That Willy Wonka Glasgow experience scam!

[GeordieDownSouth]

For anyone out of the loop: www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrlr3dw2x3o.amp

Whilst I have sympathy for those who wasted a day out, I can't believe anyone bought tickets for this after seeing the AI-overloaded website!

Seriously, anyone who fell for this needs to educate themselves on scams!

No one?!?

At £35 a head too! Ads for it kept popping up on my Facebook feed and I was immediately suspicious because of the generic pictures.

I saw it too, hilarious but poor kids expecting a magical wonderland to be faced with that!

It’s certainly odd.

I’ve gone down a bit of an internet rabbit hole and the organiser purports to be a lot of things. Author, coach, entertainer, doctor. I’m not sure if it’s intentionally a scam or perhaps just somebody very aspirational.

Keep on trying what you like.

I saw that. There's a Reddit thread on him. This isn't his first rodeo, it seems!

I would have gone for the cartchy tuns

It looked so laughably bad. Wish I’d got tickets, I’d have dined out on it for years.

I think that’s being a bit unfair really. While the images are clearly not what you are going to see, obviously no one was expecting it to be as bad as that. Actually when fake images are used, I find it’s because the event will be pretty amazing, and they don’t want to ruin the surprise and experience for anyone beforehand. It’s a public event that lots of people were going to (and did) witness, so I don’t think anyone booking it is going to even consider it might be a scam in any way. Literally any one off or short term event could be a potential scam really. And it’s made the national news so people are going to be onto them now

It was all over my Facebook for months. Saw somewhere suggesting it was a scam. Who spends so much effort setting up something like that for 2days. It was £35 per person not cheap. Can’t see what the guy stands to get from it though, was he stupid enough to think folk would be happy with it, or did his planning genuinely fall apart. I did see someone’s insta pics that made it look pretty good, but that’s insta perfect for you.

A pasadise of sweet teats' ?!!

That can't actually be a true advert

that is such a wee shame . Poor weans . It looks like something whatshisface from "PeopleJustDoNothing" has rigged up! 😭 I hope they get their money back. That ad though !

Chabuddy G would have least of made sure the weans had "peanut dust" !

Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination

lol

The pictures cracked me up, it looks SO bad, although I do feel for those that paid and hope they got a refund!!

Reminds me of the time I took DD to a “Frozen” experience and they got the girls to do a dancing competition. The song was “Blurred Lines” and DD was 5. Least she got sweets.

Some more pictures and videos in this thread!

I'm sorry, but the child's wail here made me laugh! 😂

x.com/agneponx/status/1762620967027650912?s=46&t=p6GESSn09HWHVXYgTLIbJg

The guy who arranged it is an absolute fantasist. He has written self published novels using AI, full of conspiracy theory nonsense. The Reddit thread is great reading on him.

The depressed Oompa Loompa has been interviewed!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13131605/willy-wonka-scam-embarrassed-actress-memorise-ai-script-not-paid.html

Hopefully, we'll hear from "the unknown" next!

This news story has been reported in other countries too. I liked this French news reader cracking up about it. https://www.bfmtv.com/international/les-enfants-sont-partis-devastes-une-experience-immersive-willy-wonka-tourne-au-fiasco-en-ecosse_AV-202402280381.html

I've been watching all about this in fascinated horror.

I DO feel sorry for people who paid money and more so for the poor actors who turned up and did their best in Amazon sexy Oompa Loompa costumes! They haven't been paid apparently.

But......I do wonder at people who throw money at these things. I mean Alton Towers, Legoland, Chester Zoo I would pay for. Tried and tested etc etc but a two day pop up event in a disused warehouse. What were they expecting really?

I sometimes worry I don't do enough 'stuff' with DS9 - he has got ASD so it can be a bit trickier but I think there's a real problem with people thinking children constantly need things to go to. I'm in a Christmas events page and even now people are lining up tickets for days and days of events for their kids over Christmas.

There's a video on Facebook that has had me in hysterics - the chocolate river

Poor kids. I think it's harsh to blame the ticket buyers for being naive. They were hopeful it would be worth the £35 price, like a lot of santa grottos can be that price and if the kids come out happy it's worth it. I hope they got their money back.

The man who "organised" it sounds a lot like my ex. He'd have these ambitious ideas to make money, delude himself that it would just magically come together but things would either never happen or just fall flat. Total fantasist.

Hopefully the cast have been paid for media interviews and raised their profile for future work.

I have made a mental note to remeber this as it will no doubt feature on the Big Fat Quiz of the Year come December