Screwed Over By Filter VIP Package

HughFreakingDillon · May 16

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.

pjl44 · May 16

Can you contact your credit card company and try to charge it back? I'd also be asking pointed questions to the company fulfilling it:

- 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.

lexicondevil · May 16

Most VIP packages are complete bullshit and are completely unorganized. My experience with Chris Stapleton VIP wasn't nearly as bad as yours, but I wouldn't do it again.

HughFreakingDillon · May 16

pjl44 said:

Can you contact your credit card company and try to charge it back? I'd also be asking pointed questions to the company fulfilling it:

- 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.

funny, I've actually asked all of those exact questions. Zip response. the guy's email also lists his phone number. So I'll give it one more week, then I'm phoning.

ST66483 · May 16

I’ve had mixed responses with these. That said one of the ones I had reservations about after the fact (similar we’ll ship it to you) came completely good after I advised them I never received the package. This was again a US band / company with a Canadian tour date. Good luck and glad to hear Richard was so personable.

ekwipt · May 17

This sucks but really glad to hear Richard was a good dude. When I saw him in Seattle with Cantrell it seemed like he genuinely lives to rock and is grateful to the fans.

josevolution · May 17

I’ve never done any VIP events, my ? Does the artist know whether fans get what they paid for or are they just not involved in that part of the events ?

pjl44 · May 17

josevolution said:

I’ve never done any VIP events, my ? Does the artist know whether fans get what they paid for or are they just not involved in that part of the events ?

I can't imagine most artists would keep tabs on that except for any parts where they're participating like photos or meet and greets

Lerxst1992 · May 17

Sorry to hear about this frustrating experience. To me the value of vip package would be meeting an artist, hearing a soundcheck, and premium seats

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.

pjl44 · May 17

The only time I've done VIP was the Beat Tour last year. Got a picture with Vai, Belew, Levin, and Carey which is absolutely priceless. Also came with a great seat. All the merch items were underwhelming but technically as advertised.

Get_Right · May 17

VIP rarely lives up to expectations.

JOEJOEJOE · May 19

If you have to pay for VIP, it is not really VIP!

HughFreakingDillon · May 19

Lerxst1992 said:

Sorry to hear about this frustrating experience. To me the value of vip package would be meeting an artist, hearing a soundcheck, and premium seats

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.

I’m not a merch guy. Don’t stand in any lines to get anything.

Just want what I paid for.

HughFreakingDillon · May 19

Get_Right said:

VIP rarely lives up to expectations.

The one I did with The Tea Party and I Mother Earth was amazing. No merch, no meet n greet. Just a very cool acoustic performance earlier in the day with both bands playing cover songs as one group. Hard Son was one of the songs they did. It was unforgettable.

HughFreakingDillon · May 19

JOEJOEJOE said:

If you have to pay for VIP, it is not really VIP!

Kinda splitting hairs here, but I suppose that’s why they call it the VIP “experience”.

I’ve been to hundreds of shows, and I just like unique experiences. Some of them have been amazing, others ok, and a few were obviously hated by the artist but a necessary evil to make more money.

Get_Right · May 20

HughFreakingDillon said:

Get_Right said:

VIP rarely lives up to expectations.

The one I did with The Tea Party and I Mother Earth was amazing. No merch, no meet n greet. Just a very cool acoustic performance earlier in the day with both bands playing cover songs as one group. Hard Son was one of the songs they did. It was unforgettable.

How much was VIP? And I have never heard of those bands. I am talking about when you pay over a thousand dollars per day. Or more. It rarely lives up to the hype. Unless Gene Simmons is involved.

pjl44 · May 20

Get_Right said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Get_Right said:

VIP rarely lives up to expectations.

The one I did with The Tea Party and I Mother Earth was amazing. No merch, no meet n greet. Just a very cool acoustic performance earlier in the day with both bands playing cover songs as one group. Hard Son was one of the songs they did. It was unforgettable.

How much was VIP? And I have never heard of those bands. I am talking about when you pay over a thousand dollars per day. Or more. It rarely lives up to the hype. Unless Gene Simmons is involved.

What??

HughFreakingDillon · May 20

Get_Right said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Get_Right said:

VIP rarely lives up to expectations.

The one I did with The Tea Party and I Mother Earth was amazing. No merch, no meet n greet. Just a very cool acoustic performance earlier in the day with both bands playing cover songs as one group. Hard Son was one of the songs they did. It was unforgettable.

How much was VIP? And I have never heard of those bands. I am talking about when you pay over a thousand dollars per day. Or more. It rarely lives up to the hype. Unless Gene Simmons is involved.

the Filter VIP was $150 USD, which is why I want the merch I was promised so I can sell it to offset the cost. I Mother Earth/Tea Party was like $60 CDN.

tempo_n_groove · May 20

I am sorry that happened... I would be just as pissed as you were.

I have done a handful of VIP events and they were great. I'd be turned off from doing them if this happened.

Get_Right · May 20

HughFreakingDillon said:

Get_Right said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Get_Right said:

VIP rarely lives up to expectations.

The one I did with The Tea Party and I Mother Earth was amazing. No merch, no meet n greet. Just a very cool acoustic performance earlier in the day with both bands playing cover songs as one group. Hard Son was one of the songs they did. It was unforgettable.

How much was VIP? And I have never heard of those bands. I am talking about when you pay over a thousand dollars per day. Or more. It rarely lives up to the hype. Unless Gene Simmons is involved.

the Filter VIP was $150 USD, which is why I want the merch I was promised so I can sell it to offset the cost. I Mother Earth/Tea Party was like $60 CDN.

I cannot even park for $60 CDN where I live. I would not expect much for those prices. But hey that is me. You may lose your profit with the amount if time, effort, and cost it takes to sell and mail anything. Done VIP a few times, but never again.

HughFreakingDillon · May 20

the $60 CDN one, as I mentioned, was the best one I've been to.

DarthMaeglin · May 20

HughFreakingDillon said:

the $60 CDN one, as I mentioned, was the best one I've been to.

Genuinely sorry your Filter package was a disappointment (at least meeting the one guy was cool?).

My expectations for meeting Cypress Hill this Thursday have definitely been tempered a bit by this thread, which is probably a good thing for my first vip package, lol. Paid just over $500CDN for the meet-and-greet, it includes a merch package to be mailed after the show (pending customs charges, lol?).

HughFreakingDillon · May 20

DarthMaeglin said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

the $60 CDN one, as I mentioned, was the best one I've been to.

Genuinely sorry your Filter package was a disappointment (at least meeting the one guy was cool?).

My expectations for meeting Cypress Hill this Thursday have definitely been tempered a bit by this thread, which is probably a good thing for my first vip package, lol. Paid just over $500CDN for the meet-and-greet, it includes a merch package to be mailed after the show (pending customs charges, lol?).

Thanks, yes, meeting Richard Patrick was awesome. $500 is a lot. Hopefully it runs smoother for you. I checked out the company that handled this-they seem pretty mickey mouse. Manage some bands I've never heard of. Their instagram has like one post from about 3 years ago.

DE4173 · May 20

That sucks! I hope they eventually make it right for you somehow.

I'm glad I got to meet you (Richard)

Now it's a little late

'Cause my tshirt and my poster

Didn't share the same type of fate

I think that your VIP package

Was all wrong

For the most part they're worth it

But look how you screwed us all

That's why I say hey man, nice shot

What a good shot, man

a5pj · May 23

DE4173 said:

That sucks! I hope they eventually make it right for you somehow.

I'm glad I got to meet you (Richard)
Now it's a little late
'Cause my tshirt and my poster
Didn't share the same type of fate
I think that your VIP package
Was all wrong
For the most part they're worth it
But look how you screwed us all
That's why I say hey man, nice shot
What a good shot, man

Clever,
Seen Filter a bunch of times and Rich is a cool dude.
Stinks that happened

Get_Right · May 24

A lot is a piece of land. $500 is a small amount for VIP. See Ohana VIP packages. Then complain when you spend 5K and did not get a poster. VIP is just a way to inflate ticket prices. Do not buy and go have fun at a show. Just my 2 cents.

DE4173 · May 24

They should honor what they advertise, regardless of the cost.

Get_Right · May 24

DE4173 said:

They should honor what they advertise, regardless of the cost.

But often they do not and the fan has little recourse. Buyer beware. That is all I am saying.

DE4173 · May 24

I gotcha!

DarthMaeglin · May 24

Get_Right said:

DE4173 said:

They should honor what they advertise, regardless of the cost.

But often they do not and the fan has little recourse. Buyer beware. That is all I am saying.

If I hadn’t read this thread beforehand I might have found myself feeling similarly to Hugh.

In my (inexperienced) head I’d been thinking it would be more of a hangout, in the end they lined us up and in turn we were walked around a curtain and there they were. Slapped hands with them, I barely managed to stammer out a couple comments, then we lined up for pictures and were quickly ushered out to make way for the next people. 2-3 minutes total?

I have to admit I was starstruck in the moment but in the end I met Cypress Hill and got to thank them. That’s what I’m focusing on while I wait for the promised poster and merch item to be delivered (in the shadow of a postal strike, lol). See what comes of that.

If there was any (valid, imo) complaint I have it’s that the email we were sent clearly stated no signings would happen, but when we were lined up we were told 1 item was acceptable (guess that was the intent of the vip lanyard we were given, lol). The problem then became that most people hadn’t brought a sharpie or anything, lol. Ultimately not a big deal to me, more of an annoyance, lol.

DarthMaeglin · May 24

Again, I feel badly for you Hugh, but thank you for bringing this issue forward, especially because it was timely (and more importantly helpful) for me.

Screwed Over By Filter VIP Package

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