my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » rant on stupid customers (Page 43)

This topic comprises 75 pages: 1  2  3  ...  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  ...  73  74  75

Author Topic: rant on stupid customers Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-14-2008 12:17 PM                        My favorite line that I have actually used with rude customers: Them: My paper at home says the show starts at 4:30. Me: I am sorry, but we advertise in the gazette, not your paper. I have a longstanding policy: You bring me in the newspaper that has the incorrect showtime and you can get into the showtime of your choice for free. I have yet to give out any free passes on this policy.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 05-14-2008 01:02 PM                     Though speaking of newspapers: There are times when the paper simply gets it wrong. A long time ago my old theater sent the new showtimes to them and whoever was in charge of that noticed that everything was pretty much the same (even showtimes of individual movies) except we got a new movie. So that person left everything alone and added the new movie (thereby leaving a movie that we no longer had).  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 05-14-2008 01:12 PM                  Had lots of complaints about the color needing adjustment on "Payback".  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-15-2008 03:05 AM                     Mistakes happen with newspapers occasionaly. One thing we used to do was to get a new paper on Friday and put the showtimes in a small picture frame in box. When a customer wanted to dispute the accuracy of showtimes we could refer to the actual ad. I've personally had a lot of problems with third party websites advertising incorrect showtimes. It never ceases to amaze me the variety of sites one can find showtimes on. I sometimes wonder how they get them; before our POS was upgraded and we got a live internet connection (for monitoring of the digital projectors and fandango) there was no way to pull showtimes off our system remotely from outside the company, yet sites like Yahoo had our times listed. I figured they must have some sort of web data-mining system set up to pull the times off Carmike's site (or others). Only problem was if we had a Wednesday openor these third party sites would never have the proper listing-this was a big problem with Yahoo for a while. If you emailed them they would correct it, but I have to say it was extremely annoying. On another fun showtime/advertising note; there is a theatre 15-20 minutes north of us that is in a different city/booking zone and naturally plays day and date with us. For those of you who don't know I work for Carmike Cinemas and our ad in the paper is prominently topped with the Carmike logo. This other theatre is called Micon Cinemas. The logos look nothing alike, not even the same font. Yet once in a while we will get a customer insisting, to the point of becoming quite agitated, that our ad has a certain movie adverstised as starting at a certain time. A bit of investigation usually reveals they were looking at the wrong ad. And last but not least-on at least two occasions in the last six months I have had customers come in with regal passes INSISTING that the webiste they checked said our theatre accepted those passes. No matter how many times I explained that was impossible, that there has never been a Regal theatre in this city, or even in western Wisconsin, they continue to insist 'our' website say we take those passes. After a bit of questioning I came to the root of the problem. They had checked the Regal website to see where the passes could be used, but then they clicked on a link to search for showtimes and wound up at Fandango. Perhaps the Regal site is poorly designed (I'm too lazy to look), but honestly, is it really that hard folks. DISCLAIMER: I may bitch about customers being dumb, but when dealing with their complaint I remain the picture of good customer service, or at least try to.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 05-15-2008 03:45 AM                     Lots of times those sites simply bought the data from the same source that newspapers used. So if something had been mistaken in the newspaper, it'd populate to a bunch of sites or like you mentioned they wouldn't bother checking anything on the middle of the week. And for the longest time the zip-code for my old theater would show up about 20 miles away from the actual location of the zip with moviefone. So if you had entered the actual zip, you'd find the theater but if you entered any that were nearby, you'd never find the theater listed. And it only took them like 3 years to fix it and by then it was too late with the place already on fandango.  |  IP: Logged Anslem Rayburn Master Film Handler Posts: 476 From: Yuma, AZ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 05-15-2008 06:30 AM                     quote: Chris Slycord There are times when the paper simply gets it wrong. Not if you do the artwork for your ad in-house. We had a HUGE problem with our times being wrong, but then I took over the ads. I have made a few mistakes over the last 4 years, but nothing like the paper itself used to make. We only want to see the actual newspaper to make sure it is printed okay anymore. I suggest every theater that is capable of doing their ads in-house do so. You seriously minimize the chances of the ad being wrong. I do ours, and normally have another manager go over the listing with me prior to e-mailing it off to everyone. Mistakes still happen, but nowhere near the level of when some poor, overworked ad designer had to slap it together.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-15-2008 10:18 AM                        quote: Anslem Rayburn I suggest every theater that is capable of doing their ads in-house do so. You seriously minimize the chances of the ad being wrong. That's good advice. I started doing our ad myself a long time ago for that very reason. You also get the advantage that you can make your ad look like YOU want it to look, not like they think it should look.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 05-15-2008 10:21 AM                        Why wouldn't you accept your competitors pass? I ALWAYS accepted passes from other theatre chains, and I did this for a few reasons... 1. Good Will, Make sure to inform the customer that it is a different chain but that you appreciate thier business so you will accept the passes. 2. You want the customer to patronize your theatre right? Why would you send them away to another company when they are in your building? Is the potential loss of a customer for life worth an 8.00 movie ticket? 3. They may be getting free admission but chances are you will make that up at the concession stand. I have noticed that people who get in free tend to spend more money at the concession stand. Why do you want to give that revenue away? I know that rules are rules, but sometimes it seems that people will bute thier hand to spite thier face (or whatever that saying is) and enforce rules just for the sake of enforcing rules. If a customer makes a mistake and shows up at your theatre with a competitors pass you have a golden opportunity there to gain a loyal customer for life. Tell them that it's not your company's pass and you're not supposed to accept it but that you really value thier business and youre really glad thay they chose your theatre to see a film so you will take thier pass and give them a complimentary admission. People remember when you do something like that, the perception you are giving them is that they are IMPORTANT to your company and that you VALUE thier business. They WILL remember that, and they WILL come back. Why turn it into a negative? If you refuse to accept the pass it will cause an argument, bad feelings, a negative experience. The customer will think that you dont appreciate or value thier business and will gladly go spend thier money at your competition. The moral here is that I knwo managers are taught to follow the rules, and enforce policy but you have a brain! Use it! Don't enoforce rules just to enforce rules! When you are given a golden opportunity to gain a loyal customer for life and create a lot of goodwill take it! Your bosses will be happier with a thank you letter for taking the pass than they will be with a complaint letter. I PROMISE you that!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-15-2008 05:03 PM                        I don't know, Sean, if you look back in this forum you'll find all kinds of long debates over what to do when a customer is short a nickel, or other trivialities. Sometimes people take "rules" to the extreme!  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 05-15-2008 05:11 PM                        I would love for folks to bring in passes to other theaters and us take them! I hate for people to have to drive the 40 miles to cash in on those passes when they can stay in town! I don' know how many kids I have paid for part of the concession when they were short of change for them. But the drink is already in the cup the nachos have the cheese already what is the point of throwing it out? Just let them stick you that time and maybe they will remember next time and pay you back (not often)!  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 05-15-2008 05:20 PM                        My rule of thumb when it comes to accepting passes from other theatres or when a customer is short a nickel depends largely on their attitude. We are an independent theatre. When presented with a pass for Regal or some other theatre, my first response is to tell them that we are not affiliated with Regal. If the customer presses me to accept the pass, I will sometimes do so if the movie is accepting passes. It largely depends on whether they are courteous to me or if they are demanding and rude. But I won't accept gift cards or gift certificates from other theatres. We haven't received any money for the certificates, so it would be silly to give them that value - especially with gift cards. In some cases we will accept paper certificates as a pass - rather than a cash value - if it's for a theatre where we could reuse it. When it comes to the customer being short, it really depends on if they are being cheap or if they are really short. If they are short because they don't want to break the $20 in their wallet, then I'm not usually going to be very forgiving. But if they are emptying every pocket and digging, I will usually cover up to a quarter or two. Usually what I'll do is throw in the change and tell them to bring it next time they come. I'm especially likely to do this for little kids.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-15-2008 05:40 PM                     You have to draw a line sometimes, where that line should be is a legitimate debate. I've given a nickel/dime/quarter out of my pocket (or just ran the drawer short when I was in the position to make that call) plenty of times. I also once saw a manager give a guy two, yes two passes because he came to Planet of the Apes on opening night and thought the theatre was 'too crowded'. Bit of explanation on that one-the show was only 3/4 full and he was just one guy, meaning he could easily have gotten a seat anywhere. Now granted, I wouldn't object to giving him a pass or even his money back (show hadn't started after all) but why on earth did he need TWO passes?  |  IP: Logged Patrick Dunn Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: newark, DE, United states Registered: Aug 2005 posted 05-15-2008 11:27 PM                        If someone came and complained the theater was too full on opening night i wouldn't give him . What would they expect coming to a big movie on opening night?  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 05-15-2008 11:43 PM                     Not even a refund? Now THAT is ridiculous. You're saying that if a guy came out BEFORE THE MOVIE STARTED you still wouldn't give him a refund?! I concur with Dustin that one and only one pass or refund should've been given out. Though I imagine a manager has to pick his/her battles. Giving out an extra pass could be worth it to get an unreasonable person on their way.  |  IP: Logged Patrick Dunn Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: newark, DE, United states Registered: Aug 2005 posted 05-15-2008 11:55 PM                        Well a pass, but one that isn't good for the first week of the movie so it will be less crowded by the time he is able to use the pass.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 75 pages: 1  2  3  ...  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  ...  73  74  75

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.