Empire Cinemas - tickets non-refundable

Deastons

Tickets booked at Empire Cinemas are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Well, clearly that's not true - they could refund and exchange them if they wanted to. They just choose not to allow it.

Legally, can they deny you a refund? Are they allowed to not offer any sort of cooling off?

And from a business point-of-view, why be so harsh? I get not allowing a refund/exchange less than, say, 24hrs before the film, but why a flat "NO". It doesn't give a very good impression to customers. And in these modern times, surely it's no additional work - it's all done by computers.

Nick_C

I would't expect a cinema ticket to be refundable or exchangeable. Theatre tickets aren't either.

waamo

Yes they can deny a refund if it is simply a case of you changing your mind.

I have no idea why they would do this, it's not the best customer service but is perfectly legal.

Nick_C

... if you can no longer attend an event or you've simply changed your mind about going, you're rarely entitled to a refund, despite tickets often being purchased months in advance.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/can-i-get-a-refund-on-my-ticket

unholyangel

If the tickets were for a specific screening, theres no right to a refund or exchange.

If however you purchased them online and they're not for a certain screening, then you should have the right to cancel under the Consumer Contract (Information, Cancellation & Additional Charges) Regulations.

foxtrotoscar_2

unholyangel wrote: »

If the tickets were for a specific screening, theres no right to a refund or exchange.

If however you purchased them online and they're not for a certain screening, then you should have the right to cancel under the Consumer Contract (Information, Cancellation & Additional Charges) Regulations.

Empire Cinema tickets are for a specific screening.

LilElvis

Odeon and Cineworld don't refund either. I generally go to our local Odeon and always book online - throughout the process they make it clear that tickets are non refundable.

Deastons

LilElvis wrote: »

Odeon and Cineworld don't refund either. I generally go to our local Odeon and always book online - throughout the process they make it clear that tickets are non refundable.

Empire made it clear, too. Very clear. Red wording, bold, over and over again. But it just made me wonder why they don't offer refunds/exchanges. As I mentioned, it's largely online/automated, so why is it such an effort to allow people to change their mind, or decide to go to an earlier/later screening?

The only plus I can see for the cinema is they get to keep the £10-or-so per ticket for anyone that changes their mind/has an emergency/has to stay late at work. The negative is they don't get to re-sell the tickets and don't then make profit from the associated confectionary sales.

Deastons

waamo wrote: »

Yes they can deny a refund if it is simply a case of you changing your mind.

I have no idea why they would do this, it's not the best customer service but is perfectly legal.

Quite. In this case I chose to not book - we'll just get the tickets when we go there. This also saves me £2.10 in booking fees.

But this also opens-up the ability for us to change our mind without any second thought. Or go to a different cinema. If anything, it seems to me that they should offer a slight discount for booking online.

waamo

Deastons wrote: »

Quite. In this case I chose to not book - we'll just get the tickets when we go there. This also saves me £2.10 in booking fees.

But this also opens-up the ability for us to change our mind without any second thought. Or go to a different cinema. If anything, it seems to me that they should offer a slight discount for booking online.

£2.10 booking fee for paying online. Someone is having a giraffe.

Manxman_in_exile

Deastons wrote: »

Empire made it clear, too. Very clear. Red wording, bold, over and over again. But it just made me wonder why they don't offer refunds/exchanges. As I mentioned, it's largely online/automated, so why is it such an effort to allow people to change their mind, or decide to go to an earlier/later screening?

The only plus I can see for the cinema is they get to keep the £10-or-so per ticket for anyone that changes their mind/has an emergency/has to stay late at work. The negative is they don't get to re-sell the tickets and don't then make profit from the associated confectionary sales.

Isn't it obvious? Once they've got your money, why would they want to give it back? They can't be sure of re-selling your tickets.