Bad customer service at ED Picturehouse

[dawidkimberg]

My wife and I visited the ED Picturehouse for the first time this week and we received very unhelpful and rather rude service from the lady who I assume is the manager as she was wearing a different uniform.My wife and I are members of the picturehouse franchise and I think I'd rather continue going to Brixton's cinema than put up with that again. There were several standard items behind the bar which were not available for some reason, including salty popcorn. No explanation was made and no effort was made to be courteous. V dissapointing. Has anybody else experienced this?

[snooks]

Yes I have too, and that was second visit.......so I wont be going again. I firmly believe that no 'proper'and 'thorough' training is given to these people - cheap labour I imagine

[DulwichFox]

snooks Wrote:

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> Yes I have too, and that was second visit.......so

> I wont be going again. I firmly believe that no

> 'proper'and 'thorough' training is given to these

> people - cheap labour I imagine

That's a shame.. But cheap labour ???

I don't suppose the staff in Iceland were that well paid, but all of them were helpful friendly and gave a smile.

Just a case of recruiting the wrong people.. and poor / no proper training.

Down to poor management. ???

DulwichFox

[dawidkimberg]

Agreed, Dulwich Fox. Especially as in this case it was the manager who was discourteous, walking around with a face like thunder and being abrupt towards paying customers.

[Gloves1980]

Crushed and de-valued

[worldwiser]

I've met the manager there a couple of times and I can't recognise the portrayal here at all. I think she's a credit to Picturehouse and seems wonderfully welcoming. In contrast we have been indifferently treated at Brixton but that didn't stop us going there before ED opened up.

[bawdy-nan]

I've been a few times and found the staff very friendly if a little disorganised & stressed and the person I guessed was a manager of some kind (different outfit) really lovely.

[JohnL]

Everybody has bad days - I know you're not mean't to show it but..

[dawidkimberg]

Maybe I caught them on a bad day... Teething problems with a new businesses are quite understandable but really, a little explanation might have gone a long way. It doesn't take a lot of effort to be courteous.

[cella]

I have been twice and think the cinema is a great addition to the East Dulwich social scene. There are still some minor organisational issues that need tweaking but feel sure they will be ironed out. These things are always a managerial responsibility but it's a little concerning to lump all staff under a "cheap labour" heading. They are still not being paid the LLW and why the Picturehouse chain has chosen to ignore all that has gone before at the Ritzy and the many contributions on this Forum demonstrates their cynical attitude.

[alice]

huge queues at peckhamplex which seems to have multimultiplied its popularity recently

[tibby]

That didn't take long for someone

To complain it's s great place

[dawidkimberg]

@Tibby - thank you for your utterly pointless comment.

[Bluerevolution]

went on Wednesday night to see London Road, doors were 815, we ordered food and drinks at 735. drinks were served quite quickly. At 8pm no sign of food and obvious kitchen was cleaning down. I went to counter but was too busy for the staff to break away from what they were doing (serving customers) so went direct to the hatch and asked the chef "How long before our food would be served/ready?" He said "oh, I have no bills for service, shit-sorry mate . What did you order I'll get on it" " Thanks but doors are about to open, haven't time"

This was obviously relayed as another member of staff (dep mgr possibly) came over a few minutes later and apologised, offered us free drinks and re-reimbursement of our tickets-as Picturehouse members we hadn't paid anything- so that was not really a win over scenario for us.

They couldn't deny the order had been placed as the drinks were ordered at the same time.

Another couple sent food back as they could not eat it.

Staff I personally would say, as a former retail manager, are poorly trained and in an environment they are not used to.

And yes, there was no draught beer as advertised.

Film was er er er, wouldn't recommend it !!!

[stevie23b]

Anyway, apart from the manager ,are they showing any decent filums there? please don't say 'some yank with a big gun'

[DulwichFox]

Some one a founder member told me

London Road was rubbish ?

[flo345]

We went and had a lovely time.Staff was very friendly. Only issue is that front row seats are too close to the screen, especially for 3D movies. So sit at the back if you can.

[Bluerevolution]

DulwichFox, I wouldn't recommend it. As a stage production it was brilliant but as a cinema cross over it doesn't really work but that could be just me (and the wife)

[red devil]

stevie23b Wrote:

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> Anyway, apart from the manager ,are they showing

> any decent filums there? please don't say 'some

> yank with a big gun'

Tomorrow (Sunday) they are showing The Long Good Friday. Although a lot of people have seen it on the small screen, many won't have on a big screen...highly recommend that you do

[clare]

"I firmly believe that no 'proper'and 'thorough' training is given to these people - cheap labour I imagine."

SNIFF. One of "these people" is my husband. You sound like one of "those people" who are a pain butt.

[clare]

I rather like the phrase "pain butt" I must use it again.

[Alan Medic]

DulwichFox Wrote:

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> Some one a founder member told me

> London Road was rubbish ?

Does this mean founder members reviews are worth more to you and how is this connected to customer service?

[DulwichFox]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Some one a founder member told me

> > London Road was rubbish ?

>

> Does this mean founder members reviews are worth

> more to you and how is this connected to customer

> service?

My comment was in reply to the post before

Mine asking if they were showing any decent

Films. It was the first time I had met this

Person who is very fond of the place

But thought that film was crap

Hope that helps

DF

[Andrew1011]

tibby Wrote:

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> That didn't take long for someone

> To complain it's s great place

It's right to complain about poor experiences of customer service otherwise businesses wouldn't know that, or when, improvement is required. It may be that on most days customer service is very good but that it's not being consistently applied everyday (which may be the failure in this case) due to staff bad days or business stresses, etc. It's helpful for them to know this, just as it is for them to get the good feedback too.

[dawidkimberg]

UPDATE: I wrote to the East Dulwich Picturehouse and I have received assurances that they do take matters of customer service seriously and that the matters mentioned on this thread (which I mentioned in my email to them) will be looked into immediately. If my experiences of the Brixton Picturehouse are anything to go by then I'm sure they will be running the same slick operation here in ED really soon. Time will tell.