Ster Kinekor Parow Cinema complaint

I would like to share my experience at the cinema in Parow Centre yesterday. I have changed the names as I was not sure if posting real names is allowed. The mail with the correct names was sent to Ster Kinekor.

Good Day

I would like to make you aware of an incident which took place yesterday at your Parow Centre branch yesterday the 29th of December 2019. My family and I decided to watch Jumanji (12h15 show) and when trying to buy tickets at the counter we were served by Tracey who asked how old my youngest son was to which I rep**** old enough as he is being accompanied by both his parents. Before I continue I would like to make it known my understanding of the PG rated movies. Jumanji’s rating is 10-12 PG. I understood it to be that if a parent accompanied their child then there their shouldn’t be an issue as he has the necessary parent guidance (my son is 8 by the way) it was explained later by your manager Stacey Gunner that according to the FPB that ages 10-12 require parental guidance and any kids under the age are not permitted to watch the movie, I accept this 100% and this is not my complaint. So back to buying the tickets from Tracey, she then asked if I was paying by card or cash and when I answered card was told to pay at the self-service machine. I didn’t have issue with this and proceeded to do so. I then saw Tracey leave the ‘sales counter area’ and talk to a short lady with glasses who I would later find out was the manager Stacey Gunner. While we were buying our tickets another staff member (didn’t get his name) approached us and asked how old my son is, I gave the same response I gave Tracey, he left and we carried on.

We bought our tickets (we were early 11h30) and then went to get something small to eat before returning. When returning we went to purchase refreshments and were told only cash sales at the counter otherwise you must purchase at the self-service, no problem. When purchasing our snacks at the self-service machine we were approached by Stacey Gunner who asked if we needed any assistance with using the machine, we declined it was pretty straight forward. We then went back to the refreshment counter and collected our items. We then proceeded to enter the cinema and again were asked by the person checking tickets as to how old my son was. He was given the same answer but said he must call his supervisor (manager) who was Stacey Gunner. She then explained the FPB regulation and said she will not allow my son to enter, a small argument ensued before my wife said we will be happy to leave with a full refund. Miss/Mrs Gunner said she could refund the tickets but not the refreshments, to refund that we would have to contact a call centre and place a claim for refund. Of course we were not happy with this and like I said more than happy to leave with a full refund, which your manager insisted she could not do for the refreshments due to the policy. Again I can understand this policy, popcorn and cool drinks can’t be resold once purchased, it makes sense but here is where the issues comes in.

Your manager was made aware of the situation after our interaction with Tracey when purchasing tickets, she offered to assist us when purchasing refreshments at the self-service machine, meaning she was well aware of my son and had already made up her mind that she was not going to allow my son to watch Jumanji yet she waited for us to purchase refreshments which she knew could not be refunded. A simple approach when instead of asking to assist and saying sorry but I have noticed your son is not old enough and I will not allow him to watch Jumanji, your options are BEFORE you buy non-refundable items are that you pick another movie your son can watch or we refund you for the tickets. This is what any respectable person would of done, instead she was shady about the whole situation and to make things worse had an attitude the entire altercation, sarcastically asking me if she needs to spell her name to me when I asked for it. Her attitude quickly changed when she made the mistake of admitting that she was hoping that we would just select another movie to watch upon my wife asking her why she didn’t approach us earlier and when we pointed this out to her. Your manager in this entire process never once tried to de-escalate the situation, instead proceeded to let us look like excuse for a better word ********* in front of other customers, It was my wife who suggested that her and Miss/Mrs Gunner go and talk in her office to try and handle this situation. Your called centre was contacted and acted correctly telling Miss/Mrs Gunner to refund us for the tickets as well as the refreshments, something she was not happy about. While in the end the outcome was the correct one, such an unnecessary scene was allowed to occur by manager who didn’t want to lose a sale and instead of doing things the correct way proceeded to be underhanded and plain right *********. If Miss/Mrs Gunner is the kind of person Ster Kinekor lets run their facilities I feel very worried, maybe with time she has lost what the meaning of a manager is and the golden rule, the customer is always right! Luckily to my surprise Ster Kinekor is not all bad as straight from Parow Centre we went to N1 City not aware that it is also Ster Kinekor and went about watching Jumanji there with not one person inquiring the age of my son, so I’m confused again about the policy and FPB legislation although I digress because like I said, this complaint was not about the policy or the legislation instead the poor actions of your manager.

I will be posting this on Hello Peter and other platforms purely because of Miss/Mrs Gunner's behaviour who as a representative of your brand will ensure that myself, any of my family and friends never return to watch a movie a Parow Centre. Please find attached all receipts and refunds, also note that none of the refunds are reflecting in my account yet, please don’t make me write a second mail. I look forward to your response.

Kind Regards

Kevin Phyfer