u/StunningVersion6

Long rant incoming! I have been a frequent patron of Alamo Drafthouse St. Louis for over a year now. Because I’ve frequented so often, I’ve accrued gift cards from friends and family. I’ve come to learn with time how much the Alamo Drafthouse system sucks when it comes to gift cards. You can’t refund them through the app, and when you call about not being able to make it to a movie you get told that refunding a gift card is a “long and complicated process.” I’ve been told multiple times that it would be easier to just swap the ticket for a later date, which was no issue for me since I come so often.

I had been doing this with little to no problems for months, until last week. I had a ticket that I had to swap a few times due to being under the weather. I called to ask what I can do so that I don’t have to keep swapping the same ticket, and I had a manager take over the call who accused me of “cheating the system.” He said that I never purchased a ticket, and that I would not be allowed to use the movie ticket that I currently had. I had no idea what to do with this information, since losing this ticket means losing the $16 from the gift card I spent to purchase it. I was told that I could speak to someone else, and I was given an email I could use to contact someone higher up.

When I used this email and explained the situation, I got a response telling me that the next time I come in, I just needed to show my old ticket and exchange it for the new date in-person. So a couple days later I come in, with the intention of seeing my movie. The front-of-desk worker calls over the same manager I spoke to over the phone, and says “insert my name is here” this manager then tells me that I would not be allowed to use my ticket. I told him about the email, and was told “that person who responded isn’t allowed to authorize that” which is bizarre because I used the exact email address that he told me to use. I was then told I could contact the owner, which I did.

Two days later I get a call from the owner. I thought we were going to have a conversation where I would explain the situation, but instead he makes the same accusations saying that I’m “gaming the system” by changing the date on my movie ticket, and he tells me that I am not welcome back to the movie theater. I tried explaining to him that swapping tickets is what I have literally always been told to do by the people working at Alamo drafthouse, but he wouldn’t listen. Every time I tried explaining how ridiculous the situation is and that I have done nothing (to my knowledge) against the “rules,” he would say “this is not a court of law and I don’t have to listen to you.”

I am still confused about what I am being accused of having done. If I supposedly swapped a ticket too many times, or if I wasn’t supposed to do that in the first place, then how is that my fault and not the fault of the workers who did it for me? How is it gaming the system to change the date on a ticket that I already had? Why couldn’t they have emailed or called me instead of having me come all the way there to see a movie, when they knew they were going to turn me away?

This seems to be a constant issue with the Alamo Drafthouse in St. Louis, where if there’s any issue at all they immediately resort to treating you like a criminal instead of trying to listen, especially if you’re a woman. If it wasn’t for the gift cards I still have, I would happily never return again. I would just like to see this issue resolved since it sucks being treated like a criminal by a bunch of men that refuse to listen.