Las Pegasus Unicon... ends in disaster. [Update - Whats true anymore?]

[Science Woona]

Not destructive disaster, but the other kinds.

[S]Please note, all of this information is based off of several accounts. So not everything you see may be 100% accurate.

So from what I heard (which is a lot of things, pardon if some may be wrong), Unicon is somewhere around $18k in debt to the Riviera
Also, apparently they asked the bigger stars to come first and Hasbro said no so then they had the littler stars come and they said yes, but at the last second Hasbro changed their mind and sent the big stars. Sooo.. Unicon ended up having the most stars of any ponycon. And with all of the stars, Unicon couldn't afford to pay both the hotel and stars.
Now, what made things worse is that the Unicon 'higher ups' (Organizers, and such) apparently bailed when they saw what was coming. Now people who purchased the packages that came with rooms in advance are being charged again by the hotel because the hotel was never payed. Also the volunteers and such who were promised free rooms are being charged by the hotel as well.
The vendors also ended up getting kicked out early and were told to pack up quickly and the con was shut down 2-3 hours earlier than it was supposed to.
Everfree Northwest is now trying to collect donations to try and fix Unicons screw up.
So yeah.. that's what I have heard so far. Ill try and keep ya updated on other rumors and such. I have a friend who is a vendor, he is telling me some things as he finds out. [/s]


[Spoiler=statement]      
Clarification (2-26): When we say the money from EFN's fundraiser was uncounted, we mean to say that Las Pegasus Unicon has no record of it. This does not imply that EFN did not keep apropriate records themselves.

What follows are not excuses, but rather explanations for those who want to hear from ones who know.

We first wish to offer our apologies to those negatively affected by Las Pegasus Unicon. Unicon was started with the best of intentions, an attempt to provide a grand, fun event for the wonderful fandom of Bronies that we have come to know and appreciate. At no point was malice, negativity, or greed a part of our motivation. What we were guilty of was naivety. The short version of it all is that we acted upon bad advice from those we thought we had no reason to distrust, and were financially gouged by nearly every institution we dealt with. With any plan you make, allowances are made for the occasional mishap, and our plan was like this. However, we encountered not occasional, but constant negative changes throughout the stages of this convention. So many, that not only did our backups prove ineffective, but we doubt there could have been any effective backups to work, save perhaps a millionaire benefactor. Sadly, we did not have one, nor any sponsors at all for that matter. This convention was run out of our own shallow pockets, the only supplementation being the ticket sales.

Between last minute add-ons by the hotel/convention center employees, (on top of a 5 month swim through their lies and misdirections) equipment rental changes, un-authorized transportation charges, unmentioned union labor costs, and two dozen other unexpected last-week costs, our convention operations budget had been depleted. Now this is not to say that the voice actors and other MLP:FiM cast members had been overlooked. Contrary to some unfounded and untrue statements, the celebrities' agents have all received monies from us - both prior to the convention and during. Exactly how much has been received by the agents is impossible to say with certainty. We have records of payments totalling in excess of $40,000 to the various agents. However, an unknown amount of cash was witnessed, on more than one occasion on Sunday, being directly removed by an agent of the stars from our cash box. Additionally, all monies raised by EFN's fundraiser and all autograph sales went uncounted directly to the stars' agents.

Clarification (2-26): When we say the money from EFN's fundraiser was uncounted, we mean to say that Las Pegasus Unicon has no record of it. This does not imply that EFN did not keep apropriate records themselves.

While at no point did we abandon Unicon, at about 2:00 AM Sunday we realized that events had escalated beyond what our experience and staff could manage, and thus effective management was transferred from us to EFNW. At this point, we were grateful for the willing assistance from our fellow Bronies and had long since discarded any thought of recouping our personal losses into a goal of giving the best time to the attendees there on Sunday. We did our best to help these more experienced folks salvage the convention, and many crises were averted with their guidance. However, when it came to monies, the hands of the stars' agents were constantly being filled. Whether it be from autographs, auctions, or personally removing T-shirt sale money from the cash box. Due to the chaotic nature of the con at this stage of the game, and a complete and utter refusal of the agents to sign records, an exact ledger of what was received by the agents on Sunday is impossible to produce.

As some of you are aware, some attendees suffered from the questionable tactics employed, for whatever reason, by the Rivera Hotel upon their checkout - most notably, ignoring all payments made by Unicon towards their room comps and charging them full balance.
In regards to the generous Bronies who have been donating to fundraisers, we have never put our hand out requesting donations and have no association or awareness of how these fundraisers are operated or organized. They are not affiliated in any way with the staff of Las Pegasus Unicon. Thus, Unicon has no knowledge of the disbursement or organization behind these fundraisers. However, our suggestion for these generous donations would be first to go to the Bronies affected by the recent events, especially those forced by the Riviera to pay for their rooms out-of-pocket. Following this, helping the musicians who performed so admirably who may or may not be out funds. These recipients, rather than the voice actors, who have already received payment to their agents, should be preferentially compensated.

The reason that the vendor hall closed when it did was simply because the Riviera stated that, despite the convention space being paid in full until midnight well before the start of Unicon, they would be closing the doors at 6:00 PM. They then changed this to 7:00, and then finally admitted that we had paid in full for the event space. However, this confirmation from the Riviera came much too late to forestall the chaos instigated by their first proclamations. This matter we place on the shoulders of the unprofessional Riviera staff.

We are currently seeking legal counsel on how to proceed in an attempt to find closure with those financially impacted by the hotel situation, along with making our side of the story known to the community at large. The [email protected] email address will continue to be monitored and will respond to serious inquiries.


Sincerely,
The Las Pegasus Unicon Staff
[/spoiler]

So I found out a few other things. Many many believe the above statement to be a lie. And a large rumour is spreading stating the convention was a scam.

Final Draft had a stream at Everfree Network answering questions trying to address things that happened.

He says that the VA's were invited but the convention did not pay the staff because they had no capital. A good $15000 was raised for the staff, able to cover traveling expenses. The agents handled the cash, the fandom media raised the cash.

People who payed founder rooms were supposed to be comp'd but instead were charged twice for their room.

Final Draft admits that the Riviera charged their incidental cards because Las Pegasus was not going to pay for the fandom media, celebrities, and founders's rooms. They also revealed that Sandy ordered the hotel to pay for their blunders, since Las Pegasus was not going to or was able to pay the hotel.

Las Pegasus had this program with the dealers to use something called "vendor bits" as another means to pay for product. This ended up being entirely worthless, dealers were (yet again) screwed majorly.

The Las Pegasus staff did not run away but were entirely useless as the heads of EFNW, Fiesta Equestria, EQLA and CatWhitney took over business of the con.

Unicon's claim that the Riviera and the Agents stealing money from the cash box, was a fabrication as far as Final Draft knows.

Contracts have been broken there might be lawsuits, unconfirmed however.

Kiki's fund during the celebrity dinner is unknown at this point, hopefully it was donated to her.

Some of the vendors got their products taken from the hotel along with being rushed out.

The security staff was extremely busy and were not able to  keep track of the skybox's

People have a right to sue the convention staff, based on contracts broken.

Final Draft theorizes that Unicon was already in debt and decided to go ALL out instead of playing it safe.

The convention was grossly understaffed.

Final Draft says that until Sandi and Eddie proves what happened and what they did with their cash, the con seems like a scam.

The staff also acted extremely unprofessionally, during and after the convention.

Sandi and her partner worked with balloon animals and animals. They own the site http://www.curiouscritterscreations.com/

LPU owes the Hotel $18,000

The celebrities all stayed instead of bailing out, and helped out all the people stranded or otherwise.

The package holders were double charged for their rooms.

Las Pegasus Unicon might be a LLC, might not (needs verification).

There was a celebrity dinner that had cost a ton of cash, Final Draft asks where all the money went.

Final Draft also states that this is proof that there may be too many pony cons, especially since there isn't that strong of a fandom willing to spend the money.

Also, it appears several musicians are having financial problems due to the extra charges

The convention closed at 3ish (It was supposed to end at 7)

Vendors kicked out by the hotel and told to be gone by 2:30

Apparently around 200 people were kicked out of their rooms

Voice Actors were never paid

Seriously.. how could something go this wrong?
This was my very first convention too :'(

[Chishio Kunrin]

Geez... Sounds like it's partially Hasbro's fault, and partially the organizers' faults for bailing instead of trying to fix everything.

It's like if they were holding a beautiful expensive vase, and Hasbro came at it with a hammer. Instead of trying to prevent serious damage and deal with whatever smaller damage, they dropped the vase and ran away, leaving it shattered. Thus, they let much more damage be done than if they had stuck with it and tried to hold it together.

[Ründo]

WEAK 

[Lord of Madness]

Sounds like the definition of a catastrophic chain reaction

[Book Smarts]

Why didn't the creators ask for help online, now there's a giant mess with no one wanting to clean up 

[Ründo]

no idea, the "surprise" stars apparently helped raise some money to help the attendees.



something about Hasbro not confirming with Unicon, and deciding to send people over after Unicon redistributed funding.  Though it is odd how it's being handled from a legal stand point, considering attendees who got lodging thru them, had to pay for it again.

[Science Woona]

Okay, so the stars that were there toward the end when things were getting to chaos, the stars chopped autograph signing prices in half and donated the extra money from the autographs to EverfreeNW to help get Unicon out of debt

[Lord of Madness]

Okay, so the stars that were there toward the end when things were getting to chaos, the stars chopped autograph signing prices in half and donated the extra money from the autographs to EverfreeNW to help get Unicon out of debt

So from the sounds of that I guess they are... at the slow pace it may be, taking a step into recovery.

[HerpyDooves]

That's a tragic story! I hope they're able to fix the oopsy.

[Chishio Kunrin]

There are some rumors that the VAs and John de Lancie's agent were being complete and total jerks. I don't believe it, though. If anything, everyone was stressed by the mess that was going on behind the curtain. The only person that I would believe being a jerk would be de Lancie's agent. I'm completely certain that Tara Strong wasn't being a jerk. Cranky, maybe, but not an all out jerk.

[Science Woona]

There are some rumors that the VAs and John de Lancie's agent were being complete and total jerks. I don't believe it, though. If anything, everyone was stressed by the mess that was going on behind the curtain. The only person that I would believe being a jerk would be de Lancie's agent. I'm completely certain that Tara Strong wasn't being a jerk. Cranky, maybe, but not an all out jerk.

Tara was slightly cranky cause she had bronchitis. John De Lancie's agent I don't know about. But all the Voice Actors were very friendly. I hugged all of them at least once except Tara (She said no because bronchitis). (Note: Zecora's Voice Actors hugs are so comforting for some reason She has you take a deep breath during a hug, which sounds weird but its like 10x better than a normal hug)
They might have been cranky toward the end because all of them were having to help fix the disaster and people were hoarding them with signatures (cause they were half priced)

[Chishio Kunrin]

There are some rumors that the VAs and John de Lancie's agent were being complete and total jerks. I don't believe it, though. If anything, everyone was stressed by the mess that was going on behind the curtain. The only person that I would believe being a jerk would be de Lancie's agent. I'm completely certain that Tara Strong wasn't being a jerk. Cranky, maybe, but not an all out jerk.

Tara was slightly cranky cause she had bronchitis. John De Lancie's agent I don't know about. But all the Voice Actors were very friendly. I hugged all of them at least once except Tara (She said no because bronchitis). (Note: Zecora's Voice Actors hugs are so comforting for some reason She has you take a deep breath during a hug, which sounds weird but its like 10x better than a normal hug)
They might have been cranky toward the end because all of them were having to help fix the disaster and people were hoarding them with signatures (cause they were half priced)

Bronchitis... She didn't have to agree to be there if she had bronchitis. I've heard bronchitis hurts. My dad used to get it a lot when he was younger.

[Science Woona]

Las Pegasus Unicon has released a statement regarding the convention.

[Ründo]

  Ppppppbbbbtttt. Really, It was that big of a financial mess.

[ComputerDeathglare]

Oh... oh wow...

[Julius]

I am so, so, so glad I don't live in the States right now... I would have been there if I did, because I was really looking forward to this one...

It all looks like a scam to me... This is horrible!

[ComputerDeathglare]

I looked into it more and all I can say is


Well, I guess we could say the organizers are... con artists.