Don’t F*** Around With Social Media Savvy Customers

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That was something Steven Payne, vice president of Evergreen Entertainment, learned the hard way. Payne’s company operates a chain of movie theaters, including the St. Croix Falls Cinema 8, in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

A patron of the movie theater, Sarah Kohl-Leaf complained through a letter to the company that she and her husband had to pay by cash for their tickets because the theater did not accept credit or debit cards. This caused them to have to borrow money from another couple to buy refreshments. She also complained that the staff of the theater interrupted the movie to check the ticket stubs of the seated audience.

The original letter

First off, the year is 2010 and your establishment does not accept cash cards or credit cards. We did not have enough cash on us and neither did your ATM. If you run out of cash by Saturday evening you should have a higher allotment of cash. Since most people expect to use their cash card, the ATM, I’m sure, is utilized frequently. Frankly, get with the time. I know you are charged for transactions on a card machine but frankly your customers would be better served. How many customers do you lose because they don’t have cash or check (since 90% of establishments don’t accept checks anymore).Thankfully, we had friends who had 1 check on them. We would have had to go to the bank to get cash to see a movie. Should we charge you for time and gas?

Secondly, after the first 10 minutes a staff member came in and announced that there were 8 people who should not be in that movie. She proceded to check tickets of paying customers trying to enjoy a movie. She also brought in the ticket clerk to see if she would recognize the 4 remaining people who did not leave after the announcement. This ruined the first 30 minutes of the movie. Frankly, we lost the first part of the plot and new characters. I did not pay 18.00 to have a distracted experience. Are 8 people worth a theater full of refunds? Why not wait until the movie is over and check people leaving? Why not pause the movie? I expect a refund, but only by check card. Oh wait, sorry, we are all out of check cards. Get the point yet? I would rather drive to White Bear Lake, where they obviously know how to run a theater than have this experience again.

Sarah
Taylors Falls

Payne’s Response

To her horror, Payne replied in a way most companies wouldn’t, especially when there’s such a thing called social media around:

Sarah,

Drive to White Bear Lake and also go f*** yourself. If you dont have money for entertainment, get a better job, and don’t pay for everything on your credit or check card. You can also shove your time and gas up your f***ing ass. Also, find better things to do with your time. This email is an absolute joke. We don’t care to have you as a customer. Let me know if you need directions to white bear lake.

Steven J. Payne – Vice President

This led her to publicize her bad experience and punish the company through a Facebook group named “Boycott St. Croix Falls Cinema 8.”

In a few days, 4300 people have joined the group and that’s roughly twice the population of St. Croix Falls.

Too little, too late

I guess this apology from Payne came in too late:

Dear Mrs. Kohl-Leaf,

I tried to contact you via a phone call to issue this apology personally and was unable to reach you. I sincerely apologize for my inappropriate response to your email yesterday. As vice president, I should never have reacted that way, no matter how I felt about your email. At Evergreen Entertainment, customer service is an important part of our business, and that clearly was not reflected by my use of profane language.

Our St. Croix Falls theatre has gone through a management change and that transition has not proven to be easy, although it is for the best. There have been several issues lately, including some brought upon our operation without our knowledge, that we have been working hard to address and it appears that we are not quite there yet. We will continue to work towards these improvements in the hope that it will allow our customers better service and an overall improvement in the entertainment experience.

With that being said, if you would be willing to give our theatre another chance, I welcome you to contact me personally.

Please accept my sincerest apologies for my actions, and I hope that this misstep does not affect your experience with Evergreen Entertainment in the future.

Sincerely,

Steven

The Boycott

Here are what potential and ex customers of the theater had to say:

I guess Mr Payne didn’t read our post on how a negative social media comment can cost a company 30 customers. Not to mention a Facebook group of 4000 disgruntled people!

Customer experience has always been an important element of the business, and it shouldn’t take all these examples and statistics to understand it.

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Via CNET