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When Theaters Make Ticket Mistakes?
justzisguy asks: "During the third week in November I purchased 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' tickets for the opening show at a local theatre. The kiosk I was using said 18 Dec. 12:00 AM as the time of the showing. I decided to purchase four, which came out to be a very reasonable $5.50 (US) each. I found out today that my tickets are actually for the noon showing (12:00 PM) even though the tickets are printed as a midnight showing, caused by a glitch in the computers. I have a final that conflicts with me seeing it at noon, so it is essentially midnight or nothing. I went to discuss the matter with management and they referred me to their 'no refunds or exchanges' policy and showed me a sign which has now been posted on the kiosk that explains that 12:00 PM tickets are really for 12:00 AM. I really don't want to purchase four new tickets at an additional $3.25 each. So here's my question: What is the theatre's obligation to honor these tickets?" While I'm sure the submittor would appreciate suggestions on how he can get the theater in question to live up to its obligations, there is a larger issue at stake here you should think about. What should one do when they find themselves in this situation with other commercial entities?
Call the corporate offices and explain to them your vast disappointment in the lack of responsibility of the management of the theater. Explain to them that there are several theater chains that you can patronize and that, while this is your favorite movie-haus, you just can't patronize a business that feels it must make its patrons pay for their mistakes.
Also explain to them that the sign was placed after you bought your tickets. Be sure to let them know that, as somebody who really stands for personal responsibility, you wouldn't have brought this up had the sign been posted earlier.
Be sure to stress that you see several movies a year, sometimes up to two a month. Tell this story to your friends and let the management know that you're posting your experiences on a large forum that recieves millions of hits a day. You're going to post a follow-up so that the consumers you interact with on this forum (here) can see whether or not this is a theater they'd like to patronize.
Finally, tell us the theater company, the location and -- this part is really important -- what happens when you call them.
If they come back and say, "Tough shit," I'll stop my patronage right now.
Good luck!
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
Now that that's out of my system...
:)
As a matter of law, the theater is wrong. They can't later stick on the sign saying, "By the way, at this theter night means day." Even with the sign I think they'd be dancing on the edge of fraud. Mention this word to them, "fraud." You were induced to buy something that is worthless to you by their false representations. The only wrinkle is the discount price, which might theoretically have put you on notice, but I don't buy it.
As a practical matter, the amount involved is peanuts, which doesn't mean you aren't rightfully mad. It sounds like you explained things to them properly. Make sure you're talking to a real decisionmaker, as far up the chain as you can get. Write a letter even! Middle-lings sometimes like to assert their power unthinkingly.
The practical alternatives are not many. You could (1) picket; (2) badmouth them every chance you get; or (3) complain to the BBB and seek a settlement. I vote for #3.
Sympathies -- I hate being treated like that, as if their stupidity were my fault. (I wouldn't use that argument with them.
Time to switch to 24 hours time.
I assume that you did because you bought it at a kiosk. You tried to address the situation with the theater, they didn't make it right, so the next step is to call up your credit card company. Tell them the story, and have them give you the procedure for disputing a charge. You'll probably have to write them a letter, but it should be pretty easy and painless.
they are trying to screw you for their own convenience.
make a big noisy fuss right in the lobby at a time when there are lots of paying customers about. demand that they either refund your money or honour the tickets which you purchased in good faith. make sure everyone hears that the theater is not trustworthy.
don't make threats or swear a lot. you want the customers there to be sympathetic to you, so that the management looks bad to them, and you don't want to give them grounds to have you forcibly removed. don't let them lure you into some office out of public view; you want to give them bad publicity.
if you can't bring yourself to make a public fuss, then take the theater to small claims court for fraud. just suggesting that should make management decide that keeping your money isn't worth their time.
don't forget that they have cheated you. don't take it lying down.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. -- A.E.
My wife works "in that industry", so I have a clue, but am no expert ...
I DO know, from my conversations with her, that a large clump of chargebacks, in one billing period, can cost a merchant their account ... there is not really a grace period of any sort, necessarily ... this is to help soften the blow from the "fly by night" scammers.
Thus, if a bunch of the people that likely got screwed in a similar fashion to our poster here asked for a chargeback, it would at least give the Theatre folks something to think about.
(My goal, after all, would not be to hurt them, just to teach them that their customers deserve to be treated fairly, and have recourse)
I know that they are only allowed a certain ratio of chargebacks to charges
I believe that other criteria exist, but am not certain of them; that seems to be the most important one.
Speaking from experience on both sides of the counter, the number one rule for "getting a refund" is to get angry. No venue wants an angry customer yelling in their lobby. On the other hand, quiet upset customers are perfectly acceptable. So don't be afraid to be loud and upset.
If I were in your shoes, I would
1) Show up at 11:30 PM - ignore the "12:00 midnight means noon" sign.
2) Get very loudly angry at the usher who says "there is no midnight showing." Start saying "I don't understand. I have tickets that say 12:00 midnight."
3) If the manager does not come over, ask the usher to get the manager.
4) Again, be loud and demand a refund. Say loudly things along the lines of "I have these tickets that say 12:00 AM. You're saying you don't have a film at this time. I want a refund for these worthless tickets." Be very upset. Refuse to be consoled.
I've used this technique when I've forgotten the credit card I used to purchase the tickets with. In both cases, the manager has told the usher to let me be seated.
I've worked way too much retail/serivce as a youth, so I've got a line on this one.
If the service/product you have been given is not up to par, or you have been cheated (our movie example is a great one), your first stop is the manager. If they are a good manager who is worth their pay they will take care of you, knowing that you are their paycheck.
If they are an idiot who is in retail/service management because they hung out too long and got promoted without merit you have to work a little. When they rebuff you, restate your position, and the importance of the issue to you as a continuing customer. If they still do not treat you properly, don't get mad and yell and scream. That makes you look like an irrational idiot. You want to make the manager look like an irrational idiot...
Go home. Look up another store in the chain/franchise. Call that store and ask for the manager. When you get the manager on the phone, tell them that you have a customer service issue where you were treated poorly and would like their help. Immediately let them know that it was not at their store but at a different location. This will take that manager off the defensive.
Then explain the situation, why you feel you were treated wrong, and how the manager responded when you went to them for help. Be sure to use that managers name. When you are finished telling them your story (and be brief, they have their own store to run) ask them if you can have a corporate customer serice number, and the store number for the other store if they can find it.
Usually the other manager will be more than happy to help you because you are not causing them a problem, or their store. They will tell you that you were treated wrong, how sorry they are, and then give you someone to call for further help. Heck, some of them will do it just to see their competetion for District Manager take a few knocks.
Now that you have the number to the real person you need, be sure to thank the manager who did help you, and tell them that all of your transactions with "STORE X" will be at their location from here out. They like that because it sounds like money in the bank. Then ask for their name/store # so you can tell the higher up's how well that manager did to help you despite not being a part of the problem.
Now, call the higher ups. Explain your situation. Be sure to tell them the name of the manager who screwed you, and the manager who helped you. Know what city each store/location is in. The store #'s if possible. Stay calm. From this point your case will be handled or escalated to someone who can handle it.
If you are feeling punitive, request that the store be audited. Most chains have 'secret shoppers' who go in and inspect things without identifying themselves. This can cause lots of troubles. Also give your area 'Weights & Measures' office a call. Tell them that the product they sold was not marked correctly (this was a BIG fine when I worked in California).
At the end of the day, if you can get someone at the corporate level, you will be taken care of, possibly given something extra for your inconvenience, and the manager in quesiton who did you wrong will have a note in their file that says "asshead to customer on xx/yy/20zz" which hurts their long time promotion status (don't feel guilty, jerks should not get promoted in a customer serivce industry).
Of course, if it's a mom & pop shop and not a chain/franchise, you are pretty much at their mercy. Slash their tires!
Grimwell - old, cranky, mean, obsessive
Don't bother with the manager on duty, who probably has just enough authority to wipe his own ass. Write to the VP of operations or customer relations (big mega-chain), or general manager or president (regional / local chain).
The strategy is to make the reader believe that his theaters are about to get a liberal dose of bad PR, which no company in a highly-competitive service industry will risk. The tactic is to exhibit class, wit, and politeness to a fault (Patrick Stewart mode), in the course of making it explicitly clear that the company has done you wrong and owes you big-time for this affront. Subtle digs at the competence, intelligence, ancestry, etc. of staff and management are desirable as long as the aforementioned class, etc. is maintained.
Explain the circumstances in detail. State that the purchase of a theater ticket constitutes a contract (which it does), which is rendered no less valid or binding by their kiosk programmers' inability to distinguish noon from midnight, or by his staff's attempt to turn night into day with a disclaimer scrawled on a piece of cardboard (it probably was.) Mention the BBB, local TV news operations that love consumer-advocacy issues like this, the presence of a half-dozen competing theaters in the area (there usually are), etc. Close out by declaring that, while they have every right to maintain their no-refunds-etc. policy, your policy is to avoid like the plague businesses that rip people off through the biz's own incompetence, and you intend to apply same from this point forward unless reparations are forthcoming.
Oh, and, as an aside (especially if this is a national chain), note that you have already mentioned this incident on one of the Internet's most popular and respected tech forums, and that several hundred thousand avid movie-goers are interested in the outcome.
I suspect you won't have to wait long for an answer. A friend's S.O. wrote such a letter addressing a similar situation (dual literature / psych major; well-qualified to write complaint letters!) and ended up with a dozen passes, a letter of apology from the theater manager, and flowers!
You may or may not get (or want) flowers, but you'll probably be comped pretty well for your trouble. Not to mention the satisfaction of being able to redeem a bunch of freebies to the manager you know (and he probably suspects) was thoroughly bitch-slapped by his bosses at your instigation not long before.
Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
First of all, why is this trivial $13 dispute "stuff that matters??" Where is the adult supervision at Slashdot?
IAAL. You could take them to small claims court, but your time is valuable. I personally have a Dispute Threshold of $100. Any disputes less than that, I absorb my loss for the sake of economy. I encourage all readers to have and abide by a Dispute Threshold for the sake of your sanity.
If you are a homeless person or a college student, you may place a lesser value on your time and energy than I do, which is OK. If your Dispute Threshold is $12.99 or less, by all means spend the $50 and a day of your time and take them to court. Maybe you will learn something.
I appreciate that this was modded Funny, but there's a serious side to it.
Around the time I finished my degree, I went into my bank, looking to take out a loan so I could buy a car to get to my new job and put down the deposit to rent a place. I wasn't asking for a vast sum of money, and I had a contract in my hand from my future employer that would provide a reasonable guarantee of my ability to repay what I was asking for.
I was told that, while the person I spoke to understood my situation, the computer would automatically reject any application for a loan while I was still a student. Further, if he even tried just to see, it would damage my credit record, as a "loan denied" tag would get stuck against my name for years.
So, I thanked him for his time, and left. Two hours later I returned, having opened an account with an alternative bank who were more than happy to match or better every term I had with my existing accounts, credit card, etc. and were also prepared to offer me a small loan to get started with my working life.
I walked up to the front desk, and just about loud enough for the other few dozen people in the branch to overhear, I said that I'd like to withdraw the balance on both of my accounts, clear the credit card and then close all three, please. "Oh, dear," the lady there said. "Is there anything we can do to make you change your mind?"
Doubleplusooops. :-)
Guess what happened for the next five minutes, in front of a room full of customers... Actually, make that ex-customers. Two other people, presumably in a similar position to my own, promptly moved to the queue behind me and closed their own accounts as I left.
Sometimes, the only way to make a commercial entity see sense is to vote with your wallet. Other times, bad PR is far more effective. Either way, it pays to stand up for yourself using language they understand. Make sure you give word-of-mouth credit and customer loyalty to the good places as well, and between the two, you'll find your life gets far easier. :-)
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.