When we were at Animazement, there was this guy who was talking up the Anime Weekend Atlanta art show to one of the people in our studio. He talked up the Artist’s Alley at AWA. He told her how much they’d like to have her.
So, we decided to go. We registered for the con, we got our hotel room lined up, we did everything. Except the actual Artist’s Alley, which wasn’t ready. So I sent in email to them asking questions about the size of tables, and how much it would cost for two (because we have four people and a LOT of art to sell). And asking about the registration process, and whether we needed to fill out one form for the studio or one per artist.
And…
Nothing Happened.
Until they announced that registration is closed and they’ve filled all their tables.
They didn’t write back. They didn’t contact us. They didn’t bother to respond, at all. Not to answer our questions, not to say “well, if you’re going to register, hurry up”. Nothing. We just heard nothing.
So, now we’re screwed. We have $80 in con registration, and hotel reservations we may or may not be able to cancel without penalties, and we only found this out with about three weeks to go before we were supposed to be on the road. And we have no way to go to the con. Of course, we could just show up. After all, by halfway through the second day of con, they’d be selling tables if there were any no-shows. Which there might be… But halfway through the second day of con is too late to get started if you actually want to recoup your costs.
I’ve sent email asking for help or clarification, but it’s sort of a joke. We already know they don’t answer email.
(Update, on September 9th: We get to go anyway, and it wasn’t really their fault..)