Cinema Only Free Tickets Discussion thread

susan6780

i had my comments deleted too for asking for the bickering too be taken elsewhere, i'm new to this thread, didn't realise we had to feed the troll?

susan6780

Poochface wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

You think I'm the Troll for trying to prevent a fraud?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I hope you are never turned away from a preview because people have faked tickets.

I can assure you that this forum, Showfilmfirst and Odeon all take fraud, deception and theft pretty seriously.

i think you've found yourself in an angry situation today and feel the need to exorcise it here, and its uncomfortable for us to read/see. I hope this spell of anger doesn't last too long, i did like it here?

Be_Nice

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that free cinema tickets help families have a trip out they may not be otherwise be able to have, I know it's helped mine.

It is not OK to duplicate tickets, people, possibly families with children with a genuine ticket will end up being excluded from the screening, I've seen over allocation growing at my local cinema quite dramatically. They may also be a family with very little too who have now wasted petrol, parking fee's etc only to be refused entry and now how dreadfully upset children.

If it becomes the accepted thing to do and the screenings become unmanageable and the management of them becomes too costly they will stop and then nobody will benefit, or the booking sites will require a subscription fee to cover these costs.

Sparc

luke1234567 wrote: »

I grew up with very little, and always had to listen to others telling me how great things were while I missed them...all because we couldn't afford it.

I'd like to think things such as the free cinema threads can help families (or even the day to day Joe who just needs a break)..

Most people who attend screenings are not short of money. Far from it. One or two are. I over heard one woman saying she had went to see a film on at the Showcase earlier in the week and needed to get two buses that took her over an hour just to attend.

People like that are the exception. A lot of the most hardcore ticket snatchers I see are quite well off from the way they're dressed. You'll find those with money are notoriously tight and love getting one over on others grabbing these freebies.

I'm a film student and pay to see as many films as I can afford to with my loan. Tonight I paid to see Gangster Squad. I love going the cinema and it !!!!es me off to witness people with no taste attending films that they obviously know nothing about and walking out of them complaining.

seagullsim

I don't particularly like adding to this thread, as the constant bickering by some of the more frequent posters has turned the area into somewhere fairly unpleasant. However, I thought I should mention that people at the screening of Life of Pi just before Christmas were being turned away if they didn't have the correct page from The Guardian newspaper. It was all done quite loudly by the staff at The Vue cinema too - I think they were a bit too heavy-handed to be honest, they made the people feel like they were committing a crime (technically I suppose they were, but it still wasn't pleasant).

From my experience, it seems like the more vigilant checks are done on the family films, especially the Disney ones on Sunday mornings. I remember a lot of trouble last year for the screening of Muppets, when people had been caught trying to get in with forged tickets, and the police were called.....

merdoom

More wreck it ralph tix http://www.disneyscreenings.co.uk/ promo code - arcade

LouFace

Just a quick check, as the production of magazines/newspaper pages at cinemas appears to be on the rise, there is no newspaper/magazine ad I need to acquire for Wreck it Ralph tomorrow is there?

The_Old_Bag

Be_Nice wrote: »

It is not OK to duplicate tickets, people, possibly families with children with a genuine ticket will end up being excluded from the screening, I've seen over allocation growing at my local cinema quite dramatically. They may also be a family with very little too who have now wasted petrol, parking fee's etc only to be refused entry and now how dreadfully upset children.

If it becomes the accepted thing to do and the screenings become unmanageable and the management of them becomes too costly they will stop and then nobody will benefit, or the booking sites will require a subscription fee to cover these costs.

Absolutely agree.
Years ago (before I knew about MSE) I had a magazine subscription. When my monthly mag turned up (well before it appeared in the shops) there was a readers offer for free cinema tickets.
In those days you needed to phone up!
I phoned up on the day I received the mag - No tickets left.
So as a completely genuine magazine buyer I missed out, despite getting it earlier then most buyers.

By contrast, since joining MSE I have seen dozens and dozens of free previews. Many have involved SFF, Disney, SKY, Virgin etc.

These usually require me to simply print out a ticket I then receive online.

Some have required me to take a magazine or newspaper page to the cinema before hand to get a physical ticket from the cinema.

Some required me to print out a ticket I received online from SSF etc, PLUS a newspaper or magazine.

Re the issue with Les Mis most recently.
Personally I had the ticket and I had the paper.
But in all the years I have been attending previews no one has ever asked to see it.
So I have become used to not having to remember to take it with me.

I would not have done anything fraudulent by turning up without the paper - but I would have been really annoyed if I had not got to see the film because I forgot to take something no one has ever asked me for before. If the police were called I would be able to take them home and dig out the paper from the recycling bin, or stuffed inside damp wellies etc.

The fraudulent actions are imo,
1) those peeps who manufacture a ticket from scratch (and we know we have had those peeps on MSE because they have openly bragged about it !)
2) those who get a ticket and then print numerous copies. So instead of them 'rightly' occupying 2 or 4 seats, they may occupy 8 or 12 or more
3) those who get a ticket at any cinema where they can find availability, and then alter the ticket to change it to the name/address of their local cinema....... which obviously is already officially full with 'genuine' ticket holders.

Add to this the fact that there appears to be a deliberate policy by SFF, Disney, SKY, Virgin etc to issue more tickets than seats in the screening, on the basis that there are bound to be a certain % of no shows due to weather, ill health, car breakdown etc.

Presumably the fraudulent ticket holders make sure they get to the cinema early. That way they get a seat, whilst genuine ticket holders who arrive 10 minutes later are told "We're full!"
As Be Nice points out, not only do they miss out on seeing the film they have tickets to, but they have wasted time and money.
As far as I am concerned, the more security the cinemas bring in the better. If that means taking the newspaper with me - fine.
If that means delays as they scan barcodes or check names - fine.
If that means watching the police haul off peeps who have printed numerous copies or manufactured/altered tickets - fine !

rainbow_carnage

I'm one of those suckers with a paid SFF subscription. Or at least I was up until last month. I got it mainly for the theatre tickets, but I cancelled it last year.

A couple of months ago, I got SFF tickets to Uncle Vanya. I'm a big fan of Sam West, but I can't afford West End prices. I was thrilled and cancelled other plans to go. Turned up at the box office half an hour before curtain. There was a long queue. Stood in the queue for 10 minutes only to be told that all of the SFF tickets were gone. Went home.

A month later, I got tickets to Seven Psychopaths. My husband and I both left work early. Turned up at the cinema 20 minutes before show time. Another long queue. Stood there for 20 minutes. Again, there were no more seats. There were 50+ people in the queue ahead of me who didn't get in, either. They got there at least 30 minutes early.

Between SFF giving away more tickets than seats and people printing multiple copies, those of us who simply follow the rules get screwed. I got tired of paying for the privilege.

The easiest way to solve this problem is to have a list of names, along with the correct number of tickets. But neither SFF nor the cinemas can be bothered to do this.

seagullsim

seagullsim wrote: »

I don't particularly like adding to this thread, as the constant bickering by some of the more frequent posters has turned the area into somewhere fairly unpleasant. However, I thought I should mention that people at the screening of Life of Pi just before Christmas were being turned away if they didn't have the correct page from The Guardian newspaper. It was all done quite loudly by the staff at The Vue cinema too - I think they were a bit too heavy-handed to be honest, they made the people feel like they were committing a crime (technically I suppose they were, but it still wasn't pleasant).

From my experience, it seems like the more vigilant checks are done on the family films, especially the Disney ones on Sunday mornings. I remember a lot of trouble last year for the screening of Muppets, when people had been caught trying to get in with forged tickets, and the police were called.....

More people turned away this morning at Odeon Leeds/Bradford for Wreck It Ralph. One family of 4 were directly in front of us in the queue - they showed their tickets, were taken to one side, and politely asked to leave. The chavvy mother tried to start mouthing off, but the father dragged her away, saying "told you this would happen"...