Rip Off @ Dundrum

Idbatterim

Just got back from the new cinema in Dundrum... E9.30 for an adult, no your eyes are not deceiving you! i suppose you are buying into a lifestyle, a life inspired by the rich and famous... I mean i can understand they want to try and sell an image but i was pretty let down with the cinema. Its definetly not what youd expect when you see the shopping centre. Its basicly of a similar standard to the UCI's. Definetly no Ster Century or UGC. Only positive i can think of is there is good leg room... Just my 2 cents!

Rb

OMG Call Eddy Hobbs IMMEDIATELY.

nesf

Consumer Issues might be a good place for this

angeldelight

Hmm how much is Ster Century? I think its 9 Euro something too. I just remember my mum saying it. Thankfully im only paying student prices

beller b

Wont be going there so!

peckerhead

€9.30? Eee, you'd 'ave a night out for two in a nice restaurant and a few quid change left over, in mah day...

Just jokin', really - the post only caught my eye in passing (like)

Nunu

€7.90 for students......bloody disgraceful! And the timetabling of films is really poor. Hopefully just early teething problems because I really want it to be great as its the closest cinema to my home and I am a very regular cinema goer. For the time being I will be sticking with the UGC in Parnell St.

beller b

Kinda ties in with thier rip off car parking there.

Idbatterim

yeah i mean its ridiculous, i like you nana have it literally on my door step and ill prob still continue going to ugc... i mean if you feel your being fleeced go somewhere else simple, and thats what i intend to do!

Idbatterim

it was a part of planning permission that they had to charge for parking, they have introduced 3 hours parking for the price of 1 recently though. Problem is you have to get a balance between not detering shoppers, but charging just enough to stop people using it as a luas park and ride...

optiplexgx270

I like the UGC... more than Dundrum as it stands. when i was there it was 7.90 and i wasnt asking for student rates or what not so it really is 9.30 then yes? Ah well forget that 10 min walk so ill take the 45min Luas / walk journey to UGC instead or the 15min drive to IMC.

beller b

Do the same as Swords. Free for the first 3 hours..

Idbatterim

yeah its E9.30 after seven it think, for general adult prices there are 3 time bands from what i remember, the later it gets the more you pay, E7.9 was the earlier time band...

Nunu

Also the website is a complete shambles. It's so cheap looking. There isn't even a price list - although that could be conveniently left out so as not to deter punters!

Idbatterim

your right about the web site, i though it would be easier to book them online, no such facility, and yeah the website look like something anyone could design in 5 minutes flat!

Rb

There's already a thread on this in the Dublin City forum.

mokeymokey

is there any arcade games in that vicenity? (preferably the dancing game)

snorlax

7.90 for students that's a terrible price! it's 6.30 in UGC and it's actually a nice cinema too.
prices in Dundrum are generally a rip off. i bought filter coffee in Starbucks there for 2.30 (latte's we're 2.70), theyre's a new coffeeshop opposite me in college selling the same stuff for 1.30 (fliter coffee) and 1,70(americano compared to 2.50 in dundrum for the same stuff).

eclectichoney

snorlax, where's that coffeeshop (sorry to be ot, but the prices sound good!)

whiskeyman

snorlax wrote:

prices in Dundrum are generally a rip off. i bought filter coffee in Starbucks there for 2.30 (latte's we're 2.70), theyre's a new coffeeshop opposite me in college selling the same stuff for 1.30 (fliter coffee) and 1,70(americano compared to 2.50 in dundrum for the same stuff).

But one is a branded Starbucks coffee :rolleyes:
You just have to see the queue of people outside the Starbucks in Dundrum at a weekend to realise people are willing to pay higher prices to be accepted into the branded culture.
Same goes for the cinema really...

snorlax

i think it's on either the ground floor or the basement in Dundrum, near the stairs.

and they is mad queue's out the door as loads of people want to try it out.

the coffee tastes exactly the same that i get in college and the one i got in Dundrum, the only difference is the price.

even the chocolate bars in the one in Dundrum are a horrendous price (2.50eur compared to the same branded starbucks chocolate , 70cent for all students)

Niall123

My friend was there the other day and said it was so expensive if they knew how much money he had in his pocket that they'd probably throw him out:D

Idbatterim

well its as simple as this were being fleeced we dont like it, so dont go there, and if people adopted this attitude the fu***rs would hav to drop their prices!

netwhizkid

Vote with your feet people and avoid this rip-off hole. Then vote against the politicians (Fianna Failure) that allowed this rip-off dump to be built. It'd be fine if it was reasnobly priced.

Guy:Incognito

netwhizkid wrote:

Vote with your feet people and avoid this rip-off hole. Then vote against the politicians (Fianna Failure) that allowed this rip-off dump to be built. It'd be fine if it was reasnobly priced.

The builders hardly operate the cinema so what have the government got to do with a pivate companies pricing policies. Gerry Adams is going to run for Taoiseach using cinema pricing as his campaign message.

Your posts should have to be proof read by an adult, they're getting worse.

Sarsfield

Stekelly wrote:

Your posts should have to be proof read by an adult, they're getting worse.

ROFL, I've thought similar.

But I agree Dundrum is a dump. All out-of-town centres are dumps. Even the ones that try to be posh. Smart people shop in town

Why on earth Harvey Nicks and House of Fraser chose to enter Ireland via Dundrum is beyond me. All their potential customers are to be found on Grafton St. And townies just don't do suburban centres.

whiskeyman

Sarsfield wrote:

All their potential customers are to be found on Grafton St. And townies just don't do suburban centres.

And just a hop on the Luas...
With rent on Grafton soaring and space limited, Dundrum was an easy option tbh.

Sarsfield

whiskeyman wrote:

And just a hop on the Luas...
With rent on Grafton soaring and space limited, Dundrum was an easy option tbh.

In that case, they should have located in Leitrim. Rents are even cheaper there. And there's loads of space. And about the same number of AbFab types as there are willing to tram-it out to Dundrum.

whiskeyman

Sarsfield wrote:

In that case, they should have located in Leitrim. Rents are even cheaper there. And there's loads of space. And about the same number of AbFab types as there are willing to tram-it out to Dundrum.

eh...... no.

WexCan

Having worked out in HoF Dundrum, I completely and totally agree that the place is overpriced, overhyped and not even within reach of the numbers they were expecting.

HoF went to Dundrum because of the "ABC1 social category" and the transport links into town.

Hate the place tbh

CathyMoran

In defence of Dundrum it is cheaper than the cinema in Liffey Valley and the staff are far more polite and courteous. Liffey Valley is my local and I would never go back there again after the poor quality of service I recieved there. Dundrum is having teething pains but it is a nice centre.

D

In parnell sq you can get early bird prices for €4.50.
(before 1)

dr zoidberg

CathyMoran wrote:

In defence of Dundrum it is cheaper than the cinema in Liffey Valley

It's the same, €9.30 for an adult, but only €6.30 for a student. It is expensive but the cinema itself is better than any of the city centre ones or UCI in Blanch IMO so I don't have much of a problem paying more.

I think Dundrum cinema is more expensive because the whole shopping centre is aimed at upper-class D4 types. They use higher prices to give the illusion of quality.

Solair

The technical standards in Movies@Dundrum leave a lot to be desired. The sound is terrible, there were more artifacts on the screen (spots of dirt) than I have ever seen anywhere.

They've made an effort to look retro with the decor, but it just looks cheap and dated rather than classy.

There's a poor choice of food. The seats have the cup holders positioned in the most stupid position ever.

Overall, bad experience. Wouldn't go again.

The Dundrum centre's sister centre (owned by the same developer) at Mahon Point in Cork has a FAR nicer cinema in my opinion. Mahon Point is actually pleasant. The stores are more of a mix that you might actually go to in an out-of-town context. Lets face it, if you want to go high end shopping in dublin you're going to go to Brown Thomas. Harvey Nicks @ Dundrum's tiny and House of Frazier just feels like Debenhams ... i.e. it's got that "out of town feeling". Kinda like if Woodies DIY sold expensive suits.

I don't think Dundrum Town centre will be a total flop, but I could see a slight reshuffle of the stores happening as time goes on.
e.g. Harvy Nicks might opt to relocate to the city centre if they find a suitable property at some stage and You might see H of F replaced by Debenhams or something like that if it doesn't turn over enough cash to justify its existance.

M&S, H&M and Pennys were ticking over very nicely even in the slow parts of a day that I was out there. Tesco will always pull shoppers regardless of the other stores although they may not visit anyting other than Tesco and the smaller boutique-size stores were all doing reasonable passing trade.

HoF was EMPTY and there was 1 person in Harvey Nicks, and I think she was the store detective.

I enjoy shopping in Grafton Street and the sorrounding areas, or even Henry Street and its sorrounding areas. In Cork, I enjoy wandering around patrick street & its sorrounds and if I want to do high end shopping there is a range of shops in either place that simply can't be recreated in an out of town mall environment. They loose something and become cold and clinical. E.g. in either Cork or Dublin, you can't really have Christmas without at least walking past and into or through BT. It's just one of those things that you can't recreate in a mcdonnaldised environment of a shopping mall.

Also, unlike in the USA, Irish weather's actually quite OK for city centre-based shopping. The major reason for the spectacular success of mall shopping in most of the United States is because for the majority of the year the weather's so inhospitable that you would find it a challange to shop in the city centre shopping presincts.
The Northeastern cities like NYC and Boston are absolutely freezing in winter and so warm and sticky that you'd need a shower after walking down a street for most of the summer.
The midwest, if anything is worse.

So, I can't see our city centres being replaced with megamalls anytime soon