Cinema

The Queen

I was at the cinema this evening, which I frequent at least once a week. A member of staff approached me and my boyfriend and asked to bring our bags down to the box office and leave them there while we were at the film. He had regular bag with shoulder straps, but mine was my hand bag. Fair enough - my bag is larger then the average hand bag, but is of normal handbag design. He said it was for "security purposes" but they have no signs up mentioning this anywhere. I asked him what security purposes but he just walked away. I didn't pursue this as I was already late for the film.... my main problem is that it was my handbag! Can they do this? Should I complain?

Random

If they don't make you aware of this before you buy your tickets and your bag was a reasonable size then I'd say you have a choice of a refund or put your bag in the office.

None the less, right a quick letter into the manager or customer service rep and see what they say - you'll proberly get some comps

antoinolachtnai

The other issue is to get them to give you a baggage check for the bag. You should explain that the bag contains papers with proprietary secrets written on them, and is worth over one million euros. Say that you don't normally let it out of your sight, but that that if the cinema is happy to look after it during the movie, that's fine.

SeaSide

antoinolachtnai wrote:

The other issue is to get them to give you a baggage check for the bag. You should explain that the bag contains papers with proprietary secrets written on them, and is worth over one million euros. Say that you don't normally let it out of your sight, but that that if the cinema is happy to look after it during the movie, that's fine.

More likely they were afraid it contained contraband such as crisps and a can of coke.

thefinalstage

Or it was someone cliaming to be staff and was just trying to take your bags?

Tails142

crack down on people smuggling in camcorders perhaps?

Red Alert

I doubt it, modern equipment is so small that a handbag or the like would be unnecessary. A lot of pirated films which are done this way are done in cinemas where the staff are doing it - thus facilitating synchronization to the projector and direct sound hookup.

Did you bring your bag down or not after?

The Queen

Yeah, we brought our bags down... We shouldn't of, but were late for the movie. Also. The bags weren't even put in a safe place. They were left at the feet of the cashiers... My friend is a lawyer so she's writting a strongly worded letter for me.

More likely they were afraid it contained contraband such as crisps and a can of coke.

We were actually in the queue for popcorn and drinks!! What is the most irritating thing about it is he offered no explanation other than security reasons and just walked off when I questioned him... Quite poor public relations!!

aidan_walsh

If he "just walked off", why did you follow, rather than just continuing to wait in line and telling him where to shove the bag if he came back?

Bluetonic

The Queen wrote:

My friend is a lawyer so she's writting a strongly worded letter for me.

What is the purpose of the letter? You gave consent.

The_Hustler

I always bring drinks and popcorn to films in full view and nobody has ever said a word.

Mitch Connor

my family owns a few cinemas and i have never heard of this type of thing going on. If a member of staff came up to me in one of our cinemas (they don't know i'm related to the owner cause i've never been to the cinema with my dad) i'd be on the phone immediately getting something done about it!

swingking

If a cinema has a certian policy, it is in their interest to inform the public of the policy.

What cinema was it btw?