Saturday, May 30, 2009

Buying tickets online sucks.....

..... based upon my one experience this year.

Darlene insisted that when we were going to see Star Trek, that I should buy the tickets online first. This way, we wouldn't have to worry about arriving at the theatre to 'sold out' situation. I reluctantly agreed and signed up with MovieTickets.com.

I bought the tickets and expecting to be able to print the tickets, was rather surprised that it did not offer me this option. The instructions just said 'take your credit card that you bought the tickets with to the theatre and this will get you your tickets. Problem - I did not agree to buy tickets online just so I could wait in another line at the theatre. What's the point (besides a guaranteed seat)?

We get to the theatre and as per the official MovieTickets.com instructions, I chose to use the theatre ATM to retrieve my tickets. I see the ATM menu and it offers pre-purchased tickets as an option. I click it, I swipe my credit card and I get - one ticket.

I bought two tickets, so now I'm thinking, hmmmm.... the screen isn't offering up any clues - maybe I have to swipe again to get the other one. I swipe a second time and .... you guessed it.... it tells me I'm done. Well, I'm not freaking done, I get in the lineup with the regular (smart) people and wait my turn. I'm seriously pissed right now. Once I get up front and see a CSR, I explain my situation and he says, "Oh yeah. Tickets bought through third party vendors don't work in our ATM." Not according to their web site, I counter. Anyway, I end up getting my missing ticket and all is well.

But I'm still fuming about the whole 'this wasn't very convenient but I had to pay extra' situation and contact MovieTickets.com for satisfaction. They do not respond. So I call to get a response. Their solution? Submit the complaint online a second time. Not 'let us help you right here and now'. So I hang up..... slightly in shock.... and compose a second, slightly more aggressive complaint. Within minutes, I get a reply that says, "According to our records, the transaction was successful. We are referring (passing the buck) this matter to the theatre for refund." To which I replied "Thank you for answering this time. Of course your records show I got my tickets. The machine pretended to give me 2 tickets, but only one came out. That extra surcharge I paid really paid off! Thanks for your great help. Thanks for nothing. This has been the most inconvenient movie ticket purchase event ever."

The very next day, my credit card was blocked for security reasons. Yes, I know - it may not have anything to do with my purchase, but it sure added some extra salt to the wound. Needless to say, I will not be buying any more tickets from that company.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Karl, sorry that you had to experience something like this. I usually buy my tickets directly from the cineplex website, and have had nothing but great experiences. Mind you, it doesn't give you access to all theaters in Calgary, just the more common ones. It gives you a printout with a barcode on it for EACH ticket. You take it directly to the ticket taker, and you're on your way. Now they just need to eliminate the loudmouth douchebags from the theatre, and they might find me going more often.

Link:

https://tickets.cineplex.com/TicketSale/CineplexTheatreList.aspx

Anonymous said...

The Cineplex site has improved but is difficult and convoluted to use. it is very un-user friendly.

Anonymous said...

How was the website difficult to use? You select your theatre and it goes straight to the movie times with options to buy tickets.

Anonymous said...

my friends and i decided to buy online movie tickets for a premiere that we had been waiting for
ordered the tickets online, expecting 9 individual tickets, and got 1 large ticket worth 9 admissions
turns out all my friends are showing up at different times
so not only will i be running back and forth trying to get them in the theater is going to think that im trying to sneak people in without paying when i paid a hundred freaking dollars because of the stupid $1 extra print at home fee!!