GaryCon Schedule - Where to Find me

Where to Find Me at GaryCon 2020 

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SO,  GaryCon maintains that they are not obligated to offer refunds because they are running a Virtual Con

I see some issues with this

1: People paid a minimum of $85.00 dollars to attend the event being held at the Grand Geneva

2: The Grand Geneva allowed the cancellation of the event without any payment to the hotel (assuming the deposit, if one was made, was refunded)

3: They claim to have spent the bulk of it on Merchandise and rental of equipment for the con. They are now selling the merchandise online (they claim it is discounted but once you add in a Shipping charge and handing fee, they are making a profit)

4: The Virtual Con is free.. but by badge paying attendees using that, they are "getting the value offered by the con"  It is a legal hustle designed to make you not ask for an entitled refund and they know it

5: GaryCon is not a NON PROFIT.  They are a for Profit LLC

6: If they are so dependent on all the ticket sales, They SELL Tickets every year to raise the funds to hold the convention. IMHO - 1 year will not bankrupt the con once the dust settles

7: In keeping the Badge fee, then selling you the merchandise bought with the badge fees, they are essentially double dipping on your goodwill... You spent $85 and $25 plus $12 Shipping and $3 handling (that 25 dollar shirt just cost you 40 Dollars) so for a Con that did not happen, you spent $125 to get a shirt that was bought with the $85 badge Fee - 

  

8: Now if they can prove that they operate on such a tight budget that refunds would cripple and cancel the convention, other than saying so - They should make the accounting Public since they want to keep over 250K for an event that never happened.

Now, you may ask why I am making this post and I will tell you.

1: I am attending on a GM Credit and have no claim on a refund, I have purchase Gold badges twice at full price in the past

2: My Daughter bought her badge and is now on leave from her job

3: I have friends that spent money on more than one badge

4: It is the morally correct thing to do

5: The comment and vitriol against those mentioning a refund on the Facebook page was highly offensive, Even Luke Gygax made disparaging remarks about anyone hinting at a refund

NOTE: The post with the Offensive remarks by Luke Gygax has been removed from the facebook page

6: I have gone and blocked those on facebook who felt that asking for a refund was going to destroy the convention and who were utterly offensive. Even one person on my friends list made some unappreciated comments (I nearly Blocked them, but gave them a reprieve) 

7: I find that if there is a way to Piss people off, the people leading GaryCon will take the most offensive approach in order to piss off a lot of the attendees. 

8: This was to be a networking and promotion con for me as I had intended to launch my Kickstarter later this year. I was going to take the opportunity to talk to a few artists and pass out tons of business cards, because the Kickstarter was all about funding the art for my Module offerings

I would insist they tell everyone exactly where money was spent and how much remains. 

I would be ticked if I spent 85 dollars and then was asked to buy a Tshirt  to support the con without getting a refund... 

Looking forward To next year 

Assuming I am not banned form GaryCon, It is my intention to attend to game with Friends and people I enjoy being around. 

I will run the same schedule and games as this year, I may not be part of the Legends of Roleplaying as I have reservations about the noise level in the room. 

I will request that none of my games be scheduled at the Cascades or anywhere other than the Grand Geneva

Suggestions:

GaryCon needs to use a focus group when making announcements that have the potential to inflame people. They seem to use words that do not work in their favor and then are surprised when people do not agree with them

It is their Con and they are free to run it as they want.. people will attend because of the friendships they made and not because of the crap that happens. I for one think they made a decent amount of money from year to year, Their failure to contain costs in some areas should not have anything to do with people getting a refund through no fault of the attendee. Unless I see financial proof that they are barely breaking even, I choose to disbelieve their CRYING POOR

People need to stop drinking the Kool Ade and being assholes towards anyone who questions or asks for explanations, refunds or other petty shit that is not their domain - Those are the people I do not want to game with - This is why I no longer post to the Pages. 

Alex Kammer had to walk back his remarks regarding the refund

Bottom line, If you do not partake in the Virtual Con, you have a right to a refund. They want you to accept that is not refundable because their policy states it. Because there is no physical convention and no hotel penalties, they cannot legally deny your claim

What would you have done if the Grand Geneva or other hotels kept your deposit ?

At the very least, a Free Badge usable for the 2021 Convention is the right call, not an unknown discount.