New cinemas in Tuggies

PS: Limelight need to put their session listings on the same page in Times 2 that Hoyts, GU and Dendy use. Last time I had to search all through the paper to find their listing!

Hoyts Woden charged $1 for the glasses, but nowhere do they say they want them back. And if you ran a cinema would you want them back? They come in sealed plastic bags to start with, so someone would have to collect them, weed out the ones that have been broken or have chocolate all over them, clean and sanitise the rest, then rebag and reseal them. That’s a lot of effort! You can’t just hand them back out uncleaned or someone will contract swine flu from a used pair and it’s off to the courts. Surely Limelight is in fact selling them to you as well, not “renting” them?

The extra cost for 3D has always been clearly advertised and was displayed on their website and in the cinemas from the day they opened. But why would you be complaining about paying $14.90 when you would have been paying $21 at Hoyts?

The $1 is pretty much a charge to cover the cost of people who don’t return the glasses, the glasses get cleaned and reused by the looks of them.

The new seats aren’t the most plush cinema seats out there, but they are comfortable enough. My main problem with the 3D was light reflecting off one of the light fittings as I was sitting in a side row, but moving my line of site a tiny bit fixed that. But then the 3D in Avatar wasn’t that spectacular anyway, the majority of it was background objects which didn’t add much to the movie.

Things I was impressed with were

* the separate ticket and candy bar lines. So there was no need to stand behind the lady who take 10 minutes arguing with her kids as to what type of lollies they wanted when you only want tickets.

* the session I went to was sold out and the line was going out the door, instead of the normal 10-15 minutes to get in as 1 or 2 people check the tickets, 3 additional staff in addition to the 2 walked out to check tickets, we were in within a couple of minutes.

I’ll be heading there again, $9.90/$13.90 in brand new digital cinemas is very hard to beat.

It’s a $1, build a bridge.

It’s still cheaper than the other cinemas in Canberra especially on Tuesdays when it’s $6.50 all day for everyone.

Oops $7.50 if you want to watch a 3D movie, better advertise that.

I’m just thankful there’s a place I can take my 3 kids to during the holidays which doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

Hoyts offer a $12 ticket voucher off their website. They also charge $1 for the 3D glasses but say openly if you keep them for the next 3D movie you won’t be charged a second time.

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I never blindly accept more than being charged more for a product than advertised, but if it’s a case of a dollar for a pair of glasses to go with a ticket, that may have been forgotten in the advertising, I don’t generally write to my local member about it. I might choose to query it and make a decision based on the response, but that would be as far as it would go. If I thought it was a deliberate attempt to rip me off I would probably demand my money back and deny them any money, but if it appeared to be just a hiccup in a newly established business I think I would let it ride and not lose several night’s sleep over it.

Reepy:
The cashiers tell you to keep them when you get them, but the big text onscreen saying “please recycle your glasses after a session”, the boxes outside the 3D cinema saying “Glasses Return” and at the end of a session having staff carrying large bags asking patrons to put their glasses in before leaving suggests otherwise.

If they dispose of the ones they get back its a lot of plastic waste hitting the tip, if Limelight re-sold half of them back to future customers its not profit to be dismissed.

Troll-sniffer:
I can afford $2, don’t worry about me.
But when advertised price isn’t a match for actual price charged, I find its probably worth questioning, but apparently you’re fine with overcharging.

But its less any individual transaction size than the overall (transaction volume * transaction size).
According to a quick search of the interweb (Option 1: Durable Linear Polarised) (Option 2: Durable Circular Polarised), the nearest I can find to Limelight-style glasses retail online for $3ea (or $1.50 for 2000 units), I reckon a cinema with opportunty for 400,000+ individual transactions pa could get a wholesale bulk prices much lower, and just bump it on ticket price if needed.
(Like, $0.30-$0.60 kind of territory, Cinetech\Master Imaging supplies small cinemas at $0.70, with reductions for bulk lots. $0.30/patron is the kind of thing most businesses would absorb instead of charging)

troll-sniffer said :

Well Skidbladnir, perhaps someone made a mistake and it wasn’t picked up until pointed out to them.

Seems to me that they’re trying to do the right thing price-wise, and even with the extra dollar you scored quite a saving over the other cinemas.

Post your bank details and I’ll round up some buddies and we’ll all chuck in to deposit the $2 into your account as compensation.

Whereas, of course, you blindly accept being charged more for a product then advertised?

Well Skidbladnir, perhaps someone made a mistake and it wasn’t picked up until pointed out to them.

Seems to me that they’re trying to do the right thing price-wise, and even with the extra dollar you scored quite a saving over the other cinemas.

Post your bank details and I’ll round up some buddies and we’ll all chuck in to deposit the $2 into your account as compensation.

The digital projectors were great! It was nice to watch a movie without scratches on the film or a noisy projector rattling behind you. At $9.90 I’ll definitely be seeing more movies there.

Remember you can keep your 3D glasses and bring them back next time you see a 3D movie.

Recycle them back? Mine are in my glove box for the next 3D flick I see. Oops.

fnaah said :

The prices are certainly good, I saw Avatar there in 3D. (3D tickets are $15).

3D tickets are $13.90, actually.
Its an additional mandatory $1 fee for renting the 3D glasses, which wasn’t on any in-cinema signage when we went, but it is now up on their website.
I had to clarify with staff why my EFTPOS receipt said $29.80 instead of the $27.80 I was expecting (and had been told I was paying).
And then you recycle them back to the cinema after the movie.

Yes, its just a dollar.
But my back-of-envelope says its a $400-$500k annual revenue stream if they run 4 daily 3D sessions renting out glasses, so feel free to clarify why your entry ticket says “Ticket + 3D Glasses: $13.90” but you’re actually being charged $14.90, they may get around to putting up appropriate signage or making it a $1 refundable deposit you can get back.
(I don’t know, maybe have a membership\loyalty card system where you can cumulatively store your $1 refund?)

The prices are certainly good, I saw Avatar there in 3D. (3D tickets are $15).

The seats aren’t very comfy though (they seem a tad small, too upright, and very stiff), and unfortunately just next to where I was sitting, one of the foot lighting fittings was loose, and a bright white light was ruining my immersion. Luckily the rim of the 3D glasses managed to block some of it if I held my head in exactly the right spot…

Still, a step up from Hoyts, the picture was crispy clear and the sound was gorgeous. No more fuzzy movies! I’ll be seeing the new 3D renders of Toy Story and Tory Story 2 there when they come out.

I heard about them on RiotACT a few weeks ago, and eagerly await my first visit!

They need to advertise at Club Lime