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?

Comments

Butting in before press time, here...

[Cliff]

But instead of editorializing my opinions, on this matter in-article, I'm placing them here, instead...

When a commercial entity makes a mistake, I believe that it falls on them to correct it via the most simple and expedient method available. A "No refunds or exchanges" policy shouldn't affect this simple rule since it was the commercial entity itself that made the mistake.

However, in reality things are much different, and hence, consumers are put at risk every time money changes hands. Why should such policies be legal even though it wasn't the consumers fault. Shouldn't the entity accepting the money have some form of obligation to the person paying them to get the service they intended?

Now, I can see the problems with changing shows like this (the show in question is T-16h:12m and counting, as I type this), but there are bound to be other folks who are in the same boat, and I feel that the theater should at least make a token effort to see how many people got screwed in this manner and whether trades between them would work. If they don't refunds should be provided for those who can't attend the time the theater imposed on them (not their tickets since the tickets state the right time!).

Of course, there is always the option of trying to sneak in using the existing ticket, but why should consumers resort to subterfuge to get what they intended to in the first place.

This, quite frankly, is Capitalism Gone Wrong, and I don't think there are any ready solutions, although I would be interested in hearing how the rest of you think.

Actually, No [Re:No obligation]

[alacqua]

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology "the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. are wrong and should not be used." They go on to give the example of railroads and airlines using 12:01 and 11:59 to avoid the ambiguity.

12am is defined as the begining of a day. 12pm is defined as the middle of a day. in commerce, if not in nit-picking astronomy, that is what they mean.

When confronted with this ambiguous situation I have always taken PM to imply night and AM to imply day (yes, I know that's not really what they mean).

But don't take my word for it, a court in the US found in favor of a guy who got a parking ticket based on one of these ambiguous pseudo-times on the nearby no-parking sign. It was about five years ago, I think. Can't remember more details.

Hope the subject line doesn't make this sound like a fame. It was not meant that way.

Getting a supervisor (or better)

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

_Always_ ask for a supervisor when you are complaining and the front line isn't working.

Works great in person. On a phone, you'll probably find everyone in the call centre has "supervisor" in their job title, so they can shift you around to one of their equally powerless colleagues as a first move. Always get the name and job title of the person you speak to, and ask a black-and-white question about whether they have more power to help you than the last person you spoke to.

One of the funniest experiences I ever had was when a phone company, who had apparently gotten a contract to supply hundreds of student rooms but forgotten to hire the manpower to install it all, gave us the "call centre tennis" treatment. Someone looked up the (publicly available) contact details of their managing director, and called him at home at 9pm on a Saturday night to complain.

By 10pm we had two vans full of engineers out to install the phones for everyone in the block whose order was running late.