Based on Illiminatiprimus’ thread here I didn’t see anyone relate stories about asking for their money back after walking out on a movie.
I can understand not wanting to be seen as a fogey or wanting to cause a scene by demanding a refund for a film, but as I age (and ticket prices increase), I really don’t see much wrong with asking for my $7 back for a crap Hollywood product. Yeah, I should be able to tell the movie isn’t all that great from the trailer, but sometimes you just can’t get out of it, or the movie is just so far beneath your expectations you’ve gotta leave (I should’ve bailed on “Shocker”, but we had too much fun ridiculing it - so it’s actually a favorite of mine)
So has anyone asked for their money back? Did you get it back? Did you watch the entire movie and did that affect your refund success? Mistakes to avoid?
Only if a technical flaw interfered with the movie’s presentation, i.e. a blown speaker (as happened during a showing of Serenity). I got a free ticket, though, not a refund. Frankly, my expectations are so low that asking for my money back would seem… rude or something.
IANAL but I don’t think you’d have much of a case. I think your contract with the movie theatre is about exchanging money for the right to see a particular movie. They aren’t guaranteeing you’ll like it or even think it’s well-made - they’re just promising to show it to you. It is well-known that as regards legal matters, “de gustibus non est disputandum”, or, there is no accounting for taste.
Of course, the movie theatre might offer you something (refund or discount on next visit or a free Coke) if they want to be nice, or if they figure it’s in their long term interest to do so, and that the goodwill offsets the lost revenue. But I doubt it’s your legal right.
We did not guarantee your satisfaction with the movie, only the presentation. So a bad print, or say the AC was out.
The theatre does not exercise controll over the ‘quality’ of the movies. You don’t want that. Every film that someone walked out upon, someone else thinks that movie is great.
YMMV. DesertRoomie worked for a time at Harkins, a chain of theaters here in Arizona, and they would refund (Or more cheerfully, exchange) walk-outs all the time. Now, if you’re demanding your money back when the end-credits are rolling, they would get huffy, but anything reasonable – say a half-hour or so – no problem, here’s your money back.
For some reason, Chicago was the worst in that regard. They had a slew of people showing up at the customer counter about fifteen minutes into the movie. I’m thinking it was “Cellblock Tango” that did the trick.
I think every moviegoer should demand a rebate when there’s non-movie trailer advertising shown. Paying to get advertised to is completely ridiculous. I give movie trailers a pass because they’re at least mildly entertaining and informative.
I’ve asked for refunds many a time, but not for simply disliking a film. I’ve gotten them for projection errors, disruptive audience members, power outages and once… just once… cockroaches.
I’m always surprised at how many people will sit in uncomfortable silence when something is screwed up in projection-- house lights aren’t dimmed, audio is out, the image is misframed or completely out of focus. I usually give a problem 30 seconds or so to be found and corrected, then I’ll go tell an employee. People always give me funny looks when I’m heading up the aisle.
Yeah, tech or presentation problems are pretty much all you’ve got, legally. That said, most theatre managers seem to be pretty good sports. I’ve seen them give refunds to parents with small children who were obviously too scared by the movie, or a couple of elderly women who had no idea that such language would be permitted in a film. In fact, I knew a few people in college who worked at local cinemas, and they’d give refunds to just about anybody who was genuinely upset at anything in the film (language, violence, nudity, horror) within the first twenty minutes or so. But people who came out after forty-five minutes and said “It’s just a piece of garbage, and I want my money back,” were out of luck. They told me refund requests were pretty rare, and were usually made by people who seemed genuinely upset, so they didn’t mind. It wasn’t worth it to them to say no and start fighting about it. After all, they’d already made a small fortune on the popcorn, pop, chocolate, etc., for which they obviously didn’t give a refund.
I can’t imagine why anyone would expect the theatre to give you money back for a film they didn’t produce- if anything, you should send your request to the studio who made it. And I also don’t get why people think they should get a refund for a film but not similar events- if a football game is a boring 7-3 fumblefest, you wouldn’t ask the stadium for a refund.
And then, who should judge the quality? If a guy who loves Police Academy 6 goes to see a great classic film but can’t stand it because he’s an idiot, should he get a refund?
This reminds of the time I went to see The Trouble With Harry, and about five minutes in a redneckish couple gets up and walks out, yelling at each other. As they pass me, the guy says to the girl “The paper said ‘thriller’, it didn’t say ‘thriller in French’”- not sure if they got their money back though
“Madam, I am obliged to report to you my unalloyed disappointment with this so-called ‘Fiesta Taco’, which, contrary to its misleadingly jovial sobriquet, has at best rendered me apathetic. I therefore demand an immediate reversal of our previous transaction; in exhange for the uneaten remainder, you shall return my payment of thirty-nine cents, plus any applicable sales taxes, less any restocking or processing fee as deemed reasonable by both parties.”
Agreed, and as such I would not request a refund for a movie I didn’t like. Being in the live theater business, we occasionally get asked for refunds because someone didn’t think a particular play was good. Well, sorry bub. I hated Rent, and that wasn’t cheap.
Blatant false advertising? Unclean/unsafe conditions? Extreme violence/sexuality/language without proper warning? I can understand these reasons for requesting a refund and I’d probably grant it. I just don’t understand where this attitude originated that you are paying not only for a seat but for your unfettered enjoyment? Bah. Write a letter. Write your own play. But a refund because the material was not to your liking? It just seems obscenely self-centered.
It’s been my experience getting refunds - a few times for technical reasons (once the theatre was struck by lightening and caught on fire) and a few times for my daughter (once when she was small she threw up all over my sister during Finding Nemo and was too scared by Happy Feet).
All times the managers were very good - I was told they always give a refund/voucher if the movie is less than halfway through, more than that and you may have a fight on your hands.
I walked out on and was refunded for the Steve Martin movie Mixed Nuts. It seemed beyond horrible and the management agreed with me. Now that I look at the IMDB description, I’m surprised at the big names in it. Maybe I should give it another try 13 years later, hmm?
At Classic Cinemas, they make their refund policy very clear, and put it on the screen during the ads/trailers/etc:
That seems like a reasonable policy. Maybe it gets people to try a movie they wouldn’t normally expect to like, but they go anyway because of the policy.
And like Lunar mentioned, they would have been to the concession stand before seeing any of the show.
This is a discount theater. The movies are a few months old, and all tickets are $3. Heck, almost any movie is worth $3. (And almost none are worth $10).
