The Eurofurence Forum
Eurofurence Information => Announcements => old Announcements => Topic started by: Cheetah on 30.04.2020, 22:31:17
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Dear Friends and members of the community,
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we must inform you that this year’s Eurofurence has been cancelled. Over the past 25 years of running Eurofurence, we have never faced a situation quite like this and, unfortunately, by order of the Berlin government, all events of 1000 attendees or more must not take place until the 31st of August, 2020. This includes Eurofurence.
We truly know that this announcement will be upsetting. We did not take this decision lightly. The health and safety of all our attendees and staff, as well as the hotel personnel’s and many others is paramount. However, on a more positive note, Eurofurence 26 will take place next year from July 28th to August 1st, 2021.
We are giving our attendees the full, free choice between a 100% refund or a voluntary donation of their con fee to the convention. We kindly ask that you donate your con fee to help us cover our costs for this year, but we fully understand if you would prefer or need a refund.
All reservations at the Estrel Hotel made through our booking link will automatically be cancelled for you. There is no need to contact them.
We are glad to have been able to reach amicable arrangements with our contractual partners, and that therefore the cancellation and rebooking arrangements are not likely to put us out of business.
In the run up to Eurofurence, however, some of our operating costs are unavoidable. These include things such as insurance, tax accountancy and the cancellation process itself which are non refundable. This is without mentioning the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis which will likely still be felt in the year 2021.
So, please consider a donation of your con fee if you can afford it, and with it help us cover our operational costs through the rest of this year as well as building the safety margin we need to stay afloat when things get tough next year.
Instructions on how to request your refund are shown below (https://forum.eurofurence.org/index.php/topic,8940.msg75833.html#msg75833).
We hope to see many of you in July 2021!
Yours sincerely,
Cheetah
Nightfox
Loewi
(The Eurofurence e.V. Board of Directors)
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Eurofurence 2020 Cancellation MAQ
- Why did you not announce the cancellation earlier?
We were not able to officially cancel the con any earlier because we first had to come to an agreement about the cancellation terms with our various business partners. Any earlier commitment to cancellation might have been interpreted as an intention of unilateral breach of contract, and that could have ended up badly for everyone. So we made sure we were legally in the clear before cancelling the event.
In addition to the legal aspect, our IT department had to make considerable changes to our registration and refund processes. This consumed considerable time for development and testing.
- What about the con theme, guest of honor, charity, submitted artwork, events?
We intend to carry these things over to next year. It’s still going to be Eurofurence 26, just one year later. We appreciate and love all the hard work that has gone into making this year and we would hate to see that to be in vain. Applications for art show and dealer's den however will not be carried over - we feel that too much will have changed until then.
- Why can’t you allow partial refunds / partial donations?
The terms and conditions of our payment provider require refunds to be made in full.
- Can I donate my con fee to the EF charity instead?
Of course you can! But you'll have to request a refund first and then donate to them directly. We would have liked to offer you this option as a part of the refund process, but that would have meant that up to 25% of the money would have been lost in taxes.
- Why can’t you carry my registration over to next year?
Because that only introduces more risks, cost and effort, with no real benefits. If you want to save money for next year, it’s best to put it in a bank account and see what situation both you and we are in next year when the time has come.
- How can I request my refund?
You will be able to request your refund through the registration system. There soon will be a separate announcement.
- Do I have to cancel my hotel reservation?
If you have directly booked your room at the Estrel using the EF booking link, then you do not have to take any action. Your room is already cancelled.
If you have booked a room at the Estrel through an external booking agency, or if you’re staying at another hotel or hostel (e.g. AirBnB), please call your host and cancel your stay. It is your responsibility to do so.
- Do you have any information about art show, dealers den, or any other event I'm part of?
Many departments are going to publish their own updates in the coming days. Please follow our twitter account @eurofurence for the latest news.
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How do I choose between getting a refund or donating my convention fee?
Simple. Just log in to our registration system (https://reg.eurofurence.org/regsys/login.jsp) and click on Refund Or Donate in the green area to the left.
You can then make your choice (see screenshot below).
If you pick the donate option, the fields asking for card holder or account info go away. You'll just need to tick the checkbox and click "Confirm my Choice". Then your registration will be automatically cancelled.
If you pick either one of the two refund options, you'll be asked for a bit of information, depending on your payment method. Fill it in, double check it (!!! IMPORTANT !!!), again tick the checkbox and click "Confirm my Choice". Your refund will eventually show up on the "View my Payments" page in the registration system. When it's all done, we will cancel your registration automatically.
(https://reg.eurofurence.org/pics/reg2020/ef-refund-form.png)