Wednesday, May 20, 2009

PVR Cinemas, Bangalore - Is Customer Service just a pretense?

On Friday, May 17th, We reached Forum mall hoping to watch 'What just happened' - a movie that had released on that very day. But as it turned out, destiny had different plans for us.
When we were about to brandish our tickets in style, we were told to wait and out of nowhere came an employee of PVR Cinemas telling us that the show in question is canceled. The reason given, much to our incomprehension and disbelief, was that the print of the movie was not good and it had arrived very late the previous night.

From a very popular chain, the least one expects, is a responsible and adequately apologetic reply. Instead we were asked to either watch any movie running then or take a refund. When pressed, all we got was that they did not get adequate time to check the print. I don't think this would enhance their reputation in the least. We wasted money on petrol and parking only to be turned away ultimately with the money.

If only customer service is just about refund, PVR would have passed the test, but as customers we know it is not. The moral of the story is not hard to figure out. Draw your own conclusions!

5 comments:

Bindhu Unny said...

Some times things go beyond anybody's control. At least their behaviour was not rude, right?
Let's give them the benefit of doubt once.
:-)

Martin said...

Gosh I think you are being a little harsh. I work in the cinema industry in Australia and can see that they had no choice. Prints are often delivered last or in separate deliveries to avoid piracy/theft. The poor projectionist has to splice together all the reels (correct order, top and tail etc, insert trailers, ads etc). This takes hours. They may have concerns over print quality which then gets reported and considered by senior management. To then watch a film bewteen midnight and dawn is not easy. It's a VERY BIG CALL to cancel a session, so it must really have been an issue. I can assure you no cinema operator wants to lose a session or incovenience a guest.

Shiva said...

We could understand that if the reply was not brusque. "From a very popular chain, the least one expects, is a responsible and adequately apologetic reply"

If you have come on a friday evening to enjoy yourself, is it a far fetched expectation?

Unknown said...

Belief that Customer is a KING still has a long way to go atleast in India. Also, Bindhu & Martin, your sentiments seems to be tilted :(. Question here is not of the bad prints and cancelling of show ( these are operational issues which are bound to happen in any industry) but how do u avoid incovenience to customer. I can't believe that in the era of communication why ppl are so dumb that they cannot think of innovative meeans to reach to customers and give them prior haeds up. In case of Shiva ordeal, a sipmle SMS would have save the gang time,fuel & trauma. I will call this just another callous approach from the service industry in India..finally yahan sab chalta hai :(

Pink Mango Tree said...

Unless I have a good reason to go to PVR, I don't go.. only cos I hate the chaos and the crowd!
I can very well imagine your frustration!