More heat for Cafe Fest organisers from public

It has not been an easy ride for the organisers of Café Fest.Over the weekend the organisers of the festival put up a post in an attempt to make amends and offer compensation for possibly mis-marketing the event to the public.In a Facebook post it said, “When we conceptualised this festival, we were fueled by our passion for the local café culture and wanted to bring friends, family members and the best cafes together in one awesome weekend.”The organisers added that as a form of compensation, VIP Pass Holders who bought the ticket for an original SG$30 would receive SG$25 worth of café vouchers. Meanwhile JIT Pass Holders and Regular Pass Holders would receive SG$20 worth of café vouchers ad Early Bird Regular Pass holders would get SG$15 worth of café vouchers.The vouchers are said to come in denominations of SG$5 and can be used at the following six cafes: Jimmy Monkey, I am..., Toby’s Estate, Cake Love, Necessary Provisions, and Bloomsbury Bakers for the month of October. Also to ensure everyone receives the vouchers “in a timely manner”, the organisers will be arranging for a central pick-up on 20 and 21 September.However many of the event goers still sour from the experience have come out to slam the organisers saying that the compensation is insincere as the vouchers need to be redeemed by October and have many other terms and conditions attached to it. Others were also unhappy that they had to make their way down to collect the vouchers. Several event goers also threatened to lodge complaints to CASE and urged others to do the same.Meanwhile, the organisers of the festival also added:“We understand that many have asked us for a full refund, but as a new start-up, we had to utilise $5 from every ticket and channel the bulk of the revenue from ticket sales towards paying off the festival expenditure. The lapse in allowing the public to purchase from the cafes did not benefit us in any way, as we do not take a cut from the sales made.”Seah Seng Choon, executive director of CASE also has confirmed to Marketing that it has received 4 complaints involving Café Fest / TGLS." Yes, consumers do have the right to demand compensation. Under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA), it is an unfair practice for a supplier to make false claims in relation to a consumer transaction and consumers can seek redress under the Act. We would advise consumers to try resolving their dispute with the Café Fest organisers. If they are not satisfied with the offer by the organisers, they can still approach CASE for further assistance," Seah added.