‘Gundagiri at Cinepolis-Mangaluru? Movie Theatre Indulging in Aggressive Selling

‘Gundagiri at Cinepolis-Mangaluru? Movie Theatre Indulging in Aggressive Selling

Mangaluru : Couple of days ago, I happened to go to Cinepolis located at City Centre Mall to watch Malayalam movie “Uayare”. The tickets cost to watch the movie were Rs. 120,140 &180. The young man at the ticket counter told me that I should purchase popcorn & coke along with the ticket at Rs. 320/-.but I said to him that I don’t need the snacks & beverage. He said they were was a promotion going on on that deal, and since I was reluctant to buy the ticket, he refused to give the ticket and asked me to book my ticket online. What kind of money making tactics is this? Forcing customers to buy things that they don’t want, which is outrageous. I feel that such kind of aggressive selling is totally illegal.

In few seconds after I posted my experience over social media about 25-30 of my friends commented about similar experience they had faced.

“Gundagiri at Cinepolis Mangalore? As if they charge anything less already that they wanna force this one on us now? Not happening boss.” Said Sonia Rodrigues. Rakesh Pai who also had a similar bitter experience, said “Same thing was done towards me last week, But my friends gave it back to him in the right way , and made him understand he is here to serve, not to command things to happen.” “File a case in consumer court and claim compensation for this illegal behavior, and it will be sweet justice delivered soon and a lesson.” said Nair Sudhir.

“I had similar experience last year in Cinepolis, Mangaluru. They staff at the ticket counter didn’t ask me to buy popcorn etc, instead he increased the ticket price to double the original price (from around Rs 130 to Rs 250) and when I told them that on ‘BookMyShow’ the ticket price was showing less, so he insisted that I buy my ticket online itself. That was rude. Immediately I posted my complaint to their email also, but received no reply” said Vijeth Balila. According to Jyothi Acharya who had come down to her hometown Mangaluru from Mumbai recently, had taken her kids to PVR theatre. She says that PVR charged her Rs 2000 for 6 tickets that were priced Rs 180 each. On asking the counter staff, she was told that the price included charges for the snacks and beverages that come along with purchase of ticket. She retaliated but all in vain, and since she didn’t wanted to disappoint the kids she went ahead and bought the tickets and watched the movie.

Narendra Nayak commented that “Complain to the Consumer disputes redressal forum and the DC, since the licence is given by DC. The Consumer disputes redressal forum can award compensation and pass a cease and desist order against the theater.” “There was a cinema theater called Amrith in Pandeshwar, Mangaluru, which used to give toffee instead of loose change. So, once we gave back to the ticket counter, enough toffees for a ticket and asked the staff to give the ticket. We said it he could use it as legal tender so could we. He had to take it!” added Nayak.

“Yes I too had experienced the same. They don’t issue tickets without combo packs. And then in the mall since the internet connectivity is bad, so they know we don’t have any other option other than buy the tickets at the last moment.” said Shwetha Kamath who faced similar atrocity. “This amounts to a tie up sale which is a restrictive trade practice under the now defunct MRTP act, and since I have never been to be a movie theatre inside any Mall, so I did not know about this, not that I go to movies!” advised Narendra Nayak.

One Razak wrote to me, stating, “I am Razak from Mangaluru, where I too had an incident happening on Saturday, when me and my friends planned to see the movie ‘Avengers’, and we found out the ticket fare was around Rs 256, and so we went to Cinepolis in City Centre Mall, and while paying for the ticket, the ticket counter staff asked us to pay Rs 450 per head, which included the combo deal of popcorn and soft drink. We said we just want the ticket, without the combo deal, but the staff was not agreeing to issue the ticket without the combo. This happens to be the second time that I have faced such hassles and embarrassment while,buying movie ticket at Cinepolis. My earlier such experience was last month, when I went to see ‘ lukha chuppi ‘- seems like the theatre management is forcing us to buy the combo even if we don’t want it.

Yes, movie theatres don’t allow you to take outside food inside the theatre. We are not aware of this, whether it is legal or not. But this aggressive selling is surely not done. Several people wrote to me on Instagram too. And said they faced this during several movies in Bengaluru too. On complaining with the management, I received a call from a management staff, that they were not aware of such incidents going on whatsoever- But that’s not true, as many have informed the manager, which I have come to know. My next step will be to file a complaint in the Consumers Court, so that justice is served, not only to me but other movie goers too at Cinepolis!

by Ms Laxmi Shenoy, Mangaluru- a lecturer in Mass communication and a soft skill trainer.

Note: The contents incorporated in the above report are solely the statements made by the author (Ms Laxmi Shenoy) – and are NOT those of the Team Mangalorean and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of Mangalorean.com and Mangalorean.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.