Carmike Cinemas
reviews and complaints

On January 4 I went, purposely, to a movie early in the year at the Monroeville, PA theater to get a 2019 popcorn bucket. I took my old one with me since I was with 2 friends and thought it easier to share. When I asked to buy a bucket I was told they were "out"! It's ONLY the 4th day in the new year! I was told they would get some smaller buckets on the 20th (which I don't want!).

I asked if, in the meantime I could use the old bucket and was told no and referred to the manager. The manager basically told me no, they can't honor the old bucket, and that it's "while supplies last"...the ultimate catch phrase. Certainly Carmike knows what the demand might be and what the distribution must look like? Maybe you need to run some analytics? Or maybe someone in charge of program execution, distribution, and corporate communications needs to be fired over this publicity problem.

I teach customer service courses in major companies throughout the country. I shared that HIS responsibility as manager was to do the right, the ethical thing here, and that they shouldn't be out of buckets by the 4TH of January! The execution of this promotional program is abysmal, poor biz practice on a program that I'm sure is a money maker, and certainly not customer focused. WHILE I was there...working this out with the manager, 3 other people were at concessions with the same questions. The poor workers at the concession stand were getting "hammered" by the customers! Another reason that the local manager should have been able to have the authority to make compromises on this very unfortunate poor roll-out.

My pledge? To communicate as much of this as possible via social media, and to NOT buy ANY popcorn this year at Carmike. This was just plain wrong.

A FAIL of the Carmike strategy...

Our Strategy

We believe our disciplined operating philosophy and experienced operational management team will enable us to continue to enhance our leading position in the motion picture exhibition industry. Key components of our strategy include:

Focus on Providing an Extraordinary Guest Experience. We differentiate our theatres by focusing on providing an extraordinary guest experience through a variety of initiatives. We have a market-adaptive approach with our theatre….We train, motivate, and empower our staff to provide first-rate customer service, ensuring our guests are continually pleased with their Cinemark experience.

On the website it had a movie showing for 9:30 & 10:30. I brought my child and my eldest mother to see the movie. The manager came to the locked door, and was extremely rude. Stating the first public showing wasn't until 10:30. I am okay with the public verses private showing, what I am not okay with is the young blonde female (wore glasses and refused to give me get name) being rude and condesending. Yes, I was in comfortable clothes because I was off work to take my family to the movies. I am highly educated, gainfully employed and she talked to me like I was an illerate beggar. This happened at the Cookeville, TN Carmine Higland 12, on Friday, March 17 @ approximately 9 a.m.

On 11/18/2016 at 3:00 I and my friend wanted to watch the movie “Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them” in Sundance cinema theater, Seattle, WA.

As requested at the entrance of the cinema theatre we showed our IDs, but we were not allowed to enter. Local manager told us that he cannot accept our IDs as they are not valid to him:
- The manager said that the rules says, that valid ID of US citizen should be presented or we should show the passport. He said, that this is the rule from WA state liquor office;
- I tried to explain, that the mentioned rules indicate the requirements for IDs, which are: ID must be valid, there should be a face photo, date of birth and signature;
- All the above mentioned requirements are fulfilled in the presented ID. In addition the presented ID is legal valid document to identify the person under the laws of Lithuania, where we came from;
- I also explained that I never had a problem of buying with my ID anything at liquor stores in Seattle. In addition, I am 35 years old and it is obvious, that I am older than 21.
The manager argued that the presented ID is not issued in US and he will not allow watching the movie. He also refused to make a clarifying call to liquors licensing office or do anything else. He was not helpful at all.

The whole conversation was really unpleasant, Friday afternoon was ruined. Even if the law prohibits me of watching the movie (which is not the case), then at least the behavior of the manager was far from pleasant.

At the moment only one thing is in my head – are all foreigners treated in such a discriminatory manner at Seattle Sundance Theater or we just came on the day, when manager was in a bad mood?

In addition, there is not possible to submit the review in their site.

My mother (79) and I took my granddaughter and nieces 4, 5, 8 to see Midnight at the Museum when it first came out (2/3 weeks ago) It was during the day and not many people were there. The girls were so excited to be at the movies with not only each other but their greatgrandmother. The previews came on and just continued to get worse and more vulgar than the ones before. I thought why would a family movie have such rough previews? Finally the movie started and the 1st 3 words of the movie were, F*#K, F*#K, F*#K. I could not get my family up and out of there fast enough! I found the manager and said something to him (he's been there 30 years that I know of). He said he was sorry he had but the wrong movie in and he would fix it. FIX IT? 3 young girls (and my elderly God fearing mother) had just seen and heard things that they never should have been exposed to. He was very rude about it and did everything but tell me to shut up. This should have NEVER happened and he should have apologized. I have been taking my family there for over 30 years and I will not step foot in there again. My granddaughter announced at church that we should pray for the mean man at the movie with the dirty words. Our whole congregation has agreed to take our business elsewhere. Something should be said to Mr. Hateful, Arrogant, Unprofessional Manager in Cullman Alabama before he "EDUCATES" young children in the ways of the world AGAIN! Bad publicity is the worse kind and it spreads faster these days with the internet. I realize mistakes happen but this one should not have and it certainly could have been handled more professionally.