Friday, May 11, 2012

Customer Issue with Local Cinema


The Corrector received the following editorial from a reader that is disturbed about their treatment at the Havre Cinema.

Havre Theater is kicking people out of the movie The Avengers before the final scene after the credits. At first they were telling people that there is no scene and now they are just using the excuse that there is no time for them to let us watch it because there are a lot of people waiting to see the next showing and their boss told them to kick us out so they can clean.

I went Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night and both times they kicked us out. Some other kids I saw later said the same thing happened to them. Tuesday night after I left the theater before that scene there were literally ONLY four people in the lobby waiting for a movie after the employee told me there were a whole bunch of people waiting to get into the theater. When I demanded to see the scene the employee told me I can "buy the DVD when it comes out" and laughed when I said I wanted a partial refund if I don’t get to see the full movie I already paid to see. Then an employee offered to turn the movie off so it won’t be there for me to worry about seeing. And I know per their contract with the distributor, most if not all theaters can NOT turn the movie off until the credits have fully run. They can get fined and lose their contract with the distributor. Hmmmm.....wasn’t Avengers Disney.....Oh if Havre lost their contract with Disney; I bet they'd lose a good chunk of income. Where has customer service gone in this town?

I realize I CAN buy the DVD in a month or however many months when it comes out, but I have paid twice to see the movie and been basically told it doesn't matter that I paid to see it and that that is part of the movie. I am angry and frustrated and I have NO idea if there really is anything that can be done about it. It isn't as if I asked to see another movie free or demanded free drinks or something. Anyway, I figured I would tell you in case you felt like having a rant/complaint about people being cheated out of their money. And I am angry enough right now that I am going to tell EVERYONE I come in to contact with about the horrible service I got. Sure it might not do anything, but right now, it’s all I can do.

8 comments:

  1. Once again this should be a strong message to Havre merchants.

    You do have competition. Your prices can certainly be beat. You are now competing on a world market and you had better make some considerations.

    If this had happened to me, I would make a decision that in the future I would be seeing movies as they come out at Creative Leisure or streamed to my house on Netflix.

    The only things Havre merchants really have to offer is convenience and service. I will pay for these things, and that is what I look for while doing business in Havre.

    The people of Havre are under NO obligation to do business in Havre. Merchants order their inventory from other places, and so can I. The business community should not expect they be free of competition because we all live in a small town.

    Poor service is INEXCUSABLE.

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  2. On this one DeCon, you and I are in full agreement. I too recently had a poor experience at this particular theatre where the movie actually stopped about 20 mins from the end, northing was said and several people left the theatre to complain, but we were told that there was nothing tha could be done, it was technical difficulties and there were other viewers waiting for the next showing. Unbelievable. Most people were actually more confused I think than anything as to what we were all supposed to do, wait for them to fix it, leave, get a refund, sit in for the next showing? There was no direction at all from the staff. Redbox, Hulu, Netflix, are looking better everyday!

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    1. Who actually owns the theaters? I thought the owners lived in Polson.

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    2. If the owners do not live here, they should have a responsible person in charge of the business locally. Obviously there are problems, and to the patron of their business does it really matter?

      This customer just wanted to see the end of the movie, which was actually the implied deal when they purchased admission.

      In the bigger picture, however, many people choose to go to a movie when they are visiting another city. This incident would not make Havre look good to a visitor, and perhaps make them question the business ethics of the community, depending on how the situation was handled and customer reaction.

      If the owner of the business does not live here, they should be made aware of what is happening in their absence. Perhaps someone in the local business community would like to contact them.

      http://www.polsontheatres.com/

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    3. I agree with you. The best policy would have been to make the next start time 10 minutes later. I double it take them that long to pick up the trash before the next show.

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  4. The Democrats should organize one of their boycotts on these people to train them to submit to proper customer service ass kissing as needed

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    1. It is not about kissing ass. It is about treating the customer with respect. When you purchase a ticket you are entitled to watch the entire movie.

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