Someone from the Ikkicon staff had replied to their post, but it took them 2 weeks to "notice" it first. So, I decided to take a more direct approach: I PMed the chairman, co-chairman, and director of the Artist Alley with my inquiry.

    I still haven't heard anything back.

    I'm annoyed, aggravated, and a little worried about my payment. I sent them $100 nearly two weeks ago and have heard no sort of confirmation and no response via any method I've used to tried to contact them. There is no phone number contact for anyone on staff, or I would have tried that already.

    Should I be worried? They have my registration info, or at least they should, I handed it directly to the chairman when we were at A-kon two weeks ago. And they have my payment. So my optimistic side is telling me not to worry, that I'm set to go. But the fact that I haven't had any contact with them since I sent them my money and that they won't respond to any of my emails/messages worries me.

    Any advice?

  • #2
    When is the event?

    Is it possible to go through Paypal and cancel your payment if you don't hear from them (I've never used Paypal, so I don't know how that works)? If that is a possibility, you might want to send them another message with a deadline for contacting you, and threaten to withdraw the payment through Paypal. If they don't contact you, cancel the payment.
    I don't go in for ancient wisdom
    I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
    It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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    • #3
      The event isn't until the end of the year. I think paypal has like a 45 day deadline to file disputes regarding payment. I think the representatives from Ikkicon are going to be at San Japan, another anime convention, the weekend of July 9-11, which is within the 45 days so I might try to hunt them down there if they show up.

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      • #4
        I'd be considering cancelling payment and the planned attendance. If they're this disorganised now, imagine what the con will be like!
        Seshat's self-help guide:
        1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
        2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
        3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
        4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

        "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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        • #5
          Quoth Seshat View Post
          If they're this disorganised now, imagine what the con will be like!
          ^this^

          I have help out with two conventions, one has always been great, the other I will never help with again. I should have listened to my gut and pulled out when things started off poorly, but it was a well known con that had been going on for many years so I figured that it was just them changing locations and everything would be fine. Yeah not so much. I was miserable the whole time because they were so disorganized, I didn't even get my pass until half way through day 1 (and I was there to help set up before the con started!), I have no idea how the con ever manages to even happen.

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          • #6
            IKKICON! Planned during New Year's (dear dog WHY?!). I volunteer for it. Was supposed to Vol for San Japan but as you can tell from my location (EQ's backyard....), I won't be near there anytime soon.

            Believe me when I say this; IkkiCon IS HIGHLY disorganized. I ran the Anime Rooms and kept losing my Lts.

            It will take some time for the higher ups there to respond (Chairman is a loner currently as his Co-Chairman quit last year) and I can't call them up and tell them to move their butts because I'm just a lowly Vol.

            It's still a fun Con to go to, though.

            Next year I'm bringing money to feed the poor Security Teams, they were ignored last year (I fed a team because one had this stutter that was just so cute and they were desperately starving).
            Now a member of that alien race called Management.

            Yeah, you see that right. Pink. Harness.

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