Crastinate

I saw the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, this past Saturday night. I usually would not attempt to see a movie during the opening weekend fearing the huge crowds and the potential for getting a seat that would make my neck hurt for weeks to come. This Saturday night was going to be different because I bought my seats at the Cinema De Lux in White Plains, NY where I was able to select which seats I sit in, and therefore am guaranteed to have a good seat in the theater. Or so I thought.

Amazingly, the seats were double booked. I say “amazingly” because I’m so amazed that the theater could think that double booking seats would work out to their benefit. The comparison of double booking can be made to the airline industry. With the airline industry, however, you can expect some people to not show up. People miss their flights. It’s expected. And there may very well be seats available in first or business class that you can use to accommodate for the double-bookings. In a theater, when you purchase an actual seat, what are the chances that you’re going to miss a movie? Have you ever heard of someone pre-ordering tickets to a movie and then missing it? It’s not the norm. And there isn’t an upgrade you can offer me to make it all better.

After speaking with the managers there, they told us we can try to find seats together in the 10:30 PM showing that was being let in at the time and we could discuss the situation after the movie is over. We found seats that were fairly close up which were uncomfortable to watch the movie from. We did want to see the movie so we decided to stay.

After the movie was over, we spoke to the new manager (different shift) and he told us that since we saw the movie, there was nothing he could do. We argued our point and after some teeth-pulling (that’s what it felt like) he eventually agreed to give us eight free passes to a future movie (he tried four free passes for a while. Like that makes any sense.). What did he count as eight free passes? A piece of paper with his signature and the number eight. Like that was going to work. And even if it did work, what are the chances that all eight of us would go back to the movies together anytime soon (I mean, all to the same movie and time)? So, we complained and finally got the eight free passes we deserved (actually, we deserved a full refund, but I digress).And now, every person who we told about this great theater where you can reserve your seats is hearing from us again about how this theater is ripping off their customers by making them think they have seats but are actually double booking these seats. It’s a scam and practically theft.

So let’s recap. The City Center 15: Cinema De Lux in White Plains, NY is double-booking seats. And unlike other theaters that oversell theaters, this theater is double booking a specific seat. They don’t apologize when you get screwed (that’s right, no one apologized) and they try to brush you off when you complain. Customer service was just plain bad and now that impression of the theater will be spread throughout my community by me and my friends. This should be a lesson to all companies. Don’t try to screw your customers. We talk to others and will make sure that everyone we know finds out about your shady practices.