We recently attended Wales Comic Con as a trader, and unfortunately the whole experience was extremely disappointing. When we arrived, there was no one to greet or guide us—we had to go looking for a member of staff ourselves. When we finally found someone, our names weren’t even on the trader list. That member of staff walked us around for about half an hour before eventually shrugging and offering us a random table outside on the grass, on a slope. As my husband is disabled, and because we’d paid specifically for an indoor hard-standing pitch, this was completely unsuitable. Our products are handmade prints on paper, so dampness would have ruined them.The staff member seemed irritated when I refused the outdoor table, and eventually had other staff drag a table over to the “artist alley” section instead. This was a narrow metal walkway, directly in front of a large metal pole, with a leak dripping right above our stall. We had no choice but to accept it, even though it wasn’t what we paid for. We’d booked and paid for an indoor table with backing space, which couldn’t even fit in that area. To make things worse, the artist alley tables were much cheaper than what we’d been charged. The placement of stalls on this walkway made acccessability imposible for some disabled attendees. When this issue was brought up, the responce was "Not everyone will want to go to artist alley anyway, so they just wont be able to go there". Dismissing people with mobility issues, refusing them access to an area of the event they paid to be at is utterly disgraceful, but to do so in such a cold and disinterested manner is sickening. We complained about the leak eight separate times, but every time we were met with shrugs and disinterest. Other stallholders had similar issues too—people not being on the list, being put in unsuitable spaces, even one vendor being offered a table which was blocking a fire exit. Everyone we spoke to confirmed that organisers were not checking for public liability insurance, which is extremely concerning. The only time organisers seemed interested in speaking to us was when it became clear that traders were going to file an official complaint, and even then it was only to try to find out who was leading it.The venue itself was poorly described beforehand. It was half indoors and half under a large awning structure, which we hadn’t been made aware of. On the first day it rained heavily, the 'stage' area of the event was under a tent like structure outwide, with no walls. This swiftly flooded and became unusable.. On the second day, although it was dry, the ground under the awning was grass and dirt, and with the wrestling ring kicking up dust, it became very dusty, an avoidable issue had there been any forethought into the layout and planning. In total, due to bad planning and disinterest in our issues with the leak, we lost hundreds of pounds worth of stock.Wales Comic Con has always been known for being poorly organised and managed. Since speaking with other traders from across the community, we have learned that the company has mistreated staff and guests in unacceptable ways, and continuously lies about attendance figures, guest appearances, and what’s actually on offer.Our complaints are not about the weather. They are about the fact that it was raining inside the venue, that the organisation was unprofessional and dismissive, and that the whole setup made the event stressful and unpleasant. For the money we paid, we expected basic professionalism, accessibility, and the facilities we were promised. None of that was delivered.
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