The trip to the movie theatre is certainly one of the trips that we would hate to be late to. Imagine being 10 minutes late and confused as you have missed the introduction part of the movie.
Just yesterday, in a Facebook post, one of the movie patrons shared an unforgettable experience at TGV Cinemas in Vivacity Megamall, Kuching, Sarawak. He visited the cinema to watch The Batman, which started at 7:15pm and 45-minutes into the movie, one of the cinema ushers came into the theatre hall and made a surprising announcement.
“We will restart the movie from the beginning. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
When asked for the reason, it was revealed that a group of people had just arrived for the movie.
The Batman has a runtime of 175-minutes and to rewatch it from the beginning after 45-minutes into the movie is certainly time-consuming. He expressed his frustrations in his post as he believed that the movie should not restart just to accommodate the people who were late to the show.
“Come on, don’t tell me this is a normal procedure. Other people pay too for their tickets for heaven’s sake.”
Despite being offered a refund, he said that it is not a matter of money but fairness. He ended the post by urging the cinema to revise its SOPs.
Miscommunication & technical error
In the comment sections, a couple of netizens who claimed to be one of the visitors who was late to the show revealed that it was due to the miscommunication that occurred at the ticketing counter.
Apparently, the staff told some of the customers to come back at 7:45pm as there were some technical errors. However, the errors were fixed and they managed to play the movie as scheduled.
When the customers came back at 7:45pm, the movie had started 30 minutes ago and the argument went on until 8pm.
This is not our SOPs
Last night, TGV Cinemas issued a statement via their social media and extended their apologies.
“This incident does not adhere with our screening SOPs at all as all our movie sessions are to run on time as per schedule.”
As a token of apology, TGV will offer 2 complimentary tickets and a full refund to the affected customers.
It is unfortunate that the majority of the patrons had to endure an additional 45 minutes of the movie. How do you think the cinema should have handled the miscommunication instead?
Also read: Do We Really Need Cut Scenes Or Censorship In Movies For 18 & Above, Like Scream?
