Regal Avalon — Attraction in Alpharetta

The theater is beautiful. That said, the problem is the staff.

My girls were on break from school this week and my 16-year-old wanted to go with one of her friends to a movie called Kingsmen: The Golden Circle, it is rated R. Both girls parents agreed that it was OK for them to go see.

They are both 16 years old. So I googled to find out if I would need to go in with them because I had to take my 13-year-old to gymnastics practice and couldn't stay through the movie. The following answer came up when I googled, I asked: Who is allowed to see rated R movies. This is what came up.

Photo ID is required for proof of age. You must be at least 17 with a photo ID, which includes your birth date, to purchase a ticket for yourself for an R rated movie. If you are under 17, or do not have a photo ID, your parent must come to the theatre to purchase your ticket for an R rated movie.

So I went online and paid for their tickets and took them to the theater.

I went in with them and bought them a drink and popcorn from the concession stand. Then we went to the ticket taker so that they could go in.

The ticket taker said that they could not go in without an adult with them, so I asked him if I could speak with a manager. Maya (manager) came over and said no, that even though I was standing there to give permission for them to go in, they still could not go in, that it's policy.

She tried to get us to have them watch a different movie but that is not what they wanted. That is not why we were there. I told her we would just get a refund and come a different day and time.

After Maya refunded me the tickets she said we would also have to give our popcorn and drink back if we wanted to be refunded for those.

I asked her if she was kidding and she said no. Then I said why do you want them back, you'll have to throw them away since they've been eating and drinking out of them. She said it was policy.

She was not pleasant and did not have the customer in mind at all. I don't believe she should be in a position to take care of any customer service situation.

I went to the concession stand where she asked me to go for the "refund" of the Coke and the popcorn.

Another manager came over to refund the concessions. Her name is Bailey. I told her the situation because I felt like what was happening was uncalled for and over-the-top. Bailey replied simply that it was policy, that she had to have the popcorn bag and the drink back.

We left today very unhappy with Regal Cinema. I hope in the future they hire people with better management skills, I don't know if I'll be back to find out. Very unfortunate since we live so close by and we have frequented this theater since it opened at the Avalon.

After writing the above text, I did follow up with Regal Avalon. I spoke with the Night Manager Jonathan and explained him the what happened.

He spoke kindly and read the Regal policy on rated R movies to me, which is as follows:

An R-rating on a movie means children under the age of 17 can get in only with a parent or guardian who is over the age of 21. But some theaters are tightening their rules. Children under the age of six are not allowed into R-rated movies at Regal Cinemas, even when they're accompanied by an adult. Mar 19, 2016

He then apologized for the way we were treated because of the situation. Him, understanding that we misunderstood! He then asked for the names of the team members who did not handle the situation well.

I truly hope that Maya and Bailey can somehow learn to be as capable as Jonathan is, of empathy and concern for their customers and how they feel.

Jonathon asked us to come by and get complementary tickets for a future show. Because of his kindness and his willingness to listen to us, the client, we will go back and you have a 3star rating...

First, let me start by saying that I never go out of my way to leave a negative review, regardless of how bothered I am. Imagine having such an egregious experience that you feel the need to leave a negative feedback while waiting for your movie to start.

Since I’m taking the time to do this, I’m going to provide a little backstory so you understand the weight that this experience holds, not just for me but for anyone who has struggled or is struggling with substance use. While my roommates all ordered their alcoholic beverages, I asked if a virgin mojito was an option. The answer was - no, it’s not on our menu. That’s fine. The employee then shows me the fridge to display options. I saw grenadine and Orange juice, so I quickly opted for a no-tequila sunrise. She began making the drink and then reached for the tequila. Right before she pours it, I repeat, “no tequila.” I understand it’s not a typical order, so again, I dropped it and chalked it up to not being loud enough when I ordered. Then, it comes to paying. She lets me know that she has to charge me for alcohol. What alcohol? You can’t manually enter adjustments? Find something similar and a price I could be charged for instead? You can’t comp or edit an item to best meet the needs of your clientele? As if health concerns don’t exist? The least you could do is try. I then asked for a supervisor. Out comes the same individual who walked away when we first came up to the bar. I know a thing or two about hospitality and customer service, as that’s what I do for a living. So, I was already surprised by the greeting. Or lack thereof. I asked the “supervisor” if there was anyone above him who could handle the situation. Danny was condescending and dismissive (not to mention highly adolescent in his communications). He said I would need to contact corporate because they can’t change the price on menu items. Danny clearly found this interaction amusing and funny. Or, at least, that’s what I picked up from his sarcastic tone and inability to have any empathy, even if he really couldn’t help me. He then scurried over to a coworker to discuss what happened. I didn’t even bother to turn a corner first, just behind the bar towards the kitchen. Had this been a good interaction, I would not still be sitting here 30 minutes later, rage-typing. I would have let it go. I have worked with many P.O.S. Systems throughout my years and have yet to come across a system that can not do what I was asking. Not only was this extremely triggering, but I am mortified at the idea of this happening to anyone else who may be struggling.

I want to be abundantly clear - am I annoyed that someone would try to charge a non-alcohol drinker for alcohol? Of course. But, this is a much bigger problem than a $8 (very embarrassingly desperate) upcharge. It’s about the apparent disrespect, disregard, and immature behavior I experienced. I have never in my life witnessed a more unprofessional and unfit individual managing an establishment.

In short, my experience absolutely sucked, and I am telling every person I know until someone fixes this issue so the next person doesn't have to pay the price. Literally and...

Under-cooked chicken from a non-existent menu and a rude manager. Good cheese sticks from the no menu, though.

The whole story: My friend and I planned to eat dinner and watch a movie last night, but when we went to order food, the monotone, carefree teenage boy working the concession stand informed me that they had no menus. I politely asked to speak to a manager, thinking maybe the manager had menus in their office or had some kind of suggestion as to how I could know what they offered. When the manager came out about 5 minutes later, she repeated that they have no menus because they are in the middle of getting new menus. Her solution was to have the concession guy read me the entire menu from the register. Since our movie was about to start and I had already bought the tickets for the movies, I did not have a lot of options for dinner and my friend and I were both too hungry to wait until after the movie. I pulled out my phone and told the manager, who had not offered ANY kind of apology or ANYTHING to make it right, that I was looking online to see if maybe a menu is there, and her response was something to the effect of "Ok, so I will know who wrote that Yelp review". (As a side note, I have never written a Yelp review, but since she was rude enough to suggest it, here I am writing reviews in multiple places just for her. :) Good idea, Miss Smarty Pant Manager.) I could not find a menu online, although I DID find an AMC menu online (and made sure to nicely tell the manager I could not only find the AMC menu online but could also order ahead from there OR the APP on my phone, and asked her to tell her boss that so maybe they could do the same thing). To make it even more fun, there was only one register open and during this whole time, as you can imagine, a line was forming behind us. I basically settled on the first few things the teenage boy listed from the menu so the people behind us did not have to wait even longer. My friend asked if they had sweet tea, to which he did not know the answer and went to the back then returned to say they do about 5 minutes later. I ordered an Icee because I could see the machine so I did not have to ask.

Ordering food at a food place where there is no food menu that tells what food items they serve or how much their food costs is just bad business. But with no options because I had already paid almost $40 for two tickets, I paid the $40 for two orders of under-cooked chicken fingers that were not even as good as McDonald's, a sweet tea, an Icee, and cheese sticks. Hopefully I will not develop salmonella from the few bites of under-cooked chicken I consumed. But hey-the cheese sticks were actually pretty good. There's always a silver...