If something goes wrong with the projection while you’re watching Iron Man, (or any other movie, actually) and the ticket agent will not give you a refund, do not grab the monitor and throw it through a glass door.
According to the Jackson Hole Star-Tribune, a 55 year-old man was arrested for suspicion of property damage and disturbing the peace after he became enraged and threw a monitor through a glass door and into the mall food court.
“Officers responded to the theater just after 7 p.m. and found Vaughn sweating profusely near the shoe department at JC Penney,” says the paper.
The man had apparently requested a refund and when the theater employees offered him a “voucher.” He then started yelling at employees and other customers that he was being ripped off.
A customer says that the man shouted that he was going to get his money’s worth before grabbing the monitor and hurling it into the food court.
The officer who arrested the man says that he told him that “he had done the right thing in the war against injustice in the world.”
Well, no.
Man fights movie theater ‘injustice,’, lands in jail [Star-Tribune] (Thanks, A.!)
(Photo: Getty)
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@Youthier:
Where do you live? I will drive all the way there to watch a movie! Gas prices be damned!
@InfiniTrent:
Remember when the screen was bigger than the size of my TV at home?
@P_Smith: Most theaters I go to state in the listings that the starting time does not reflect the starting time of the movie. I for one like the trailers and promos, because when I’m running late I know I have a 10-12 minute buffer.
@sponica: Thanks for the info.
“…do not grab the monitor and throw it through a glass door…
I’m calling “BS”. Monitor throwing usually gets me what I want, and pretty-dang-quick.
@HogwartsAlum:
Did your screen grow, or did theirs shrink? Hopefully the former.
@sponica:
I love the trailers about as much as the movie. Sometimes I love them more than the movie. It’s ironic – I go to movies to see which movies are coming out…then I go to those movies to watch their previews for more movies…
@sponica: That may be fine for you and how you use your time. I also arrive early, but I would rather walk around for the last few minutes before it starts knowing that I’ll be sitting for the next two hours in uncomfortable seats. I need to know when the movie starts to do that, and the employees won’t tell me.
What I also don’t want is to sit through not just 20 minutes of junk, but at 100 decibels and louder than most movies, it makes my ears ring.
@corporatedrone: Sounds like he’d fit in with Fred Phelps’ gang.
For the record, Consumerist, the Star Tribune is a Wyoming-wide paper. This happened in Casper, Wyoming; amusingly enough, I used to work for these theaters. Even more amusingly, this specific theater is a second-run “cheap seat” house.
As for everyone that is bitching about how theaters don’t give refunds, there’s a whole big reasoning for why they can’t do that: most of the ticket price ends up as royalties to the movie studios for allowing them to exhibit their films. Since they cannot void tickets once they are sold, they are required to pay royalties on each ticket. If a refund was given, that royalty would have to be paid out of the company’s pocket.
I go to the theatre about once a year. I don’t really want a voucher, I’m not particularly planning on making a return.
@InfiniTrent: it’s for the social experience more than the actual movies, and so you don’t spend 6-9 months with your hands on your ears every time someone mentions the movie you’re waiting for on DVD.
@P_Smith: At the theater I worked at, it was either 12 minutes or 14 minutes (I can’t remember). A strategy I’ve discovered is to check on a website to see how long the feature runs, then subtract that amount of time from the running time the theater tells you. Usually theaters have the running time which includes the trailers, although sometimes they can be off, especially when the computer has added the requisite 12 minutes but old trailers have been pulled and new ones haven’t been added. Sure it’s more work on your part…also there are some theater chains, usually smaller, more independent ones, who only run the trailers that come with the feature, and do not build them onto the film. You may not be paying for advertising, but most companies view trailers as another form of marketing…
The theater really has no control over how loud the trailers are, or what the image quality is like. Since they are more often than not built onto the feature (or at least they were at the theater I worked at).
@InfiniTrent: I love promos as well, there have been times I’ve almost bought tickets to a movie I had no interest in seeing because it had the first teaser or trailer to a movie I wanted to see.
@jaydez: So he has to wait for the sequel to Schindler’s List? Bummer.
obviously, this is the theater’s fault for using CRT monitors instead of LCD monitors.
@P_Smith:
When do you ask for the refund? After the movie has ended?
I don’t think I’ve been to a theater that doesn’t show 20 minutes of trailers/previews. It’s pretty annoying since I usually show up 30 or so minutes early and have to wait an hour before the movie actually starts.
As a side note, I love the AMC early bird special. Friday-Sunday for their 10 am and 11 am showings tickets are only $6. Went to see Dark Knight on opening weekend for that price, so crazy.
Almost shocked that there are people actually defending the theater in not giving refunds. Of course this guy over reacted; that doesn’t mean his position was incorrect.
If I carve the time out of my schedule to go see a film I expect it to be shown in it’s entirety without any glitches. The fact that I paid for their “service” means that part of my fee should ensure that the projetor and film are both capable of being viewed. The arguement brought up how the theater would have to pay a refund “out of it’s own pocket” as somehow a bad thing strikes me as the worst kind of sheep herd corporate mentality. The theaters fiscal arrangement has NOTHING to do with their agreement to me to see a movie.
When glitches occur during a screening that prevent me from enjoying my movie I expect a refund AND a voucher for another show. They are taking my money, but more importantly (and this is what differs from a purchase of a physical product) they are taking my TIME. Time is something you can never get back regardless how hard you try. They have already ruined one evening through poor staff training, shoddy equipement or whatever the hitch was, so a refund is certainly in order. Want me to come back? That’s what the voucher is for. The few times I have been in the same situation I have gotten just that: a refund and a voucher for each ticket purchased.
whenever a place hands you a voucher, you’re talking to a CSR (Customer Sales Rep), just ask for the manager, and he can authorize a full refund. the idea behind this tactic is that the CSR gives your a Voucher… there’s an excellent chance you’ll be satisfied with that and be on your way, thus saving the manager time. If the customer doesn’t want the voucher, okay, then get the manager, and he can give you your cash back.
I had this situation where I bought tickets online, and got to the theater to meet someone (Date of sorts e.e) – I sadly got stood up, but the manager at the customer service desk of the theater was more than understanding, and after apologizing for my situation, gave me back my money sans fandango fees (I understood this because it was 2 dollars and I didn’t really care.) – besides I ended up calling up a buddy and heading to another theater to see the same movie, so all worked out.
however… the customer in this situation is immediately in the wrong for defacing the theater’s property… which is defiantly worth more than a theater ticket – I wouldn’t be surprised if the theater sued him for the repair costs… those glass doors are pricey!
I had a similiar experience watching 300 with my wife at AMC theaters. There was no bass, and after I complained about six times to a pimply-faced teenage usher, some one came inside and started shining a flashlight, apparently to see if the bass was hiding between the front rows. He then started yelling loudly into his radio, and after a few minutes, the bass magically appeared. Of course, the top of the picture was now at the bottom of the screen, and the bottom, at the top. We were then told that due to technical difficulties, they had to cancel the show, and we would be given refunds at the front desk. I proceeded to jog out of the theater, as most of the crowd was staring at me with murder in their eyes. Upon getting to the ticket counter, we were told by yet another teenager that we could only get vouchers as the register was closed for the night(it was the midnight show). At this point, my lovely wife proceeded to verbally emasculate this poor young man, which happily led to the entire audience getting their money back.
The point a little bit farther up about masking on the screen. masking is not used to obscure part of the picture, because the light is still projected onto it, what the masking hides, is an obvious long black rectangle at the top of the image.
There are two different standards which are used regularly for film, one which takes up the full screen image, and one which is like “widescreen” it is the widescreen format which requires the masking, if you could see the boom mikes etc. I’m afraid that means the film was badly shot.
I worked projection at my local cinema for a couple of years and we had a masking issue, which was pretty bad, meant we couldn’t show any full screen movies on the screen without them looking like there was something missing from the image, but the company continually scheduled full screen movies for it, nonsense.
pulsar0510: The other possibility you avoided there was that the film was damaged, possibly prior to them recieving it, this should be unlikely, because they SHOULD but don’t always, view the film before showing it to the public.
Also, a projector is a funny beast, you can have the best training in the world, but if the reel wants to, for example, jump off the projector, or worse, slide off the platter due to static buildup, which can come from nowhere it is not the fault of the operator. Often the composition of the actual film, can have grease (depending where the print was made) on it which causes picture problems and static issues.
In he place I worked, if something happened, you got a free ticket for any other showing at any other time (including new films, no restrictions given it could very well have been the new movie you were going to see) and a refund usually. Certainly, this movie theater was in the wrong, the man should have been refunded, but he also shouldn’t have committed an act of vandalism
I wasn’t avoiding any particular thing either way, just giving random examples of problems. My point being I don’t care what caused the problem, it doesn’t matter. While the person in the story was in the wrong, he certainly was right about people accepting nonsense from companies and allowing poor customer service to continue.
@InfiniTrent:
Here are my recent movie theater experiences:
1) Why did you not say something?
2) Why did you not say something? And why did you sit through the whole thing?
3) It happens, I agree its annoying, though.
4) Go complain to management.
5) Tell him to turn it off.