ODEON Beckenham — Local services in London

I sent a email to Odeon on the 3rd September: 3 Sept 2023, 10:23 BST

Ok can I start with this is no way pointed at the staff in Beckenham. Yesterday I took me and twin daughters to see The Meg 2, paid for tickets online, but purchased food there! Arrived went to the till order 3 large Tang-blasters, and 3 Nanchos 🤣😂🤣😂 £40:32 for snacks ! But thought ok it is what it is! Grabbed our stuff went to watch the movie , I assumed the cheese sauce was like your old one but we clearly see it was changed salt salt salt … the nacho chips salt salt salt… the cheese salt tasted like cheese flavoured (not the same ingredients or quality) I then tried to use the drink but within 10 mins the paper straw had disintegrated and become soggy, my daughters who sat on another row had chips left over when I asked you didn’t eat many their response was “that’s kidney failure” £22.77 for salsa and Guacamole and that was to try and balance out the salt! Quality was dreadful! Also screen 5 sound system needs looking at or turned up the sound does not travel properly you could barely hear the voices only base! Apologies but the photo is for proof of purchase I wasn’t going to try and take photos to show how salt these Nanchos were.

I received this today: Hi Krystal,

Thank you for contacting Odeon Guest Services.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in response as we are currently experiencing a high number of emails however, we are trying to respond to each guest as efficiently as possible.

I am sorry to hear that you had a disappointing recent visit to ODEON Beckenham and that it had been affected by the quality of your food and volume level. I understand that you would find this frustrating and I wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Should you experience issues with food items or volume level again in future, my best advice would be to raise it with a friendly member of the cinema team who will be happy to do everything possible to rectify the issue for you. Our team members are always available at the ticket check point and at the retail counter.

I will ensure that your feedback is relayed to the management team so that we can look into ways of improving our services and experiences for all of our valued guests, as well as ensuring all cinema team members are aware of our processes and as a training opportunity in our customer service expectations.

I wish to take the opportunity to thank you for taking the time to get in contact with us regarding this concern. I do hope that your next cinema experience is more enjoyable. Best,

So they can serve you low-quality foods for high prices, their sauce has changed compared to the way it was before ,so cheaper quality produce for more profit.

If you're reading this please bring your own snacks. And thank me later. Or...

Cheap and Nasty… OK, so they only charge £5 per ticket, any film, any day. With hindsight this should have rung some alarm bells… Our film was in Screen 2. Clapped out, grubby and uncomfortable, with about twice as many seats as should comfortably fit, a woefully small screen and almost no rake. Had it been busier the view would have been impeded. Worst though was the staff attitude. Sadly we had a pig-ignorant woman in our screening. She yakked away on her phone right through the trailers. When the film started, she then proceeded to noisily chomp her way through her own bodyweight of crisp multi-packs and a family pack of Iceland ice creams during the first 40 minutes. She was so loud and inconsiderate we couldn’t hear half the dialogue and walked out in disgust. It felt deliberate; either way, she didn’t give a fook about anyone else in there. We requested our money back and asked why the staff didn’t check in the screens at all for vile behaviour, or the fact that the premium seats were mainly taken by folks who evidently hadn’t booked/paid for them. We were told that every screening was checked regularly, and effectively accused of being liars by the “manageress” when we said this hadn’t happened once. No apology, curt, clearly very unhappy in her role and did not give a damn what we thought. Customer service - nul points. Sadly, Bromley borough needs another decent cinema after the demise of Picturehouse. This most certainly isn’t it. We won’t be back, and I’d recommend you spend a little extra too and go somewhere where they actually care about you and your viewing experience. Sadly, I doubt this place will be open much longer…...

Poor cinematic experience in a tired venue.

Sound is awful (at least in screen 5). At the start, you feel like you're in a room with no bass, treble is ill-defined and muddy and mids piercing. By the end (at least of star wars) you feel like your head has been blasted and beaten because of such poor audio quality.

Screen is poor in size and low resolution and previous reviewer is correct that unless you're in back row of that screen, you would be very low vs screen. Plus if you are on left or right of seating area, the screen is so small there isnt even any of it directly in front of you. Even if you are in the central section just a little left or right you feel like you are way off-centre.

Picture isnt even setup right, with keystoning visible (such that objects look wider at top of screen than bottom), and there is what looks like a cable travelling along the top edge of the screen over the image.

Premium seats are very similar to standard, just with more legroom and a headrest. But no reclining or anything nice, and floor like some hard surface from your secondary school which feels very tacky compared to the standard carpeted cinema experience.

Tired venue - sink in toilet by screen 5 hardly pours any water and is more likely to be seen in your granny's house, plus baby changing out of order. Lights and carpets worn.

But friendly staff :)

Come on Odeon, you make some decent venues, so knowing what good is, why do you think it's okay to run this one so...