Does this come under consumer rights?

anotheronebitthedust

Hello, newbie here hoping the smart people at MSE can help me!

I went to the theatre recently and saw a production of Singing in the Rain (musical). My friend who had been a few days earlier said the show was excellent and the finale in particular amazing, as they had real 'rain', umbrellas, whole cast sang the famous song, etc. However for my performance there was a technical issue, and although the cast came on for the finale the band just played the last few bars and then the curtain came down. No singing, nothing.Really disappointing and underwhelming!

I wrote to complain and got what I considered to be a really rude response back. It basically said admitted that there was a small technical fault (this was why the 'rain' didn't work, but didn't explain why the cast didn't sing/dance or anything), but that 'general consensus' said this wouldn't have affected my enjoyment of the performance as a whole so I wasn't entitled to any money back, and that I would be pleased to know that the issue was fixed for all subsequent performances.

I thought this was an awful response as:

a) the finale is not just one tiny element of a performance, in fact many people would think it was the MOST important element of a musical, particularly one called Singing in the Rain (where there was no singing, and no rain!)

b) who is he to decide what 'general consensus' was? Doubt as the theatre manager he was even at the performance, and even if he was, unless he was psychic how did he know what the 1000+ people at the performance were thinking? In fact, I looked on the twitter and facebook feeds for the show and multiple people had complained, so it obviously was an issue

c) why should I be happy to know that every other performance was better than the one I saw? Rub salt in the wound, why don't you!


Anyway, well done if you made it through that rant! What I wanted to know was if there were any suggestions on where to go to take my complaint further, as the theatre itself doesn't want to know? A colleague suggested Trading Standards, as I paid for a whole show, and only got 90% of one; could that be feasible? Looking on their website they don't really seem to handle complaints of this sort?

Also, do you know if companies legally have to have a complaints procedure, as I looked everywhere for this theatre's one and they don't seem to have it?

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. I spent a lot of money treating my elderly mother to this show, and felt bad for the disappointment. Thanks!

bris

The loss of enjoyment would only be a very small part so there is nothing worth fighting for. You might get 10% back if you fight hard enough but no court would offer you any thing more.

Bit of a waste of trading standards time tbh as it was a one off technical fault there is nothing for the theatre to answer too.

unholyangel

Not really sure if there are grounds for this.

Live performances vary from night to night. And some performances have a degree of "winging it". I know quite a few occasions where cast have altered the performance slightly (due to it being someones last night there or just as a workaround to a problem) and the audience weren't aware it was out of the ordinary.

I suppose it depends if it was substantially different to what was promised/agreed.

anotheronebitthedust

I agree to some extent, and I think it says something similar on the terms and conditions, i.e. you can't expect a refund for a minor change.

However, to me a minor change would be a different actor playing the role, missing a few lines, the show starting ten minutes late or something. Not missing out the main part of the whole show! I understood the rain special effect may not have worked, but don't see why they still couldn't have 'done' the finale without that element. It seems like paying the whole price for a partial product. For example, I used to work in a cinema, and if we had to stop the film for any reason (fire alarm etc.) we would have to give them a new ticket, we wouldn't just say 'Oh, you watched most of it, I'm sure you can guess what happens in the end!'

Thanks for your opinions though, no point in pursuing it I suppose. May still leave a message on their Facebook though.

unholyangel

anotheronebitthedust wrote: »

Thanks for your opinions though, no point in pursuing it I suppose. May still leave a message on their Facebook though.

Even if your legal rights arent being breached, theres nothing to stop you trying to take your complaint further (ie responding back to them stating what you've said here, that it was the finale - the most important part and the part you'd been looking forward to most). Just if they tell you no again, it may not be worth your time to pursue it any further.

We do tend to reply based on legal rights rather than from a good customer service perspective due to the name/nature of the board.

Not sure if these people will be able to help. Have a look and see if the company you used are listed as a member. http://www.star.org.uk/starmembers

gik

There may have been a safety issue with the failure (it could have been an electrical fault for instance) and hence they cut the show short.