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Topic: rant on stupid customers

James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-07-2008 11:04 AM

I personally do not care for the 2 Hostel films. Nonetheless, when I have to deal with rowdy teenagers, I start imagining what I might be able to get money-wise if I sold those kids off to be tortured... [Smile]

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-07-2008 08:48 PM

quote: Bruce McGee
or the worst, messing with the screen itself.

I came to work a few weeks ago to find one screen where kids cut 2 big-ass holes in them and it'd gotten patched earlier that morning.

edit:
And my rant is remembering this woman who came out of "Payback" and asked for a refund.

Her: I can't watch this movie anymore... the main character is just so bad.
Me: Box office is out there [points to doors]; they'll give you a refund.

Then I look back toward the auditorium she came out of to confirm that the poster did say "Get Ready to Root for the Bad Guy."

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Scott McGuire
Film Handler

Posts: 94
From: Elmira, NY/United States
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 03-08-2008 12:05 AM

Had a live performance of the vagina monilouges today, tickets have been sold out for 3 days for both tonights show and the one tommorow. We have signs out front and it is on our web site that this event is SOLD OUT. We have had people coming in and asking " I know the event is sold out for both nights but, do you have any tickets left?" Do they not understand the concept of sold out.

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John Hawkinson
Film God

Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-08-2008 12:33 AM

It's not totally unreasonable. Often--well, sometimes--sold-out events have some tickets that get returned, or they'll sell extra tickets if it looks like there'll be a lot of no-shows, etc. Much more common at live events, of course.

--jhawk

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Scott McGuire
Film Handler

Posts: 94
From: Elmira, NY/United States
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 03-08-2008 01:41 AM

guess i'm just not used to being around the box office side for live events, this is the first we have done at our theatre. Usually the one setting up the stage for them.

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-10-2008 09:21 AM

quote: Chris Slycord
Her: I can't watch this movie anymore... the main character is just so bad.
Me: Box office is out there [points to doors]; they'll give you a refund.

Why in the world would she be entitled to a refund of her admission simply because she personally didn't like the main character of the movie? How much of a movie can a patron watch and then decide they don't like it and deserve a refund? 10 mins? 90 mins? There is a resonable expectance of due diligence on behalf of the patron to know what they're buying a ticket to before they go ahead and do so. Maybe my perception of customer service is wrong, because I am a firm believer that the customer is NOT always right. In fact 90% of the time they are usually wrong and only throw their [bs]

fits when called on it. I do my best to take care of my customers, make their evening as pleasant as possible, but I will not get walked on, cussed at, etc., in the name of customer service.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-10-2008 10:09 AM

At the time, the policy was that if it was within the first 30 mins we'd give them a refund. If it was outside that time, we'd generally ask for a manager for approval.

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Jeremy Weigel
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1062
From: Edmond, OK, USA
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-10-2008 05:33 PM

We'll generally offer to let them switch to a different movie first and if that doesn't work, then offer a comp pass (which works a majority of the time), then a refund as a last option to the customer if they come out within the first 30-45 minutes of the feature if they don't like it. A customer should be able to figure out if they like a movie within that period of time.

Any requests for refund after 45 minutes go unfullfilled. If you can't decide if you like a film within the first half of it (majority of films are at least 90 minutes), then well, you're an idiot. I always tell them that we only guarantee the quality of the presentation not the content, since we have zero control over that part. I have even given contact info to the studio reps for them to express their opinion to; especially if they think the film has inappropriate content for the given rating.

I refer to this as the Wal-martification effect on today's consumers. The "You're entitled to a refund no matter the cause of your disatisfaction".

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James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-20-2008 01:15 AM

I do not want to quantify this customer as stupid, just a sign of the world in which we live in today...
I had a customer the other night ask me how to use the pay phone. She needed to use it because the battery in her cel phone died, and she needed to call her ride.
I politely showed her how it operated. She was embarassed as her friends kept laughing at her.
She, and her friends, were in their mid-teens.
She was also from an area that has to dial 10-digit numbers, unlike Lubbock, which one can still dial 7 digits on local calls. She kept punching 806 and then the number.
I suspect all her life she was around nothing but cel phones. I know several booth techs at UA already had them, and I hadn't worked for UA in almost 16 years.

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 03-20-2008 12:52 PM

quote: Barry Floyd
There is a resonable expectance of due diligence on behalf of the patron to know what they're buying a ticket to before they go ahead and do so. Maybe my perception of customer service is wrong, because I am a firm believer that the customer is NOT always right. In fact 90% of the time they are usually wrong and only throw their fits when called on it. I do my best to take care of my customers, make their evening as pleasant as possible, but I will not get walked on, cussed at, etc., in the name of customer service.

You have it good because you are the owner manager of your Drive-in. The customer only has one choice. Come back or don't come back. In the big chain scheme of things it is different because we have to try and represent our owners. That usually means that we have to follow the customers always right approach. We may not like it but we have to represent the company on a professional level. We try to get it right to prevent the second option. Complaint letters to the corporate office. It sucks because usually like you say the customer is not always right but we got to keep it on an even keel and get them out as happy as we can as quick as we can.

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Thomas Pitt
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: May 2007

posted 03-20-2008 04:21 PM

I know most cinemas have a refund policy; i.e. what you can and can't refund customers for. At your cinema, are there any exceptions to the policy for certain movies/showings?

I walked out of Cloverfield feeling unwell due to the shaky-cam, and they were not issuing refunds for that film (due to the high number of people who walk out feeling sick). However, they did exchange my ticket for a different movie showing tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I was seriously unwell the very next day and couldn't see the movie on my replacement ticket [Frown]

I bet some of the cleaning staff at cinemas think I'm a 'stupid' customer since I don't leave the moment the credits start to roll, like everyone else. They want to come in and do their cleaning, but people who sit and watch the credits waste their time [Wink]

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-20-2008 08:15 PM

Sometimes I liked having people do that; since I had to wait for them to leave before I could continue anyway I'd just sit down myself.

Though if the usher is in a hurry they can always ask the guest "Could you stand to the side over there so we can clean?" Most people are understanding.

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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 03-20-2008 10:07 PM

quote: Darryl Spicer
That usually means that we have to follow the customers always right approach.

The problem with that approach is that it is unfair to "normal" people. It means that loudmouth, obnoxious morons wind up with better service than polite, reasonable people.

I certainly think that all reasonable complaints should be attended to. But I don't think that someone who finishes half a carton of popcorn should be able to complain about it and get their money back (unless they find an insect inside) and I don't think people should get their money back after watching more than a half-hour of a film and maybe not even then.

And I certainly think that theaters are completely within the rights to throw out patrons who either damage the property or disturb others. It's not a freakin' playground; it's a movie theater.

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 03-20-2008 11:06 PM

I don't think he was implying that someone damaging his theater's property would be given a refund for their troubles.

And he wasn't saying that someone who asks for money back on food will get it either.

I think he was just saying that in a chain you have to "pick your battles" more than someone at a place that has no other competition.

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Anslem Rayburn
Master Film Handler

Posts: 476
From: Yuma, AZ, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 03-20-2008 11:32 PM

quote: Chris Slycord
Though if the usher is in a hurry they can always ask the guest "Could you stand to the side over there so we can clean?" Most people are understanding.

AAAACK, No.

The usher should never be in such a hurry to clean so as to disrupt a guest watching any part of the movie. Here, if a single customer wants to watch all the credits, we don't clean until they are done. Naturally, if nobody stays for the credits, we clean right away. I don't know how I would react if someone asked me to move so they could clean an auditorium while I was finishing the movie I just paid to watch. I must be one of the ones that isn't understanding.

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