Things are not going so great for the event organizers of The Great Philadelphia Comic Con. On October 6, 2021, Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a lawsuit against Christopher Wertz and Great Conventions LLC. The lawsuit states that Wertz and his company did not issue refunds for tickets to the canceled Comic-Con in 2020. According to the filing, Christopher Wertz ignored refund requests and never offered an alternative to refunds, such as rescheduling the convention and rolling over the tickets.
“COVID-related cancellations can’t be an excuse for businesses to just walk away with consumers’ money,” said AG Shapiro. “I’ve been clear since the beginning of the pandemic — that sort of thing is just not acceptable. By filing this suit, we’re protecting consumers by ensuring they are not victims of a different kind of con.”
Clever wordplay.
The Attorney General is requesting that Great Conventions LLC and its owner do the following:
- Pay restitution to all people who have suffered losses as a result of the defendants’ conduct
- Be permanently enjoined from operating and/or selling tickets to conventions or other public events in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
- Pay civil penalties of $1,000 for each violation of the Consumer Protection Law and $3,000 for each violation involving a consumer 60 or older
Neither Christopher Wertz nor his company have issued any statement in regards to the lawsuit. It appears their last public statement was made on the Great Philadelphia Comic Con’s website, which announced the 2020 con’s cancelation due to Covid-19. To this date, the website still states the convention would take place in April of 2021, but it never happened.
The Attorney General Office has set up a telephone number, website, and email address for consumers who feel the Great Philadelphia Comic-Con victimized them. Victims are encouraged to file a complaint at www.attorneygeneral.gov/submit-a-complaint or contact the Bureau of Consumer Protection at 800-441-2555 or scams@attorneygeneral.gov.
We at Fandom Spotlite will continue to follow this case and provide additional information as it comes in.
