Dendy Cinemas Newtown — Local services in Sydney

I had a terrible experience at Dendy Newtown when attending the Reel Bubs session due to inconsistent and irrational policy application by their customer service staff, and then the frustrating and disappointing response to my feedback.

A few weeks ago I attended the Reel Bubs Newtown screening at 10:00 am, a screening advertised to meet the needs of parents with young children. This is the second time I have attended this screening with my young (9 month old) son. After my ticket was checked, I was told by the staff member that I’d have to leave the pram outside the cinema as it was a fire safety issue. My face fell as I had walked my baby in his pram to the cinema in order to put him to sleep before the movie began, under the assumption that bringing a pram to Reel Bubs would be allowed, particularly as this had been the case the last time I had been. I was faced with the prospect of waking my sleeping baby trying to move him into the theatre, or giving up a ticket I had already paid for (and a movie I was excited to see). I then tried to explain to the man that I had previously attended the session and had been able to park him beside me. I asked if, if there were no other prams, would there be a possibility for me to bring the pram inside.

He informed me that I could speak to a manager, but that "she's even stricter than me", thereby implying any point in the endeavour was moot. She was engaged in conversation nearby, so I spoke with another team member who repeatedly told me that the policy of no prams in the cinema was on the website when you book the ticket. I responded that I didn't see this and had previously parked my pram with me in the cinema; I was told this was a mistake.

At this stage, I was exhausted from trying to get some empathy from the team at Dendy Newtown. I was offered no alternatives, and I was told simply over and over again that it was policy and that this was stated when booking the ticket. My obvious distress was overlooked and dismissed; I felt belittled and made to believe that I had done something wrong by missing this note on my ticket, and by trying to smuggle my pram and sleeping baby into the Reel Bubs session.

I think it's absolutely right and vital that Dendy Newtown have a fire safety plan and policy, and that they strictly abide by this. However, I note that there was no empathy or support offered to me having to move my sleeping baby and our personal items into the cinema. There was a complete lack of compassion and understanding, and in fact a significant amount of frustrating condescension - all when promoting a Reel Bubs session aimed at mothers with young children like me. I then spent the entirety of the movie trying to ignore the many different spaces where a pram could be safely parked, out of the aisles without posing any danger. There were also no other parents or children in the session. Perhaps because patrons are not allowed to go into the cinema with their prams?

When I wrote to Dendy explaining the above and asking them to review this policy, I was informed that the policy was not able to be changed, and that it was clearly viewable on the FAQs for the Reel Bubs session. Effectively, Dendy Newtown again dismissed my feedback while simultaneously "thanking me for it". For this reason, I feel obliged to let all other young mothers know that Dendy Newtown is not baby-friendly (despite them saying as much), and that their team are condescending and unempathetic, even in the face of a sleep-deprived, desperate mother and her baby. Moving forward, I will be attending Broadway or Leichhardt...

Let’s start with the opening times of the cinema , I had a movie booked at 10am and the front gates were still closed at 9:50am

I don’t know where the customer service has gone, from speaking to the team over the counter , the customer service team through emails and the general manager , no one has any idea how to run a cinema.

Some constructive feedback was given in regards to opening times so customers can comfortably wait inside , use the restroom facilities , order a coffee or something from the candy bar , but instead we were all waiting outside for 30 minutes before someone decided to open the front gates.

The person named Daniel came out to open the gates with not even a smile on his face and a rolled up cigarette behind his ear and did not acknowledge anyone ( absolutely unprofessional and no customer etiquette ) it shows that the cinema is lacking training or have poor management.

The cinema experience was not great the cinema number 1 had a bad smell to it like it has not been cleaned and sanitised and no one monitoring the kids going wild in there , running around , making lots of noise and running around and stomping in the floor. No care factor at all !

Speaking to a team member named Jack prior to my movie he was trying to assist me with my complimentary tickets. The issue with there complimentary tickets as that you cannot book them online , so get ready for the inconvenience of driving in , paying for parking and waiting in line to book a cinema experience for a future date.

Jack helped me by booking in me in manually and I truly experienced like I was being heard and cared for and I say well done to his customer service skills, you know empathy and compassion and offer a positive experience.

But when I spoke to Daniel as I was promised to have the tickets reissued with a receipt so I’m able to have a voucher code but all I got from him is no resolution or help instead I got that Jack is in trouble for trying to help when he is doing the right thing.

It’s not that hard to look up a voucher code when I have provided them with my complimentary card details but I got resistance from Elliot (General Manager) and just worried how I was reacting to the appalling customer service relieved and couldn’t understand or empathise with my negative experience and empty promises. Again no care factor at all !

I sent in a complaint email and still haven’t had an apology or a response , except them attacking me on my reaction , so petty !

In the end I ended up ripping up the complimentary tickets as they are not worth my time or energy.

Remember customers keep you in a job and without out your business does not succeed , so invest in customer service training and hiring the right people for the...

What a disaster! We stood there in line to order our Lounge delights at the specially designated lounge cash register. However, the young couple in front of us took an eternity to choose the 5 options of the 10 option tasting plate. Then we heard that the movie had started, whilst the other six cash registers remained idle. As there was another group in front i estimated we could be another 10 minutes. i then waked to the non lounge area and asked if i could order there as our movie had started. She said she was unfamiliar with lounge ordering but would do her best . We ordered uneventfully and missed the start of the movie. 5-10 minutes later our waters arrived but not the bottle of wine we ordered? 1 hour later i have to leave my seat and the movie (which i was enjoying) to enquire, to be advised that i ordered from the wrong register!! 1.5 hours later we got our food which we were half way through and our ice creams arrived!!!! Luckily this movie went for 2.15 hours, in any case we still had to gulp down the remnants of our wine. Nobody seemed to have a clue what was going on and really should be offering things that they cannot deliver in a reasonable time. A ruined...