Cashless payment system breakdown at The Great American Food and Music Fest

The Great American Food and Music Fest at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA turned out to be a fiasco for the organizers and many of the visitors earlier this month. As Mercury News reports:

Saturday’s concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre — the second problem-plagued event at the Mountain View venue in less than a month — also left organizers with more than heartburn. They are scrambling to deal with thousands of complaints from customers who had to stand up to five hours in line for food and endure a meltdown of a high-tech electronic bracelet pay system.

Numerous factors contributed to this becoming an overall bad experience for a lot of visitors. Larger-than-expected numbers of people started coming in early in the day. Food vendor lines were often very long and poorly organized. Vendors did not have enough food. The electronic payment system failed.

The organizers are now struggling with the aftermath, issuing apologies and refunds. Apparently the event will receive a second chance next year.