Publications
Partners
Cape Town – Popular Mother City radio station, Heart FM, has had to publicly apologise after a storm of negative comments on social media following their Summer Festival which took place last weekend at The River Club in Observatory.
The event was hosted by Nadia Jaftha and had performances by Mi Casa and Chad Saaiman, but those in attendance posted their grievances about high priced drinks and poor delivery on event promises such as a man made beach for ticket holders to enjoy that turned out to be an inflatable above-ground pool.
In their statement Heart FM, said that they partnered with an events company to "offer listeners a new experience."
Adding: "This new experience was never intended to replace the successful annual Heart Cape Town Music Festival, but to create a unique entertainment experience; at a time of the year when most people are enjoying the festive season and are on holiday with friends and family."
They then, mentioning the negative response, said: "Festival attendees expressed their disappointment and raised valid concerns regarding the length of the queues, the cashless system, the costs of food and beverages by vendors and disappointing VIP areas.The newly introduced ticketing and cashless systems were meant to support and assist operations by streamlining logistics but as with any online system, is reliant on a stable internet connection. At times, the system went offline and caused a bottleneck in the queues. This cashless system also incurs additional operational costs for vendors, which in turn, affects selling prices."
Heart FM then went on to mention circumstances outside of their control such as the wind: "Unfortunately, the 'Cape Doctor' also prevented us from carrying out all the planned activities and for safety reasons, not all the children's rides or man-made 'beaches' could go ahead as envisaged."
Events company owner and Festival Project Manager, Shane Abrahams, said: "On behalf of our team we would like to apologise to Heart FM's loyal listeners for the various unpleasant experiences. We wanted to offer a unique and seamless experience but instead, have learnt some valuable lessons, which will only improve our service going forward." See the full statement here.
SEE COMMENTS FROM EVENT-GOERS HERE:
Compiled by Alex Isaacs. Photo: The Juice
