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Oct. 14th, 2007 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizalavelleI'm a little more calm and happy thanks to spending last night out with some Browncoats. I'm still extremely upset as to how I was treated at Harbourfront but I have more of a plan of action for it now.
I woke up early Saturday morning to get ready to go and pick Andrea up at the bus station since she was coming in from out of town to keep me company in line (awesome!) I of course checked the Sarah Slean message board before I left home to see if we'd see any other Passioneers in line because that's always fun. I instead see this message:
"hey guys! so, harbourfront can kiss my a**. i just went online to check the phone number to call, and the tickets are ALREADY ON SALE. it's friday night (well morning at 1am) and i got horrible seats! i used to sitting in the 5th or 6th row and i got like 20 rows back. i'm so mad. did this happen to anyone else??? how could it sell that quickly when it wasn't even supposed to be on sale yet!"
The best explanation that I can imagine for tickets going onsale online at that time is that whomever set up the online ticketing set them to be released on Saturday the 13th but did not set a time, so at 12:00am tickets would have been released. Either that or they got their AM and PM mixed up and tickets went at 1am. Either way I'm just astounded at that level of incompetence. They've had their own online ticking system for quite a while now, I think since at least last February, so someone they should know how to work it properly.
So I've already started my day off frustrated and upset with them. I checked for tickets and got row K which I thought was still orchestra but upon closer inspection of the seating chart is actually 2nd row balcony. I passed on those and figured I could do better at the box office. I prefer to deal with a person because at least then if all of those tickets are already actually sold out then I can try for single seats closer up, I can't explain that to an online ticketing system.
I met Andrea when her bus got in, we got to the theatre early and hung out and waited. We asked at the main box office if for sure we were supposed to be at the Enwave theatre and were told "I don't know I just got here" which at least this year someone said they didn't know instead of lying to me, but you'd think they'd know what box office was open that day. The main one was closed due to some fundraising event, I would presume the information staff would know that the event was happening.
So we went over and called back to verify later which box office we were supposed to be at.
Yen showed up later in the wait and we caught up with him since I don't believe I've seen him since last December.
By 1pm when the box office opened we were all in a good place, seeing old friends, about to buy tickets for a show we'd been excited about then we get to the actual employees and they were so rude I was just speechless.
Yen and I both went to a ticket window to order our tickets, all went well until the employees said we were buying for a show on the 20th when I'd spent the last week confirming that tickets for the 21st were going to be on sale and Hfront was still playing the ticket game of "the show on the 20th doesn't exist." Honestly, I prefered it that way this year because I did want the better seats for the second night. I told the guy at the box office that they were supposed to be selling tickets for the 21st not the 20th and he told me there wasn't any show available on the 21st. Clearly their staff aren't trained consistantly because they were supposed to be giving me the opposite story.
(sidebar: I hate this making up "oh the second show on whatever date isn't happening" lie. We all know it's complete crap. It make the Hfront staff look like they're either liars or that they're dumb and really don't know what's going on in their own workplace. By year 3 everyone's caught on to the fact there will be two shows. It's fine to say that the second show will have tickets released later but I think we're all a little beyond pretending it's not happening.)
When I told the employee at the box office that they were selling the wrong tickets he mimicked that back at me. I think Andrea's idea of how to explain this in words is best: You know the way that Beaker speaks on The Muppet Show? The "mememememe" instead of words. That's what the guy did back to me.
I didn't even have anything to say back to that. It was just unbelievable that someone in a customer service position would even do that. If I EVER at any job that I've EVER had spoke in that way to a customer I would expect to be fired. Even when faced with a difficult customer you're just not supposed to do that. I'm sure I sounded rude and snippy when I said they were selling the wrong date but really, they'd already released tickets at least 12 hours early, and now they were selling the wrong show. Which meant from what we know at that moment that tickets for the 21st were selling online and then at the box office it was the 20th so people were going to get screwed over for one show or the other, not a good way to do buisness.
Andrea asked me what I was going to do and I said I'd just buy the tickets for the 20th (since I did want those as well) and would call Bruce right after (this would be Bruce Hutchinson the director of marketing and media relations who I've been speaking with regarding these shows for the past two years.) THEN the guy in the next box office window leaned over and jeered "yeah call Bruce" in a way which implied to me they'd already had Bruce there speaking to them about me and the message they heard from him registered to them as "some crazy girl is coming to the box office, it doesn't matter how you treat her" because that's how they were acting. It was like dealing with bullies in highschool and that is something I do not expect as a customer. I also especially do not expect it in a theatre since I'm a huge theatre fan and find them always to be well staffed, I've never met a theatre I didn't like here or in NYC with the exception of Harbourfront.
So I bought my tickets ($125) and then left a phone message for Bruce Hutchinson explaining that I was sold tickets for the wrong night, the other night was on sale online and I was incredibly unimpressed with this entire mess.
We then called the box office to see if we could by tickets for the 21st through them. Surprise surprise, of course we could. So we went back into the Enwave theatre box office and I was on the phone with their other box office and the guys at the Enwave theatre called me over to their window and said they now could sell tickets for the 21st. There was no apology, no admitting they'd done anything wrong, but now they could sell those tickets. So I said goodbye to the box office we had on the phone and ordered my tickets for the 21st (of course now I couldn't get the seats I wanted all together because they'd been sold. Charming.
I picked out 4 seats that were seperated and the guy at the box office said "gimme your other tickets." I must have looked at him as though he was crazy and said that no, I had front row seats and I wasn't about to give them back. He then said "well which night do you want to go to then" and I said "both". I think what he'd meant with the "gimme your tickets" was to exchange them for the 21st but it came across as that he wanted to take them back so it would look as though they'd not sold the wrong date.
THEN as I went to order my seats for the 21st the box office suddenly couldn't order for any show, the 21st or the 20th! So I'd asked Andrea to call back the box office on the phone and while she was calling the problem was fixed, I got to order my seats (although not my first choice of seats even after waiting in line all of that time) and then we left.
Not once did the box office staff apologize to me for treating me so rudely or for the fact that yes, they'd made a mistake and were selling the wrong date. I spent over $200 there and was treated like garbage the entire time. I was given the impression that the management had said something to their staff which implied to them that it was perfectly fine to treat me this way. There is no way that I should have to fight to give these people money while they treat me poorly.
I refuse to go to anything else at Hfront now excepting Sarah Slean shows because I do not want to support them. At this point I would prefer to see the place turned into condos than continue to run in such a poor way.
Now I see that the 20th is being sold if you call or go to the box office in person, it's not online yet. I guess they forced themselves into that corner by releasing the wrong tickets. So for those of you who read this who want tickets for that date, be sure to call or go to the box office in person. Don't wait for them to come on sale online, the last time a friend of mine waited for Hfront to update their website regarding ticket sales a show sold out before it was even listed as "on sale."
I will be writing letters to all of Harbourfront's sponsors, as well as writing to the theatre again although really after writing to the theatre last year I was treated worse this year, I am doubtful of anyone there actually making an effort to improve their service.
I woke up early Saturday morning to get ready to go and pick Andrea up at the bus station since she was coming in from out of town to keep me company in line (awesome!) I of course checked the Sarah Slean message board before I left home to see if we'd see any other Passioneers in line because that's always fun. I instead see this message:
"hey guys! so, harbourfront can kiss my a**. i just went online to check the phone number to call, and the tickets are ALREADY ON SALE. it's friday night (well morning at 1am) and i got horrible seats! i used to sitting in the 5th or 6th row and i got like 20 rows back. i'm so mad. did this happen to anyone else??? how could it sell that quickly when it wasn't even supposed to be on sale yet!"
The best explanation that I can imagine for tickets going onsale online at that time is that whomever set up the online ticketing set them to be released on Saturday the 13th but did not set a time, so at 12:00am tickets would have been released. Either that or they got their AM and PM mixed up and tickets went at 1am. Either way I'm just astounded at that level of incompetence. They've had their own online ticking system for quite a while now, I think since at least last February, so someone they should know how to work it properly.
So I've already started my day off frustrated and upset with them. I checked for tickets and got row K which I thought was still orchestra but upon closer inspection of the seating chart is actually 2nd row balcony. I passed on those and figured I could do better at the box office. I prefer to deal with a person because at least then if all of those tickets are already actually sold out then I can try for single seats closer up, I can't explain that to an online ticketing system.
I met Andrea when her bus got in, we got to the theatre early and hung out and waited. We asked at the main box office if for sure we were supposed to be at the Enwave theatre and were told "I don't know I just got here" which at least this year someone said they didn't know instead of lying to me, but you'd think they'd know what box office was open that day. The main one was closed due to some fundraising event, I would presume the information staff would know that the event was happening.
So we went over and called back to verify later which box office we were supposed to be at.
Yen showed up later in the wait and we caught up with him since I don't believe I've seen him since last December.
By 1pm when the box office opened we were all in a good place, seeing old friends, about to buy tickets for a show we'd been excited about then we get to the actual employees and they were so rude I was just speechless.
Yen and I both went to a ticket window to order our tickets, all went well until the employees said we were buying for a show on the 20th when I'd spent the last week confirming that tickets for the 21st were going to be on sale and Hfront was still playing the ticket game of "the show on the 20th doesn't exist." Honestly, I prefered it that way this year because I did want the better seats for the second night. I told the guy at the box office that they were supposed to be selling tickets for the 21st not the 20th and he told me there wasn't any show available on the 21st. Clearly their staff aren't trained consistantly because they were supposed to be giving me the opposite story.
(sidebar: I hate this making up "oh the second show on whatever date isn't happening" lie. We all know it's complete crap. It make the Hfront staff look like they're either liars or that they're dumb and really don't know what's going on in their own workplace. By year 3 everyone's caught on to the fact there will be two shows. It's fine to say that the second show will have tickets released later but I think we're all a little beyond pretending it's not happening.)
When I told the employee at the box office that they were selling the wrong tickets he mimicked that back at me. I think Andrea's idea of how to explain this in words is best: You know the way that Beaker speaks on The Muppet Show? The "mememememe" instead of words. That's what the guy did back to me.
I didn't even have anything to say back to that. It was just unbelievable that someone in a customer service position would even do that. If I EVER at any job that I've EVER had spoke in that way to a customer I would expect to be fired. Even when faced with a difficult customer you're just not supposed to do that. I'm sure I sounded rude and snippy when I said they were selling the wrong date but really, they'd already released tickets at least 12 hours early, and now they were selling the wrong show. Which meant from what we know at that moment that tickets for the 21st were selling online and then at the box office it was the 20th so people were going to get screwed over for one show or the other, not a good way to do buisness.
Andrea asked me what I was going to do and I said I'd just buy the tickets for the 20th (since I did want those as well) and would call Bruce right after (this would be Bruce Hutchinson the director of marketing and media relations who I've been speaking with regarding these shows for the past two years.) THEN the guy in the next box office window leaned over and jeered "yeah call Bruce" in a way which implied to me they'd already had Bruce there speaking to them about me and the message they heard from him registered to them as "some crazy girl is coming to the box office, it doesn't matter how you treat her" because that's how they were acting. It was like dealing with bullies in highschool and that is something I do not expect as a customer. I also especially do not expect it in a theatre since I'm a huge theatre fan and find them always to be well staffed, I've never met a theatre I didn't like here or in NYC with the exception of Harbourfront.
So I bought my tickets ($125) and then left a phone message for Bruce Hutchinson explaining that I was sold tickets for the wrong night, the other night was on sale online and I was incredibly unimpressed with this entire mess.
We then called the box office to see if we could by tickets for the 21st through them. Surprise surprise, of course we could. So we went back into the Enwave theatre box office and I was on the phone with their other box office and the guys at the Enwave theatre called me over to their window and said they now could sell tickets for the 21st. There was no apology, no admitting they'd done anything wrong, but now they could sell those tickets. So I said goodbye to the box office we had on the phone and ordered my tickets for the 21st (of course now I couldn't get the seats I wanted all together because they'd been sold. Charming.
I picked out 4 seats that were seperated and the guy at the box office said "gimme your other tickets." I must have looked at him as though he was crazy and said that no, I had front row seats and I wasn't about to give them back. He then said "well which night do you want to go to then" and I said "both". I think what he'd meant with the "gimme your tickets" was to exchange them for the 21st but it came across as that he wanted to take them back so it would look as though they'd not sold the wrong date.
THEN as I went to order my seats for the 21st the box office suddenly couldn't order for any show, the 21st or the 20th! So I'd asked Andrea to call back the box office on the phone and while she was calling the problem was fixed, I got to order my seats (although not my first choice of seats even after waiting in line all of that time) and then we left.
Not once did the box office staff apologize to me for treating me so rudely or for the fact that yes, they'd made a mistake and were selling the wrong date. I spent over $200 there and was treated like garbage the entire time. I was given the impression that the management had said something to their staff which implied to them that it was perfectly fine to treat me this way. There is no way that I should have to fight to give these people money while they treat me poorly.
I refuse to go to anything else at Hfront now excepting Sarah Slean shows because I do not want to support them. At this point I would prefer to see the place turned into condos than continue to run in such a poor way.
Now I see that the 20th is being sold if you call or go to the box office in person, it's not online yet. I guess they forced themselves into that corner by releasing the wrong tickets. So for those of you who read this who want tickets for that date, be sure to call or go to the box office in person. Don't wait for them to come on sale online, the last time a friend of mine waited for Hfront to update their website regarding ticket sales a show sold out before it was even listed as "on sale."
I will be writing letters to all of Harbourfront's sponsors, as well as writing to the theatre again although really after writing to the theatre last year I was treated worse this year, I am doubtful of anyone there actually making an effort to improve their service.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-14 06:16 pm (UTC)Just... WOW. I'm going to email you a little later.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-14 06:19 pm (UTC)I tell you ever year I think well at least they can't do worse than they did the year before, and then they manage to just make things 10X worse.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-15 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-15 10:11 am (UTC)hfront
Date: 2007-10-17 04:16 am (UTC)slean_fan
Re: hfront
Date: 2007-10-17 05:41 pm (UTC)I personally think it's a big deal if the people who are responsible for customer service are making fun of their customers (mimicking them etc.) in any job I've had I would have been fired on the spot for doing that.
I don't think these people should be fired, that's harsh, but I do think that Hfront should be putting their staff through customer service training if they are unable to treat all customers equally.
This is the third year running I've had really lousy service from them, both from box office staff and their ushers. This is the only theater I've ever been to where I've experienced such problems. I don't think it's okay and I think that if people don't make a big deal out of being treated badly it will continue to happen and to be accepted.
I recounted the events as they happened. I'm glad that such things did not happen to you, but I think that if they had then you might not be happy with them either.