Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ticket stub collector scam

This is topic Ticket stub collector scam in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 05-29-2011, 12:24 PM:

Haven't found this on the newspaper's web site.

quote:
On May 13, a man at Regal Cinemas at Severance Town Center in Cleveland Heights tried to get a refund for a movie he never bought a ticket for.

According to police, the New Jersey man, 32, is also a suspect in several other movie theater theft cases locally and out of state.

He tells movie patrons he collects movie stubs and asks for their used tickets. Then he tries to return the tickets, which he never purchased, to the theater and asks for his money back. He tells the theater he has to leave because he did not like the movie or was too cold inside the theater.

Police said he was able to use this scam twice at Regal Cinemas Richmond Town Square and also at a theater in Westlake. But by the time he got to Severance, the theater had heard about the movie scammer, who was arrested by police. He had about 100 ticket stubs in his pocket.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 05-29-2011, 01:39 PM:

So is a crime committed if they didn't refund the ticket price (as if any manager ever would in such a scenario. Is it even a "scam" if there isn't a chance in hell that it would ever actually work? I mean, what theatre manager would refund money based on whether or not a patron [i]liked]/i] the movie? And what manager would give a refund for the room being too cold unless a patron came out right at the start of a movie....not a day or even two hours later?

It must be a reeeeeally slow crime day in Cleveland Heights if this is the big crime for the police to chase after.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-29-2011, 01:43 PM:

1) The story says the scam worked. They recognized the guy because he was a suspect in the same kind of crime.
2) I worked at a location where the manager's policy was for us to give the refund if they asked within 30 minutes of the showtime regardless of the reason although if the guy was saying that it's too cold I'd just tell him that we'll turn the heat up more.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 05-30-2011, 10:46 PM:

I had someone try this a while back, they had picked up the tickets off the floor. The loyalty card name that came up when I got to the refund screen was evidently not theirs, also wanted a cash refund for a card payment. It is not something you call the Police about, I told this person we had their face on CCTV and never to come back to my Cinema. If the guy hadn't looked like a total idiot I would have called our local competitors up to warn them.

If the person came back the next day or even a couple of hours after the show finished surely the most anyone would give is a pass for next time? As for not liking the film, does anyone ever refund on that?