It happens to companies too. Just look at the Silicon Valley. Out here, people seem to think that if you have a cool service with a bunch of users, money will follow. While this has proven true for some companies (Twitter did recently close another $15M in funding), how often does this approach backfire? The reason I’m bringing up the Five P’s after all these years is because today I had the unfortunate luck of experiencing a failure in proper planning firsthand.

For a couple of weeks, I had been looking forward to attending the Great American Food and Music Fest at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Despite the event’s steep price tag ($40 for a single ticket), I figured it would be a cool way to try some new food, listen to some good music, and see one of my favorite celebrity chefs, Bobby Flay. Unfortunately, by the time me, my fiancee, and my future mother-in-law arrived to enjoy the festivities, the event had already spun out of control.

First, we had to park about a mile away from the entrance. “No big deal,” I thought. “It’s a concert venue, that’s just how it works.” My feelings soon changed when I saw the line to enter. Stretching across the street from the amphitheater through two parking lots, the line was overwhelming. Through some quick detective work, I discovered that some people had been waiting in line for nearly an hour. Mind you, this is the line to get into the event.

Luckily, by the time we found our way to the end of the line, things were moving along relatively quickly. While still uneasy about the Fest’s obvious disarray, I was beginning to calm down. That is, until we actually reached the ticket lines. While there were several lines of people waiting to buy tickets, the longest line was for people waiting to get refunds. As we stood in line, we heard snippets of complaints from the refund line. “Waste of money.” “I waited for hours and didn’t get any food.” “The computer system is down and they are only taking cash.”

My girlfriend, future mother-in-law and I shared an “Oh crap” look and I went over to investigate. I talked to a few different people in the refund line and got the lay of the land. As part of your ticket, you are supposed to receive one free meal from a vendor. This meal was supposed to be authorized electronically through your wristband. Early in the day, the computer system authorizing this free meal crashed. Apparently, the vendors were unprepared to switch to a different system, causing huge back-ups throughout the fest. Some people said that they had been in lines for three hours without getting a single bite of food.

Sensing the futility of our situation, we decided to simply give up and spend the afternoon in downtown Palo Alto instead. It was a good decision. Palo Alto is nice in the summertime. Anyway, when I got home I decided to check online to see how other people felt about the Great American Food and Music FAIL. Dissatisfied foodies were already venting their frustrations en masse at Yelp. Just goes to show you how quickly poor planning can lead to a major loss of credibility. The Internet has given everyone a voice, and if you piss them off, they will let you know. Check out some of the juiciest complaints after the jump.

From Yelp:

Jeff S. – “I’m here right now and it is total chaos. The lines are out of control and it’s impossible to move.”

Calvin M. – “Just left after demanding a refund. This was the worst event i’ve ever been to…fail fail fail.”

Donna S. – “I’ve never seen a disaster of this magnitude…Long story short, I arrived at 12:05 and left at 3:20 pm without getting one bite to eat.”

Doug B. – “A MAJOR RIPOFF, worthy of a class action suit. The worst event execution I have ever experienced. Utter idiocy from start to finish…We will not return. Shame on the organizers for such woefully inept organization.”

People have also taken their frustrations here where they are talking about contacting Live Nation for refunds.