Vue Cinema Croydon - Purley Way — Local services in London

Went to the cinema today expecting A smooth experience I was terribly wrong. You arrive at the entrance and you are greeted with checking in using the NHS contact and tracing app everything good open till now. The problem is the ticket machine needs you to check in again buy the tickets and food. Those machines are complicated to get around and nine out of 10 times it gives in a day notification that payment has failed but you haven't even reached the payment stage. Let's not forget the cinema wants you to already have the tickets . The problem with this is the website is non-functional and it still is not functional. After that you go on first floor to pick up your food and drinks , in here you get another surprise you have to give in your name and phone number to the guys there which make no sense because you've already checked in using the contact and tracing app that has all of your details. Another surprise is the popcorn is Old, no mayonnaise in stock if you want hotdogs , the buns are old too. This is confusing because if you know as a business your opening why would you do it would no stock around for the products advertised on the vending machines. The Coke machines for your drinks are defective and only give you 5% of the portion you're supposed to get it took me three tries to get a proper drink. You go in the cinema to start watching your movie and you realise it's been half an hour since the movie started and all the lights are still turned on , had to report it's at the entrance because it bothers your eyes during the movie and the colours on the screen are all washed out because of it . Do not expect some big screens because the screens here are very small (So no big screen ebtertainment) The Price advertised for the tickets in the app is 6.99 and when you get the tickets from the vending machines they increase to 8.99. It took me one hour from entrance to get in to see the movie just because all of these confusing inconveniences and ridiculous rules. Let people get their ticket from the tills as usual because just by wearing a mask and gloves the employee and customer are fine. All this complicated process only makes you go back home and just see the movie on your telly. Extremely frustrating experience. You have been closed as a business for a very long time there is no excuse for having no fluid customer employee experience it feels like you guys just completely shut down and didn't care about anything during this whole situation you could have at least implemented A fluid procedure to avoid frustrating your customers because most of the customers they were all confused and frustrated...

For the prices you pay especially for the food I expect it to be cleaner and well staffed. The staff seem over worked or spread thin. And atleast one of the escalators (going up or to come down) are never on, I suspect to cut costs. The queues because of a lack of staff are always really long. I buy my tickets beforehand but often the collection machine is out of order so defeats the point of me getting tickets beforehand so not to queue. There is however free parking , if you can find a space on the weekend your lucky. Do arrive in good time.On the plus side,the toilets have always been clean on my visits.. Apart from West Croydon where there is no free or cheap parking, this is the only local Cinema in the Croydon area. The others are in Sutton, Crystal Palace , Wimbledon , Stretham and so on. This Vue Cinema could very easily get a much better review if not for the upkeep and staffing issues. Also an upgrade of the screen sizes would be great but they are still reasonably sized.

So I’ve gone back after many years , and the toilets are cleaner everything is cleaner BUT I left my phone at home with my tickets and asked if I could still get them with the card I used to purchase and my details the lady said yeah and passed me to her colleague who then interrogated me like I was a communist spy even though I had my card and all relevant details to the point my husband told him it was embarrassing just tell us yes you can have it or no. You have to order food downstairs (along with your tickets if your haven’t forgotten your device!) now on self service screens then take your ticket upstairs to collect , in theory this is great but not necessarily in practice especially because of the location and if you want something mid movie well you have to go all the way downstairs and once again the escalators are turned off! Then on top off it I witnessed the same guy that interrogated me about the tickets say to another customer who said they had some how lost their ticket for their food coming up the escalator “don’t worry I’m sure you paid for it “ and proceeded to give them the ice cream they allegedly paid for no other questions asked . (This customer was the opposite race and sex to me ) anyway this was a reminder to why I...

Summary - awesome reclining seats. 2 stars down for poor facilities hygiene standards... touch-screen ordering downstairs is a good idea in concept, but falls slightly short in reality.

+'s: Leather reclining seats... are awesome, the best cinema seats I've ever sat in. Unsure if these have been rolled out across all screens, but they were present in Screens 6 and 7 - very comfortable and spacious and I'm sure they were installed at great expense. My daughter sat in a seat with a reclining function that didn't work, although given it was already in the reclined position it wasn't much of an issue. Ordering food/drink downstairs on the touch screens is a good idea... with some criticisms below. A person was present to welcome us downstairs as soon as entered and guide us through the touchscreen ordering process... nice touch.

-'s: My wife on both occasions commented on the hygiene standards of the toilets, which were unforgiveable - fecal matter on the washbasin taps, the heating turned up to maximum which does a great job of amplifying the smell and attracting flies. Disgusting. The ordering of food/drink downstairs works... unless you choose something out of stock. We purchased sweet popcorn... went to collect it upstairs, only to be told they'd run out, and offered me cheddar popcorn instead. No thanks... refund pls. If you go upstairs, and decide you want to order more/different food... you have to go back downstairs and use the touch screens. Daft. Minimal seating area in the foyer... meanwhile the 'bar' area with ample seating and tables is cordoned off. So if the only 3 tables and chairs in the foyer are occupied, you've either got to hang around like a lemon or go into your screen way ahead of time. Daft. Parking directly outside is abysmal... but I'll put that down to the building works outside, and there is ample parking further into the Valley retail park. One of the escalators upstairs does not work... and I don't think has ever worked in the years I've been...