Should Camperjam have been cancelled

Agree with many of the points already made; we made the best of it but in the end, feel a bit short-changed for spending £70 to camp in a muddy field. A cancelation would probably have been better but - as Mork says - would we have all headed off together to the same location? Undoubtedly not; and so the big gathering wouldn't have happened.

From a somewhat outside perspective - camping away from TLB, in Organised Camping on the muddier side of the site - I can say that there was massive abseteeism from the OC & HomeIsWhereYouParkIt sections because people just didn't fancy it and didn't have the compensation of having a big party with lots of mates to look forward to. The cynic in me says that CJ didn't cancel so that they could happily pocket all the cash from these absentees and not have to do refunds, but really I still genuinely believe that they were trying their best to still give punters a festival in very difficult conditions. Could they, in hindsight, have done better? Yes. Are they human and prone to imperfection? Yes. Were they in a "no- win" situation? Probably.

Looking forward, the question now becomes how do they regenerate all the goodwill for next year after this year's mess? DUBious, Woody, Para and others have sagely commented that this will hit them in the long run. I think they are going to have to come up with something pretty good next year for this year's ticket-holders, or they are going to find themselves staring at a hefty shortfall in numbers.

 

I think the show organisers should have made more effort in regards to preparing the site as we all had at least a week of weather reports saying it was going to be wet.

So they really should have spent some contingency money in regards to preparing at least the exhibitors area with outdoor flooring which I have experienced at a lot of agricultural shows round the world including the UK. So really all decisions from camperJam were based purely on profit and how much they could make or save as the case may be.

See below images of outdoor flooring

 

From a customer perspective, I absolutely agree.
How easy would it have been to procure such gear at short notice, during the wettest marmitest summer we've had for ages when this sort of thing will probably be in reasonably high demand? No idea.

 

The question thats not been asked yet is

Will they go back to pay on the gate next year?

 

Is it possibe CJ are getting the blame here for lack of preperation that should have been the responsibility of site providers. We don't what their contract states. It's likely there were lots of things CJ weren't allowed to do including straw etc.

This time next week the grass will have grown again and nobody any the wiser so on with the next bunch of suckers. It's a rubbish venue if it rains, that's the problem.

 

Ive seen festival of transport at hellingly , like that with massive traction engines/cars etc stuck for ages , organizer/ land owner, likes the pennys , the following year crowds and exhibitors were down.Trouble is no one will gamble on people not coming, thats why its money up front months in advance they hold the cards then.Shame really. still the tlb had some fun you cant buy that

 

We travelled for 5 hours from Plymouth and in some dangerous conditions on the M5, we were in the organised camping which was a joke, we got there at about 3pm after queing for about an hour outside and then being told to follow the road round by the most helpful and disinterested marshal and picked my spot in the muddy bottom field, in between 2 marks but hardly anyone turned up. Looked forward to the trade stands but many missing and the Beat who never arrived. We feel cheated out of our £70. Never saw much, and I have been eating pies all bloody year to audition for the role of anchor man in the TLB tug of war. However after all that glad we did go and will probably go next year, but after speaking to the tractor driver who thinks the ground will be back to normal in 6 weeks for the V Festival maybe CJ will not be allowed back. I asked about the use of straw and it was ordered and turned up but the owners of Weston Park sent them away as it would have ruined the ground later and with the V Festival they were having none of it.

 

Ive never been to the show before and can say that family Dickinson did have a good time. The only reason we did go however was because we'd decided to give vanfest a miss this year and the show did come highly recommended from those who had been before.

I, like many others, watched the messages and posts telling us all was fine. I have to say I have some involvement in outside events myself and frankly all was not fine. The failure to pre'empt and manage forseeable issues was appalling and contingencies should have been in place to deal with the issues particularly around the traders area, but also around the ents area. Nothing whatsoever was attempted as far as I could see to mitigate against what was frankly dangerous.

Were not talking 50,60, or 100 thousand people attending are we really and the traders area was manageable but wasnt. I agree about the marshalls who firstly pointed in a general direction and said your over there somewhere frankly beckoned me onto an area only fit for bog snorkling!To get there to find that the entertainment was cancelled as they couldnt get there (I managed to get there!) really *******ed me off, the "themed" evening was somewhat confusing.

Traders - now then, personally I did want to buy a few bits and bobs and I do like to spend some time shopping. What a joke. I felt sorry for those who turned up - stayed open and made the effort and I hope they didnt get too much of a kick in the pants. Those that didnt turn up or those that did and thought better of it, well, what can I say. Either they support the show scene or they dont. If thats where they make their money then Id like them to justify why I can drive to a show in a 40 year old bay (and others who made the attempt and didnt make it) Im sure they could at least make the effort.

On the flip side of that the owners, or the event organisers, Im unsure which, having cancelled Sunday which ended up having by far the best weather put a major mocker on the traders weekend. That is appalling and almost justifies those who couldnt be arsed to make the effort.

So what was advertised that I didnt get to?
Most of the entertainment and most of the trade stalls
the ******* poor show and shine.
The marshals were a joke.
The bogs were fine (the bog peeps managed to get on and off everywhere)
I enjoyed the covers band on Saturday night but frankly if the bands cancelled then they wont get paid, the traders who didnt tun up paid, I paid, the poor buggers that drove there to find Sunday was cancelled paid to get there but were spared the appalling turn out of traders and a shockingly thin daytime ents programme.

I could go on. Bottom line...I did have a good time but only in the face of adversity. I dont mind the crap weather or getting wet or a bit muddy but I think Im owed a refund at least in part for the three adult tickets I bought and although I would have been peed off I think it shouldnt have gone ahead.

 

Well said Dicky, maybe we should all ask for a part refund or money off next years tickets

 

We were so looking forward to this show, our 4th on the trot, however i have to say it should have been cancelled.

If we had known that the artist on Friday had cancelled and a good proportion of the traders either not attending or leaving early i think we would have sacked it off and found an alternative.

And the decision to close the show to day visitors on Sunday seemed a little too late, thus confirming my thoughts that the decision to allow the show to go ahead for all pre-paid campers was purely financial.

As said earlier £70 for 2 nights camping oouuccchhh.

Pre pay is not the future in my book.

 

Most traders were packing up early because there stock was getting ruined, which would have then turned it into a very expensive weekend, not only the £130.00 odd to trade and the fuel from where ever, poor sales then the cost of cleaning stock or selling reduced as muddy.

As for camperjam giving money back on saturday they did say if you stopped trading you would be issued a refund but who's to say you will, and will that cover your fuel?

So either way loose you fuel and stop, or carry on and hope you make enough to cover fuel and trade costs.

 

I agree with many of the points on this thread and have emailed the lady at jazz publishing asking her if and when someone from CJ is going to step forward and make some kind of comments, as we at TLB and the Vdub community generally deserve some kind of explanation.

I will let you know if i get a response.

Mark and Alison

 

Ah just had a nosey on EB and david eccles has already been on there appoligising for the small EB show

Heres what was said:
David Eccles Post subject: Re: Camperjam weather is it worth it ?Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:21 pm



Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:21 pm
Posts: 87 Firstly sorry we could not get you guys onto display we had limited space and it was quagmire potential at lower end...
but I suspect that many of you simply could not get your buses off anyway or did not fancy trying it (I did not move mine down to use as HQ not sure I'd get back onto my area)
Though WP do call the shots there was never to my knowledge any tactics like penalties to cancel especially as run up during week was not bad at all and thurs they were marking areas wearing T shirts..what none of us knew was that a months rain would fall in 12 hours...and loking at what some of Uk had we got off light!
so much has been cancelled this year..sounds easy option but it aint....we knew that if we could get people on site we'd be able to carry on with something..then it rained all blimmin friday long and ..well you know the rest!
better option is for us to really look carefully at what contingency plans need to be drawn up and things ready to call in in wings - and then put in place (glad thats not my job phew!)
PS Graham..the Robert Johnson prototype bay trophy winner is chosen by my family (but just me this time) in memory of son in law
PPS any of you who have been hardcore veteran EB displayers....I have a few plaques if you want to keep your collection intact!

 

I sympathise with the traders but the organisers can't do anything about the weather.
They don't cancel Glastonbury when it rains, so why cancel a show?
I have had my share of wet and muddy shows so I know how bad it gets, worse if you throw in a couple of kids whining all weekend.
More shows are advance ticket sales only, presumably so if it's really wet they still get their money. If it was still an option to pay on the gate then the place would of been half as busy.
With advance tickets you feel obliged to go and try make the best of it or you have just flushed £70 down the bog. If you could of paid on the gate you would more likely stay at home in the dry, or more importantly had the choice to go or not.
I think that if organisers make the decision to make an event pre book only then they should be refunding unused tickets or at least have a clear rain off policy.