Yvette Murray Yvette Murry charged me $925+tax to rent a table and chair at a mall exhibit instead of the 10x10 BOOTH-with advertising that I paid for! Mississauga, Ontario

I own a small holistic health business and rely heavily on trade shows to generate sales. I was offered a 'booth' in a 'busy' mall in Barrie by Yvette Murry of Holistic Health productions for December 10th -14th, 2009. I thought it would be a great way to get my product out there as a great gift idea just in time for Christmas. Wow, was I mistaken!

I received an application/contract from Holistic Health Productions which looked very similar to the applications I have seen in the past for other professional trade shows in Toronto. I filled out the form and returned the signed copy with my $925+tax for a 10'x10' booth. This contract clearly stated that along with the booth space (10'x10') I would receive a 8'X2' table and chair. I was offered, on this same contract, the opportunity to purchase further signage and booth decor by Stronco, a well known show decorating service provider for trade shows.

When I arrived at the mall I was shocked to find that not only did I not have an actual booth, which left me no where to hang my trade show banner or any other displays for that matter, but that every vendor had the exact same 8'x2' table and chair. Upon further investigation, I realized I was the only person who had paid for a 10'x10' booth ($925) and yet each vendor had received exactly the same space and table for nearly half the price. The contract clearly stated that if you paid $500 you would receive a 4'x2' table with a chair and a 5'x10' booth. This was not the case. I am still unsure as to how Stronco would have been of any use in decorating a 'booth' that didn't actually exist. I have been involved in enough trade shows to know what makes up a proper booth. A banquet table, plus plastic chair, within an emptied mall food-court does not constitute a booth. I shudder  to think about where that money would have gone if I had requested further decor for my 'booth'.

If that wasn't bad enough, we (the other vendors and I) were placed in the basement of the mall beside a bowling alley, buffet and the movie theatre in what I'd call nothing more than a strip mall. There was absolutely NO customer traffic and NOT ONE came down stairs with the intention of browsing or even shopping for that matter. What made matters even worse was over half the stores in the mall, if not more, were up for lease! This includes the multiple vacant stores surrounding this 5-"booth" trade show-- to use the term loosely.

We were not allowed to advertise our booths upstairs in the mall nor were we allowed to hand out any advertising to customers to let them know we were downstairs. There were no announcements in the mall to let customers know we existed. We were not mentioned on any of the signs in the mall that informed customers of up coming events. Furthermore, there was NO advertising sent out via email, e-newsletters, ads in newspapers or otherwise as far as I am aware. When I asked Yvette to provide proof that she advertised for the show, I received no reply. At this point, I have no idea what my $925 went towards other than deep into Yvette's pocket.

Top it all off, we were told a few days before the show that we were to send Yvette our contact numbers so she could reach us during the show. Funny enough, when we tried to contact her during the show to rectify the situation, she was not answering our calls. We were also told that we would have an on-site event co-coordinator to get us organized and set up and assist us with any issues during the show. She gave us a contact name but did not give us any contact information for this person. When we arrived at the show, no such person existed.

I have since requested a response from Yvette to discuss my options with regards to a refund, but I have not yet heard from her. I will probably be waiting a long time.