Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Does UA ever reply to comment cards?

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Ground Level » Does UA ever reply to comment cards?

Author

Topic: Does UA ever reply to comment cards?

Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 01-24-2002 12:05 AM

2 weeks ago, for the first time in 10 years I went to a theater as a "civilian", being not currently employed in the theater business. The experience was nothing short of a disaster- the print was scratched, the house lights stayed up halfway during the entire show, and the usher turned on the janitor lights during the end credits and started cleaning up while I was watching the end of the film- and those are just the things I can remember off the top of my head! If I hadn't seen hundreds of movies for free in the past 10 years, I would have really felt cheated out of the $8.75 I paid! The theater was UA Market Square in Sacramento, which I've been to 5 times since it opened, and the other times I was there other inexcusable mistakes were made which I won't go into here.
The next day I filled out their comment card on the website, saying what had happened and based on my previous experience I felt this theater has a serious problem. I did say that I had worked in the theater business for 10 years, which may or may not have been a good idea, but if I were on the receiving end and got a message like that I would take immediate action to make it up to the customer. I left my name, address, phone number and email address but so far I haven't heard a word acknowledging the correspondance. I haven't complained to a theater like this before, but one of my friends did and at least got a "we're sorry" message a few days later.
By the way, on a somewhat different subject, I've been thinking about getting back into the business but want to go see some more movies at different theaters to get an idea of how well they are run. What's a NICE way to tell someone you could improve their theater if they hired you, assuming you applied at a theater you felt was badly run? (I don't have much of a desire to work at the aforementioned theater BTW, though if they offered me something I'd certainly consider it.)

| IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 01-24-2002 01:56 AM

You will probably get a form letter response in the mail with some passes. Passes always work when you want to "buy" a customer's loyalty.

If you are thinking of applying to a theater that could really use a lot of improvement, they probably aren't interested in you telling them about it and will probably be difficult to work for when you try and clean up the place.

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-24-2002 09:58 AM

If the local theatre manager or DM does not respond, write again with the details, with copies to a higher level in the circuit. Here is a link to the addresses and contacts at the 55 major circuits in North America:
http://www.boxoffice.com/giantstop.html

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

| IP: Logged

Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 01-24-2002 02:39 PM

I USED to fill these out at a local UA theatre (when they had them in the lobby, before they started hiding them behind standees. The staff was continuously rude to any in-house complaints I ever made (an usher actually told when pointing out the frame was off center and image out-of-focus, "It don't matter"...TWICE! One letter I wrote to the corporate headquarters in Colorado resulted in a total of EIGHT passes! What happened is the letter kept being handed down from level to level, with passes included in each letter. What really got under my skin, however, was the letter stated that the two instances I had cited were nothing more than "isolated" and I was ASSURED this would never happen again! (LOL). Needless to say, NOTHING was taken care of here. My last visit was almost two years ago, when the frame of a scope film was off enough to see part of the adjoining frame. It took THREE verbal complaints to have it fixed, the LAST being shouting from the auditorium door. It was a SLOW night, with plenty of staff doing NOTHING in the lobby.

The CLASSIEST responses: Edwards Cinemas. My first letter only brought two passes, but the woman answering my complaint about dirty prints said that all theatres are supplied cleaners, and should have been used in this case (she made it clear she believed my contention that the theatre wasn't being operated correctly). The second complaint was answered the day AFTER I e-mailed it to the headuarters, in the form of a cc sent to the local theatre staff. The chief engineer for the chain reminded staff that much money was spent to change out basement SRD readers with penthouse ones and that they need to make sure that all were performing correctly. I shortly received a response from the local manager who explained that one of the units was having difficulties, I e-mailed back stating that 5 or 6 of my last visits were in differing auditoriums. His final e-mail was that I clearly had a technical knowledge and ear for telling when a film was analog or digital, something he was just trying to learn about (this theatre DOES have projectionist-only staff manning the booths. And the problems did clear up at that particular theatre.

| IP: Logged

David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 01-24-2002 03:10 PM

quote:
The CLASSIEST responses: Edwards Cinemas.

This is going back a ways (pre-1990), but on the few occasions where I wrote Edwards Theatres Circuit a letter about a technical problem, the response always came from James Edwards Sr., the founder of the company! He never made excuses or denied that what I said happened actually happened, and it was never a canned form letter. He addressed my specific complaint, thanked me and assured me the information would be passed along to the appropriate person. And I think the fewest number of free passes he ever sent me was 4. He also invited me to the grand opening of the El Toro 5 (1985?) and made sure I got a booth tour, which he knew I was keen on. Mr. Edwards liked to drop in unannounced at a randomly-selected theatre on busy Saturday nights and check everything out, including walking the auditoriums. I saw him do this once at the El Toro 5 (I even remember the show: Stand By Me). I suspect Mr. Edwards Sr. is probably now deceased. ??

------------------
- dave
Crab juice, or Mountain Dew?

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 01-24-2002 03:28 PM

A good manager doesn't hide in the office or "ivory tower". They walk the floor, observe every aspect of the operation, put themselves in the customer's shoes, and talk to customers. They KNOW their business, and set an example for their workers.

| IP: Logged

Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 01-25-2002 06:02 PM

Here's a summary of all the other times I've been to this theater since it opened late 1992:

DRACULA- First night this theater was open, everything technical seemed OK but the film went out of frame TWICE due to mis-splicing between reels. This was during the last show of the day so it had already played 3 times; if they were unable to have the splices fixed by then they should have at least known it was going to go out of frame and have someone there to adjust the framing, but people had to go out and let them know before it was fixed.

SNOW WHITE: 1993 reissue- I went to see this just because Disney still swore it would never come out on video, and the theater I was working at didn't get this. The volume was so low I couldn't hear the dialogue, the print had scratches in the middle of the frame (possibly caused by too big a loop? I've tried to get film to scratch this way and haven't been able to!) AND the framing was off- since this was 'windowboxed' the bottom of the picture was cut off while there was black space at the top, halfway through the movie someone upstairs finally fixed it. I politely let a manager know about the subpar presentation for what was supposed to be a "special" movie, and she just said "Well, they make us do everything down here and expect us to be projectionists on top of that!" I bought the "Snow White" laserdisc when it came out that year and enjoyed it infinitely more; so much for this movie being suitable only for "the theatrical experience".

IN THE ARMY NOW- ENTIRE show was out of focus, from the trailers to the end of the movie.

MONEY TALKS- Actually the best presentation I've seen at this theater, only problem being the cue tape to bring the lights up was visible onscreen when the end credits started. If I had worked there, I would have fixed this and let the person making the film up know this was unacceptable. I at least thought the place was improving, but my last visit proved me wrong.

I have to wonder why this theater continues to be run so poorly; they must have gotten SOME other complaints from people besides me?

| IP: Logged

Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 02-17-2002 02:54 PM

Well, last Friday I got 4 passes in the mail from UA. It came with an apparent form letter saying "Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your visit to our UA Market Square theatre. Enclosed you will find four movie passes. Following your next visit, please contact us at Guest Relations and let us know if we have met your needs. Thank you again for sharing your experiences."
The problem is the person who sent this probably lives in Colorado and has never been to this theatre. I wonder what the people who ARE in charge of this theatre were told and what they thought (as I said, if I were responsible I would be disgusted to hear a complaint like this, and god help them if I'd been there to see it with my own eyes!) While these passes are good at any UA theatre, I plan on using them only at Market Square and letting them know how the presentation was, whether good or bad. It still amazes me that apparently most of the people running this place don't know what they're doing, and they don't CARE either!

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.