Originally posted by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
The Tennessee Attorney General’s office is investigating Walker Stalker LLC and FanFest Events LLC after major problems emerged the past 18 months regarding cancelled conventions, ballooning debts and unpaid refunds.
The state’s Division of Consumer Affairs “has 15 complaints against Walker Stalker. We are concerned about the nature of the complaints and have been looking into it,” a spokeswoman said.
Walker Stalker released a statement: “Walker Stalker has been working with the State Attorney’s Office for a couple of months to show what refunds have been completed and still need to be completed. We have been completely transparent with them, sharing the information they have requested and need in order to understand where the company’s financial position stands and where it is going. We are sorry and hate that anyone is due anything outstanding from our events. Our goal is to resolve all of the outstanding refunds as quickly as possible.”
The Walker Stalker company’s biggest event has been its annual Atlanta-based Walker Stalker “Walking Dead’ convention, which happened at the Georgia World Congress Center in late October.
James Frazier helped create the conventions back in 2013 but began hitting major financial problems last year as the "Walking Dead" tanked in popularity and he began facing cash-flow problems.
According to a post on the Walker Stalker Facebook page, Frazier is now trying to unload the Walker Stalker company to investors while maintaining the Fan Fest portion.
He has frozen sales for the two Walker Stalker conventions scheduled for 2020.
But he plans to keep Fan Fest, which is is marketed as a broader science-fiction convention.
Fandemic, a rival convention company, this week on its Facebook page announced it is planning an Atlanta Walking Dead-themed convention. It didn’t offer details.
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