Me and the Movies -- We're Done

Dear Regal Cinemas People,

I have been a fairly loyal Regal Cinemas attendee over the past 12 years. Aside from a few instances I have generally watched most movies I've seen in theaters at the Regal Continental 10 in Denver, CO. I am also a Regal Crown Card holder and frequent user.

I ran into a predicament recently, one I've ran in to before, but this time I was really annoyed by the situation.

Due to frequent usage I have a Free Pass from my Regal Card. It expires tomorrow, July 30, 2011. I jumped online at Fandango.com and looked within 30 miles of where I live in the southeast Denver area for a theater with either (1) a movie I want to see that is older than your corporate 10 day policy for using the free pass, or (2) for one I've already seen that is 10 days or older that I would be willing to see again for free.

Either way, Regal Cinema wins with drink and popcorn purchases.

Unfortunately, there were none. Not at Regal Continental 10, not at United Artist Colorado Center, not at UA Greenwood Plaza, nor United Artists Meadows 12 the Regal Riverpoint 14 nor the Denver Pavilions.

Not one of these theaters had a movie I wanted to see that I haven't seen that also meets the 10 day requirement for my free pass, nor a newer movie I wanted to see.

So I called my local (Regal) Continental theater which lists as Now Showing:

Cowboys and Aliens no passes

Crazy, Stupid Love I don't have any desire to see

The Smurfs I have no desire to see

The Smurfs 3D I have no desire to see especially in 3D

Captain America already saw it, opening day, no passes

Captain America 3D no desire to see it in 3D, no passes

Friends with Benefits no desire to see it

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2 already saw it, opening day

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2 3D no desire to see it in 3D

Horrible Bosses no desire to see it

Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D no desire to see it in 3D, already saw it in 2D opening day and didn't like it

First I dialed the number on the Google Places page because the one listed on Fandango was an 800 number. Instead of giving me options or just having someone local answer, I had to sit through about 5 minutes of someone reading the show listings. Only after the voice was finished reading did it give me the option to dial another number for further questions.

I then dial the other number: 303 758 7736. A woman answers. She doesn't give me her name and I let her know I have two things I would like to talk about: one my free pass and the other, their local number.

I begin with explaining my situation: I have a free pass, it expires soon, I would like to use it before it expires, which is only good for Regal as any popcorn, drinks or friends I bring are extras for Regal itself. Unfortunately, that theater and the others in the area don't have anything I want to see or want to see again in which I can also use my free pass. She tells me, “Yeah, that's too bad. We have a 10 day policy, but if you want to see this, this or this you can use your pass.”

At this point I reiterated how I didn't want to see this, this or this but would rather see a handful of other movies, even if it's again. I then asked if I could use my free pass to offset the cost of buying a ticket to a movie that does not qualify for the free pass.

I am told, “No.”

This struck me as odd as it's only beneficial to Regal Cinemas in that I still spend money on a ticket, I was planning on buying at least a drink and I would have brought a friend who would have had to buy a full priced ticket and possibly a drink and popcorn as well.

Instead Regal Cinemas lost all of that potential income.

Why?

Because Regal Cinemas failed to have a movie I wanted to see or one I wanted to see again that met the 10 day after release requirement. And Regal Cinemas failed to meet me halfway by offering a discounted ticket of a “first run” movie.

And that's not all.

As I was explaining to the woman on the phone how the only reason I tend to see movies at Regal theaters is because of my Regal Card and the possibility of points, free tickets, popcorn and drinks when I come to their theaters.

That's changed. I only see a few movies a year in theaters as it is, usually in the summer “blockbuster” months. Three-D movies don't really matter to me as a viewer so I'm less likely to spend the extra fees for 3D and I'm not even sure what RPX is and why I would want to spend another $3 per ticket for that feature.

I guess she had enough of listening to me at that point because she hung up one me. There was no warning, no offer to be transferred to someone else, no nothing. One minute I'm talking to her about your corporate policy and the next she's gone from the call.

Naturally I dialed back. This time I got the name of the girl who answered the phone, Elizabeth. I asked for the manager and she put me on hold. She came back a few minutes later and let me know the manager was busy and would grab the call as soon as she was free. I thanked her for letting me know about the wait.

A few minutes later the manager, Cheryl-Lynn, answered. I explained to her how I didn't appreciate being hung up on and that it was very unprofessional and Regal Continental probably lost a customer over it. Not just me, but my friends and any dates or group outings as I'm usually the organizer for movie nights.

She told me that was sad and then asked what my initial problem was. I explained to her Regal Cinema's 10 day policy and that there was nothing I wanted to see or wanted to see again that fit into the criteria for using my free pass. She apologized and said that was corporate policy. Either it is “corporate policy” and the managers don't have the authority to let me into a movie showtime that was not going to be full anyway, thus not wasting any full price paying seats, or she was using that as an excuse to not allow me to either use the pass on a movie I wanted to see or use the pass as a discounted ticket for a movie I would like to see for a first time.

Either way, Regal Cinemas lost a customer. Not just the Continental in Denver, but Regal and United Artists across Colorado and anywhere else I have a choice. Your competitor, AMC, also has a rewards program for frequent movie-goers that I can sign up for just as easily as I did the Regal Card. Not to mention the numerous other theater chains in the area.

Regal Entertainment Group lost a customer. Not just one customer, but anyone I ever want to see a movie with, again. I used to be adamant about seeing movies at Regal or United Artists theaters for my club card points, but due to your policies I can no longer see the benefit to me, the consumer. I mean, most mainstream/pop movies are terrible anyway, but at least I went and saw them. Now when I see them I won't be seeing them in REG theaters.

On a side note, I asked the manager, Cheryl-Lynn, to have a talk with her employees about customer service and etiquette. She said she would like to but since I didn't provide her a name she didn't know whom to speak with. I asked her how many female employees she has working today at that time answering the phones. She said quite a few (which I seriously doubt). I then told her maybe it was a good time to have an all-hands meeting and discuss consumer experience.

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If anyone has an email address for anyone at Regal Movies so that I can get the email username format (ie: firstname first, lastname first, first 6 digits of first name, etc) that would be great. Thanks.

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A Rose by Any Other Name...

As seen on Google+.

For those of you not paying attention, Google+ has started to come down, some might say fairly harshly, against those of us using an alias or pseudonym on their service. There are may reasons to use a pseudonym on the internet, whether it's for privacy, security or just because you don't like your given name.

• Take a political dissidents, for example. Many of our founding fathers used aliases when writing op-eds or letters to a from others who shared their anti-monarchy views.
• Or privacy in the form of someone who doesn't want their significant other, boss or children knowing what they're saying and how they're acting on the internet. Whether it's Billy Smith who complains about his boss on Facebook or Thomas Smith who let's the whole world know, anonymously, how his wife beats him on the weekends. Or whether it's Janey Brown who is trying to hide from a former lover.
• Or, let's consider the 6 billion people in the world who don't live in the United States where we have some measure of Constitutional protections against unwarranted arrests and protections of speech. What about those people? The people in China who are afraid to speak out against their government? Or the people in the newly minted Arab Spring who might be targeted for speaking out about what is really happening behind their closed borders.
• And maybe not as intense, but just as noteworthy is the person given a terrible name and would like to use something else to express themselves. Do you remember Mr. Anderson? Or do you remember Neo?

Robert Scoble recently spoke with Vic Gandrota at Google about Google's naming issue. He posted his message on Google+

Robert Scoble originally shared this post:
I talked with Google VP +Vic Gundotra tonight (disclaimer, he used to be my boss at Microsoft). He is reading everything we have written about names, and such. Both pro and con.

He says he is making some tough choices and that he will be judged over time how those choices turn out.

He says that he is trying to make sure a positive tone gets set here. Like when a restaurant doesn't allow people who aren't wearing shirts to enter.

He says it isn't about real names. He says he isn't using his legal name here. He says, instead, it is about having common names and removing people who spell their names in weird ways, like using upside-down characters, or who are using obviously fake names, like "god" or worse.

He says they have made some mistakes while doing the first pass at this and they are learning. He also says the team will change how they communicate with people. IE, let them know what they are doing wrong, etc.

I pushed him to make more of the changes, like give us a good appeals process, etc.

He also says they are working on ways to handle pseudonyms, but that will be a while before the team can turn on those features (everyone is working hard on a raft of different things and can't just react overnight to community needs).

After running through his reasoning, mostly to have a nicer, more personal, community, I feel even stronger that Google is on the right track here even though I feel they weren't fair or smart in how they spun up these new rules, but Vic convinced me to hang in there and watch their decisions over the next few weeks.

I am on board and it will be interesting to watch Vic and his team. Me? I am having a ton of fun here and that is most of what counts.

I have a common name I use on Google+, Google Buzz, PicasaWeb Albums, various forum and messageboards: Jason ON. I not only use it on Google products, but on Twitter and other places as well. Why do I use an alias, or in my case a variation of my given name? Simple. My full name is unique. I cannot be anonymous like a Robert Jones or a Mark Taylor. When you Google search my first and last name combination I am the only one. Yes, like The Highlander there is only one of me. Even if you searched the internet for just my last name, there are only a 1000 or so unique people with my last name; and that's world wide, not just in the United States. My entire online identity aside from LinkedIN (for obvious reasons) and Facebook (so my old high school and military friends could find me) is Jason ON.


It's hard to be anonymous, have strong opinions or try not to offend someone's sensibilities when one's name is as unique as mine. I cannot hide behind anonymity nor can become lost in the crowd.

And what does Google propose to do to prevent my speech from being persecuted against by the government? We already know Google gives over user information upon request. Even if I'm using Circles and only my Public posts are searchable, who's to say Google isn't providing my real name and data behind the scenes every time I make a disparaging remark about our Uncle Sam? It's hard to be a political activist with a name as unique as mine when my go-to provider for services will readily hand over my most personal and private information upon request without letting me know or allowing me the opportunity to fight the request. It's almost a defacto investigative service for lazy government agencies like those using Facebook for research.

This doesn't even get into something as simple as privacy from corporate entities. I am job searching. We have all heard by now to control our social presence online because more and more employers are performing Google searches and scanning Facebook to determine if we're a good fit for their organization. Will Company A like the fact that I write scathing political commentary upon occasion, especially if it flies in the face of the company's agenda? Will the hiring manager approve of my atheism and will that prevent me from getting a job at that company? Will I be taken off the short stack because I wrote a Tweet condemning an industry practice?

Once Google ensures me my information on their servers in protected from in some form from the government or corporate interests who seek my identity for any reason what-so-ever, then I will continue to use an alias or non de plume on their services for my social actions.

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