This is what epic fail and rip off looks like.
Edit 12/19/2012: My wife received a call from Robert Griffiths today concerning my refund. I have received a full refund 11 months after I first paid, and almost eight months since the event was cancelled. The related post concerning this is finished.
This post is a warning and a way for me to vent my frustration and anger. It’s mostly anger and letting people know not to get involved with this WerewolfCon BS now slated for July 2013. I got screwed out of $150 in booth fee and that’s just pissed me off. It takes a lot for me to get to that level as I’m known for being easy going. Well, that’s not the case now.
Most people know that I was set to go to Werewolf Con on May 4-6, 2012, but it never happened. The organizer, Jordan Polintan, is the CEO of Werewolf Con 2012, Con Extreme, LLC and sent an email notifying everyone of the cancellation. On May 1st I received this email:
From: Event Staff <staff@werewolfcon.com>
Subject: WerewolfCon Refunds
To: “Nona Morris” <info@refreshthepage.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 2:21 PM
Werewolf Con 2012
Con Extreme LLC
2300 Main Street, 9th Floor
Kansas City, MO 64108
I knew something was off when on March 7th I saw on the website that the booth price had been dropped from $150, which I paid at the end of January via PayPal, to $100. Immediately I emailed the staff and got a response from someone named Fred telling me that I would be getting $50 refunded due to the price drop by the 15th. No problem, I thought. That refund never came and instead I received this email:
WerewolfCon 2012
Add sender to Contacts
Regrettably,
~Robert
WerewolfCon Staff
So I had Robert from WerewolfCon Staff telling me that it was postponed and we’d be issued a refund by May 1st. It was supposed to be mailed instead of refunded via PayPal, which was odd to me, but I said, “Okay. We’ll wait.” Great, right?
Not really great. You see, it’s been over three weeks and no refund. By week two I was past upset. I sent this email in the way of reply all:
Re: WerewolfCon Refunds
Add sender to Contacts
|
Hello,
It’s been two weeks and I have sent two emails concerning my refund. I have received neither a response to my emails or my refund. This email is to let you know that if my $150 refund is not in my PayPal account by the end of the business day today, I will be filing a claim with PayPal and a fraud report with the Metro Nashville Police Department. Thank you.
Jason McKinney
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I hit reply all to let others know that some one was upset. Well, I’m beyond pissed actually. I did exactly what I said I’d do. I received this as a reply:
Re: WerewolfCon Refunds
Add sender to Contacts
I expected to hear that it was the other guys fault, which was funny considering this was RefreshThePage.com’s response:
From: Robert Griffiths <info@refreshthepage.com>
Subject: RE: WerewolfCon Refunds
To: “‘JASON MCKINNEY'” <jasonmckinney@bellsouth.net>
Date: Monday, May 14, 2012, 2:36 PM
Jason,
I am not sure why your CC’ing me on this email. I am waiting for my refund from ConExtreme as well. I was about to send an official letter to them myself.
N. Morris, MGR
Account Development
Office Hours – 10am to 4pm CST – Mon Thru Fri
Main Office: 816-343-8140
Normally I don’t swear in my blogs, but what the f*ck? So now the other guy, Robert or N. Morris or whatever, is blaming Jordan, or is it Fred, or maybe he’s Robert. I don’t know, I don’t care. What I do care about is the $150 I’ve been screwed out of and warning others away from WerewolfCon in general.
If you want my opinion, stay the hell away from them. I paid my money through PayPal for something that never happened and honestly, I don’t expect to get my money back. I’m pissed about it that. $150 means a lot in my home and to a lot of Americans. We had to scrape it together to give it up to someone who, for all I now know, never put anything together. And before I forget, WerewolfCon’s email, website and even their Facebook page has been pulled down. I’m sincerely suprised that their twitter account is still active, though I wouldn’t be amazed if it was gone by the time of this posting. What a waste of everything all around.
Zombie nightmares and werewolf dreams 
Thanks Jason for sharing your experience. I was hoping to do something with this event in the future and support them online for now — but I will not, after reading what they put you through. Shameful!
Thank you, David. I can understand cancellation due to lack of sponsorship, but I can’t understand this back and forth about who has everyone’s refunds. Its just terrible business practice to do that to people.
Unethical, and talk about burning your primary audience / customers!
I totally agree. I would’ve sung their praises if they’d been truthful about everything from the beginning.
Damn, that stinks, Jason! I know how hyped up you were about attending this event. You even went through the hassle of buying a cute pink laptop (I mean cool laptop with a badass werewolf skin) to take to WerewolfCon this year. All kidding aside, I hope you are able to get your $150 back.
lmao I still love my pinkie pie laptop. It’s so… My Little Pony meets American Werewolf in London. I’ve written the cash off. Yeah, I’m going to be steamed over it for a while, but I wanted to warn people about this. It’s about the principle and the money lost. I don’t know anyone that can part with money easily in this economy.
LMAO —> “My Little Pony meets American Werewolf in London”
lol That’s what came to mind when I first saw the contrast. “There’s trouble in Ponyville!” said Sarah.
Jason, I’m so sorry this happened to you! I hope for their sake (and reputation) they find a way to make restitution to you.
Thank you, Nina. I’d love to get my money back, but I know that’s probably not going to happen. What I do know is that Karma has a way of biting us all in the butt at the most inopportune times and for helping us when we really need it. I’d love to moan that I’m a nice guy and cry, “how could this happen to me”, but everyone knows I am a jerky boy. lol
That sucks buddy I hope you can get your money back. I hope this doesn’t hurt you too bad either.
Thanks, Antonio. Yeah, we’re hurt, but we’re also survivors. It’s about the money and the principlel of the matter. The way it was all handled left us feeling very put out.
Either there is a growing market aimed at ripping off horror writers, or we are finally standing up for ourselves and pulling these practices into the light. I’m sorry this happened to you, Jason – but thank you for warning everyone about these guys!
And thank you for helping to spread the word, Janet. I believe we’re just tired of being taken advantage of. I hate being negative, but I refuse to lie down any longer. Another vendor I follow was taken for 10 times my amount. The balls of these people is what amazes me.
Jason, sorry to hear it. Hopefully you get both your money back (doubtful I know) and get some viral action to this blog post so these guys get the karma that’s coming to them.
ps: really disheartenening to hear. What is it with people screwing over horror writers as of late?
I don’t know what the deal these days is. I think that as a whole, authors are tired of being quiet and taking the BS. I know I am. I’d love to see this go viral, but I think the chances of that happening are the same as getting my money back. I’m relying on Karma to keep the balance and repay those involved in kind. I did hear back from PayPal. They consider a booth or table as “digital” and “intangible goods. Go figure.
I guess I’m not the only one after all – I was set to be a vendor at this event also, paid my booth fee, made special edition “werewolf” related products, and I have had the exact same horrible experience as you. I am beyond pissed off at these people. All the redirection, finger pointing, “no it’s not us” “we didn’t get the money, we’re just proxies” yada yada. The replies I got to my emails (I sent way more than 2!) are nearly word for word as the ones you seem to have gotten. PayPal is no help either. The only names I can find are this Jordan P. and Robert G. but they claim to not be the actual organizers (heck, the Jordan P. from refreshthepage claims to live in the Philippines). I even ASKED for the names and contact information of the Con organizers – nada.
Hey, Jennifer. I started getting uber suspicious around the middle of April and emailed them asking what the status of the refunds were. I got a very terse email saying that they’d be sent on the 1st of May. My gut told me we were being ripped off, but I wanted to think the best of them. It’s funny how all of a sudden this Jordan joker lives in the Phillipines when he told me he lived in Missouri. What a bunch of thieving wankers. I’m sorry they got you, too. We bought a lot of werewolf merchandise, too. The more I talk to people like us that were taken, the more I know it was a scam from the word go.
That sucks… do you know if ANYONE who paid for a booth ever actually got a refund? I wonder if any people who bought tickets just as an attendee got a refund? I have to wonder just how many people they suckered out of hard earned money. There’s a thread here: http://werewolfball.com/forum/#cid=5,tid=107 that I’m considering commenting on. I’m not sure how much this Elder Xyno character had to do with the planning and organizing of the event, but my payment apparently went to his email address. (according to Paypal – Payment Sent to: xyno@werewolfball.com)
Thanks for stopping by again, Jennifer. That’s an excellent question. I wonder how many bought tickets and got refunds and I wonder if anyone else got refunds period. I’m leaving a comment, too. What’s the point in people joining this con if they never refunded the money from the first group that got ready to go. How could we, the vendors, not feel cheated or even endorse them. The whole damn thing stinks and sucks.
We were also set to be vendors at this event to the tune of $250 dollars for our booth fee! The last conversation we had with a person was that he personally gave the $250 to the other guy to refund…. he never sent anything. Luckily (or who knows now) we paid it to paypal with a credit card so we are filing with our credit card company as a fraud. Of course if we could ever get a person that speaks english in the united states to talk to we might actually get somewhere with the claim.. Really dislike people who are not honest and agree Karma is a b*tch and will come back to give them a WEREWOLF bite in the a**.
Hello, Jeff and thanks for stopping by, reading, and commenting. Yeah, I’ve gone to my bank to see if anything can be done. Ours came straight from our bank account and we’ve done the fraud claim as well. You have got to love the whole “it’s not my fault” game. I’ve only lived for 37 years, but in my whole life I’ve never seen money up and disappear. Isn’t life hard enough without someone being dishonest and ripping people off? Like my wife and I have been saying, “Karma’s going to get them in the end.”
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I sent this blog post to the Consumerist – often times you get a much more satisfying resolution when they get involved
Awesome! Thank you, Lona. 🙂
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