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Rant #1: THE PSC QUEST FOR THE RING
On Thursday, October 9, tickets for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Tuesday went on sale. This was a MAJOR EVENT as every LOTR fan knows and here in DC it was announced in the Washington Post that the movie would be showing at the Uptown theatre with tickets to go on sale on Fandango at noon. LLL and I sat in front of our respective computers, credit cards at the ready, and anxiously awaited the noon hour. It came and went with no change on the Fandango site. Then, about five minutes later, there was a change – the site announced that all tickets were sold out. Anger, shock, rage and stunned disbelief are inadequate words to describe my initial reaction. I knew it just had to be a vicious lie. LLL prepared to storm down to the Uptown to demand an explanation while I furiously clicked refresh. And then the page changed again, the “sold out” notice disappeared and it was finally possible to buy tickets for Trilogy Tuesday for a 10:30 start. Communicating via cell phone, LLL was able to force her way out of the elevator and made it back to her desk. Tickets for our PSC outing were purchased and we relaxed, happy and content. Little did we realize that, just as making it to Rivendale was only the beginning of Frodo’s quest, our trials were also only just beginning.
Just about everywhere else in America, one ticket was being sold for one set price that entitled its bearer to view the extended editions of FOTR and TTT and the early premier of ROTK. Just about everywhere else, this precious ticket was being sold on a website with a one-click purchasing option. Just about everywhere else but Washington DC that is. For some reason known only to Morgoth and his demon spawn, the Uptown sold tickets for Trilogy Tuesday, not as a package, but separately for each movie. Only it didn’t bother to actually explain any of this on the website. So that 10:30 show labeled “Trilogy Tuesday” was actually 10:30 pm and was for ROTK only. Then, about a half hour later a link went up under the "Trilogy Tuesday" heading (again with no clear explanation) for a 1 pm show. Turns out that this time was for FOTR; however, if you tried to buy tickets for this show after buying 10:30 tickets, you would receive a warning message that you had already purchased tickets for this movie and are you sure you want to buy more? Then around 1 pm, tickets for TTT were posted for sell on the site, not under the Trilogy Tuesday heading or even close to it but on a completely different page with the rest of the tickets for the extended edition of TTT generally. With no explanations of directions, of course.
So only after facing Fandango site errors, repeated screen refreshing, much cursing, a trip down to the Uptown theatre by LLL (which had apparently taken its phone off the hook), the use of numerous cell phone minutes, and frantic searching of the website to find 3 separate tickets were we able to actually purchase the tickets to see the movies in a theatre in serious need of upgrades, renovations, and, apparently, a change in management if this fiasco is any indicator. And now I hear that because of their screw-up, the theatre manager is thinking of forcing everyone to leave the theatre and stand in line again after each show because there is no way to tell in advance who actually has tickets to all the shows.
Hey, I’ve got a radical, crazy idea. Next time, why don’t you make sure that the website you’re using actually has its act together and sends you the proper information, ensure that you have enough people available to do their jobs of actually serving the customers, and have one page with an explanation of what the hell is going on and a link on that same page where the consumer can buy one ticket for one price and be done with it! So the theatre and websites were unprepared and overwhelmed with the number of people trying to buy tickets? Well, given how poorly these movies have done up to this date, it is soooooo understandable that no one would have made advance preparations to deal with this event. Yeah, right.
And the sad thing is, I am one of the lucky ones that was able to get the tickets despite all the obstacles the website/theatre seemed determined to throw in the way. So I can’t be too upset. Had I not accomplished this because of the idiocy of the Uptown and Fandango, Sauron’s anger would have seemed a small temper tantrum compared to my wrath. You DO NOT want to get in the way of a Ring-obsessed psycho stalker chick in pursuit of her victim of choice. There is simply no excuse for this travesty (not just in DC but all over, it seems). And if they think that I’m going to stand in line, not once, but 3 times because they are incompetent . . . . Stupid Uptown.