10 replies to this topic

[wwwbondstarscom]

Hi

Tickets have now gone on sale for the Bondstars Christmas Party on the 14th November 2010 at Pinewood Studios, London England.

Since initial tickets were offered to customers on our mailing list we now only have a handful of tickets remaining

You can find more information and book tickets using the following link

www.bondstars.com/christmas

If you would like priority information about events and signings, please join our mailing list

regards

Andy

[wwwbondstarscom]

Event has now provisionally sold out but if you still wish to attend we can put you on the waiting list

[Offstager]

Event has now provisionally sold out but if you still wish to attend we can put you on the waiting list

Thanks for organising this the day after our event, 'Pay Attention, 007!' at The Bacon Theatre, Cheltenham. Especially when we tried to ask for your help ages ago to include you within what we were doing and you knew months in advance what date and event we were holding. I suppose, the difference is, our event is giving all the profits to charity.

Hopefully, Bond fans won't mind shelling out money for TWO events on the same weekend.

It's a real shame you felt the need to put this on the same weekend. However much you'll say it was 'logistics' or a coincidence, it just smacks of something you've done deliberately.

Despite this, we wish you every success and hope that perhaps you might follow our lead and donate some of the money you make to charity as well?

It's a shame you couldn't have put this Christmas event on in the traditional time for such things - December.

Edited by Offstager, 13 September 2010 - 06:44 PM.

[wwwbondstarscom]

We organise our events around availability at Pinewood - which is actually solidly booked in December and has been for months - and our own schedules.

Not quite sure who you are to suggest we should run our events for charity, when we donate considerable sums to charity each year and do voluntary work for Cancer Research UK - difference is we do not broadcast it in order to wangle guests, nor feel annoyed when someone declines to get involved and start posting all over forums.

You chose to organise a charity event, so do it, good luck with it - but don't begrudge others because they don't want to get involved and then try the emotional blackmail route. It's very undignified.

Discussion closed.

[Offstager]

We organise our events around availability at Pinewood - which is actually solidly booked in December and has been for months - and our own schedules.

Not quite sure who you are to suggest we should run our events for charity, when we donate considerable sums to charity each year and do voluntary work for Cancer Research UK - difference is we do not broadcast it in order to wangle guests, nor feel annoyed when someone declines to get involved and start posting all over forums.

You chose to organise a charity event, so do it, good luck with it - but don't begrudge others because they don't want to get involved and then try the emotional blackmail route. It's very undignified.

Discussion closed.

It's odd that you actually started a discussion when it's nornally very difficult to get any sort of response out of you!

All of our productions in our 15-year history have been charity-based - not something we boast about either. We're very pleased that you contribute to charity as well. Good for you. We haven't broadcast our production in order to gain guests. They were booked beforehand.

We're not annoyed that you didn't help us out at all, we just found it very sad that you decided to organise your event to clash with our event (especially as you had known about our event for over a year!!).

We'll never compete with you. We can't. You hold all the cards, as you were so keen on telling us when we approached in person. All we wanted was to have help for an event that we hoped would entertain Bond fans and give a significant sum of money to charity.

But, as we said, the fact you've decided to hold your event on the very same weekend just shows how you view other 007 events. We're sorry to have angered you but it's pretty obvious why you have scheduled it on that weekend. We're not emotionally blackmailing you in any way. You chose not to help us and also chose to book your event on the same weekend. We're just stating facts.

Good luck with your event. You don't need it, of course, as you have the monopoly when it comes to 007. But, it's a shame you couldn't come down off your pedestal to help others.

Edited by Offstager, 14 September 2010 - 02:00 PM.

[Mark_Hazard]

Sour grapes anyone?

[Offstager]

Sour grapes anyone?

I'm assuming that the above comment may have been directed at me?

In which case, can I just say - from the heart - that we are just disappointed in Bondstars and certainly don't intend to come off as petty or bitchy about this. We're just stating simple facts, so that people can make their own minds up.

Our production/event was created more than a year ago, with guests booked on the basis of what we were trying to achieve, and set out to be nothing more than a charity event and a celebration of 007. The amount of red tape, ignorance, selfishness and uncharitable things we've encountered along the way has astounded us (and this isn't directed just at Bondstars, we hasten to add). We've done similar events in the past, so we never thought we'd encounter any problems, but we were very wrong!

All we ever wanted to do was celebrate a passion for 007, raise a nice chunk of money for UNICEF, and allow an audience to have an amazing evening. We're just upset that potential attendees for both events have probably had to choose just one to spend their money on, instead of having the luxury of attending them both if they'd been spaced further apart.

I'm not getting at you for saying 'sour grapes' but it's the last thing we want to come off as being in our discussion about this. We're genuinely upset by what we've encountered, all in the process of trying to raise some money for charity.

[Mark_Hazard]

Firstly I should mention now, before anyone else does, that I do have an allegience with BondStars.

What I will say is, why be disappointed with them, they've explained their position and I don't think for one minute that they would stage an event to try and cut down on your audience (they're not like that) - you seem to already be blaming them for any shortfall you may have in your audience - have you had cancellations?

I'm happy to see that you're not blaming all your problems on BondStars (have you had a go at the others?), although I wonder, could some of it be laid at your own feet?

I wish you all the best for your event and hope that it's a sell-out, it's sounds like fun.

[Aces High]

I have nothing to do with either organisation.However I would like to say I would be very,very suprised to hear that the guys at 'Bondstars' have been in anyway underhanded.I would say nothing but praise for those guys.I have never met such a warm & generous kind hearted man as Gareth Owen. I would also say that 'Bondstars' have provided me with two of the most memorable & memorable days in my life & for that I will always be grateful to them. So when I read of some kind of accusation I naturatlly have to defend the guys at 'Bondstars'

[Offstager]

Firstly I should mention now, before anyone else does, that I do have an allegience with BondStars.

What I will say is, why be disappointed with them, they've explained their position and I don't think for one minute that they would stage an event to try and cut down on your audience (they're not like that) - you seem to already be blaming them for any shortfall you may have in your audience - have you had cancellations?

I'm happy to see that you're not blaming all your problems on BondStars (have you had a go at the others?), although I wonder, could some of it be laid at your own feet?

I wish you all the best for your event and hope that it's a sell-out, it's sounds like fun.

it's the simple fact that we emailed them over a year ago, so they knew about our event well in advance. If it was a genuine coincidence, then it seems a shame that it happened this way. After trying to contact Bondstars repeatedly from our initial unanswered message, they never once answered what we thought was a very charitable offer of letting them have the entire foyer of the theatre to set up stalls, sell autographs, etc, with no cut taken from their profits, if they could provide us with no more than one guest (which we would pay expenses for). The only time they answered was just before announcing their Christmas Party, saying they weren't interested. It's all probably bad timing but, as you must see, it looks very much like sour grapes on their part, not ours. I'm sure you can understand our initial frustration. We'd tried to speak to Bondstars at a signing event a few months ago and they'd been very rude and dismissive of us. So, sadly, we've obviously got the wrong impression of them. Even George Lazenby had said he liked the sound of our event but couldn't do anything unless we booked him through Bondstars.

We're not blaming anything on Bondstars, as - up until now - our ticket sales have been very healthy, we have negotiated our own guests, and we look forward to entertaining a large audience of die-heard fans and occasional fans of 007. But, I hope now you understand our position a little better when the Christmas Party is thrown into the mix? No idea whether it will affect our potential audience, but it certainly doesn't help to have two events on the same weekend.

I have nothing to do with either organisation.However I would like to say I would be very,very suprised to hear that the guys at 'Bondstars' have been in anyway underhanded.I would say nothing but praise for those guys.I have never met such a warm & generous kind hearted man as Gareth Owen. I would also say that 'Bondstars' have provided me with two of the most memorable & memorable days in my life & for that I will always be grateful to them. So when I read of some kind of accusation I naturatlly have to defend the guys at 'Bondstars'

Bondstars, like any reputable company, are not going to be anything but lovely to attendees who have bought tickets and come along to their events. Why would they? I'm very pleased they are creating such memorable 007 events for fans, we're not really questioning that. It's brilliant what they do and long may they continue to do it. Sadly, it's just the dealings we've had with them and the lack of forethought they've shown that has irked us.

But, let's put it in the past. Neither of us can change our events, we've just got to entice the more local fans to each event and hope we don't divide potential revenue for either of us (whether it goes towards a charity or towards the next event). We KNOW Bondstars put on fantastic events that 007 fans want to attend, we just wanted to do a one-off, non-profit event for charity in the hope of raising loads of money for UNICEF. It's just a shame the same weekend has two events on it, especially as Bondstars are so well-known and will - obviously - attract more attention.

Fingers crossed we both do well.

Edited by Offstager, 27 September 2010 - 07:22 AM.

[wwwbondstarscom]

Hi

The Bondstars Christmas Party event report is now online

You can see this and reports on from our previous events at the following page

www.bondstars.com/previousevents

You can also purchase the event programme, quantities are very limited so get your copy now!!

www.bondstars.com/previousevents/programmes

Regards

Andy