Camper Jam - Weston Park, Shropshire - 5-7 July 2013

Official response

Having assessed the situation after so many negative and disappointing comments regarding Camper Jam 2013, I have decided to take the tickets for this event off sale until further notice.

My team and I have worked so incredibly hard to deliver a great, friendly show which is great value for money - yet we are now being accused of ripping people off, cashing in, profiteering and greed. We did no...t increase the price this year to put people out of pocket, but simply as we strive to give you the best VW show in the UK which is worth every penny.

We never set out to make Camper Jam a cheap show, neither did we set out for it to be a massive show (in terms of visitors) which is the route we could have very easily taken. We want to it to be the most enjoyable show on the VW Calendar and at the same time, great value for money. We chose to keep it relatively small and manageable, which hopefully makes it more enjoyable experience for everyone that attends.

It is so crushingly disappointing that people are using such phrases as 'ripping people off', 'cashing in', 'profiteering' and 'greed' - simply because this could not be further from the truth! The financial costs of running a great show in a beautiful rural location is quite incredible; we have to ship 'everything' in, but that's the price you pay for such a beautiful setting and many would say it's what makes Camper Jam so special.

The 5 events we have done to date have not made a profit. I repeat, to date - we have not made a single penny from Camper Jam. Don't believe me? Give it a go yourself and you'll see first hand what's involved.

You cannot run a great show without turning a small profit (and this is what we aim/need to do). You need to constantly invest to improve year on year and hopefully people who have attended every year from the very 1st event will have seen that. We have invested heavily year-on-year to make the Camper Jam what it is to date. We are certainly not ripping anyone off, and it saddens me to think that some of you have this impression.

Last year's weather, as well as making for a 'trying' weekend - taught us a lot. I apologise for those that did not enjoy themselves because of the weather and mud, but this was clearly out of our control. Many of you from last year's posts on here had a great time, regardless. The saying 'you can't please all of the people all of the time' rings very true.

In the build up to the show there was no signs that we needed to cancel the event. Our team got sunburnt in setting up the week before and yes, we were in t-shirts and the pics we posted of the build up with blue skys were quite real! Weston Park's weather forecasts were looking fine, so we went ahead with their blessing. We did not know that Friday would see a months worth of rain in a single day!

We worked our socks off over the course of the weekend to keep everyone happy; my team were superstars. We could not have done more under the circumstances. Many of you were superstars too, and the VW community showed how truly wonderful it can be when things get a little sticky (or should I say muddy). Thank you for that; there were many people very appreciative of being pushed / pulled out of the mud, including me in the golf buggy!

90% of the entertainment still went ahead. It was unfortunate that The Beat could not play on Friday night. The guys turned up, but it was sods law that the only marquee that leaked was the one their stage was in - and the only area which leaked in that marquee, was above their stage! It was simply too dangerous to play. They were paid (in advance) and left as disappointed as we were. We hired in track-way, but this got buried under the mud, rendering it useless half way through Friday (and it was a nightmare to get up after the show). We hired in 4 tractors to help people and they worked tirelessly making sure everyone left safe and sound. This along with many, many other costs were covered by us - which many may not realise. As I have said earlier, all a big learning curve; all be it a steep one

Apologies for writing so much, but I am really passionate about Camper Jam. It's an amazing event and I want nothing more than to deliver to you guys an incredible weekend of family fun and enjoyment. This - I hope - will go some way to emphasising this.

I have decided to remove tickets from sale whilst we decide what to do with this event and move it forward.

Thank you, Stuart.

 

For those that don't have farce book - http://www.facebook.com/camperjam?fref=ts

 

Yeah cheers B0bdyr0ck2006 for the edit :

 

I feel for the guy who wrote that, it does come across as he cares no doubt there, trouble is when a lot of us moaned after the event last year we were given no apology or a token gesture of a reduced ticket next year like other shows did, it was almost as if they thought if they went quiet we would forget, well when people spend hard earned on a show and don't get a response or indeed what was advertised then they complain, i've said before and i'll say again, camperjam is ace but the situation can't be blamed on weather freaks, i live close and the weather was forecast to be bad from wednesday, on thursday they predicted a bad weekend, loads of peeps asked on friday is it on or not? it should have been cancelled then but they wouldn't do that because of refunding, this is why people accused them of greed - bad communication and brushing things under the carpet makes people angry, we have to work hard to spend £70 on tickets and expect more.

 

That thread on facebook is to try and get sympathy, they we're deleting negative posts and leaving the one's that suited them till it was pointed out , they knew how bad the weather was gonna be coz it was all over the news, but im out for next year so it don't matter to me now

 

That would have been a reasonable response shortly after the event when we were kicking off but I was dubious about the weather and the only thing that persuaded me to go (and take a punt) was the fact Id paid and the organisers were advising all was well. Id never been there before to know how the place would perform with all the rain or what the arrangements were for the trade and camping area, or that the marquees werent up to scratch. I accept a lot of what was said but just think that yes- it was perhaps a mistake to go ahead but seeing as it did some consideration might be forthcoming with tickets for this years event for those who persevered. Possibly those who decided against going may be agrieved cos us idiots went and made the event at least to some part a success.

The author doesnt address the camping charges issue - surely at a camper event people are going to turn up in campers and camp in them! If you want to charge extra for extra camping units then you might have a point. If its then a case of managing numbers camping then I can understand why you wouldnt just put that onto the admision - if indeed an increase in ticket prices is where you need to go. To me this is a disproportionate increase in my cost of attending and if I were to attend on my own in the van then a substantial one at that.

 

Already booked my tickets for next year. Had fun this year despite the rain and mud, reminded me of Glastonbury!

Luckily got there early and the HIWYPI field was nearly empty so parked right at the top of the hill. My brother in law and family enjoyed it so much in their hired T5 he is now looking for a Bay

Keep calm and camper on.

 

well that was a good grown up and professorial statement and shows the organization in a good light.


Not

 

I think pulling the ticket sales is pure genius.......it'll get support and this guy Stuart is obviously a marketing pro


its always makes me laugh when campervan shows charge extra for you to actually bring a camper ???

 

i think you're right ^ as much as we want a nice "soz we didn't pull it and offer you a few quid off" their plan now will be to wait for the positive people who don't care/want to fight for their right? to a refund to start overthrowing the haters

 

I'm not with you on the refund front I'm afraid. They must have spent a lot repairing damage and hiring extra stuff.

An apology should have been forthcoming, agreed.

 

big bang offered discounts off next year because of weather, we paid for the advertised show, didn't get, they decided to go ahead, token gesture of discount would have been least they could do, the lack of communication other than to promote has been deafening.

 

I did reply to their Fb page.

While I admire your honesty here it sadly comes to little too late. You and your team have had more than enough chances to correct people and silence the rumours but only NOW do you decide to take notice.

I understand the weather was against you. It was against many shows this year. Did it ruin CJ 2012 for me?? On a whole I don't know as this was my first. Will I go again?? Again I don't know. Did I enjoy CJ 2012?? Yes. But that was down to the company I was with.

 

On my personal level of irrepressible transparent level of thinking I reckon we will be going - love the vibe, love the company, youngster has cooked in the cook off, come to think of it so has Mrs J , woofer has picked up a few prizes in the woofer show, like the food, beer, bands, met new friends, and I don't know who her name is but that mighty fine blonde filly who is part of the CJ crew always gets my attention. Yep - shallow, that's me