Screwed Over By Filter VIP Package

in Other Music
So, I'm a mark for these VIP packages. This one was for Filter. This is what it was supposed to include, for around $200 CDN:
THE FILTER FANS UNITED VIP INCLUDES:
Private Meet & Greet and Photo-op with FILTER’s Richard Patrick
Souvenir FILTER VIP Laminate
Special Edition FILTER Tour Poster Signed by the Band
Signed KiTbetter Physical/Digital Experience version of The Algorithm (more info)
It was horrendously organized from the start. Emailed the day before: get there an hour before doors. Okay, when do doors open? No info. Emailed the VIP company. 900 Management. They get back to me right away. Ok, cool. Get to the venue. There's 5 of us. Venue staff don't know of any Filter VIP event. Only the Bush VIP event. Ok, fabulous. Finally, after waiting around, venue staff are finally informed about the event.
We had to wait around until the throngs of Bush fans were organized for their VIP, then we got lead down to the basement to meet Richard. That part was fantastic. He was incredibly talkative, sharing stories and anecdotes and was willing to answer any questions anyone had. Just a great guy. Took photos with us, a couple guys even convinced him to do funny poses of their choosing.
Then, the first stinker. VIP rep says, with Richard standing right there, they ran out of packages on the last tour stop. "But we have all your addresses, and will ship them out as soon as we get to Ottawa. For your inconvenience, you can pick up a T shirt of you choosing and a signed poster at the merch booth". Ok, well, fine, the shirt is fine, but the poster was already supposed to be included, so..."and you have to wait until after the show to get them". Wanna guess what happened? All posters sold out venue wide. Most shirts my size were also sold out. Of course.
I took the phone number of one of the other VIP guys to see if he will have any luck with this post-show.
As I was leaving the venue, I had a thought. "How does this company have all our addresses? All they have is my name and my credit card info". Right then and there I knew we were getting hooped.
I emailed him when I got home. No answer. 7 days later I email him again. He responds right away "we are forwarding shipping address to management to send". Six days after that he sends me another email asking for my mailing address to make sure the have the correct one. In other words, they never had it.
I text the guy who's number I took down. He hasn't heard a peep from this company. If they were going to come through, wouldn't they be contacting all the VIP's to confirm addresses? Yeah, no. I'm getting royally fucked over.
Fuck these fucking companies. Similar thing happened with a Matt Good VIP. We were told we'd be getting a bunch of stuff, one of the items to be included was a "tour exclusive" cassette. We were told they had trouble getting them cleared through customs. Then crickets. Won't answer any emails. No one got a cassette. They just fucking lie to people. And the "photo opportunity" wasn't a one on one. It was a group photo with a bunch of people I don't know. There was maybe 20 of us. He could have taken individuals. Big Wreck did individuals with 250 people.
Crooks.
THE FILTER FANS UNITED VIP INCLUDES:
Private Meet & Greet and Photo-op with FILTER’s Richard Patrick
Souvenir FILTER VIP Laminate
Special Edition FILTER Tour Poster Signed by the Band
Signed KiTbetter Physical/Digital Experience version of The Algorithm (more info)
It was horrendously organized from the start. Emailed the day before: get there an hour before doors. Okay, when do doors open? No info. Emailed the VIP company. 900 Management. They get back to me right away. Ok, cool. Get to the venue. There's 5 of us. Venue staff don't know of any Filter VIP event. Only the Bush VIP event. Ok, fabulous. Finally, after waiting around, venue staff are finally informed about the event.
We had to wait around until the throngs of Bush fans were organized for their VIP, then we got lead down to the basement to meet Richard. That part was fantastic. He was incredibly talkative, sharing stories and anecdotes and was willing to answer any questions anyone had. Just a great guy. Took photos with us, a couple guys even convinced him to do funny poses of their choosing.
Then, the first stinker. VIP rep says, with Richard standing right there, they ran out of packages on the last tour stop. "But we have all your addresses, and will ship them out as soon as we get to Ottawa. For your inconvenience, you can pick up a T shirt of you choosing and a signed poster at the merch booth". Ok, well, fine, the shirt is fine, but the poster was already supposed to be included, so..."and you have to wait until after the show to get them". Wanna guess what happened? All posters sold out venue wide. Most shirts my size were also sold out. Of course.
I took the phone number of one of the other VIP guys to see if he will have any luck with this post-show.
As I was leaving the venue, I had a thought. "How does this company have all our addresses? All they have is my name and my credit card info". Right then and there I knew we were getting hooped.
I emailed him when I got home. No answer. 7 days later I email him again. He responds right away "we are forwarding shipping address to management to send". Six days after that he sends me another email asking for my mailing address to make sure the have the correct one. In other words, they never had it.
I text the guy who's number I took down. He hasn't heard a peep from this company. If they were going to come through, wouldn't they be contacting all the VIP's to confirm addresses? Yeah, no. I'm getting royally fucked over.
Fuck these fucking companies. Similar thing happened with a Matt Good VIP. We were told we'd be getting a bunch of stuff, one of the items to be included was a "tour exclusive" cassette. We were told they had trouble getting them cleared through customs. Then crickets. Won't answer any emails. No one got a cassette. They just fucking lie to people. And the "photo opportunity" wasn't a one on one. It was a group photo with a bunch of people I don't know. There was maybe 20 of us. He could have taken individuals. Big Wreck did individuals with 250 people.
Crooks.
"every society honours its live conformists and its dead troublemakers"
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Comments
- Now that you have my address, what is the anticipated ship date?
- I was promised additional items at the merch table that they were unable to fulfill. How will that be handled?
- Once the items have shipped, please forward tracking.
1992- Lollapalooza, Irvine, California
Nothing since then. I suck.2016- Fenway Park, Boston - Both glorious nights
2022- Oakland Night 2
2024 Sacramento, CA
Fwiw, all the merch stuff is for those who enjoy waiting on line for an hour for stuff in many cases ultimately ends up in storage. Difficult to trust these fly by night vip subcontractors with anything involving logistics.