AMC Firewheel 18 — Attraction in Garland

The place was filthy. The restrooms were unclean and missing supplies like soap and toilet paper. The lobby was a disgusting mess.

In the theater, bugs crawled on us while we watched our movie.

When I went to the lobby to ask to speak to a manager, the staff seemed unwilling to allow me to do that. All these problems felt like a management problem, and I didn't want to rip on the staff for it. I just wanted to quietly mention it to management and be off. But it took several requests to get a manager. We waited there for at least 15 minutes before the manager finally shouted at us from across the lobby, asking what we wanted.

I told her, and she acted shocked, but there is no way this could be a surprise, unless she has never walked her floor before, because every section of the theater was sticky, littered, and gross. Of course there would also be bugs. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't see a rat at some point.

She acted like it was my fault that I couldn't identify what types of insects were crawling on us, and therefore there was nothing she could do about it. It's a dark theater, and I'm not an entomologist. I was just trying to be helpful before a much more irate customer had the same experience.

My wife and my friend both witnessed the interaction and felt like she was more frustrated to be dealing with us than willing to take advantage of the input. I feel like we were being pretty cool about it. I've seen customers throw massive temper tantrums for far less.

I feel like the staff should've been less resistant to getting a manager, especially considering how unwilling they were to talk to us at first. I feel the manager shouldn't have made us wait that long, especially, since we were coming out of one of the last shows of a Tuesday night, so the place was not busy. I feel she should have walked up to us instead of shouting at us from across a dark, empty lobby. I feel like she could've been more receptive to the information that her staff isn't cleaning or restocking anything, and that the theaters are crawling with insects, and less interested in hiding in her office. I feel like she could've treated us with the same kind of respect we were trying to treat her with. And I think it would've been a good idea, at least, to try to make it right after all those screw ups. I don't normally want anything for free if I make a complaint, and I never cause a scene. After all, I think the service industry is underappreciated and underpaid as it is. But usually, the person I make a complaint to thanks me for the input and gets someone to take care of the issue as soon as possible. There was no intent or interest to fix this. Just a strong overwhelming desire to get me to leave.

So, we obliged her. And we are not going...

My friends and I went to go watch a movie that was rated R. They both have ids and are over the age of 18. I am 18 myself but i don’t have any form of id. I’ve never had any problem getting into a movie but today we were told we all had to have ids to get in. This was slightly annoying but i understand those are the rules. The problem was with how all of the ladies treated us. One lady was condescending from the beginning of the conversation. She was rude to entire time we spoke to her. Every time she said something it was rude. My boyfriend and his friend (who both had ids and tickets) were yelled at for walking over to the bathroom just because I was near them while i was waiting for my ride to pick me up. She threatened to not give a refund on my ticket. After they left for the bathroom I walked over and sat at a table with stools because i had 2 buckets of popcorn and a phone in my hands and needed to set my things down. I sat down for about one minute before a worker ran over screaming at me that i can’t sit there because i don’t have a ticket. I just bought 2 buckets of popcorn on my card and spent over $20. (the lady said it was okay for us to walk over and buy food while waiting for my ride) I had already spent money at the establishment. it’s not like i was loitering and causing a disturbance. I was on my phone waiting for my boyfriend to come back and needed to set down the merchandise i just bought. I asked “so i can’t sit down?” and she told me no because i don’t have a ticket. so i got to to be embarrassed and stand around with my hands full after spending my money there. I’ve never had something like this happen at an establishment before but that’s what happened tonight. I got to be humiliated multiple times and had to go home. I understand following the rules but there is no need to scream at me and run over to me as if im causing a problem when im just sitting...

Theater has declined beyond what is acceptable in 2025.

Your location, Firewheel AMC 18 in Garland, TX, has probably the worst IMAX design, and customer service/experience of any theater I've been too. The people are fine, this is not a complaint on them, but how your showtime information is distributed, as well as the reliability of even being able to expect to see a show there when you buy your tickets is frankly abysmal, and in 2025 should not be an issue. This is the reason theaters are dying, you're inability to deliver a product when people buy tickets to your theater. As someone who's been going to this theater for 21 years since it was built, it's at an all-time worst.

You've recently renovated the IMAX there, within the last 6-12 months, and it has been nothing short of a disaster. We've had 5 different movies cancelled on us during this period, many of which we receive absolutely no confirmation whatsoever on until we arrive to the theater. Today, we received a cancellation of our IMAX showing today at 2:00PM of the new Mission Impossible, roughly 45 minutes before showtime... we had already left.

Frankly, no refund will fix this, there are no showings left, anywhere, and we do not want to see it in a tiny theater. Also, since we're paying members of A-LIST, refunding the tickets is pointless as we get 4 movies a week etc., which at this point, is seeming like a worse and worse deal since you can't seem to keep your theaters working as intended. First world problems, I know, but the impact on our weekend/time is the thing that really sucks, and I figured you might as well be aware of it, since you don't seem to be willing to do much of anything else to fix...