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Topic: Dark Knight IMAX breakdown in GA

Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 07-21-2008 08:34 AM

There is an article in the Atlanta Journal that describes the breakdown leading to canceled shows this past Saturday at the Regal Mall of GA location(in a far out northeastern suburb of Atlanta).

quote:
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.

One would have thought refunds and some passes should have been automatic.

quote:
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.

But then some good sense prevailed.

quote:
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.

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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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 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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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 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 [Big Grin]

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-26-2008 06:39 PM

quote: Jason Black
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.

If I drove 200 miles to see a movie in IMAX only to see the show break down, I would be justifiably angry. We're talking 3 hours of driving each way and around a full tank of gasoline -something which costs a lot more than a movie ticket. Get over it? Fuck that.

I wouldn't expect the theater to refund my fuel costs, but at the very least they should provide a CASH refund for the ticket. 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. Rain checks are absolutely worthless unless you live close to the theater.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-26-2008 08:14 PM

If they did not provide the show at the time you purchased...it would be illegal for them to not refund your money. That is called theft. They are not liable for consequential damages (fuel) though they did offer passes and such, which should be some measure of trying to make good on things. It is a shame that they were not prepaired for the refund part of it.

Steve

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 07-26-2008 09:04 PM

Rain check, future pass, cash refund.. whatever.. You got the point Bobby..

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

Issuing cash refunds during crisis breakdowns, power outtages, etc, were protocol at my theatre. One line was for cash refunds, one was for RC's.

Movies are NOT the event people make them out to be. People are just pig headed and want instant gratification NO MATTER WHAT. Well, ya know what? FUCK THAT.

I'm as customer service oriented, if not more so, than most folks out there, and be damned if customers will run rough shod over me.. or my staff... Enough is enough already.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-26-2008 09:40 PM

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

OK. Get $80 in cash. Flush it down the toilet or burn it. Then wear a totally happy face. After that. Waste 6 hours of your time doing nothing. Keep that happy face. In order for me to buy where you are coming from you need to try those things out for size.

The way I would get over a theater wasting an afternoon my driving and a tank of my gasoline is not visiting that theater again. And if I got the "tough shit" kind of vibe that you think the theater is justified in giving to customers, I'd spread some pretty negative word of mouth about that theater.

IMAX theaters are built to draw customers from considerable distances. If a certain IMAX theater gains a reputation for shoddy showmanship or, worse, ruining prints and stopping shows it's going to be bad for that theater's business. I've put certain theaters in my area of the country on my own informal shit list for problems more minor than the account being described about that IMAX theater in Georgia.

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Geoff Jones
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 579
From: Broomfield, CO, USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 07-26-2008 09:46 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
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.

You doubt you'd return? Are you crazy? [Smile]

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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Galen Murphy-Fahlgren
Master Film Handler

Posts: 405
From: Canton, MI, USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 07-26-2008 10:31 PM

quote: Geoff Jones
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.

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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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 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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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 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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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 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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Thomas Pitt
Master Film Handler

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

posted 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 [Wink]

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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John Joseph Fink
Film Handler

Posts: 60
From: West Hartford, CT
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 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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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 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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