Anyone else sick of movie theatres' attitudes towards paying patrons?

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#1697996 3-Jan-2017 19:58

mattwnz:

My closest cinema in the Hut valley is Queensgate, and is currently being pulled down due to the earthquakes. To be honest, I find visiting it now is more exciting to look at, than when it was being used . It was an event cinemas too, and it just took far too long to get your tickets, as they often had minimal staff serving, and the area to get tickets was the same as where you buy the food, which slows things down a lot.. IMO people buying tickets should have priority over those buying food.

Up at Broadway, Auckland they had (maybe it's still there) a line that was strictly for food/drinks purchases only. The thing that seems to consistently frustrate people who order tickets online the most is that the lines for collecting ordered tickets often become "Everybody come here" lines, which completely negates the point of online ordering.

For a laugh I went and checked the FB pages of Hoyts and Events just now and most of the things that people dislike here also appear to be the bugbears of people who post on their walls etc.

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MikeB4

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#1698000 3-Jan-2017 20:15

We stopped going to the cinema a few years back. We purchased a 65" TV a good sound system and have chairs vastly better than those found at the cinema.
No more queues, no more dirty seats, no painful people and no more trying to negotiate these mazes in a chair. The result we enjoy the movie, can have comfort stops and make a coffee at our leisure.

gzt

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#1698001 3-Jan-2017 20:22

dejadeadnz:
1. The theatres' ridiculous policy of requiring people who have ordered tickets, paid for them using credit card, and have been e-mailed confirmation to collect paper stubs to show their ushers. This resulted in me having to line up for about 20 minutes today. Dear Event Cinemas: great job on turning the online ticket collection queue into a general "Everyone come here" line today! Let's face it, we all know why they do this: they want to tempt you into getting their overpriced junk food. This brings me to....

The Reading Cinema's have advanced technology - online booking self service ticket printing machines. None were correctly operating on my recent visit.

For $10 + $1.50 online booking fee it was only a mild irritation.

Then the queue, only one deep, but the person in front was probably asking the price of everything and the cashier was trying to upsell. Ages.

Overall I like the Reading experience. Arrive early, buy tickets. For $10 a quick trip to the movies is a nice getaway.

joff_nz

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#1698004 3-Jan-2017 20:27

mattwnz:

My closest cinema in the Hut valley is Queensgate, and is currently being pulled down due to the earthquakes. To be honest, I find visiting it now is more exciting to look at, than when it was being used . It was an event cinemas too, and it just took far too long to get your tickets, as they often had minimal staff serving, and the area to get tickets was the same as where you buy the food, which slows things down a lot.. IMO people buying tickets should have priority over those buying food.

I recommend you check out The Monterey cinema in Upper Hutt.

Each time I've been the staff have always been plentiful & pleasant. A good range of staple movie food and much nicer options, comfortable seating. I've good a poor sense of sound quality so not sure how that compares but the overall experience is considerably better than Queensgate's was.

dejadeadnz

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#1698005 3-Jan-2017 20:32

gzt:

The Reading Cinema's have advanced technology - online booking self service ticket printing machines. None were correctly operating on my recent visit.

Heh, at least your chain still has machines. Up in Auckland Event Cinemas took away all their self-service machines.

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#1698007 3-Jan-2017 20:41

networkn:

dejadeadnz:

Gee, thanks. It's just a discussion thread for people who want to share their views. Apparently this is a novel concept!

Not novel, you were expressing yours and he was expressing his.

No, I think @Jase2985 was being rude. The OP asked for opinions, not suggestions on how to manage his personal life/preferences.

I went to two cinemas this week. At Lighthouse Petone I booked online - but this is not "buying" a ticket, more like reserving it. You collect and pay at the cinema. At the Reading Porirua today I actually bought the ticket online but you have to collect it. Since there's no scanners at the entrance I am not sure how they would screen out fake printouts. Collecting the ticket means they scan the paper (or use your phone number) to print an already paid out ticket. The good thing is that we got to the cinema and all sessions were sold out - but we already had the tickets guaranteed. I had no problem with the electronic ticket collection being used for the others.

As for noise from other people... Well this is how education is going these days.

As for cleaning, I never had any problem but parents-in-law tell me the story of going to a three hour long movie and getting a seat that had been peed on by a previous patron. That's disgusting - the cinema should have refunded them and blocked the seat for next sessions. Nothing like that happened AFAIK but that was one incident.

My technology disclosure

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#1698016 3-Jan-2017 21:18

Unfortunately, Greater Wellington has a shortage of cinemas currently, due to the Earthquake. Hopefully Reading Courtney will be reopening quickly...

At any rate, went to Reading Porirua today; the place was packed and huge queues of people both [trying] to buy tickets and waiting to get into the sessions*. The queue was so bad for "regular" tickets that I quickly purchased online and jumped into the much shorter queue for prePaid tickets. In this case, the per-ticket booking fee was worth avoiding the queue AND getting into the session faster (as Reading Porirua doesn't have allocated seating, the time saving was a significant factor in getting a decent seat selection).

Theatre cleanliness was adequate, Other patron noise wasn't too bad, Film picture and sound were fine. And I consider the $10/head good value.

It would be nice, however, if they did allocate seating during really busy times (like today); not sure why they don't, actually....

*Apparently "Moana" (a film about Polynesians) is incredibly popular in Porirua, a city with a significant Polynesian population. How odd.... :-)

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#1698044 3-Jan-2017 21:55

dejadeadnz:

As per topic - I for one often wonder why I pay these people money to suffer. Admittedly, I don't go often but the experiences are almost always highly unpleasant. A few particular low points:

1. The theatres' ridiculous policy of requiring people who have ordered tickets, paid for them using credit card, and have been e-mailed confirmation to collect paper stubs to show their ushers. This resulted in me having to line up for about 20 minutes today. Dear Event Cinemas: great job on turning the online ticket collection queue into a general "Everyone come here" line today! Let's face it, we all know why they do this: they want to tempt you into getting their overpriced junk food. This brings me to....

2. Having to endure the obnoxious noises made by people gulping their drinks and eating their popcorns inside their theatre.

3. Dirty seats - Event Cinemas are particularly poor for this. It's almost as though cleaning is a foreign concept for them.

4. The ridiculous number of pre-screening ads. We endured (actually timed it) nearly 15 minutes of ads before we got to the preview trailers recently when watching Rogue One recently. Ridiculous.

5. Terrible sound systems - often they are not loud enough or are way too loud and with poor sound definition.

Yes, the big screens are nice and the odd theatre still has good sound systems. But I for one won't be too sad if these people were made to disappear like CD stores were. Anyone else feel the same way?

I bought a LUX ticket online yesterday for "Passengers" at Hoyts, Sylvia Park. I didn't have to stand in a queue. I just went up to the LUX lounge and showed them my bar code at the bar. I then ordered a meal to be delivered in the first half along with a drink. I had the Lamb Kafta kebabs. Just before i went in, they gave me some 'free' popcon and another drink. I had a huge lounge chair / couch to myself. Up the back. It was quiet.

I liked the movie.

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Oriphix

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#1698045 3-Jan-2017 21:57

I think all the above just adds to the experience to be honest.
If we wanted nice sound, comfortable chairs and noise free we would watch movies at home.

For our family we only ever go to the movies where there is a movie we really want to watch. The last one being the fast and furious movie.

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#1698048 3-Jan-2017 21:58

We've generally avoided the megaplex's for some time now, as I found the crush of humanity just not me anymore.

Although we're infrequent movie goers, when we do go its to Lighthouse Cuba, Brooklyn Penthouse, Island Bay Empire and if it's a really good movie The Embassy. Saw Rogue One at Lighthouse, had an icecream and a coffee in a nice sofa. The folks around me were civilised (even for star wars fans) and no-one ruined the experience for anyone.

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#1698122 3-Jan-2017 23:34

Enjoy going to the movies in Hamilton, especially at Te Awa, the ice cream shop's selection is unreal. Enjoy the big screen big sound and the date with the wife. A movie on the telly at home doesn't have the same buzz for me.

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#1698130 4-Jan-2017 00:19

Out here in the bundu, we do not have chain cinemas.

We have the excellent Circus in Martinborough which seats only around 50 per screen in 2 screens and has big, comfy chairs and you can take beer, wine etc in too if you want.

Alternatively the slightly tatty but quaint Regent 3 in Masterton.

Neither offer top end sound or picture. In fact the best picture I have seen was a 4K digital cinema in Thailand, believe it or not.

Children are my pet hate. I have decided the best solution is to designate one country in the world where all children are kept until they are 21 and can be allowed out in public in their home nations!

Geektastic

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#1698131 4-Jan-2017 00:21

Linuxluver:

dejadeadnz:

As per topic - I for one often wonder why I pay these people money to suffer. Admittedly, I don't go often but the experiences are almost always highly unpleasant. A few particular low points:

1. The theatres' ridiculous policy of requiring people who have ordered tickets, paid for them using credit card, and have been e-mailed confirmation to collect paper stubs to show their ushers. This resulted in me having to line up for about 20 minutes today. Dear Event Cinemas: great job on turning the online ticket collection queue into a general "Everyone come here" line today! Let's face it, we all know why they do this: they want to tempt you into getting their overpriced junk food. This brings me to....

2. Having to endure the obnoxious noises made by people gulping their drinks and eating their popcorns inside their theatre.

3. Dirty seats - Event Cinemas are particularly poor for this. It's almost as though cleaning is a foreign concept for them.

4. The ridiculous number of pre-screening ads. We endured (actually timed it) nearly 15 minutes of ads before we got to the preview trailers recently when watching Rogue One recently. Ridiculous.

5. Terrible sound systems - often they are not loud enough or are way too loud and with poor sound definition.

Yes, the big screens are nice and the odd theatre still has good sound systems. But I for one won't be too sad if these people were made to disappear like CD stores were. Anyone else feel the same way?

I bought a LUX ticket online yesterday for "Passengers" at Hoyts, Sylvia Park. I didn't have to stand in a queue. I just went up to the LUX lounge and showed them my bar code at the bar. I then ordered a meal to be delivered in the first half along with a drink. I had the Lamb Kafta kebabs. Just before i went in, they gave me some 'free' popcon and another drink. I had a huge lounge chair / couch to myself. Up the back. It was quiet.

I liked the movie.

Nice. One cinema in Bangkok I went to (no, not one of THOSE cinemas!) had two seater settees that came with fleece blankets in the back row!

mattwnz

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#1698141 4-Jan-2017 00:48

joff_nz:

mattwnz:

My closest cinema in the Hut valley is Queensgate, and is currently being pulled down due to the earthquakes. To be honest, I find visiting it now is more exciting to look at, than when it was being used . It was an event cinemas too, and it just took far too long to get your tickets, as they often had minimal staff serving, and the area to get tickets was the same as where you buy the food, which slows things down a lot.. IMO people buying tickets should have priority over those buying food.

I recommend you check out The Monterey cinema in Upper Hutt.

Each time I've been the staff have always been plentiful & pleasant. A good range of staple movie food and much nicer options, comfortable seating. I've good a poor sense of sound quality so not sure how that compares but the overall experience is considerably better than Queensgate's was.

I went to see a couple of movies there when I beleive it was called the Ascot, and I found the picture quality poor. They seemed to use a low res digital projector, and you could see the pixels. Maybe they have improved the projectors since it was taken over? I preferred the Queensgate one at the time, as the picture quality was better and it was a far larger theater and screen. The Embassy though is probably my favorite, and Readings on Courtney place also has good screens and seats.

NzBeagle

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#1698156 4-Jan-2017 07:55

Linuxluver:

I bought a LUX ticket online yesterday for "Passengers" at Hoyts, Sylvia Park. I didn't have to stand in a queue. I just went up to the LUX lounge and showed them my bar code at the bar. I then ordered a meal to be delivered in the first half along with a drink. I had the Lamb Kafta kebabs. Just before i went in, they gave me some 'free' popcon and another drink. I had a huge lounge chair / couch to myself. Up the back. It was quiet.

I liked the movie.

This is how they get my money, LUX or Gold Class, I don't go often enough for it to break the bank. But when the Popcorn combos cost the same as many of the menu options, I think the price premium is worth it for the increased comfort.

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