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Hope and Glory Festival Liverpool


kevd108
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33 minutes ago, Peanutsinger said:

I can't see a good ending for those looking for a refund.

that'as the case with nearly all fests, because nearly all fests put the ticket sales money straight into their pockets to fund the event they're putting on.

If a festival is selling their own tickets and taking the money - which is what is happening via almost all outlets except for the biggest/best known ticket agents (TM & see, and almost no others) - then the chances of seeing a refund are almost non-existent.

Some festivals do take out cancellation insurance but the cost of the insurance tends to be so high that it's very very tempting for them to skip it.

Efestivals always tries to use those biggest agents because of the protection they offer on your purchase.

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I was there for the weekend and when we got there, the first thing I said was 'This isn't what I excepted". We were there about half one on Saturday (after a 45 minute queue, which in this day isn't big a deal with heighten security) and they were already 90 minutes behind schedule.(The security was far from sighted and I've had more checks going into a pub ten that.) We left about half two to book in to our hotel and when we got back 45 minutes later (via re-entry so no waiting) they were two hours behind. By that point it was getting full and bar queues were an hour. 

That didn't really surprise me as these pop up/ urban festivals never get the bars correct. Some complained about waiting an hour for the port a loos, but none of our group waited more then 20 minutes, but we walked to the furthest loos. There were urinals, but weren't signposted so only found out about them by word of mouth. 

There was a bottle neck between two sandstone posts (3 yards apart) that separated the two halves of the site. That was early on a nightmare & an incident waiting to happen. They sorted that by putting in some barriers, which worked to some extent. 

There was talk of over crowding but we were half way done the hill on the Main Stage which was ok. Some punters must have stayed at the top when there was room further down. 

At no point am I defending the organisers but it was bearable, except for the way they managed the stage times. (There were also tech issues on stage early on which seems daft considering there were dealing with international artists.)

What has really showed them up is their response. The tweet that "following the unfair and vitriolic comments" some decided to not carry on is unbelievable. The rambling Facebook posts & tweets that continued (including the petty, silly comment to Tim Booth) was staggering. The icing was their statement today about riders going missing and a pint of milk made you think this was a botched GCSE project that got out of hand. 

It was such a good line up and had potential, but as Neil has suggested, some seem to think that a festival is easy money to make. It is not! I don't except to see any money back. 

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9 hours ago, Baby On A Stick said:

I was there for the weekend and when we got there, the first thing I said was 'This isn't what I excepted". We were there about half one on Saturday (after a 45 minute queue, which in this day isn't big a deal with heighten security) and they were already 90 minutes behind schedule.(The security was far from sighted and I've had more checks going into a pub ten that.) We left about half two to book in to our hotel and when we got back 45 minutes later (via re-entry so no waiting) they were two hours behind. By that point it was getting full and bar queues were an hour. 

That didn't really surprise me as these pop up/ urban festivals never get the bars correct. Some complained about waiting an hour for the port a loos, but none of our group waited more then 20 minutes, but we walked to the furthest loos. There were urinals, but weren't signposted so only found out about them by word of mouth. 

There was a bottle neck between two sandstone posts (3 yards apart) that separated the two halves of the site. That was early on a nightmare & an incident waiting to happen. They sorted that by putting in some barriers, which worked to some extent. 

There was talk of over crowding but we were half way done the hill on the Main Stage which was ok. Some punters must have stayed at the top when there was room further down. 

At no point am I defending the organisers but it was bearable, except for the way they managed the stage times. (There were also tech issues on stage early on which seems daft considering there were dealing with international artists.)

What has really showed them up is their response. The tweet that "following the unfair and vitriolic comments" some decided to not carry on is unbelievable. The rambling Facebook posts & tweets that continued (including the petty, silly comment to Tim Booth) was staggering. The icing was their statement today about riders going missing and a pint of milk made you think this was a botched GCSE project that got out of hand. 

It was such a good line up and had potential, but as Neil has suggested, some seem to think that a festival is easy money to make. It is not! I don't except to see any money back. 

Sums it up perfectly! People talk about overcrowding but seem to think going anywhere near the stage (as in past the sound desk) would be risking their lives or something and all just crush at the back instead of spreading out evenly. When I went to go to the toilet (from about halfway towards the stage so not even close) I had to push through really crowded areas to get out but where I was stood there was LOADS of space

one thing I would add is that hundreds / thousands just left so that might be why it got better later on

Edited by efcfanwirral
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Although Lee O'Hanlon has cocked up here, and is trying to blame everybody else, Iain Lee comes across as being very childish in this interview. He didn't allow Mr O'Hanlon to name anybody, then a few minutes later demanded that he name names. Nobody comes out of this particularly well.

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1 hour ago, Ejestivals said:

Although Lee O'Hanlon has cocked up here, and is trying to blame everybody else, Iain Lee comes across as being very childish in this interview. He didn't allow Mr O'Hanlon to name anybody, then a few minutes later demanded that he name names. Nobody comes out of this particularly well.

O'Hanlon just ramble on incoherently, no attempt to properly answer direct questions, just further, "it wasn't me, someone else screwed it up, yes I'm responsible, but not really and I'm going to be sueing people because of this. Blah blah." Absolutely car crash!

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2 hours ago, Ejestivals said:

Although Lee O'Hanlon has cocked up here, and is trying to blame everybody else, Iain Lee comes across as being very childish in this interview. He didn't allow Mr O'Hanlon to name anybody, then a few minutes later demanded that he name names. Nobody comes out of this particularly well.

I only think Iain was 'childish' on the offering to pay for the ticket, which was a bit of a stunt.

On the rest Lee O'Hanlon was never making an attempt to answer the big questions, choosing instead to try and go off on tangents about smaller more explainable situations. As someone who has organised (albeit smaller) events, but gone through the same processes with SAGE committees and the like, the responsibility is his. Shifting the blame on the council and the diff contractors (which he chose!!!) doesn't wash for me. Seems like he took on something bigger than he could handle and then dealt with it in a petulant manner.

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We were there too on Saturday.  Got in early, after the wait...

Wasnt much security at the entrance, to the point that my ticket was scanned, then i walked up to a lady who asked me what ticket i was on??? Could and probably was massivly abused, then handed a wrist band, after dropping a load. Just felt a little panicked and amateur. We wernt checked or patted down either...

It Was fine for a couple of hours, even nice, then the flood gates seemed to open.  I think the planning and lay out needed addressing, to put the biggest bar, and a small bank of loos right next to the entrance area, that seemed to bottle neck at the top of the sight  very quickly, was not the best idea, it was a squeeze up there to get in and out of the foodie/toilet area.  I queued for 1 hour and 20 minutes drinks. The last pint i had in there!!! 

There was no signage or announcements as to what was going on, until much later anyway.

No signage for the gents urinals, so was pure luck to find them, although it wasnt an hour queue for loos anyway.

I saw no emergency exit signage in the arena.

We had had enough after Frattelis so headed out, although was not too cramped near the main stage, there were more and more glass bottles being kicked around on the floor, indecent waiting to happen on the stone cobbles.  People walking round with cases of Bottle beers and canned beer, how did they get them in?

As we left we saw groups of people hanging around at the gates waiting to pounce in when security werent looking, and to be honest they seemed to have had enough by then.... 

It was a Shame, could have been a great weekend, but something went drastically wrong.  Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath for a refund!!!

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So Hope & Glory have now deleted their Facebook.

I also hear that Eventbrite are refunding customers even though they have paid Hope & Glory the money they received. That's decent customer service if true. Apparently Eventbrite are 'aggressively pursuing' the organisers of Hope & Glory for reimbursement. 

 

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2 hours ago, rseamer said:

So Hope & Glory have now deleted their Facebook.

I also hear that Eventbrite are refunding customers even though they have paid Hope & Glory the money they received. That's decent customer service if true. Apparently Eventbrite are 'aggressively pursuing' the organisers of Hope & Glory for reimbursement. 

 

Skiddle and Eventbrite will have advanced cash from ticket sales to the organiser, which is something they should do their due diligence on. They're aware of the risks involved if the festival fails. They're doing the right thing though.

I believe Eventbrite are refunding 50%? Better than none, but might just be them taking a smaller loss than if people charged back the full amount? People should think about that if they want the full amount, but not sure how easy it is?

Interestingly, he keeps deleting and reactivating his social accounts. I think he's gone a bit mad. I DID feel sorry for him to start with...

Edited by pedrogooch
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3 hours ago, pedrogooch said:

Skiddle and Eventbrite will have advanced cash from ticket sales to the organiser, which is something they should do their due diligence on. They're aware of the risks involved if the festival fails. They're doing the right thing though.

I believe Eventbrite are refunding 50%? Better than none, but might just be them taking a smaller loss than if people charged back the full amount? People should think about that if they want the full amount, but not sure how easy it is?

Interestingly, he keeps deleting and reactivating his social accounts. I think he's gone a bit mad. I DID feel sorry for him to start with...

I think 50% is fair for those who actually went in and stayed on the Saturday like me - a few queues and a poorly designed site isn't reason to get all the money back. It makes sense to get the refund for the day that just didn't happen. 

Those who felt so unsafe they left / didn't get in at all will need to take further action to claim but those numbers will be lower than those of us who stayed I think 

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13 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

I think 50% is fair for those who actually went in and stayed on the Saturday like me - a few queues and a poorly designed site isn't reason to get all the money back. It makes sense to get the refund for the day that just didn't happen. 

Those who felt so unsafe they left / didn't get in at all will need to take further action to claim but those numbers will be lower than those of us who stayed I think 

Yeh, I agree. We did leave early.  

Happy to be getting anything to be honest the way it started this week.  

How do you prove you left early due to the situation on site rather than actual choice?

Think a line should be drawn under it and a lesson learned........

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  • 4 weeks later...
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22 minutes ago, bucko said:

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/hope-glory-festival-catalogue-failings-13723542

A report into the failed festival has found the event organisers were responsible for its collapse - amid a long list of catastrophic failings.

Thanks, an interesting read.

Looks like there's a fair amount of failing by the council there too, who (essentially) kept trust with O'Hanlon when there was no good reason to.

I'm guessing that's because similar issues had happened with other events and everything worked out OK in the end with those, but that's not how the council's regulatory role is meant to operate. They're meant to be the ones with the oversight to *ensure* it works as it should do, and not be keeping their fingers crossed.

The downside of that is going-forwards that promoters will now have bigger hurdles to cross, which will make it harder for upcoming promoters to establish themselves, handing greater control of the future to those already well established.

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4 hours ago, eFestivals said:

Thanks, an interesting read.

Looks like there's a fair amount of failing by the council there too, who (essentially) kept trust with O'Hanlon when there was no good reason to.

I'm guessing that's because similar issues had happened with other events and everything worked out OK in the end with those, but that's not how the council's regulatory role is meant to operate. They're meant to be the ones with the oversight to *ensure* it works as it should do, and not be keeping their fingers crossed.

The downside of that is going-forwards that promoters will now have bigger hurdles to cross, which will make it harder for upcoming promoters to establish themselves, handing greater control of the future to those already well established.

Mayor Joe Anderson said: “This report was all about learning lessons, and although our procedures have served us well for the past ten years, the context and environment for staging events has changed in recent years, so we need to be honest with ourselves and reflect on the processes and procedures that are in place and react to the recommendations put forward.

 

I t sounds like they are holding their hands up in part at least. I guess the silver lining at least is that nothing too catastrophic happened and it may have prevented something even worse happening down the line. 

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