AMC Southpoint 17

Reviews 4

GN

Gnash Yathuur

I write this to state my genuine, contemptuous disappointment regarding the service I experienced at AMC Southpoint 17 Theatre, Southpoint Mall, 8030 Renaissance Parkway, Durham, NC 27713. To say that I was offended by the severity and blatant highway robbery of AMCs new policy regarding a premier customer program would be a severe understatement. On a Tuesday night, witnessing minimal showings and through traffic, the line to purchase tickets was some thirty people long. People were complaining of having been there for an undue amount of time to begin with. In the ten minutes that I spent in line, we had hardly moved more than a few persons. The line was steadily growing longer behind me. This is following the constricting of the flow of purchase from four lanes of ticket booths down to one, and the rededication of one of those booths to serve their new premier customer line, which customers must pay extra for this privileged membership. There was no visible reason for this slow rate of service. A second lane opened up - the one regarding this premier customer line. I did not know of this limitation at the time. A single person among that thirty came to the newly opened booth to purchase their ticket, visibly upset. The cashier did not seem to care. I went up to the ticket booth, unaware at the time of the new program. I was rudely, brashly informed that the opened line was for premier customers only. Politely I explained that my movie was about to start, and that I would need to purchase my movie ticket through the newly opened line or else I would significantly miss the movie I had come to see. I was declined service. Due to my choice to not spend the extra money to pay for the privilege of buying my ticket in a separate line, I was rudely and callously told to go back to the end of the now fifty person line, and wait my turn. By that point, it was chronologically impossible for me to obtain my ticket and enjoy my show by the start of the movie, even considering the typical fifteen to twenty minutes of previews before each film. In light of the following: -The extreme, unfathomably slow pace of the primary line -The reduction of line number to one -The excessive, unnecessary demonstration of this new premier customer program in the form of a single extra line one must pay extra money to access -The rudeness of tone and off-putting nature of the demand to get back in line I deem the AMC 17 theater unfit for customer service, bereft of a customer-focused business model, and a blatant attempt to make an already expensive source of recreation unreasonably unattainable for the movie-going enthusiast. That I should have to pay extra money for simple customer service and a wait time less than a half-hour is disgusting. I left. On the other hand, I went to another theater to watch my show tonight. Regal Cinemas, Brier Creek Stadium 14 at 8611 Brier Creek Pkwy, Raleigh, NC 27617. Tickets were half the cost of those sold at AMC Southpoint. I was given a coupon at the door for half-priced concessions. I was greeted with a smile by a helpful attendant, rather than an abrasive, thankless and condescending one as that of AMC. The theater was more spacious, luxurious recliners instead of cheap, dingy stadium chairs, reserved seating to ensure my friend and I would have spots together, and considerably cleaner than the subpar, sticky floors typically observed at AMC in the nine years in which I have been a faithful moviegoer at AMC. Sound quality was also enhanced via individual surround sound speakers under each seat to give a more full theater experience. A high-quality theater, whose tickets were half the price of a terrible theater, delivered a better product with exemplary customer service. I went to AMC because it was closest to me. Suffice it to say I will go there no longer.

---

AS

AshleyMarie

This place is the reason I absolutely HATE movie theatres. Not only did my husband and I have an absolutely horrible experience due to the incredibly rude people behind us, but the management team did absolutely NOTHING about it when we went to tell them about our situation. First of all, the fat lady behind us kept making noise and talking and laughing loudly and obnoxiously throughout the whole freaking movie. Its STAR WARS...whats hilarious about STAR WARS and why are you laughing like Ursula? My husband turned around to politely tell her to please stop talking and then she proceeded to start shouting at us that we needed to stop talking to her and turn around. Not to mention her obnoxious kid kept kicking my chair which was annoying. After that kept going, I told my husband to go get management and fix this problem. Did they do anything? NOPE! They just stood there for 2 minutes then walked off. Did that fix our problem? NOPE! Finally, ten minutes before the end of the movie, the lady got up and told the guy she was with and her kid that they "were leaving." Thankfully, they did...but before the guy left, he punched the back of my husbands chair and said "oops, my bad." EXCUSE ME? I was SEETHING! When we went to tell someone in management about what they were constantly doing throughout the movie and that we went to another manager in the theatre about the situation, they just looked at us like "Yeah...sorry bout that." Wow, really? Thats all? No, no...definitely wont be returning to this theatre EVER! Ill make sure to let people in my inner circle know about this and how management here basically could care less about what other people do to other PAYING CUSTOMERS in this theatre.

---

RO

Ross Mann

The woman who wrote that the age they use for seniors is 70 was wrong . . . it is 60 and can be found on their website by clicking on the age policy link. These theaters are Ok, pretty much what youd expect. My big complaint is the previews. For example when going to see an IMAX 3D show last week the listed show time was 4:20 so I got there about 15 minutes early to be sure to get a good seat which turned out to be unnecessary because there were only about ~ 20 people in that audience. Up until 4:20 they ran advertisements for local businesses, their concession stand, etc. Then at about 4:20 the "previews" started and they must of have run 7 ~ 8 of them which lasted about 25 minutes! The actual film didnt begin until around 4:45 and by that time I was really tired of all the bang-bang loud over-the-top action movies that they had previewed. The film I was there to see is 2 hours and 20 minutes and I really didnt want to have had to sit through all of that extra time for them to promote more business. If theyre going to keep you hostage for that long before showing the film you paid to see then they ought to begin posting two times: 1) one for when they start their previews, and the other 2) the for actual starting time of the film. Lucky for me, I have a nice Dolby surround sound home theater set-up and therefore dont have to put up with these problems very often because I usually just wait 9 months and watch at home.

---

A

A Private User

I no longer frequent the Southpoint Cinemas. I prefer to spend my money at theaters where I can enjoy the movies, instead of having to ask other patrons to stop texting, having loud conversations right behind me, etc. I also prefer not having to arrive 30 minutes early to a movie only to find that there are no decent seats left. After six trips to the Southpoint Cinema over the past year were all ruined by other customers disruptive behavior (and the "adults" are worse than the children!), I decided to try other venues. I now go to other, less expensive theaters, and thoroughly enjoy myself. While the seats and sounds at Southpoint are indeed first class, I was never able to lose myself in the movies, or feel all that good about spending top-shelf money on a third-rate movie going experience. You might not think that this--disruptive behavior by other patrons--is something the owners/managers can control, but it absolutely is, and Southpoint is far and away the worst theater Ive ever been to in this respect. Its not even all that close. If youre someone who, like me, either has ADD or simply thinks its ridiculous to have to put up with this sort of thing after paying for a movie at todays prices, Id encourage you to look elsewhere. I have, and have relearned to enjoy going to the movies.

---

---

Other organizations