Cineplex VIP Cinemas University District — Attraction in Calgary

Visited Wednesday, March 27th 2024. This was my horrible, humiliating experience and injury in this new theater. And the uncompassionate, uncaring - the lacking of giving a s#@% manager's response: I needed to use the bathroom facility and when I went to go wipe, the toilet seat almost fell off (one side not attached to the bowl) which caused me to fall between the side of the stall and the toilet. Upon trying to not fall over, break my fall, and with nothing to grab onto, my body twisted and I my head bounced off the side of the stall, the back of my hand smacked into the paper roll holder and created a small bruise. I also twisted my left ankle. My shoulder and neck gradually got worse that evening after leaving & into the next day, which was hard to move. I incurred back pain and shoulder with a small bruise where I fell into the stall wall. I went back to go see the rest of the movie after gaining my composure. I was not able to enjoy the rest of the film and missed quite a few parts (happened only 20-30 minutes into the movie) because of the injuries-started to feel the injuries from the fall- and the pee'd - off'ness of the incident itself including the humiliations, embarrassment, etc... was not an enjoyable experience at that point alone. BUT WAIT there's more humiliation added, embarrassment etc... this place piled on on top of that: After the movie me and my mom went into the washroom and were beyond ourselves at how 5 toilet seats were very loose to almost off like mine (2 stalls were being used so not sure of those ones and one was marked out of order). The staff were great at first, came across as compassionate, and offered to get the manager, of course I said yes. When approached by the manager (I forget her name because I was so infuriated by her response), I told her what happened and that we also found 3-4 more similar/ like the one I experienced and that I hurt myself as well from the seat coming off. She just stood there nodding her head and a smiling to almost a laugh (she made the body motions of someone trying not to laugh) while nodding and twiddling with her keys in hand. When I finished she said nothing for a few minutes and when I asked her how that is possible for that many seats being broken at once with no warning to customers or out of order signs, she finally said something. She said she was made aware of this this morning when she came in and was going to personally fix the toilets herself after the theater closes and she is sorry that happened and I got hurt. That was it. If it is true she didn't know about the seats until that morning - which I find hard to believe 4-5 seats just happened all to break at once overnight - Why would she continue to let the customers use the facilities chancing an injury like what ended up happening? There was no out of order or any other type of warnings about the unstableness to them coming off of the bowls. I told her I will be filing a formal complaint and social media reviews and a google review too. Her response was... Go ahead, I will wait to get and read them. That was that and I had to leave before I got angry to the point I want to lash out instead of the attempted conversation and compensation. I have a "service ticket" started of the complaint and I am waiting a reply from Cineplex for their resolve of this matter. Of course they need to contact her manager and get her side of the story first before deciding what to do or where to go from there with me and possible compensation for the reason for the original complaint about the washroom facilities and how their manager representing them handled the complaint and information about broken toilet seats.

Pro's: Movie was good. The fish bowl vodka drink was delicious April 23rd, 2024: UPDATE: I was offered compensation, However, I was refused an apology from the manager (Megan) in question, mentioned above. Megan's boss who also is a Megan kept "skirting" the conversation regarding her managers behavior and her choice on how she handled it. She kept steering it back to...

I had big expectations for this experience and adult only theatre. Being a parent myself, it’s nice to get out and not have to be around other kids in a pub/lounge setting (even though I love children). For the pricing per adult ticket 🎫 I expected a lot more. Perhaps it was an “off” night due to the other reviewers posts. The location firstly is great, free parking, lots of great places to enjoy dinner, coffee, ice cream before or after a movie. The ambience and cleanliness of the facility was fantastic so I will applaud staff here. The seats were equipped with heated and cooling options. When you arrive they scan your ticket, and you get to your seat which has a menu. The menu is a full on menu that you would find at Canadian Brewhouse or similar. The alcoholic beverage selection is great also. They do have your regular movie going options like popcorn and soft drinks. A server is supposed to attend to your seat, take your order, and payment. Once your order is ready they bring your selected items to you at your seat. Pretty fancy and great right?! Yes- in theory, if it works.

As this was our first experience we asked how this all worked and were advised the above noting the order time ends at the start of your movie ticket time. So if you’re late, you don’t get a chance to purchase anything.

There was total of maybe 15 people in total attendance at this show so not many given the amount of available seating.

In order to order we had to flag someone down for over 15 minutes. We ordered and paid. That was easy.

People who ordered well after received their drinks. We ordered a spicy mojito and Diet Coke, and popcorn. Which a medium was gigantic for two people. They are not served in bags but square paper bins.

We didn’t receive our drinks, we received others fishbowl drinks which the server brought up and after telling her they didn’t belong to us, dropped on our laps. So watching a movie in cold sticky wet pants was less than comforting.

We then had to ask if are drinks were on the way. My partner received his, I didn’t receive mine. Then 20 minutes or more later we asked if they forgot our popcorn, the server said “I will check” another 25 minutes passed and we received a massive amount of popcorn to enjoy with are already consumed drinks with less than half the movie left to watch.

I can’t see how this works effectively when the movie showing is full. I am disappointed as this was expensive and less than the experience we had expected or hoped for.

I would like to try it again although, not sure, I rather would wait in lines with droves of people and have all items at the commencement of the movie rather than the disarray and dysfunction that had occurred.

The server, embarrassed and apologetic was unable to carry the weight of the drinks on the tray and would be better suited in this position after more training or in the capacity of taking orders & payment until...

This was my first time visiting the VIP Cineplex at University District, and I was genuinely excited because I had heard such great things. Unfortunately, this experience was nothing short of frustrating and disappointing.

My friend and I arrived eager to enjoy the evening. My friend, who is of legal age, unfortunately forgot his physical ID at home but had a clear photo of his ID with all the information on it. The employee at the entrance refused to even look at the photo and flatly demanded a physical copy which, while policy is one thing, the lack of empathy or even basic courtesy was astonishing. The staff member was extremely passive-aggressive throughout the interaction, even giggling at times as though our situation was amusing.

What made things even more upsetting was watching 3–4 other groups, who looked our age and just like us, walk in without issue while we were being stonewalled.

When we asked to speak to a manager (I believe her name was Daphine), I was shocked at how unprofessional she was. As a manager, you would expect at least some level of understanding, or at the very least, professionalism. Instead, she was dismissive, condescending, and passive-aggressive herself, essentially telling us to just refund our tickets so she could get rid of us.

Even after leaving, I returned shortly after to ask a few clarifying questions in hopes of understanding the situation better. It was made unnecessarily difficult just to speak to the manager again, and when she did come out, her demeanor was sour and unwelcoming.

There was absolutely no effort from anyone to resolve the situation respectfully, no willingness to even look at the ID photo, no leniency, no explanation beyond “that’s the policy,” and no basic customer service.

I left feeling disrespected, and completely baffled by how such a highly regarded VIP experience could have such unprofessional staff and such poor management.

If this is how guests are treated at the VIP Cineplex at University District, then I cannot recommend it to anyone...