The outcome: A full refund + complimentary tickets + a poster!
After having to argue my case with Cineworld I managed to get a refund in full. In the end my refund came from the head of customer services who my girlfriend contacted via a friend who works in the cinema industry. During this time we spoke with someone else who attended the same showing as us - they were given a full refund and complimentary tickets (for a party of 6) as soon as they complained. Cineworld's inconsistency in dealing with complaints really doesn't score them any points with customers. You can't give differing responses to different customers - they'll use the internet to find out who got what!
On the upside - on the night of the showing I tweeted about my experience and received two tweets from Arts Aliance Media who were involved with the distribution of the film (although no response from Cineworld!) - someone later emailed me and is sending me a Foo Fighters movie poster to make up for my disappontment, which is nice of them!
The beginning....
After the debacle we encountered trying to watch the Foo Fighters documentary I have written to Cineworld today and am posting my complaint here as well so anyone considering going to a satellite broadcast can think twice before they pay a fortune to do so...
To whom it may concern
I am writing to you to convey my disappointment at "Foo Fighters - Back & Forth" performance at my local Cineworld in Wolverhampton last Thursday (7th April).
Having been a huge fan of the band since 1994 I was very excited to see that their new documentary "Back & Forth" would be screened at my local cinema along with a live performance. I booked tickets for myself and my girlfriend despite the total price coming to a hefty £25.40 (inc fees), which is more than the cost of 2 tickets for a 3D film in this cinema.
Unfortunately the experience can only be described as 'appalling' and I ended up walking out of the performance broadcast before it had ended.
The documentary movie which was shown before the live broadcast was shown in the wrong aspect ratio causing the captions on the screen to be cut off and and unreadable, this caused considerable frustration as when watching a documentary these are vital in knowing who is talking on screen. Not only this but the only speakers working / turned on where those directly in front of us (either side of the screen), non of the surround sound speakers along the walls were functioning, which left us listening to a music documentary with no surround sound and at a volume level that I would call 'quiet' compared to previous visits to the same cinema.
I would have thought that given Cineworld's experience these 'school boy' errors should have been avoided and I find it hard to believe that no one noticed either of these issues when the film was tested earlier that day (as the cinema manager told us it was). I also find it hard to believe that a brand new music-based film would not have been mixed in surround sound so can only put this down to technical incompetence on Cineworld Wolverhampton's part.
These issues aside, we were prepared to watch the film as we also really wanted to see the live performance, which I understand was broadcast via satellite to the cinema.
As the documentary came to a close the screen went blank and the auditorium lights came on as they do at the end of the film. Along with many other viewers we sat there wondering what was going on - there was no announcement or message on the screen telling us what would happen next, no countdown to the live broadcast and there were no members of staff in the screen giving anyone information. After about 5 minutes people started to leave, whilst others checked their phones, making sure there was actually meant to be a live performance.
2 or 3 minutes later the screen flickered into life, by which point the live performance was under way and the band were in the middle of a song. To add to our dismay there was no audio and we were forced to sit there for approximately 3 songs with no sound. During this time I sent a text message to by brother who was watching the broadcast nearby at Cineworld on Broad Street, Birmingham asking him if they were experiencing any problems with the live feed and he replied saying that their feed had been fine - no problems at all. Yet again during this time there was no effort made by Cineworld staff to explain or apologise for this situation. Another song passed and finally the the audio kicked in, however this was now out of sync with the video feed, which kept freezing.
After trying to watch for another song my girlfriend and I decided to leave and find the manager. Not only had our enjoyment of the documentary been spoilt by technical errors, the live performance was not even watchable.
We left the screen and spoke to a supervisor who was very little help. He went to find the manager and we were told he was cashing up and that we should go and watch the rest of the performance and that the manager would speak to us after the broadcast has finished. We told the supervisor this wasn't good enough and that we wanted to see the manager now because the broadcast wasn't watchable and having left early we didn't want to have wait for 100+ other people to speak to the manager after the broadcast.
5 or so minutes past before the manager arrived and when he did he was apologetic but refused to give us a refund claiming that he'd cashed up and couldn't refund us. This infuriated us as we'd been told by the supervisor 5 or so minutes before that he was in the process of cashing up - so if the manager had spoken to us at that time perhaps he'd have been able to issue a refund.
We explained our grievances to the manager, not only about the satellite broadcast, but also about the aspect ratio & sound during the documentary (which wasn't broadcast live, but has been downloaded and played back locally - something the manager told us) and whilst he was sympathetic he told us our only option was to take complimentary tickets to a film of our choice which didn't even amount to the same cost as the tickets for this performance, or to contact customer services in the morning. I asked him what assurances he could give us that customer services would refund us and he told us "none - I can't do that". Having checked Twitter on the way home it became clear that we were not the only cinema affected by these problems, however it also become clear that other Cineworld cinemas (
specifically one in Leeds) were issuing refunds and giving people comp tickets on the spot.
To say that this experience has left me extremely disappointed in Cineworld would be an understatement.
Whilst I appreciate by the very nature of satellite broadcasts some things are beyond the control of the local cinema, the fact that you are charging such high prices for these one-off events should mean that they are well staffed and you are prepared to deal with any problems.
I would therefore like to request a full refund for the 2 tickets that I purchased, including all booking & transaction fees as I feel we didn't get anything close to what we paid for.
I booked online via the Cineworld website and my booking reference is: *******. The email address of the account I used is: ********. Please let me know if you need any other details in order to process my refund.
On a side note: This wasn't the first satellite broadcast I've been to - having attended similar such events at our local independent cinema it's highly surprising that a small indie cinema can handle this type of broadcast and yet a big chain like Cineworld failed so miserably. Having also been to a satellite broadcast at a Vue cinema in the past that experienced similar problems I would have thought the major cinema chains would review their policy for using this type of technology until it is up to consumer standard, something it is clearly not yet.
The morning after the screening I woke up to found out that the Foo Fighters themselves have
said they are re-broadcasting the film/performance on the 14th April to make up for all those who experience technical problems - I can only hope this applies to the UK as well as the USA.
I have also posted this email on my blog as I feel it is only fair to warn others who are considering attending such broadcasts.
Regards, James
UPDATE #1 - I received a reply from Cineworld
Thank you for contacting Cineworld.
I am very sorry to hear that your experience was ruined due to technical difficulties at our Wolverhampton Cinema. Unfortunately, we were experiencing difficulties with cut outs in general for the Foo Fighters film and this was a one-off error due to those who distributed the source material, as well as ourselves. It is a problem that occurred in many of our cinemas where the film was shown and an investigation has been undertaken to identify the source of the problem and ensure that such a thing does not happen again.
Of course, technical difficulties are never predictable but I apologize deeply that a special feature that you much anticipated was blighted by errors of cut out sound and picture. We only wish for all of our customers to enjoy the time they spend with us and feel greatly saddened when this intention is not achieved and our customers go away feeling unhappy with our services. I do apologize that the attitude of the manager was not agreeable or sympathetic towards you. For this reason I have forwarded your comments onto the cinema to ensure that all staff are polite and helpful towards customers at all times and adhere to the high standards of customer service that we like to project.
I do fully understand your frustrations but as you have already viewed the performance I cannot offer you a refund. However, in the light of the extreme disappointment you have been caused and by way of apology, in the hope that your faith in us can be somewhat restored, I would like to offer you 2 complimentary tickets and 1 snack voucher (consisting of 2 large drinks and 1 large popcorn) to return to the cinema as my guest in the future. I like to believe that this offer can ensure you a pleasant, enjoyable experience without hindrance of technical errors or any other types of disturbances. If you would like to accept, please email back with your full address and we will be happy to send this out to you.
Kind Regards
XXXXXXXXX
UPDATE #2 - I responded to Cineworld
Hi XXXXXX
Thank you for getting back to me. However I don't feel that your response has addressed all of the issues I have raised and just like the evening in question I am being fobbed off by Cineworld.
I understand that you had issues with the satellite feed for the live performance section of this screening and that this caused 'cut outs' as you called them - I am well aware of this as it meant I was unable to see a large percentage of the live performance. I am also aware that there were no problems with this broadcast at Cineworld in Broad Street, Birmingham as I text my brother who was there at the time to find out.
This performance was un-watchable, not only because the sound and audio didn't work and were then out of sync and not only because there was no sound for the first 3 songs, but the broadcast started mid-way through.
I paid £25.40 to see the entire documentary and the live performance, not whichever parts of the performance Cineworld could or couldn't manage to show. I don't accept your refusal to refund me because I have "already viewed the performance" - I haven't viewed the performance, I was unable to do so due to these technical problems and therefore I must insist that you refund me in full as requested.
Cineworld sold me tickets for the documentary & the live performance, the film was billed as "Foo Fighters - Back & Forth with Live Performance" and you did not give me what I paid for.
On top of this - the documentary which you had complete control over and was tested earlier that day (as the manager told me) was in the wrong aspect ratio and not in surround sound, something you seem to have neglected to even mention in your response to me. Live broadcast problems aside I feel this in itself warrants a full refund as I did not pay £25.40 to see the documentary in this inferior manner. Yet again Cineworld has not lived up to their part.
If it is indeed the case that you "wish for all of our customers to enjoy the time they spend with us and feel greatly saddened when this intention is not achieved and our customers go away feeling unhappy with our services" then offering me a full refund should not be too much to make up for letting a customer down.
Regards, James
UPDATE #3 - Cineworld finally worked out what good customer service is
Dear Mr Clarke,
Thank you for your response and I am sorry that you were not happy with mine.
As stated in my last email, I do understand your frustrations and in this instance, having reviewed your complaint, I would be happy to offer you a refund of £25.40. Please call Customer Services on 0844 815 7747 Monday - Friday 9am – 5.30pm or Saturday 10am - 4pm with the details of the card you used to make your booking and we will be refund this for you. Alternatively, if you wish to provide a contact number that we can call you on, we shall do so and provide a refund for you that way.
Kind regards
XXXXXX
