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At least three IMAX showings were cut short or
canceled Saturday after the Imax machine overheated and shut down. Repairs were made, and the 10:20 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 a.m. Sunday shows went on as scheduled.

The fix, however, came too late for people like Josh Thompson, who drove with friends from Augusta to see the canceled 3:40 p.m. Saturday show. "I'm beyond bummed. I'm really [angry]!" Thompson said.

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Initially, the word was only rain checks would be given out.

"They're doing nothing to reimburse people who drove all the way here," Imax ticketholder Jared Osterhage of Newnan complained after he was turned away from the Saturday afternoon show.

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Just to give us a rain check? If we don't come back, we've paid $45 plus gas for nothing."

Later, Regal officials offered refunds, re-admission tickets to future Imax showings and passes good for any other movie including "Dark Knight" on conventional screens at the theater complex.

People like Osterhage appeared satisfied. "They took care of us," he said.

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Supposedy this is the only theater in GA to show the movie in IMAX. It would have been nice if this theater was more centrally located.
 

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 07-26-2008, 10:22 AM:
 
Reimbursement of gas would be completely out of the question. Why is it that people can not, wait, WILL not grasp the fact that , on occasion, mechanical things BREAK DOWN?

JFC, People need a dose of reality. It's a movie for cripes sake. GET OVER IT. Offering a RC and a pass to a future film would have been all anyone should have expected to begin with. Good grief.

I'm taking a Xanax now.
 

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Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 07-26-2008, 06:00 PM:
 
Since movies have become an "event" versus a habit...satisfying the customer and their time invested is a given.

I also saw the Dark Knight in a small multiplex in Georgia with soft focus, flickering xenon and disappearing dialog from the center channel due to poor audio balance...but I was expecting it and liked the movie
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-26-2008, 06:39 PM:
 

quote: Jason Black

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JFC, People need a dose of reality. It's a movie for cripes sake. GET OVER IT. Offering a RC and a pass to a future film would have been all anyone should have expected to begin with. Good grief.

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quote: Jason Black

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It's sad that you would be so upset after having driven xxx miles. Yes, things happen. GET OVER IT.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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After all that trouble of driving a great distance to see a movie and the trip turning out to be 100% wasted I doubt I'd return to that theater again.

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You doubt you'd return? Are you crazy? I'm quite positive I would never go back and I'd tell everyone I knew to avoid the place.

Earlier this year I drove over an hour each way late at night to see Jaws only to discover they were projecting a DVD with an LCD projector. No chance of me ever going back to that place. (Cameo Cinema in St. Helena. If only they had advertised the fact on their website.)

I myself am on the lookout for cinemas run by folks who DO think going to the movies should be a big event.

Does that make me pig headed? I dunno.

Am I only interested in instant gratification? I don't think so. I've actually stopped watching a lot of my favorite movies on DVD, so that they will be more fresh when I can catch them on film from time to time, which sure isn't very "instant."

I do accept that mechanical things break down on occasion and I do not believe I've ever run rough-shod over anyone. But I would not accept a rain check and a pass. I'd expect a full cash refund.

Geoff
 

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Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 07-26-2008, 10:31 PM:
 

quote: Geoff Jones

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I do accept that mechanical things break down on occasion and I do not believe I've ever run rough-shod over anyone. But I would not accept a rain check and a pass. I'd expect a full cash refund.

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Agreed. As a person who makes their living operating this sort of mechanical thing, I fully understand that they sometimes break down and this has to be dealt with. The theater is in the business of selling an experience, and if they did not deliver it, I would want my money back.

We had an issue Thursday night with an alternative content event, where the audio lead the video by a couple of seconds. We called our content provider, and they failed to fix it. We gave every patron not only a cash refund, thus eliminating much of our potential profit from the event, but a concession voucher as a sign of good faith customer service. We stood to gain from the transaction, but our end was not held up satisfactorily, so we lost instead. It was entirely not our fault in this instance, but how can the average customer be expected to understand the inner workings of our operation? We made it right, and hopefully those people will come back, and tell their friends.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 07-27-2008, 10:40 AM:
 
Most people are not total aholes and looking at patrons as such and having theatre staff perceive them as adversaries who are intent on "running rough shod over them" is totally counter productive.

People certainly experience disappointments in other areas of life -- sitting on a tarmac for 6 hours when they expected to actually arrive at their destination in 1& a half. They don't expect the air lines to reimburse them for their time, ancillary loses, etc. BUT, they are VERY aware of the attitude of the offending business. If they get a "Get over it" attitude, that business has lost a customer for good. If they sense that as much as is possible is being done to correct the problem or make good the immediate loss, most people will not only be satisfied with the effort but may even strengthen their loyalty to the business.

There are lots of things a theatre can do to nullify the displeasure of the customer -- on the purely monetary side, the very least they expect and should get, is monetary reimbursement of their ticket price....IN CASH, none of this voucher crap or other means of skirting around the bush to avoid giving them back what they handed to the box office when they walked in the door -- CASH MONEY. No passes -- they laid out hard cash, they get back hard cash. Only THEN can you give them passes for not ONE movie but say six or even 12. It has to be something that will surprise them where they say, "Gee, I didn't expect them to do THAT for us." Then the piece de resistance -- you give them free reign of your concession -- let them sit in your lobby or even in the theatre proper and eat and drink their own body weight to their hearts content -- if that's what it takes. It's a small price to pay to prevent every one of them from walking out of your place as individual a-frames proclaiming far and wide what a crappy operation you run and advertising to everyone they meet never to go to your place, ever, because you KNOW they will be bad mouthing you for weeks if not months about this incident. Let them sit in the lobby stuffing themselves, relaxing for as long as they want while theatre staff -- the Manager and Ass. Mgr themselves mingle among them and explain to them face to face on a very personal level how sorry they are, with a simple explanation about it being a mechanical breakdown and how no matter how well maintained equipment is, on the rare occasion it can break down (mention the airlines keeping people in a plane with no bathrooms for 6 hours). Keep reiterating how sorry the management is for the inconvenience.

VERY IMPORTANT: DON'T send anyone out with the "hey you slobs who only want instant gratification, it's just a movie....get over it" attitude.

This kind of thing doesn't have to be a PR disaster. Guaranteed that if handled correctly, you will be able to win over a majority of those patrons.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-27-2008, 11:37 AM:
 
I have to agree with Frank here. First and foremost give them their CASH back.

THEN make sure to throw a free pass to return on top of it. By giving them their cash back, you have refunded what they paid for and were unable to give them. By throwing in a free pass on top of it, you stand a better chance of them returning.

THEN comp all of their concession stand purchases, and offer free sodas and popcorn (not boxed candy, hot dogs and such) to everyone along with a VERY SINCERE apology.

That sort of management will go a long way to making sure the customers understand you do care about them and want them back, without letting them run all over you.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-27-2008, 01:11 PM:
 
A lot of our customers come from up to 75 miles away and to date I've never had one person ask about a refund for their gas money on the rare occasion that we lose a show. (However, I must add that we haven't lost a show since gas got over $3 a gallon, either.)

Since most of our customers are repeats, we usually give a free pass if we lose a show, but we always offer the option of refunds too. We used to just have each of them come by the window and ask which they would prefer, but that was really slow, and about 99% of people take the pass, so now we just stand by the door and hand out passes after making an announcement that they have the choice. Rarely do we have more than one or two people who want their money back.

We also offer free refills on everything if we experience a technical delay, and we give passes as that show exits.
 

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Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 07-27-2008, 03:25 PM:
 
When I went to see Beowulf 3D, halfway through the movie the sound system failed and put out full-volume white noise on all channels (I posted about this in the Film Handlers Forum a while ago). The show was stopped after a while, and the cinema gave everyone a refund AND a free pass to any other show in that multiplex.

If things do break down, a refund is the best policy - throwing a free pass in there as well makes things better. The pass I got had a 'use within 28 days' policy, but that's not a problem for me - I went and saw Shrooms there the next week

I can understand people being disappointed if they've driven many miles to see a showing and an equipment failure means it's cancelled, but things DO break down from time to time - it's inevitable. As a matter of fact, the cinema I visited for the Beowulf 3D showing is quite far away from home, but is the only one I know in my region that is equipped for Real-D!
 

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Posted by John Joseph Fink (Member # 3619) on 07-27-2008, 04:03 PM:
 
I can relate, AMC Theaters loads in their showtimes from corporate and someone over there typed in a wrong code, which had permitted me to buy two tickets for Idiocracy, which wasn't (and never did) play in the New York market. I had even called the theater to confirm but because it showed up in their ticket system they assured me it was showing that Friday night.

When we got there both floor managers apologized, refunded my credit card, gave us tickets to any movie we wanted to see that night, return passes, popcorn and soda coupons. This was good customer service, but I've seen bad customer service at theaters that don't deliver and those are the ones that their regional manager and corporate office should be aware of.
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-31-2008, 08:20 PM:
 
Our policy is to offer people their cash back. I suppose we'd even back out a customer's credit card, if they kept the receipt. On the few times it's happened though, we haven't had many takers... mainly because I also offer the customers an alternative of a carload pass, useable anytime. For the most part, the only ones to ask for money are those who came in from out of the area.

We can always tell when someone brings in one of those carload cards... they've got a stuffed car and a big grin on their faces. The PR value is priceless.
 

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Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 08-01-2008, 10:24 AM:
 
When I was a manager for Loews I would give every guest a cash refund, at least 2 re-admit passes, a few coupons for a free fountain drink, Let them into another show that is playing if they want, and on a case by case basis refund concessions if someone ask's for it (most people don't) when something like this happened.

It is not worth losing losing 300 peoples business forever just to make a couple extra bucks on that one day. You will lose whatever you gained a hundred fold over the next several years.

People paid to see a movie. If you are unable to give them what they paid for you need to make it right and give them *MORE* than what they expect. That way you will keep thier business and they will tell thier friends how well you took care of them.
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 08-01-2008, 07:34 PM:
 
I was reading the forums for one of the articles in the Atlanta Journal and a couple of people complained about the bulbs. I wonder if the picture itself was dim. They wouldn't cheap out on a bulb in an IMAX theater, would they? Maybe the picture itself is dim?

I am planning on visiting that theater next week. Hopefully, everything will be fine.

Personally, I would have offered a couple of passes in addition to a cash refund at least and maybe some popcorn and soda especially considering they couldnt show a 15 dollar movie. (nearly 17 bucks if you buy on Fandango).
 

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Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 08-02-2008, 01:34 AM:
 

quote: Pravin Ratnam

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(nearly 17 bucks if you buy on Fandango)

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