Worst Cinema Experience of my Life

I've been going to movies for years, and my experience at Maponya Mall on 24 February was the worst ever.

1. The theatre does not enforce seat allocations. The result is that people struggle to find seats: they turn on their cellphone torches, making it difficult to enjoy the movie. When we inquired about this , were told by the staff that at Maponya Ster-Kinekor, it's first come, first served. This is utterly unacceptable service which would no doubt be replicated in the suburbs. It is not good enough in townships either.

2. The toilets stink. As you use the urinal, a disgusting, offensive stench floats into your nose. Come on, guys. How hard is it to keep toilets clean?

3. Worst of all was this one: My wife and I saw Black Panther at Nu Metro, Clearwater on opening night. We had such a wonderful time that we decided to see the movie again at Maponya, this with 9 members of our family. 9 tickets, that we supported Ster-Kinekor with! What utter dissapointment when we found that the screen was so dull and dark that we could hardly see what was going on. The fights scenes in the night time were wasted. The beautiful African attires were wasted. It was a strain on our eyes to follow the movie.

I walked out to complain to the staff, but the projectionist told me he couldn't do anything about the problem as the technician was not there and would only be back on Monday.

This is unacceptable service. It's so disappointing that the one time we decide to give our custom to a business operating in the township, to see a movie that celebrates black excellence, we should get anything but. We paid full price to see Black Panther, but what we saw was worse than a pirated copy. We should rather have gone elsewhere.

We are expecting a full refund from Ster-Kinekor.