Cineplex, You Can Do Better

I've written many good reviews lately on Urbanspoon, etc.  Lengthy, detailed reviews, outlining the really awesome things about places I love. I really don't just complain without sharing the love as well when it's deserved.  Tonight's experience with our local movie theater, however, calls for a "You Can Do Better" post.  I've shared this with Cineplex, hopefully they'll respond and even more hopefully, they'll fix the CaptiView machines.

Dear Cineplex,                                                                                                                                   

Tonight my daughter wanted to go and see “The Fault in our Stars”.  Being proactive, we called ahead to make sure CaptiView was available for the movie (she has a severe-profound hearing loss) and purchased our tickets ahead of time in the optimal spot for the CaptiView to work, according to the manager with whom I spoke.  We arrived, made our way to the “Yay-for-not-waiting-in-line-handy-dandy-Mobile Pick-Up machine” and...this was our first oops of the evening:

In case you can't read it, that's an Out of Order sign. 

No sweat.  It’s Monday night, not too busy, so we made our way over to the box office, picked up the tickets and a CaptiView machine.  We rely on the machines so I’m not signing all night and can enjoy the movie as well.  

Want some butter on your popcorn?  Well get in line because the second broken machine of the night had the dreaded “out of order” sign on it:

Again, not a huge deal but it was just starting to look odd, seeing all these out of order signs on machines – really hoping the movie would actually play when we got in there. 

Well we finally settled in for the movie (yes, it did play) and guess what?  I ended up signing over three-quarters of the movie because the CaptiView bombed.  It would work great for a couple of lines then skip to about every fifth line of dialogue.  It was certainly not conducive to following the story line.  “Why didn’t you leave and ask for a new one?” you might ask.  Well then she misses the words and my signing.  They also had to turn about five on at the box office to find one charged and working when we picked ours up, so my hope that another one would be available, charged and actually working was less than optimal as well.  

At the end of the movie, I went out to talk to a manager (we went to the 6:45 show – surely someone would still be around afterward, right?) about the CaptiView, how neither of us really got to see the full movie because I was acting as her interpreter, etc. 

Yep…you guessed it:

It’s awesome that I can go over and let the 16-year-olds who are slinging the popcorn and sodas know of my concerns.  

Needless to say, Cineplex, it looks pretty unprofessional with all these out of order signs, machines not working, no manager on duty, etc.  These are minor inconveniences though, and all pale in comparison to the poor quality CaptiView machines (this is not our first CaptiView dilemma, unfortunately). If you’re going to have accommodations there for folks with disabilities, they need to work.  We pay equal pricing for her to go to that movie and she deserves the same access as other people in attendance. We paid for two admissions and between us, took in about 60-70% of the movie.   

Not cool, Cineplex. I honestly think you can do better.

Sincerely,

Lisa & Kennedy Weir