Sydney boutique festival Lost Picnic has come under fire from a slew of punters demanding refunds after they spent most of yesterday’s event stuck in lines.
update: lost picnic issues statement to punters
One attendee told The Music there was an average wait time of 60 – 90 minutes in the food and beverage queues, while others on social media say they spent most of the event lining up to collect pre-purchased hampers and drinks, missing out on headline acts Sarah Blasko, Fat Freddy’s Drop and more.
The Sydney Domain festival – promoted by the team behind Lost Paradise - was described on Facebook by one punter as “an absolute colossal cluster fuck” and some were requesting pass-outs so they could buy food outside the venue.
“You’ve got a problem when the toilet lines are shorter than the bar lines,” one punter told The Music.
Those who did brave the lines to purchase drinks were forced to pay a deposit, which they could get back at a recycling station, but that too rendered more long waits in lines.
“It’s a joke, whack an extra $10 on a bottle and make it impossible to recoup,” posted one punter on the festival’s Facebook page.
The Lost Picnic social media team has been responding to complaints and refund requests individually, stating they are “taking everyone's comments into consideration” and hope to get back to everyone soon.
“I can’t believe your page is still promoting the event as if it was a success and has not issued a blanket apology to punters,” a festivalgoer said in response.
“At the very least we deserve that. BTW Wait times did go down eventually... largely thanks to people leaving.”
“This is a disaster of an event and you should be offering refunds to everyone!” commented another.
Some people gave up waiting in lines to collect $50 pre-paid hampers and others report bars running out of certain types of alcohol.
Those who did manage to catch the bands reported sound issues, with The Beatles Boys’ set too quiet.
“This event was horrendous. Very disappointed to have paid such ridiculous prices only to have to stand in multiple iterations of queues for food, pre ordered food and drinks if any kind including water,” a punter said on Facebook.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves…The only good thing was the performance. Now we are in a queue to get out of the car park. Absolutely Diabolical.”
The Music has reached out to Lost Picnic for comment.
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