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

Re:No obligation

[sweet reason]

it makes no sense to speak of the 12:00 that comes before or after that highest point

perhaps, but 12am and 12pm have well-defined meanings in english all the same, even if they don't make good physical sense. (that is not an unusual situation!)

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.

note that midnight is a source of great confusion. it is defined as the begining of the day, not the end, so "tuesday at midnight" means the end of monday, but it is commonly used to mean the end of tuesday.