I hate box office cashiers
 

i'm not sure if this would go under here or the store forum or wherever..so if it's in the wrong place please move it.

tonight my parents went to the movies to see "Firewall". My dad had a free ticket from the Best Buy promo and my mom was going to use her free admission punch (tonight was their 10th visit) on her movie rewards card for our Consolidated theater.

they get to the theater and the best buy ticket goes through, no problems. then my mom gives her rewards card to the cashier to get her free ticket. the cashier then proceeds to tell my mom that she is not allowed to use her free punch (#10 punch) b/c she has not purchased the 11th punch yet. this has never happened to any of us before. on the back of the card it says free popcorn on 5th and 20th visit, free drink on 15th and free movie on 10th and 25th. i, myself, went to go see narnia in december on a "free movie admission punch" without having to purchase the next punch in advance from the time before.

my parents pointed this out to them, but the cashiers still refused to accept that they would receive the free ticket to them, kept saying they had to pay for the 10th visit tonight in order to get the free movie next time. my parents even spoke to the manager on duty who said they had to purchase the 11th punch and would get the 10th punch the next time around.

they were really angry that they had to pay full price when they were supposed to get a free pass and also the last time they had gone to the movies, THAT cashier had told them the next time they went, there would be a free movie pass. my parents ended up paying b/c my dad really wanted to see firewall (he's a harrison ford fan) but now they refuse to go back there again. we sent an email to the corporate office.

has this ever happened to anyone before? if you hand the card to the cashier and the punch they are supposed to punch is free, shouldn't you get it free that time instead of having to pay and get it free the next time?

a few years back a kid gave me some hassle two weekends in a row...i complained, and watched him get fired. (apparently i wasn't the first to complain) The manager walked into the booth, and put his hand out, asking for his tie and headset...the guy walked out to his car mumbling. The manager then apologized to me again, and told me he no longer would be with the theater. He then gave us some passes and loaded us up at the food counter.

He shouldve gotten in free for sure...rather than send an email he should write the corporate office (pen and paper) to complain...much better results that way, (e-mails are usually ignored but for some reason an actual letter gets respect) he'll probably get a couple free passes

I bet you didn't get a Christmas card from the kid that year...

Watch out! The pizza boy thug squad might come in here and berate you for not just taking the rude ticket clerks BS attitude.

And you wonder why I buy my movie tickets with Fandango.com. :rolleyes: They cost a little more but I'll be guaranteed that I can get into the theater with no hassles. :)

I argued with the gal behind the counter at a 12:01 (midnight) showing saying that since the movie was before 11am, I should get matineee prices. I was being a smart ass and didn't expect anything, but coudn't get her to agree that 12:01 is actually earlier than 11am. :lol:

well, we just got an email back from the customer service folks.

This e-mail is in regards to our Movie Awards Free Admission Policy. Our policy has not changed and you should have been able to receive your free admission on the 10th punch. The only exceptions to not receiving the free admission would be 1) if you had already received 2 punches for the day (as indicated on the back of your card), or 2) if it was your birthday, you would have to purchase 1 ticket in order to receive the free admission.

We apologize for the confusion and we will send you 2 free passes to offset the cost of the ticket you purchased on 2/14.



pleased with the prompt reply. i hope those cashiers haven't been doing that to anyone else.

Print off that email and take it to the theatre in question. Give it to the manager your parents spoke to earlier so that misunderstanding doesn't happen again.

Then sucker punch the manager.

Yeah, I would blame the manager more the cashier, since the manager told them the same thing as the cashier.

Sounds like the cashier was just doing what he was told, then.

[Frozone]Never heard that one before... [/Frozone]

Very wise. :thumbsup:

How is it their fault? You don't have anything bad to say about the manager, but it's enough that you hate cashiers? That is illogical.

Never had problem with AMC and the Movie watcher card. I also use the Kiosks to buy my tickets so I don't hav to wait in line.

I don't know who was wrong, but some of you need to put yourself in their position. I've held a cashier job and people just think that you can do whatever you want-- he couldn't give you the ticket, you think you being angry is going to make him give it up so that he can lose his job?

I'm more aggravated when theaters sell more tickets than they have seats for. A few times my parents have gone in and only the first row was available, which is a waste of chairs. They had to return their tickets and drive a half hour home empty handed.

A nasty situation, I know. At AMC, we sell the house to about 85% capacity, knowing full well that people aren't going to sit in each and every seat.

It's not perfect though - a show can be half full and we get people wanting refunds (or, for some reason, free tickets) because there's "no seats left".
At the other end, a show might sell out (meaning us cashiers can't sell any more tickets for that show, even if we wanted to) and people will complain that there's probably plenty of seats available.

If four people come up to the box office for a show that has five seats left (that's technically 15% of the theater, plus five seats, remember), I tell them that they won't find good seats and they may not even get to sit together. They generally buy tickets anyway. Five minutes later, either they come back for a refund ("there's no seats") or worse, someone else who had tickets but went in after those four people want refunds. I say they're worse, because they generally think that when they buy tickets to a show that's half full, they expect it to stay that way and are usually quite indignant about being disappointed.

Has anyone any questions about theater policies? I'd hate to have my character judge or smeared simply on the basis of the job I'm paid to do.

So really, they don't sell more tickets than they have seats for, do they?

if you want to be a jackass, sure. I like how you cut off the rest of that sentence. How about you try sitting in the first row next time you see a movie.

Eh...I generally hate theaters altogether. Seems like a waste of money when I have perfectly fine popcorn and big screen here and the DVD within four months. All this and no cell phones, babies, idiots, etc.

= J

Morf is correct, though. They're not fun seats to sit in, but they're still seats - and therefore, availalable seats.

If you don't want to sit in the front, get there 20-30 minutes early if it's a popular new release.

Or just wait until it's been out for a while before going to see it, or go to a weekday matinee or weekend morning showing.

:thumbsup: Don't hate the player hate the game.

They cost a little more than 'free'?

There's a small service charge to get tickets from Fandango.com.

That's true for most theaters, but since I have access to a THX-certified theater with really comfortable seating at the the Century 16 multiplex in northeastern Sacramento County, I use that theater to see "event" movies that I want to see in a theater. :)

No kidding. I hate when people arrive 2 minutes before a show and try to shift three rows around so that they can get seats together. I've been there for 20-30 minutes in order to get seats together with my friends, so please explain to me why the hell I should move.