I see we still can’t turn “slightest touch” up on the radio yet (as it’s not on the radio2 playlist next week)
Awkward. That post definitely felt like a knee jerk reaction to stuff they're seeing online. I'm sure they have someone in here. Because let's be honest, Radio 2 would eat that up if they were asked to add it. At this point, I'm not expecting any kind of promo or video for it.
Jeez! Went on Facebook today for the first time in ages and wow at the reactions of some fans over the meet and greet situation. Absolutely fuming that all 5 of them wont sign their skip load of Steps related paraphernalia. It's a bit entitled to think in the currant global situation that you'd actually be able to meet the group. It only takes one person who has been in contact with someone with Covid to infect a member of the group, who could infect the rest of them or the crew and then the whole tour is shut down. And you can carry the virus even if you are vaccinated and have no symptoms. There's a lot of talk about the vaccines effectiveness. I think it starts waning after about 6-9 months and so is less effective then. I have seen vaccinated people who are ill with Covid now. Being vaccinated isn't a magical cure, it doesn't mean you can do what you want. Precautions still need to be taken.
But how would people have even thought that it was doable? That they would just meet hundreds of strangers and be close to them. Surely you would have the sense to know that you wouldn't actually meet or touch them. Regardless of how the package was worded. Surely you would know that there would be some kind of distance/barrier? Other meet and greets had been done already with those kinds of things implemented. Steps aren't the first people to say no to physical meets on tour. Sometimes you have to use your own common sense, and especially in the midst of a tour that's going on in the middle of a pandemic. If they did the meet and greets that those fans wanted it would be a very short tour. We already know that knowingly sick people have went to those signings a little while back.
I guess ‘I’ll just get my ticket and if it doesn’t happen I’ll get my money back’ is a fair thought just as it is with buying a regular tour ticket these days. But also it does make complete sense that you can’t hug them and breathe in their face
What I don't understand is how Event Travel aren't forced to refund whoever cancel in full - the package offered now is completely different to what was offered (and to what the world scientists foresaw a year ago!) I went for the soundcheck option so am spending the most, and no doubt will love it - but if I decided that I wanted to cancel because I wasn't getting the experience I thought I would be at this point last year (when politicians and scientists alike thought that the situation would be a lot better than it is), I find it very strange that there isn't a part refund for a "lesser" experience, or an option to cancel with a full refund.
Did people really think that the vaccine would mean that everything would just go back to normal? Covid mutates in the same way that the Flu does. A vaccine doesn't make it go away, it will always be here, like the Flu. Sometimes the vaccine will not be great at protecting against different strains, again, like the Flu. It just happens that Covid is making people a lot more ill than the Flu is. The situation at the minute is a lot better than it was a year or so ago. People are able to be back at work, to see their families and have some sort of semi normal life, and not be in isolation. Though even in the job I do, I am wary of being in large groups or meeting lots of strangers where I have no idea of where they have been or what they may have. Social distancing is still a thing. It's not unreasonable to understand where Steps and their management are coming from. I mean, Lee has a new baby, they all have kids and families they have to protect as well as themselves and the crew and the tour. Saying all that I think that at least a partial refund maybe should have been offered at least to appease those that thought they could sit on the their laps while they signed their entire singles and Steps dolls collection. I really really wanted to do a meet and greet but in the back of mind I knew that this would be what would happen.
When meet and greets were announced, there were 14 months to go until the tour. We were very much promised that lockdowns etc etc would help so companies started selling and consumers started buying. I don’t think it’s very fair to imply people were silly to have bought a meet and greet when there was so much time in between them being sold. Nobody knew we’d still be in the situation we were still in.
I'm guessing it comes down to what was advertised vs what gets delivered What was sold under 'Meet & Greet' at the time of purchase? To be honest if I was Steps I would cancel the Meet & Greet options and protect themselves - it's a pain in the arse and an annoyance but there's still too much risk
We haven’t even been told exactly what’s happening yet. It might be completely fine! All we know is Faye’s said it’s socially distanced but we don’t know if it’s a JLS situation yet.
I really don't mean to sound patronising but it doesn't take a vast medical knowledge to know that the first wave of a vaccine and the lockdowns last year wouldn't get us back to normal. I can't even see that this time next year. It's just something we are going to have to live with and we'll all have to adjust to it. But I agree with Bookwormboy, it all depends on how the package was advertised. The wording of the package would be important.
Well…you do sound patronising, so thanks for that. The fact is we still paid for something that we’re potentially not getting. I’m not blaming the group for that, they can’t control what’s happening, and I’m not even blaming Event Travel. It’s a messy, tricky situation - but saying it “doesn’t take a vast amount of knowledge” isn’t helping anyone. A lot of us were living in hope that we could be meeting our favourites again, whether you deem that stupid or not. It’s been one of the things keeping me going over the past 14 months.
You may not mean it to be patronising, but some of what you're posting does come across that way... Nobody could have predicted where we would be, it doesn't matter how good your medical knowledge was last year. At the end of the day, people are very unlikely to be getting the product they expected they'd get when they shelled out a lot of money for something. And they'd be within their rights to be unhappy if they were offered a JLS type solution. But it's really unfair to criticise them for not foreseeing this more than a year ago.
That second Glasgow date of the tour is not looking too good in terms of selling, do we think there is a possibility of it being cancelled due to low ticket sales?
Anyone saying “I don’t want to sound patronising but…” is immediately going to follow that sentence up with something incredibly patronising.
