From Booster Events home page:


IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT Boosters is experiencing financial difficulties. We are doing everything in our power to facilitate Flan 2, but at this point, it is uncertain that we will be able to obtain financing in time for the event. We will update you daily in the Flan 2 forum. Anyone with airline tickets who might want to cancel, will need to do so immediately. If we are unable to obtain the needed financing by Friday, Dec. 1st, the event will be cancelled.

Thanks for posting this. I was just coming here to do so.

I especially like the utter lack of humility or apology in their announcement, which they didn't bother to also post to the Flan II forums. I also especially like that this comes not long after the BE Minions and VIPs swarmed to BE's defense when Nathan had to publicly post that his people couldn't get ahold of the BE organizers. Said BE apologists at the time called BE "magicians" and "fantastic" and said that there "will always be the occasional little glitch or hiccup".

I wonder if that's what they'll call the shitstorm that comes down on them if they cancel, let alone if they cancel and say that said financial difficulties means that ticket-holders are out their collective hundreds of thousands of dollars, so sad, too bad.

Glitch and hiccup? I'll show them a glitch and a hiccup.

I'm with you on this, b!X. My comment just took forever to post, so it came after yours.

Yeah Im actually bowing out of even trying to read the BE thread at this point. Right now, there's really only one task I can think of, and that's steering people toward's a discussion of all of us going down and staying at the Hilton for the weekend anyway. There are less structured options, and feelers can go out through networks of contacts to see if anything interesting can be made to happen.

I'm still planning to go. I'm just sick that I won't be able to meet Nathan if this gets cancelled. I think you can guess that was my motivation for attending Flan.

Well (for those not reading the WHEDONesque thread on all of this), the SoCal Browncoats apparently will be huddling about this, and strategizing. We've got a volunteer already to call the Hilton tomorrow to inquire about the possible cancellation of the event, and what the deal might be with getting to hold onto the group rate for rooms.

I haven't made it to Whedonesque yet. I need to go there. Thanks for letting me know about the So Cal Browncoats.

I like the sound of this. A huge reason I was attending was to meet a bunch of my online friends, and as far as other interesting things.....miracles do happen and there are some very kind and determined people out there.

Hi

Thanks for this. There's a small group of Brits who are unable to get flight refunds and so will be there regardless.

Webwych

Well, I can't access the booster page now, some runtime error thing keeps coming up and I tried Firefox and IE.

Ok, first of all, there is no reason Whedonesque should have been my first clue to this possible cancellation. BE needs to send out an email ASAP because I am sure there are some attendees who are still blissfully unaware.

Secondly, I would rather them cancel the event alltogether, so we can all atleast attempt refunds, rather than have to go to a con where all the good guests have dropped out and I have paid over $700 (in ticket prices alone) to meet the cat who did the role playing game (sorry man, if you're here... but you know what I mean).

I will be coming to LA regardless as I am making it into a vacation, so if the SC BC's organize something (free or cheap) I will be there. As for actually staying in the hotel, I would rather move to a cheaper place, or stay with friends. I am not in the habit of staying in expensive hotels just for the hell of it, and the chance of hanging out with some internet friends.

Now at this point I am not worried about my refund because they haven't specifically said they aren't refunding - and because I have a very good lawyer. But someone from that organization needs to explain what is going on, and what happened to our money right now.

And if they declare bankruptcy none of us get a penny.

They're being hammered in terms of visitor numbers, Askama, so their website keeps crashing..

Wow, this really sucks for everyone who registered. Is this a common occurance with newer conventions? The reason I ask is that I had the same thing happen to me for the SF-3 con in Minnesota. (See my thread on this topic in this forum.) Do people ever get their money back from these things if they cancel? Has anyone tried legal action? Seriously, I really feel for everyone who dropped a load of money on this. It makes my small loss on SF-3 seem inconsequential. All this has really scared me off of the newer or smaller cons. SF-3 was to be my family's first con ever and my daughter was soooo excited to meet "Shepherd Book". I guess I'll stick to ComicCon or DragonCon as they definitely don't cancel...right??? Too bad I can't afford to go to either of those in 2007 (we're going to Maui for my sister's wedding in March...whoohooo!) but I think we'll look at DragonCon in 2008. I'm really pulling for you all who were going to the Flan. I hope they don't cancel on you.

Thanks, Gossi. will keep trying. this is just terrible. i hope there is a sound explanation for this.

Is anyone else suspicious that this is more than just 'financial strains'? How do we know they didn't just take the money and run?


This is pathetic. Isn't the con less than two weeks away? And they are JUST now announcing this? Most of the time, plane tickets are non-refundable. Flanvention is the most expensive convention having anything to do with Firefly or Serenity around.

What the hell is going on? If I find out my fellow Browncoats have been taken advantage of and their money stolen, there will be hell to pay.

I think it is more likey that the organizers used the money from Flan to pay off expenses from the previous cons that had poor attendence. So as we were buying tickets and photo ops etc., the money was being used to pay off the last few cons, or pay the actors, or whatever. Because instead of cancelling event with low ticket sales, they maybe decided to go ahead and just use our money to make those cons worthwhile.

However... how could they not anticipate this happening? It seems like they would have realized at a certain point they were using too much Flan money and should stop otherwise they are going to have serious problems.

Heartily agreed!!

Anyone else here feel a bit like Malcolm Reynolds right not? I sure do.

There is no way they didn't know this was happening. I believe they used our money to fund the previous cons as well. I believe they tried to get a loan for Flan and that the loan might not be given or might not be given in time. It's not going to matter much now anyway. Since Adam already knows about this, I'm betting the rest of the guests will know about it very soon. They will likely cancel if if Booster gets the loan. Nobody wants to appear at a con for which they aren't sure they are getting paid.

From the thread at Whedonesque:

Marsia on the Serenity Now group has just spoken to the Hilton. She says:
"I just got off the phone with the Events Department for the Hilton. Good news and ambiguous news.

Even if the event is cancelled, the room rates for those who have
already made reservations will be honored.

So far, event isn't cancelled and the Hilton is trying to work with BE. I will be called when anything changes."
Lioness | November 28, 18:54 CET

I agree with everyones assement. They got in over their heads and used our Flan money to bail themselves out. I am sure they were hoping for something to turn up, but reality has set in and they finally decided to let us in on the fact that Flan is probably not happening. It is really irresponsible (this is the nicest word I can possibly use right not) of them to run a business like this. I think the chances of Flan taking place are microscopic. Seriously as the actors would you go after hearing about this? If they do have it, do you think they are going to tell us before the event that the actors cancelled. I just don't feel very trusting right now. I know a lot of business work this way, always paying past bills with current sales. It frequently happens with bridal salons. Its why you hear horror stories of brides with no gowns because the shop went under and had used current sales to pay for past gowns. Its not new, I just feel really stupid for falling victim to it. I believed the hype initially how Booster was different. How they cared about the fans. I saw warning signs and ignored them. I chalked it up to just being unprofessional, but not incompetent. Can you tell which state of greiving I am in. I've moved past denial and sadness and I am full on in anger mode.

They had better tell us ahead of time if the actors cancel! Otherwise it is false advertising and they WILL get sued!

But let's say all the actors cancel and they give us credit (like they did with Alan if we bought a pic with him). If everyone cancels, what are we supposed to buy with that credit? 100 Flanvention t-shirts? With Alan cancelling I already have $80 of credit I need to spend somewhere else... and there is nothing else I want from the offered ops.

lexigeek on WHEDONesque:

I'm actually working to negotiate something with the hotel for meeting space. I was about to post the same info about the group rates. :) What I need is an idea of how many people would still be willing to show up (and stay in one of their hotel rooms) if we were to throw a replacement con. (There's no guarantee the guests will be there, but we're working on it)

Please e-mail me at adam.levermorerich[at]gmail[dot]com ASAP if you are planning to stay at the Hilton, and let me know how many nights you're going to stay. Please put FLAN/HILTON in the subject line so I can keep track of all the e-mails on this.

Please re-post this message in other forums so BE attendees with reservations at the Hilton know.

Also, the SoCal/NoCal Browncoats are working on having a fallback con/shindig/whatever.

E-mail sent. Thanks b!X.

I forgot that accompanying that item was news that the Hilton WILL, I repated WILL, honor the rates at which we've booked out hotel rooms.

My room rate was $159 a night (that is with the Flan rate - for 4 people). I have no intention of keeping my reservations if the other people I was rooming with decide not to come. I can not afford it alone, so even if something does get planned in the hotel, I will stay somewhere else and just pop in when that stuff happens.

I will gladly and happily attend shindigs and a fallback con, assuming it is going to be cheap/free since Booster might not be able to refund us anything. I just can not justify spending more money when I might already be out $700+

I hear that about the money. I'm very glad I used a credit card for everything. I have a better chance of being able to do something about the purchases if they do cancel. My hope is that they get whatever loan they tried to get and have Flan, though. That's what I really want.

Some people have been saying that Adam knows about this. Anyone care to elaborate?
And I am still hoping to go. I can't get a refund for my flight so....

But I am still crossing my fingers that someone somehow finds the money to do this. That a 0 was just misplaced or something.

Im just glad I will keep my room at the Hilton for 109 per night. I don't mind that because I have budgeted it for that rate. If it jumped to 159, I would have been forced to head somewhere else...and still enjoyed Christmas in Hollywood. But I really hope something can be salvaged from this.

I can get a partial refund on my flight. I'm undecided on whether to fly out or not anyway - if there's some form of weekend long shindig, then yeah, I might - if I need to fund activities around LA for the weekend, then no. I was expecting to only need to bring enough spending money for food, for the most part, so I can't afford to find money to just hang around!