How NOT to respond to a complaint

Back from Singapore. stuffed and with smuggled bags of plastic-free milk. The big buzz in the city the F1 race. Or not being about to see/get even close to the city race. Apparently those fancy cars did drown out Diana Krall, according to a irate fan.

(ST Forum - 30 Sept 2008)
How not to organise a concert

WHAT happened to quality in Singapore as event organisers rush to cash in on Formula One activity? We attended the Diana Krall concert last Friday evening and list the following woes of how not to run a concert:

A late change of venue from Marina at Keppel Bay (which had the potential of being 'up market') to a muddy field at Fort Canning;

A limp excuse of the fans' requesting the change - no evidence of this was forthcoming;

Staff who managed to show us to the wrong seats and subsequent embarrassment when the rightful ticket holders arrived;

An auditorium with seating more fitting to a hawker centre than an up-market jazz concert featuring a renowned performer;

A drinks bar which wasn't prepared and staff hadn't even tried to pre-cool bottles of wine or other drinks;

A concert which started 40 minutes late;

The first 20 minutes of the concert were drowned out by F1 racing noise and associated circling helicopter;

The last 20 minutes of the concert suffered similar noise problems;

The concert was billed as 100 minutes - it was far short of that length;

Uncontrolled members of the audience leaving via the central cross walkways - blocking the view of the stage. A result of bad concert management failing to position ushers to direct early leavers around the auditorium periphery;

A stage that appeared to have no fans or cooling for the artists in hot, humid conditions - how could they perform at their best?

An artist who had coughing fits and was visibly unfit to perform at her best; and

An artist who appeared as disappointed by the venue and disturbing noise as the audience.

At $250 a ticket, this was a rip off.

Singaporeans, visitors and artists deserve better quality of concert organisation than this litany of woes.

Michael Kenneth Johnson

And this was the response sent by the concert promoter, a Mr Adrian Hobbs of KBO Asia.

'Excellent you see you run to ST like some form of blackmail, so fxxx you, you think by writing these kind of e-mails we going to make an effort to help you - simple we said we would look into your case, now your write this fxxxx bulls*** again, so if you want to have fun with ST whatever then we are not looking into your case.

You go a movie, you don't like it you don't get a refund, you buy steak you don't like it you don't get a refund, you a show, you don't like it TOO BAD

We said we look into your case, but if you being pain in the a** and super anal, then plse knock yourselves out with ST, they won't be doing s*** for you.

Take a less confrontational and threatening tone, else forget it.'

corporate@kboasia.com