Well, we all are now accustomed paying the convenience charges for anything and everything. While the charges seems to be on the higher side especially when it comes to the entertainment, we let it go since we do not have the time to stand(just fr few minutes) in the queue to book the tickets. The GST did not exempt even this Convenience Charges since the charges now stand at Rs.38.40 with www.pvrcinemas.com
While I am not sure about the legality of the charges which runs as high as 25% of the actual ticket charge as there are no legal binding and strict rules on this so called "Convenience Charges", I faced an extreme inconvenience.
Remember, this is not the first time I faced it with PVR. It happened last year when I booked the ticket for Bahubali and I along with friend was asked to leave the show despite having the online ticket where we were given a reason of system error as our tickets were not registered on the system and they issued a manual ticket for some one else. We were just given an apology which did no good because we had spent our time and money to come all the way traveling close to 15 kilometers and have incurred parking charges too.
While I let that go, there is another incident which happened yesterday that cannot be excused. I saw the website showing the screening of Annabelle from 4th August onwards and I promptly booked the tickets for the show on 5th August. I booked the tickets on 3rd August.
When I went to the theatre on 5th, I could not print the ticket on kiosk and when I enquired in the counter, I was told that the movie wasn't released and I would get the refund in 5-7 working days.
Now my question which I think is very much valid(even in the court of law) is this:
1. When you charge the so called "Convenience Fee" are you not suppose to compensate the customer when they face an "Inconvenience"
2. Refund will and must happen anyway by default since the service was not availed. Is this all a customer is entitled to get? Is this the brand handles a customer?
3. Since no one raises a voice and they get pacified with a simple apology message from the brand which is no good since I paid so much for my travel and spending my time to come all the way, who will compensate it?
I can very well take this to Consumer Forum to teach the brand a proper lesson but since it is a time consuming process, I am writing this blog post so that you all will know as to what exactly is happening and be aware of the smart way of tackling the customers.
My Tweet link showing the Screenshots are here:
https://twitter.com/AryanSarath/status/894087935875731456
The best part is this. Eventhough I haven't watched the movie, I got a prompt SMS asking me to rate the movie and the experience.
Secondly, I got an SMS about the cancellation of screening of the movie, the next day and not a day before or even on the day when the movie is about to be screened which would have avoided the inconvenience caused to me.
This bitter experience has made me to take a firm decision to boycott PVR with immediate effect and I have also tweeted to them registering my strong protest and that I would not be using the refund credit as a mark of my protest.
If you have also experienced something similar to this, it's time to rise up!!!
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