Marcus Elgin Cinema — Local services in Elgin

Horrible experience here the other day. I've been here many times, but this one really put a dent in my appreciation for the Elgin Marcus cinema. Grabbed a water, pretzel bites and a pop before the show and wanted to add them to my Marcus app so I get the points towards something...). Was told the system went down. I asked if I can call to get the points added and was told "no, but you can just bring your receipt the next time you are here". Although oops, the receipts aren't printing. Sorry.

Because these are recliner seats you pick your spot in advance. Finding my way to my seat and wondering how I ended up in the second row when I'm sure I picked something further back had me wondering how I messed this up. We drove an hour to get here because we like to lay back so I let it go and settled in. Although my daughter's seat was broken and would not recline. Now I'm double checking from the app and see that I have a different seat number. Odd... Why did they give me someone else's tickets. I head back to the seats listed on the app, but they are non-existent. There are no previews playing although the show is scheduled to start in about 5 minutes. As my family and I are on an impossible task to find seats that are not there, I address the row in the back. "I guess we're the current entertainment until the show starts. I'm not sure how I messed up my seats". They inform me that the theater was changed and this one is much smaller. Oh... well that would have been nice to know upfront. We head back to our front row seats.

Pretzel bites are stale and no one wants to eat them. Part of me wants to throw them at the screen to express my frustration with the whole deal. Just as the movie is about to begin there is one final "entertaining" moment where a father with three girls is raising his voice to someone in "his" seat as neither of them understand the trick Marucs Cinema played on them. Those people shuffle around and the movie begins. We did enjoy the movie, but much of the mystery and drama unfolded before it even started.

I sent my recount of the above events to the Marcus feedback section of their webpage and was informed I may hear back in a day or two. That was a few weeks ago and I have yet to hear back. Their policy must be something along the lines of "keep the customer in the dark", which is appropriate for a movie...

This is the theater I grew up with as a child. As an adult, I have 3 other theaters that are closer to me, but I chose Marcus because it’s always been my favorite. Marcus definitely lost points with me after changing their Tuesday specials. You used to be able to get a movie ticket for $5. This also included a mini bag of popcorn. This is no longer the case. Tickets are $6 (which is fine) but you no longer get popcorn. The concessions doesn’t sell the mini sized bag either so you’re looking at large popcorns at large prices. I’ve been disappointed since the change and admit to not visiting as often because of this change. I was at a show on 3/19 at 4pm. I used a mobile order to pick up my pizza at 3:50. The concessions had no one at the designated “pickup” line so I went straight to the pizza/bar area. There was a young employee working near the oven and a manager in a blue button up shirt near the register. As I stood there, no one said anything. This was fine because I was sure they were in the middle of something. After a few minutes the manager asked how they could help. I mentioned that I have a mobile order. He was standing in the middle of me and my pizza. It was literally within arms reach. He told me I had to go to the pickup line which is about 4 feet away. I move to the pickup line where the manager calls someone to assist me. They ask how they can help me and I said I need to pickup a pizza. The employee calls to the manager (who is still in front of my pizza) and the manager hands them the pizza for them to give to me. Do you understand how much extra work was involved when the manager clearly could have greeted me and handed me a pizza without any issue. This was so strange to me and speaks volumes about management and how they feel about customer service. I guess I will just be visiting the theaters that are closer to...

Its been awhile since we went to a see a show in a theater. My wife came to buy the tickets the day before and the female older lady front end manager was so rude. It was no one else behind her. She seemed so irritated when my wife video called me to find out the time and seats choice as if she was bothering her. I also asked if you can get veteran discount and i can hear her rudely says I NEED TO SEE THE PROOF. The next day we came to see the movie and ordered popcorn drinks and no one asked me if i was a member or not. My wife said members pays less for the concession. Maybe during this covid era people are just not nice anymore and I've seen more and more of this becomes the norm. Updated: 12/17/22. Its been awhile since i went to see a movie in this theater. My wife came day before to buy tix for Avatar. My wife said the same old RUDE lady was there and was still RUDE. We did get the veteran discount this time because my wife brought my vic id, but just her overall attitude, demeanor and way to communicate is just not friendly and i'm surprised that shes still put up front to meet customers. So sad because we like this theater but we will go to AMC from now on.

Update 6.30.24 Been awhile since i came back from my last horrible experience. This time was so much better. The gent at the ticket counter was super nice. Asked me about my reward info if i have any. Told him i am militaty and he applied it with no issue even tho showed him my vic. The folks at the concession stands were also friendly. Overall was much more pleasant experience. Bumped from...