Fanboys, Fire Permits And Frightening Mismanagement: The New York Comic Con Goes Horribly Awry

Since Mrhood75 was gracious enough to give the Prep Time Posse and it's readers a taste of San Francisco's Wondercon, I figured it would be a nice way of making my official PTP debut by doing the same for the con here in New York.

I packed up my digital camera and a notebook(along with my prepaid and preregistered tickets, to avoid the line), hoping to bring back Kevin Smith ramblings, some cool comic swag, the latest news and a picture of Milla Jovovich eating something (just to prove she does).

After several hours of travel while lugging all of my junior reporter gear and a stack of books just begging for creator signatures, I finally arrived exhausted at the Javits Center.


Only to be denied entrance.

The staff was claiming that the venue had had a visit from the fire marshall and they were not selling any more tickets. When I explained that I had already purchased tickets and registrations, I was directed to wait in a very long line of other confused patrons. Wasn't this what we were all supposed to have avoided? All we needed to do was pick up our badges.

After a significant wait, another less than courteous staff member confirmed that we were not getting into the event, and refused to issue any refunds for the fans in the line (prepaid or not). Some of them got directed to the New York comic con website, some of them were promised entrance tomorrow, some of the more argumentative types (myself included) got a preprinted rejection letter.

I don't have a scanner to get a clear shot of the document, however I'll type out the choice bits:

Dear attendee:
The New York Comic Con refund policy requires all refund requests must be made in writing and postmarked by March 3rd, 2006. Refunds postmarked after this date will not be accepted or considered. No email phone or fax cancellations will be considered. Refunds are not guaranteed.


If you registered with a credit card, please allow two full billing cycles for refund processing.

If you have an issue on site at the event, your letter must be postmarked by Friday March 3rd and you must have this letter signed by a Reed employee.



I won't bore all of you with the full version, but after hours of traveling and a few more hours of waiting, I was a bit less than pleased to be denied an immediate refund, let alone having to mail off a pile of paperwork the size of my college application for the privilege of waiting two months to potentially get my money back. I had been awake since 5am and has spent considerable time and money ( about $200) to get to the con by noon and the closest I had come to anything comics related was a few costumed fans and a Batman made out of Legos.

During this entire process I was treated to a staff that was a combination of rude and incompetent not seen since the heyday of my local McDonald's drive through clerk. Herds of attendees milled about aimlessly, getting directed to hours long lines and being given a different flimsy explanation from every staff member they asked.

I was not the only one who got royally screwed, as even preregistered ticket holders who had waited for hours in the cold before the con even opened ended up being denied entrance, as there was no organization to who was allowed in or any special consideration given to the pre paid attendees to guarantee them entrance or not having to wait on as long a line. Even exhibitors were turned away if they even so much as stepped out for a cigarette( some vendors never gaining entrance at all, even if they had just arrived), with staff making no guarantees if their passes would be honored for tomorrow. From press to exhibitors to fans, it was complete and total chaos.

To add insult to injury, I overheard a chief of event security snarkily remarking to another staff member " Ugh. They're all getting upset because it says refunds aren't guaranteed." What was she expecting these poor people to do? Pass her a gold star and a cookie?

I find it quite suspect that despite a supposed impromptu visit from the fire marshall and the building being over capacity being blamed for the fiasco, that an otherwise completely inept event staff just happened to have rejection/ refund forms all printed and ready on official New York Comic Con stationary. Factor in that many poor souls were directed to the website (which as of the time of this writing has no relevant information whatsoever) and the few that did get the letters were not informed to get a required signature from a staff member, it almost seems a deliberate money grab on the part of Reed Exhibitions ( the event staff).

It would be very easy to suspect that they intentionally oversold the prepaid tickets ( their worthlessness was blamed on a website error), packed the venue with fans coming in off the street very early on, then will most likely pocket the fees collected from both vendors and fans who were given incorrect or incomplete refund information. They could potentially even fleece those of us who did get the letter signed and mail in all of the required paperwork. The letter clearly states that refunds would not even begin to be processed until April and that two billing period wiggle room would place the transaction out of the 90 day limit for better business bureau complaints.

For what was supposed to be a major event for a multi million dollar industry, the blatant disrespect for the fans has put a bad taste in my mouth for any future New York based conventions. I'm sure the hundreds other fans who were treated in similar fashion will feel the same when they realize that their potential "refunds" are worthless due to either accidental or deliberate staff error.


I wonder if Mrhood75 would mind if I flew out to Wonder Con next year.