Corporate entertainment companies NYC

I love movies. My wife, kids and I enjoy going to the movie theater, as well as participating in “family movie night” where we cram onto the couch together for an evening in (I make excellent popcorn – one of my very few culinary feats).

So it seemed natural that I would provide movie tickets this holiday season as gifts to certain folks. After all, if I enjoy the experience of going to the movies, I’m sure others in my universe do so as well. And besides, as the founder of a trivia company for corporate events, it’s kind of in my job description to love – and share the love of – movie trivia. And so, in that spirit, I went on a popular movie ticketing Website about a month ago and purchased several gift cards. Even from the relative convenience of my desktop computer, it still took me a while to manually input all of the names & addresses. I opted to pay a bit extra and have the TrivWorks logo emblazoned on the gift cards as well, because that seemed like a cool thing to do.

I submitted my order, got my confirmation, and then…waited.

I waited for my recipients to receive their gifts, and to perhaps mention it the next time I saw or heard from them. But the weeks went by, and I didn’t hear a thing.

Hmm.

I went back to my confirmation Email, and saw that it could take 3-5 business days to print the custom gift cards, and another 7-10 business days to ship. Surely it wouldn’t REALLY take a full three weeks for my gifts to arrive, would it? If so, that would put me past New Years, which is a little awkward.

And so, I waited.

Alas, as I feared, those gift cards did in fact take every day of those promised three weeks to arrive. That would have been frustrating enough, had it not been for another twist in the plot. You see, instead of being delivered to the different recipients as expected, the ENTIRE batch of gift cards was instead delivered to just ONE of the recipients.

I was livid, as you can probably imagine. I called up the movie ticket company – or rather, I tried to call. It took a half an hour of waiting on hold before a customer service rep actually picked up the phone. I explained the situation, and was told that “somebody from corporate” would have to get back to me in order to rectify the situation, whatever that means.

And so, once again, I waited.

I’m sure you’ll be stunned to hear, but nobody got back to me. Not wanting my holiday gifts to be delayed any further, I humbly asked the person who had received the entire batch of gift cards to send them out to the individual addresses on her own, which I provided her with – lucky for me, I only associate with wonderful people, and she sent the cards out right away. I then called the ticket company again, furious that they hadn’t gotten back to me.

Another half hour on hold, but I finally got someone. Once again, I was told that my issue would be passed along “to corporate,” and that they would get back to me within 24 hours.

Fast forward to the next day, and I did indeed receive an Email from the company – although not from a corporate bigwig, but rather from the customer service rep I’d spoken with. She said that the original cards had been cancelled, new cards have been issued, and that they should arrive in 7-10 business days. Oh, and thanks for making their company my choice for movie tickets!

Whoa, whoa – hold up. Step back a second. Do you mean to tell me that A) the original cards, which I had just asked someone else to send because they’d been sent to the wrong place by your company, are CANCELLED; B) they’re going to take ANOTHER 1-2 WEEKS to arrive; and C) all I get is a chirpy “thanks for your business?”

I called right back – 30 more minutes on hold, which I’ve now grown accustomed to – and seethed when I got someone on the phone. After a series of placing me on hold several more times, the rep said that they had cancelled the cancellation, as well as the new cards. I was assured that both an Email confirmation as well as a call from “corporate” would be received within 24 hours.

Can you guess what happened?

As I write this blog post, I was just on hold with this company for the 4^th time, for a record 45 minutes before somebody picked up. When I went through the familiar process of providing my account number, I was told that I have no account. I asked to speak with a manager, because this is already ridiculous and is now approaching absurd. The manager got on the line and confirmed that I do in fact have an account, but that – wait for it – all the cards have been cancelled, and I’ve been issued a refund.

I’m now on hold again, waiting to speak with “someone at corporate.” This could take a while.

And so, to recap: it took 3 weeks for the movie cards to be delivered to the wrong address, and when they DO finally arrive, they’ll be dead. I’ve spent over two hours on hold, for the great privilege of being told, “here’s your money back.”

Happy holidays.

Why am telling you about this, you ask? Don’t I have better things to do than vent on my blog about customer service nightmares? Well, as I often try to do when frustrating things like this occur, I’m using this as a teachable moment for readers of my corporate event entertainment in NYC blog. You see, as a service vendor I pride myself on delivering an outstanding product, AND service. I truly believe you can’t have the former, without the later.

This company I’ve referenced, they’ve got a great product: movies! As I’ve said, I love movies – and I love companies like this, which make going to the movies easier. However, look what’s happened – their service is abysmal. From taking three weeks to ship, to sending to the wrong address, to endless on-hold time, to utterly chaotic miscommunication with the client and themselves, to who knows what else before my issue is finally resolved (if ever). I’ll tell you this, I don’t care if this company is able to get me access to the front row of the Oscars, I still will have a bad taste in my mouth based on this experience.

And so, we’ve reached the moral of this story. What can people seeking company party entertainment in New York City or anywhere else expect, if they want to use a truly great vendor? They should look to a brand which has not only an outstanding product to offer, but also excellent service as well. I strive to lead such a company, every day – in fact, it’s in my mission statement (which can be found by clicking here). Unlike the company referenced above, I shall make every effort to put clients above all else, to learn from my mistakes, and to truly be the world-class service provider I want to be.

In the meantime, let me know if there are any good movies playing – I’m still on hold…

For another relevant client service case study, visit https://trivworks.com/2011/12/client-service-horror-story-how-not-to-treat-your-customers/