Rant at Cineworld - Fulham Road

tiny_tear

This is a copy of the email I sent to Corporate complaining:

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I am emailing to lodge a complaint about the 17h10 showing of Avatar 3D at the Fulham Road Cinema yesterday, Sunday 10th January 2010.

I am a Unlimited card holder - Number xxxxxxxxxxx - and have been going to several Cineworld cinemas for nearly 5 years without any problems whatsoever. However, yesterday the scenes before entering the cinema were chaotic and a shambles.

I arrived at Fulham Road at 16h40 and purchased my ticket at 16h46. The film suddenly sold out, so we started queuing ouside Screen 1 just before 16h50 - for the 17h10 session. The queue was already large but well behaved and people was standing there waiting for the Screen to open.

I found it strange not to see any barriers of any kind (as queuing in West India Quay usually involved barriers) but assumed there would be some staff on hand to maintain the order. Around 17h05 we noticed two side queues were forming - one at the front by the Snacks Concessions and another in the middle main lobby area, again with no staff to tell people the queue was formed and it was behind them on the way to screens 2 and 3.

When the doors finally opened at 17h15 - a five minute delay from when the film should have started - chaos ensued as the three queues started pushing forward to get into the cinema with no respect for the people who had been at the cinema for longer.

Again during this there was no staff to be seen, other than someone holding the door open.

I would appreciate if some barriers could be put in place to avoid these scenes, and one member of staff designated for some crowd control when the cinema is aware there will be a sold out performance of a very successful film.

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It was complete shambles and even dangerous... Honestly I have been to heavy metal gigs where the mosh pit was more organised than this...

But worth mentioning I have no complaints of the other Cineworld cinemas where I have always had great experiences...

Sunshine12

Did you get free 3D glasses? They have started charging for them over and above the price of the more expensive 3D ticket in some cinemas. I couldnt believe it!

tiny_tear

Sunshine12 wrote: »

Did you get free 3D glasses? They have started charging for them over and above the price of the more expensive 3D ticket in some cinemas. I couldnt believe it!

Nope, they charge now.

Even with Unlimited card, you have to pay 80p for the glasses, and then £1.30 to see the film (£1.90 when you don't have the Unlimited card)

I kept my glasses, but while Avatar benefited from being 3D other films I won't bother - I saw UP in 2D and it was great...

tiny_tear

they have now emailed me asking for my address as they will post me a snack voucher.

i am happy as I just wanted to let them know of the situation and wasn't expecting anything, but now the rant turns to praise and it's good customer service
:beer:

Sharon87

That's terrible the way there was no one about. I work at Vue and there is always someone on the gate to organise a queue system. I know how busy Avatar was and we had to form various queues, but let them in one by one.

I've been to Cineworld once (West End) and it was a nightmare. Odeon or Vue for me (well Vue at the moment as I get in for free ) At Vue the 3D prices for adult can be between £1.50 and £2.75 , and concession tickets are less, which includes the glasses.

As for the extra cost for 3D I understand that as it cost I think £80,000 for the new projector (according this news programme I saw) and an extra 50p or so for the glasses.