ConFuzzled 2020 Cancellation

Dear Attendee, 

Following our regrettable, but necessary announcement last week to cancel ConFuzzled 2020, we would like to take this opportunity to provide you with some further information on what you need to know, and what happens next.  

To begin, we want to start by once again drawing attention to the fact that ConFuzzled is run entirely by a team of volunteers.  Without their hard work and dedication, the event would not be sustainable. These circumstances have been demanding and testing, however, they have remained focussed on working through the problems. This, even at a time when their own personal circumstances may be equally as impacted by the pandemic.  We owe them a great deal of gratitude, and thank them immensely. 

Likewise to you, our attendees, we know that these times are not easy for anyone.  We know you have questions and concerns. However, you have remained patient and understanding in these most difficult times.  We want to express thanks to you on behalf of the entire team for allowing them the time and space to work through our plans.

Our team remains busy on the task at hand making the preparations for handling the refund claims.  To process this on such a mass scale requires changes to the procedures we have in place and supporting systems.  However, we are quite confident that these requirements are largely now met, and are actively carrying out tests. 

Before we start processing refunds, we would like to remind you of a few crucial pieces of information;

• We are waiting for funds to be returned to ConFuzzled.  This does not happen immediately and involves an administration procedure to be followed.  We have already instigated this process but this can take several weeks to clear. As soon as we have the funds returned, we will start enacting your choices (Options outlined under “Refund Options” below).
• As highlighted, the team are volunteers, and there will be 2200+ requests to work through.  These will require a manual verification so we please request your continued patience. This may take several weeks once the process begins, however rest assured, our team will work as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Understanding my Fees

Depending on your attendance type, your convention fee is made up of a number of different parts:

Residential Attendees

There are two distinct parts to the registration fee that you pay as an attendee;

1. Your hotel room
2. Your attendance ticket

Attending Only

There is one fee paid as an attendee;

1. Your attendance ticket

Dealers Den

This is an additional fee paid on top of the fees above to secure a dealers den table

1. Your dealers den fee

In each instance, a combination of these fees will form the basis of what your refund amount will be.  For example;

Hotel room + Attendance ticket + Dealers Den Fee

or;

Attendance ticket only

You will be able to choose what happens for each component of your original payment, with your options outlined below.

Refund Options

We know how generous you all are, as demonstrated by your magnificent achievements last year of raising £33,000+ for charity.  Therefore, in advance to those of you who opt to donate your fees either to charity or ConFuzzled, or both, we cannot thank you enough for your amazing generosity and support.  It is thanks to yourselves that we can manage to run this event year on year.

Hotel Room

We can offer you the following options for the hotel-cost part of your fee;

1. Full refund of hotel room costs
2. You can show continued support to ConFuzzled, and donate your refund amount to the convention. 
3. We can donate your refund amount to ConFuzzled’s 2020 Charity;
   Secret World Wildlife Rescue.
4. A 50/50 donation split, with half going to ConFuzzled, and half going to our 2020 charity.

Attendance Ticket

ConFuzzled UK Ltd is a non profit members club.  The organisation is able to deliver the event year on year thanks to the generous support and contributions of our members, you.  We operate on a very tight budget line and your attendance ticket fees go a significant way to covering the operational and administrative costs involved in running an event of this size.  

In light of this, we would like to be clear that expenses already incurred by ConFuzzled are non recoverable.  This means that refunds we process will be proportionate, as outlined in our cancellation policy here.  We appreciate that this may frustrate you, but hope for your understanding.   

ConFuzzled can therefore offer the following options to attendees for refunding their attendance ticket;

1. A 70% refund on your attendance ticket.
2. You can show continued support to ConFuzzled, and donate your refund amount to the convention. 
3. We can donate your refund amount to ConFuzzleds 2020 Charity,
   Secret World Wildlife Rescue.
4. A 50/50 donation split, with half going to ConFuzzled, and half going to our 2020 charity.  

Dealers Den Fee

Dealers den fees go towards the cost of equipment hire and room rental charges.  None of these fees have been incurred, so we can offer a full refund, or donation options;

1. Full refund of dealers den fee.
2. You can show continued support to ConFuzzled, and donate your dealers den fee to the convention. 
3. We can donate your dealers den fee to ConFuzzled’s 2020 Charity,
   Secret World Wildlife Rescue.
4. A 50/50 donation split, with half going to ConFuzzled, and half going to our 2020 charity.  

Refund Process

In order to process refunds, we will be reaching out to every single registered attendee via the email address used in your registration.  Emails will be sent from refunds@confuzzled.org.uk so we ask that you please watch for this arriving.  

You will be sent a unique link to a form where you will be requested to fill in your refund options, and provide bank transfer details.  It is the attendees responsibility to ensure that they provide this information accurately as ConFuzzled cannot be held accountable for incorrect details.  

Please be aware that due to the issues encountered with our card handling processor earlier in the year, we currently have no facility to offer refunds via card payments and all refunds must be made via bank transfer.  

We will set a deadline for when requests for refund options will need to be completed by.  We will not start processing any refunds until such time that this has expired. We will then start processing all refunds which will take a number of weeks to complete.  Again, we appreciate your continued patience whilst these are run. 

Questions and Answers

We have gone a long way to provide important details however, we appreciate you may still have many other questions not covered.  Below we have tried to provide more information.  

Q: Why are you keeping 30% of our confees?

We aren’t.  The 70% refund on the confee-part of your payment is because some of the money has already been spent.  This includes expenditure on goods and services that are non-cancellable.  There are also certain costs that are on-going throughout the year.  For example, ConFuzzled pays monthly rent for a storage facility, which houses equipment that we own and must be kept in a secure location.  These fees do not stop as a result of a cancelled convention.

We would like to re-assure you, that ConFuzzled is refunding you all the money we still have.  You will of course get back 100% of your hotel fees.

Q: Why is there no option to rollover my registration to 2021?

The timing of this pandemic and subsequent decision to cancel the convention comes at a time when new contracts were being signed with our venues.  This introduced a change in terms, fees, and commitments from 2021 onwards. The administrative overhead for a rollover would be too high and regrettably we are unable to offer this as an option.   

Q: Why can’t I request a 50% refund & 50% donation

This option would sadly add an extra layer of complexity in regards to our HMRC declarations.  As a result of this, it could lead to a significant tax bill to the business and as such, the administrative overhead involved for this option would be too complex so regrettably are unable to offer it.  

Q: When will I get my refund?

We will be unable to start the refund process until such time as we have had all funds returned to the business.   This may take some weeks.  

Once funds are received, we will trigger our process.  A period of time needs to pass to allow all attendees to respond.  Once we close this request for information, we will begin processing refunds immediately.  This will require manual validation and checks, so this will take a number of weeks to complete all 2200+ requests and we thank you in advance for your patience.  

Q: I urgently need my money now, can I speak to anyone to make it happen faster?

Unfortunately, in the interest of fairness, we need to apply the same process to everyone.  We therefore cannot accept any requests that would deviate away from this, and all refunds will be handled in turn in order of batch processing.  

Q: My friend paid my reg, will I receive the refund, or will my friend? 

We legally have to provide a refund to the person named on the attendance ticket and will be reaching out to every individual via the email address used in their registration.  Part of the request for information will be for bank details to provide the refund to. You may choose a 3rd party to issue the refund to however, the attendee must ensure that they provide the details correctly.  ConFuzzled cannot be held accountable for incorrect information being supplied.

Q: I paid by credit card.  Will I get a refund back to this card?

Regrettably, due to issues with our card handler earlier in the year, we ceased operations with them.  As such, all refunds will be issued via bank transfer only, as we do not have the means to make card payments.  We apologise unreservedly for this inconvenience.

Q:I sold my room to someone else before the convention was cancelled.  Who will get the money

All room sales and registration transfers must always be done via our registration team.  We legally have to provide a refund to the person named on the attendance ticket. Therefore, all refunds will be issued to the registered attendee.  If you privately purchased a hotel room and attendance ticket, but did not go through our registration team, you will now need to liaise with the person from whom you bought your space from. 

Q: Can you provide proof of cancellation for my travel insurer.

Many of you will have faced issues with cancelled flights or travel that may be covered through your insurance.  As proof of evidence that the event has been cancelled, you may use the following ConFuzzled statement to present to your insurers if required.  

Q: How can you prove your running costs?

ConFuzzled UK Ltds accounts are publicly listed on the
companies house website.

Q: Will I still get this years con pack? 

Some of you have asked if we would be able to ship these out however, due to the pandemic, con packs were not ordered yet for the 2020 convention.  Therefore, we cannot offer any con packs.  

Q: I paid by international bank transfer.  Will I be charged again for the transfer fee?

There is frustratingly an unavoidable fee incurred to complete international bank transfers.  Many of our international attendees paid by card before we unfortunately had to discontinue this service.  We feel it would be unfair that our international guests are penalised as a result of this, and we have sought to absorb bank fees as part of the business running costs.

Thank you as always.

Kind Regards, 

Rizzorat, Crimson, Russet

ConFuzzled UK Ltd Board of Directors