Joe J.
Yelp
Piss Poor Customer Relations and Filthy Toilets
We went to IMAX Sydney to redeem our Groupons that expired on November 30, 2014.
Much to our disappointment when we arrived at the IMAX, there were a a couple of printed out signs at the desk saying that all of the shows were fully booked out for the remainder of the day.
These sold out sessions totally put us out of luck with our groupons.
Fine, whatever. Our fault.
HOWEVER.
After reading the "Fine Print" on the gropon which I have published here as well.
The fine print CLEARLY STATS THAT:
* Vouchers will strictly not be extended or accepted after the expiration date, 30 November 2014. No exceptions.
Fine, but what the groupon DOESN'T SAY is that.
YOU MUST WATCH THE selected film AFTER November 30, 2014.
If this was IMAX intended by THEIR Terms and Conditions, that would of been no problem, we would have accepted our loss and moved on.
HOWEVER.
After having an employee at the ticket counter read the Terms and Conditions and failing to point out to us, where it says that the film must be watched ON OR BEFORE November 30, 2014.
He failed.
The IMAX employee was also very condescending and patronizing by repeating several times that "...this is a groupon..." ...groupon..."
As, if I didn't know what groupon was.
I am the one who booked it.
We then asked to speak to the manager, which he contacted. We were then told that the manager would be out in 3 to 5 minutes.
Why hurry?
I'm not sure what the hold up was.
The manager which was a girl probably in her mid twenties listened to what we had to say about REDEEMING the groupon today (which at the time was November 30, 2014, which was still valid) and booking a movie for the next day, which was December 1, 2014.
The manager, blatantly lied to us and said that is not possible, and that their system wouldn't even recognize it.
Even though we pointed out that no where in the TERMS and CONDITIONS that it says that the film must be WATCHED on or BEFORE November 30, 2014.
Which clearly the groupon's Terms and Conditions do not.
Here is an EXACT copy and PASTE of the IMAX Sydney groupon's TERMS and CONDITIONS:
* Vouchers will strictly not be extended or accepted after the expiration date, 30
As you can see, NOWHERE in the TERMS and CONDITIONS does it STATE that the FILM MUST BE WATCHED on or BEFORE November 30, 2014.
Although, that is how the manager made it sound.
So, basically we were told that were totally out of luck and left to deal with our loss.
At this point, I reluctantly accepted defeat and prepared to own up our losses.
It sucked, but what else can you do?
I spoked to the manager and explained that we drove all the way down to the IMAX which is about an hour drive for us. And that perhaps maybe we could get some compensation for our troubles.
I think that is a bit fair. Even if it was something small.
A free soft drink (it was hot muggy), a free snack or something for our next visit, a discount on newly purchased IMAX Tickets, something.
Going on a slight tangent for a moment, what a beautiful opportunity to make a sale for another show...?
Turn a negative into a positive and make some repeat customers happy about spending their time and money at an IMAX.
No.
As I asked for some sort of compensation, even if it was small, she simply said NO, and proceeded to walk away from me, as I was speaking.
Extremely rude, and very unprofessional.
We were left feeling like garbage basically.
No goodbye, no have a nice day, nothing, just turned her back and walked away from us.
HOWEVER, here's the KICKER.
As we were rudely told that there was nothing that the manager or IMAX could do, my wife was punching in our groupon voucher numbers into the IMAX's website for redemption.
Within a couple of minutes we had successfully redeemed our groupons for the Monday, December 1, 2014 show.
Which clearly proves that this manager wrong.
We WERE able to redeem our groupons ON or BEFORE November 30, 2014 AND for another day's showtime.
This IMAX Manager was rude, unprofessional and either uninformed or a liar. Maybe both? I don't know.
I've been a long time fan and supporter of IMAX but have lost a lot of respect for IMAX after this episode.
At this point I don't know where I stand with IMAX and do not know if I will be returning.
We continued to see Interstellar on Monday, December 1, 2014 with our groupons which we successfully redeemed online before November 30, 2014 for another day's show time.
We saw the 6:15PM show. I just want to add that the male toilets were absolutely repulsive.
They had not been cleaned in who know's how long. There was urine splattered all over the floor, all over the toilet seat and just stunk like hell.
Just repulsive.
IMAX Sydney cannot clean their toilets and how their management behaves clearly reflects the same by how they leave and treat their guests.
Think twice or more about parting with your hard earned dollars at IMAX, Sydney.