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The only reason to ask for a refund at a movie is for an extreme emergency or you are too ill to watch it.
I asked for and got a refund because I was feeling sick. Or if you are partly deaf and cannot hear movie. Some theatres do not give refunds after you have been there for a while.
Just because you don't like the movie is no reason for a refund! Then anyone would do this.
OK, I can give a pretty definitive (and long) answer, since I spent over 25 years in all aspects of movie exhibition, was one who tallied refunds, designed paper forms and point of sale software used by many theatre circuits, and wrote operations manuals for four different circuits.
Refunds and mispunches are a fact of life. Every paper box office report has a column for them. Joe and Jill go to the cashier and buy tickets for them and two friends. The friends don't show and they request a refund on the two tix. The cashier hears the customer wrong and punches tix for the wrong movie. The customer is a senior and the cashier accidentally punches an adult ticket. I could probably list a hundred legit reasons for a refund.
However... cashiers are tracked, and those who have excessive refunds sacked. There are refund scams that have been around since there were tickets. You do no favors to the cashier by frivolously asking for a refund at the box office.
Will a theatre refund the ticket price if a movie is "bad?" It depends. First, recognize that the theatre is not the creator of the product. There is no ego involvement, and only a portion of the ticket price goes into the theatre's coffers. Second, no theatre wants a reputation of showing "bad" films and not making it right by the customers. Repeat business is the lifeblood of theatres. If you leave because you don't like a film, don't be shy about asking for a refund or pass.
People go to a movie expecting a certain product. Sometimes that product does not match their expectation. One of the funniest examples I remember has to do with the word "Beethoven" in movie titles. Most people know the composer, some recognize a movie dog franchise, and a few might remember an X-rated 1970s film "Misty Beethoven." I watched as one cashier tried to delicately explain to an elderly woman that she might not want a ticket to "Mr. Beethoven." (Today, a ticket would be given, no questions asked. Times change.)
Now for the logic of most theatre refund policies:
A box office typically will remain open for 15 minutes after the last show start of the day. At that time, reports are generated and the day is effectively locked and reciepts reported to the distributors. At the same time, the cashier's drawer is counted and money is locked in the safe. (Theatres may or may not use time lock safes, for various reasons.) No cash refunds are possible past that point. (There may be an outlier circuit that allows it, but most do not, for staff safety reasons.)
To be consistent, and resolve customer issues, trip passes are offered instead of cash refunds, usually starting about 20 minutes after the feature has started. This policy holds for all films during a day, not just the last ones. These passes are generally available to a dissatisfied customer who walks out at least 20 minutes before the movie ends. In other words, if it was bad enough that they walked out before seeing the resolution of the movie, they really didn't like it and didn't receive the product.
People have to leave for various other reasons - a babysitter call, a doctor who is on call, illness, and so on. Those people, through no fault of their own, don't get to see what they paid for. Trip passes are almost always given in such circumstances. It is faster for the customer in a rush to leave, it is easy.
A person who waits to the end of a film to demand a pass will be handled on an individual basis. It is rare that they will get a pass, and getting a refund is extremely unlikely. If the person fell asleep in the movie, had to be woken by staff, and wanted a pass, sure. If they were drunk? No way. Each situation is different.
If an auditorium is not sufficiently policed by staff to allow enjoyment of the movie, again, if the walk-out is before the last 20 minutes, a pass will likely be forthcoming.
So what happens when a pass is not given and the customer is dissatisfied? There is a call, email, or letter to corporate. Wimpy public relations employees will usually cave, and an apology or passes issued. This is a sign of a poorly run circuit, where problem customers are rewarded at the expense of decent customers and the employees tasked with following corporate policies. If, however, the demand is handled by an operations person, such as district manager or chief operating officer, it will be investigated, partly to make sure the employees followed proper procedure, partly to determine the veracity of a claim.
Most customers do not realize just how much of an event can be reconstructed. Computerized ticketing gives sale time to the second, surveillance footage can give movements, and questioning staff can flesh out an incident. Sometimes the customer is right and if the handling was poor, staff and even management fired. Other times, the investigation works another way.
I had one couple in south Florida that demanded a refund, both at the theatre and in a letter that reached me at corporate. On investigating, they were lying through their teeth. Not only did they get a return letter detailing what actually happened and NO refund or passes, but all theatres in the circuit and the DM in another circuit were notified to be on the lookout for them and their scam. Some "customers" are thieves and con artists.
A warning on passes - distributors will often restrict passes, which means that the pass you get from a Thursday showing of "Vomit in 3-D" might not mean you get automatic entrance into the Friday opening performance of the blockbuster "Wonder Woman meets Thanos."
Requesting a pass or refund is not a failure of character. In most cases, it shows character.
We've only asked for a refund for a movie once. It was because the movie was so visual with little dialogue (I am blind and count on dialogue to follow a movie) and it would've bothered others if my DH had to whisper what was happening throughout the movie.
From then on I just wait for a movie that interests me to stream (the bonus is that sometimes there is a description option).
I wasn’t going to movie theaters even pre pandemic...but was so stunned about this. I was looking at reviews on Amazon of a movie that is only available to stream for $20. One reviewer who hated the film said he was taken aback by the rental price, but figured he may have spent that much on two tickets, so went ahead with it, and hated the movie. He said that unlike a movie theater where he would walk out and ask for a refund, he couldn’t do this with the Amazon rental.
Is this a thing that people ask for refunds if they deem a movie bad? Bad is a subjective judgment. Other people may not find it bad. I guess it’s like sending a meal back because you don’t like the taste...something else I have never done...only sent back if there was something objectively wrong with it, like it not be8ng what I ordered.
The only time I walked out on a movie and got a refund was when I had a family emergency (As a matter of fact, I was enjoying the movie).
But yeah, I hear it quite a bit of people at least wanting their money back when they don't like a film (that is if they walk out early).
You should only be able to get a refund, if there were technical issues during the screening or there problems with the actual hall. Movie theatres don’t produce these films.
You should only be able to get a refund, if there were technical issues during the screening or there problems with the actual hall. Movie theatres don’t produce these films.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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I attended a Star Wars showing, they got the film reels mixed-up. Complained and asked for a voucher or refund. They said call the main office. Theater played the reels in order, as received, (so they said). Didn't pursue the matter for the $6. I got the general plot of the movie.
I attended a Star Wars showing, they got the film reels mixed-up. Complained and asked for a voucher or refund. They said call the main office. Theater played the reels in order, as received, (so they said). Didn't pursue the matter for the $6. I got the general plot of the movie.
I had one apprentice projectionist make that error once, as well as splice in that reel upside down and backward. You don't want to know the words I used to correct him. Whatever circuit that was that gave you that excuse, it was crap.
Technical note: Film used to commonly come on five to as many as twelve reels, each with a capacity of twenty minutes (or twenty two if you pushed it). Most film was six reels. When the films (post 1980 +-) were assembled from the shipping reels onto a platter that eliminated changeovers, the heads and tails were cut off. Every projectionist included at least one frame of the film content onto the tail or head. That way, when it was spliced back together, the proper head or tail was re-attached to the reel of film in the proper spot.
Some bad operators would leave the heads and tails loose in shipping cans, or use masking tape, or any number of other offensive methods of shipping out film that had been played. However, because each reel head or tail was clearly marked by the processor as to which place it belonged, AND projectionists always included a frame, there was no reason for any movie to be assembled onto a platter out of order, even if it wasn't inspected at the shipping hub.
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