White Plains Show disorganization creates for a bad experience

[Marchillo]

My name is in my signature and I stand behind this post. If anyone involved in the promotion is on this site I’d be happy to discuss.

First off like like the other post said the place was a great environment. I had fun at the card tables. Spent a lot of time at one table in particular working on my 68 set. I was planning on getting 2 autographs that day Smoltz (hof ball collection) and Gooden (84 Topps Traded). Also Randy Jones (1974 Topps) was a free guest.

The autograph scene there can be quite a sh*tshow at their bigger shows. Even waiting in line when you arrive to buy tickets can be painful. So I learn my lesson and I prebuy my tickets. I end up with Smoltz #7 and Gooden #6. Perfect.

Smoltz - 10:30
Gooden - 2:00
Randy Jones in between

I take a quick walkthrough and finger through some 68’s at one table while I wait for Smoltz. He was on stage with Glavine, RA Dickey, Steven Matz, maybe one other guy. They start calling numbers. 1-10 gets called I go up there, no hassle, very organized etc. smooth.

Do my shopping before the Randy Jones line. Line was insane but free autograph not really much they can do. They put us against the right wall. They also have a line for Buckner and Mookie Wilson (MW was 30 mins late I guess). It’s tight over there. Buckner is taking a long time and he’s past his commitment. I heard the promoter say he has sever dementia (sad - didn’t know this). Anyways they form a third line to speed through Buckner. It’s tight and uncomfortable. The promoters are yelling at people, hurry up, no talking to Bucker, no handshakes etc. they weren’t using the number system, people pay money for this (appalling), waiting in these packed lines that you are on top of each other. Oh yeah and the JSA table is in the same location and those people are getting yelled at by the promoter.

Finally I get through the line. It’s around 1:45. Doc is signing on stage (scheduled at 2:00). I’m ready to get out of there. I have #6 so figuring 2:30 max. I meet up with my buddies and wait for them to start calling for Doc. He’s 30 mins late (bummer - not promoters fault). Tons of people on stage waiting. No announcements. Every 15 mins I go up there to see how it’s going. Everyone waiting there has no clue what’s happening. Doc gets there but no numbers being called. I go up the back stairs to inquire. Guy in a suit was a total jerk. He says they aren’t using numbers for Gooden. I tell him I had Smoltz and they used the numbering system and it was the whole reason I pre-bought. His answer was “well sometimes we use them and sometimes we dont.” What the hell is that? Meanwhile it’s now like 2:45 and my meter expires at 3:15. I wait in line and finally got the auto right around 3:15. I was lucky that most people weren’t there for Gooden. Oh and the final kick in the nuts is after he signed the card in blue sharpie he picked the card up by the autograph and it got smudged and ruined (again not the promoters fault). By this time I was out of time and didn’t have the energy to deal with them anymore. I had to run to my car and the meter guy was there so I got lucky.

Logistics at these things can be tough. But seemingly every large event they run with big name guests turn out poorly. The Shriners does a much better job. My biggest beef is how they feel like can yell at people who stand in lines for over an hour and paid money for an autograph. The inconsistency is annoying too.

Sorry for the long read. I’d be interested in others experiences with getting autos at the event.

[daves_resale_shop]

Sorry to hear of your experience. I agree that there is no reason why a patron or vendor should be yelled at

I havent had a bad experience at any of the wp shows I’ve attended, and feel that Brian and Jim work their tails off to deliver an outcome that both dealers and collectors can be satisfied with.


If you feel that you have been wronged or treated unfairly then i’d suggest you reach out to the promoters and give them an opportunity to make it right.

All the best,
David Linardy

[ruth_rookie]

Oh yeah and the JSA table is in the same location and those people are getting yelled at by the promoter.

That guy still gets paid for his “professional” opinion?

[Marchillo]

Sorry to hear of your experience. I agree that there is no reason why a patron or vendor should be yelled at

I havent had a bad experience at any of the wp shows I’ve attended, and feel that Brian and Jim work their tails off to deliver an outcome that both dealers and collectors can be satisfied with.


If you feel that you have been wronged or treated unfairly then i’d suggest you reach out to the promoters and give them an opportunity to make it right.

All the best,
David Linardy

David - I try to be fair in my full assessment. I point out things that are out of their control but things they did that are simply inexecusable and unprofessional. Not sure how they can make it right. Sure they can reimburse me for the Gooden card auto - like $30. It’s $30 not that end of the world. But the experience was completely ruined. I wasn’t even getting the Buckner auto and I was appalled by the behavior.

One other note. I was talking to a guy in the Gooden line. He got Buckner and Mookie on a ball. Mookie signed first on the side panel. The guy working for the promoter took the ball to have Buckner sign and it was signed upside down opposite the Mookie. The guy wasn’t close enough to see Buckner sign it. Another ruined item. Because of the poor setup and organization they created this mess. Some things are out of their control (players being late). But then when you start to panick and treat people like crap that’s where I take exception. Also as a customer I want to know what to expect. Are you using numbers or no? Sometimes or when they feel like it is not a good answer.

[Yastrzemski Sports]

This was a very large group of signers. I don’t go for the autograph guests so I can’t speak as to the experience but it may have been too much to handle.

[Republicaninmass]

The auto line has always been an issue. There are no signs and nobody can tell where they need to go. The guy in the suit, well he looks to be important and stressed out, so I dont ask him any questions.

[hcv123]

I know Jimmy for many years. He will likely care about your experience - not sure how he could/would make an effort to make it right, but I would encourage you like the previous post to communicate with him.

As an employer, I can tell you 1 - I am more often than not unaware of every single customer each of my employees interacts with and fully respond when unacceptable employee responses/behavior are brought to my attention.

If you choose to contact him - please follow up with the response.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Never a big fan of complaining publicly as a first move. As someone who operates on both sides of the equation I do appreciate it when someone brings their concern to me directly before airing their complaint to the world.

[mantlefan]

I was there today. Not very crowded. Sorry to hear about your experience.

I don't go for the autographs, so I can't comment one way or the other. I do know that Jimmy Ryan is a solid guy and I suggest you reach out to him to try and make this right.

[Orioles1954]

Never a big fan of complaining publicly as a first move. As someone who operates on both sides of the equation I do appreciate it when someone brings their concern to me directly before airing their complaint to the world.

+1.....always contact first. Only go public if that contact goes south.

[painthistorian]

I was shocked to see that the parking tripled to $15 (it was $5 last year) and the show entrance went from $7 to $10...not worth the ride from eastern Suffolk County anymore

[gzman]

parking went to 7, then 10, before the recent RIDICULOUS 15...

[Leon]

Interesting comments. There is no excuse for employees shouting at customers UNLESS there was an extraordinary circumstance. Otherwise, some things are probably not under the promoters direction and therefore he has a hard time dealing with them/customers about them. I have been told that many autograph signers are notoriously late or even a no show. Those things just can't be helped by the promoters, I would imagine (and am about to find out).

[Marchillo]

Just to answer most comments all in one post. I don't think its wrong for me to tell the story of how certain people acted at an event, who were working for the promotion. This isn't a situation where I reached out to the promoter (I guess Jimmy) to try to get a refund and he refused. I witnessed some very poor behavior and people being treated badly. Why can't I talk about that? I guess if I called Jimmy he could apologize for said behavior. That doesn't make what happened any better. Then where does that leave me? I shouldn't tell the story if he apologizes?

Like I said earlier, its not about the $30. It's not that athletes were late and people have to wait longer (this does happen all the time everywhere). It's people, who are also impacted by these inconveniences, being lectured and yelled at who haven't done anything to create this mess.

[drcy]

No commentary on whether or not it was fine to first post here.

However, on the gameuseduniverse forum, before you post about a bad auction house lot (fake, wrong description), you're supposed to first contact the auction house. Not saying that's the same as about a larger show experience, but I always thought that a good rule of thumb on auction lots.

[NC-Vintage]

As a Sports Show promoter myself, I always welcome feedback from our customers, especially if it was a bad experience. However, I would prefer they contact me directly before sharing on social media. Ultimately I am in charge of my shows, and the actions of my employees even if unprofessional.

I have known Jimmy for 25 years and I consider him to be a dedicated, hard working man of high integrity. I would suggest you give him a call. He cares very much about his customers and his shows. I believe he would appreciate hearing about your negative experience at his show.

If you need his number send me a private message and I will be happy to provide it for you.

Joe-

[Rich Klein]

I found out "Ticketstock" is the same weekend as my show. The event is literally within 10 minutes of my show.

If you don't live in DFW -- Ticketstock would not mean much to you but,.

25 years ago Ticketstock actually began as an adjunct to a big local DFW card show before the radio station took off and became wildly successful.

For years the Ticket would bring in players as part of the event and provide autographs,,,, when I was talking to a friend of mine and mentioned that he said a few Cowboys greats would be there but photos with the players are the only items available. From what I remember reading on social media, the autograph situation for the big names was in the easiest term, a big hot mess.

It's easier to avoid the bad publicity by leaving everyone's appearance to photos and not to autographs and announce that in advance. As noted by the OP, if the autograph situation is not organized to a "T" then usually bad results can result.

For example of how to do 99.9 percent of a huge autograph show correctly, just go to any event Tri-Star is running the autograph area is. I would say 100 percent but there is always a chance of a minor slip-up but I guarantee Jeff. Bobby Mandy and the team have pretty much seen it all.

I would say Joe's autograph sessions go as well but I've never been to one of his big shows so I can't verify with my own eyes other than knowing Joe for nearly 35 years and knowing he is real good as what he and his team does.

Regards
Rich

[VintageVinnie]

I agree with Marchillo. If he had a bad experience at a public event, he should be able to talk about it on a social network. Why does he have to be hush hush and contact the promoter first? Frankly, if he had as bad an experience as he says, I'm glad I know now so I don't experience the same. If he had just contacted the promoter, and nobody else, he'll maybe get an apology, maybe a new Gooden card and the autograph/card collectors are none the wiser about the bad experience. If promoters or the powers that be don't want bad press, knock off the nonsense at these shows and treat people with respect.

[bobbyw8469]

I agree with Marchillo. If he had a bad experience at a public event, he should be able to talk about it on a social network. Why does he have to be hush hush and contact the promoter first? Frankly, if he had as bad an experience as he says, I'm glad I know now so I don't experience the same. If he had just contacted the promoter, and nobody else, he'll maybe get an apology, maybe a new Gooden card and the autograph/card collectors are none the wiser about the bad experience. If promoters or the powers that be don't want bad press, knock off the nonsense at these shows and treat people with respect.

Here here!!!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Still respectfully disagree. Of course you have the right to do as you want, but if you brought this to the promoter's attention and then went back next time and all your concerns had obviously been addressed, what do you gain by dragging someone through the mud?

[RedsFan1941]

just last week a post was started about an auction house wrongly charging interest on an account. turned out to be a clerical error that was fixed with a phone call. of course the dirty laundry was aired here before the phone call was made. you shared your experience. nothing wrong with that.

[Rich Klein]

How many times when something a big company does wrong and is exposed do you hear these words: I wish they had let us handle that internally.

To me, that is code for: "If we handle it privately, we can keep everything under the rug and no bad pub can occur.

Right now in my office there are three "issues" with mgmt. -- one very minor and stupid and two very legit and needs to be fixed.

If you live in Allen, you know about Max's Donuts -- which may be the best donuts in the DFW area. For several months last summer -- the staff was bringing in those donuts on Friday Morning but for various reasons they are not brought in any more. While better for my health, you should never take away things once you start doing things for your clients (renters)

The others are far more legit -- right now -- if you work during off hours -- you have to climb 30 steps outside to get to the back entrance so you can actually work 24/7 if you decide. One of the selling points of the office is guaranteed 24/7 access. Now, if you are handicapped in some way, you really don't have 24/7 access and the current entrance is an ADA violation during off hours. Supposedly the part is ordered to fix the door but there appears to be no rush

And during the summer -- and let's remember Texas summers are kind of sort of warm, the HVAC is turned off after Saturday at noon. Now the building management claims that Regus did not negotiate for that -- but geez if you advertise 24/7 accessibility --- then you better damn well deliver.

So, that's how upper management at Regus Watters Creek is failing their customers and when I filled out their survey the next day they sent a follow up survey with how did they do. Well, my answer was,, be nice if someone actually spoke to me on the phone before such a survey was sent.

And that's why things go public, because companies (in this case Regus) does not respond to people working internally. Sometimes you got to vent and say what you think is wrong with an experience.

Regards
Rich

[Yastrzemski Sports]

In the past, if you have a bad experience with a company, typically you call, wait, get transferred a few times, finally you may get to the person who can help you. Maybe they do and maybe they don’t.
Today, you post something on their social media or online and they are calling you to get it resolved.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I never said, or even implied that one shouldn't use social media. I just feel that the mark of a good company isn't that they never make mistakes, rather it's in how they deal with the problems that occur. There's no timeline here. If you're unhappy with the response you receive, by all means share. I just don't like the extortiony aspect of trying to force a company's reaction before giving them an honest chance to do right. I don't think that's what the OP was doing, but that's why I feel so strongly.

[ALBB]

Cant do without the doughnuts

[Republicaninmass]

The more people I speak to, the more I realize public shaming works wonders. After months of getting the run around, one bad Yelp review usually gets a problem solved, or at least a call back. It's sad business has come to this level.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I agree if you are getting the run around it's a great tool.

[Snapolit1]

See both sides of the coin. Sometimes a private communication is the better course. But often times when I raise such issues the receiving party gets all defensive and tells me they didn't see that at all, how I did something wrong, tell me if it happens again, etc. Those kind of complete waste of time responses. Sometimes calling someone out publicly moves them to actual action.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Gonna make this my last thought on the subject. I understand all the reasons for going public AFTER not receiving satisfaction, but what disadvantage is there in giving the company in question a chance? I believe all the responses in favor of social media outing of a company rely on a hypothetically unresponsive company.

[Chris Counts]

I certainly would contact the offending party before going public if we had a disagreement over a private transaction. But this was a public event. If I host a public event, I would anticipate it getting reviewed publicly.

[VintageVinnie]

Exactly! ..and that's the difference.

[lowpopper]

Did anybody even contact Jimmy after all this?

1 phone call to his office is all that is/was needed.

[tschock]

IMO, the sequence of events SHOULD be the following:
A ) Customer has bad experience.
B ) Customer contacts responsible party to inform of bad experience.
C ) Customer allows responsible party to respond to bad experience.
D ) Customer can choose to then relay bad experience and how the responsible party addressed it in public (or not).

This tells other customers more about the customer and the responsible party than relaying the bad experience only.

[hcv123]

Gonna make this my last thought on the subject. I understand all the reasons for going public AFTER not receiving satisfaction, but what disadvantage is there in giving the company in question a chance? I believe all the responses in favor of social media outing of a company rely on a hypothetically unresponsive company.

In my humble opinion, I believe the 2 paths are mutually exclusive. I believe it is anyone's right to share their personal experience (qualified as such) - be it on a public forum or otherwise. I also think it is an action step toward creating the change you want to see to contact a party responsible for making the choices that affect the potential change in experience
.
The experience (unfortunately for all involved) happened. Sharing about it could also give all involved an opportunity - The person who had the bad experience to receive some form of acknowledgement and amends, the person responsible for it to show how they step up to the plate (pun intended) to take care of a customer who had an experience less than the one they strive to provide.

It is rarely a single experience upon which someone gets a bad rep (Notice the number of people here sharing their experience with Jimmy at the same time as accepting at face value the OP's stated experience). Without shared experience it becomes more challenging to make an educated decision.

Thanks for listening!