I’ve been to the mountain top, I’ve seen the promised land…and I can you tell you this, its condiment station is adequately stocked!

As a consumer rights crusader, I have a keen sense for when “THE MAN” is putting one over on the general public.

pass go and collect $200 but then pay administrative handling fees of 36%.

Corporate malfeasance keeps me up at night, as does heartburn and indigestion.  My years of public service have taught me that we must stamp out injustice ANYWHERE lest it appear EVERYWHERE. Today’s post is a case-in-point.

The following exchange between Big Brown Dad and Edwards Theatre took place a few years ago.  Enjoy!

To Whom It May Concern

I’m writing this letter as a long time patron of the Edward Ontario Mountain Village Theatre. While I have several choices with regards to movie viewing options, I’ve found the staff at Mountain Village most helpful. Regrettably, the staff was unable to help overcome a problem my wife and I encountered this past week when we visited to watch the bromantic comedy, I Love You, Man.

Once we entered, I purchased two Freeze Frames at a cost of $6.25 a piece. As you know, Freeze Frames are very similar to the more popular Slurpee and Icee brands.

While the price was exorbitant, I figured the icy relief of a Freeze Frame would make our movie going experience more comfortable. But we were both flummoxed by the lack of Freeze Frame specific straws at the condiment rack. Both Slurpee and Icee provide a straw with a shovel-tip feature in order to access those parts of the drink too frozen to travel the full length of the straw.

Drinking a Freeze Frame from a traditional straw is akin to eating sushi with one chopstick or a salad with a spoon. While we were able to access some of the icy cold relief, approximately 15% of each drink was non-consumable.

I’m confident legions of Freeze Frame drinkers the nation over have struggled similarly. I’ve taken the time to write this letter in hopes you might redeem our experience and work towards preventing future Freeze Frame travesties from happening.

P.S. Our disappointment in the Freeze Frame was rivaled only by our disappointment in the movie.

Regal Entertainment Responds:

Hi, Mr. Aguilar. Thanks for your concern about no shovel straws for the Freeze Frame drinks. Our food service dept. gives us an order form to use. Our order form does not have the shovel straws, so I cannot order them. I have passed your request on to our food service dept.

Sincerely,
XXX

Big Brown Dad Responds:

Thank you for your note. I appreciate the time it takes to write a letter. As you might have noticed, my letter took some time to write and it took almost 4 months to get a response letter from Regal. Thanks, again.

I have a couple of questions I was hoping you can answer:

1) Do all Regal Cinemas have the same order form? Will the change in the order from take place at a corporate/national level or just locally?

2) On what date will this change be made by?

3) Can you send over two free movie tickets and a voucher for two Freeze Frames with shovel straws?

Regal Entertainment Responds Again and Again

Our Food Service Dept at our corporate offices in Tennessee, create our order form that we use. It is an online system we use. Most Regal Entertainment theatres have the same order form for the managers to use, but one is created foreach theatre individually. It is up to the food service dept. at our corporate office as to what is on the order form. The Manager cannot order anything that is not on the form. I have not heard back yet from our food service dept. as to if they will decide to put the straws on our order form. I will let you know what they say when I hear from them. I do not have vouchers I can hand out for freeze frame drinks, but if you are ever at my theatre here in Ontario again, just ask for me, and I will be happy to give you two Freeze Frame drinks.

Sincerely,

XXX

Hi, Mr. Aguilar. I just heard back from our food service dept. They told me we cannot order those spoon straws for our Freeze Frame drinks. We normally do not give refills on our Freeze frame drinks, but the next time you are at my theatre, I will be happy to give you a free refill on your Freeze Frame drink.

Sincerely,

XXX

Big Brown Dad Responds:

Thanks again for the speedy reply. Did they give you a reason as to why they wouldn’t provide spoon straws? Who can I contact at corporate regarding this matter?

And thanks again for your offer on a free refill but I am bit confused now. Initially you offered me free freeze frames and now a free refill. I’m confused, please help.

Regal Entertainment Responds:

Hi. Mr. Aguilar. I am still willing to give you two free Freeze Frame drinks on me, but I also offered the free refill, because I can only do the two free drinks one time. I offered the free refill, for if you come to my theatre on a different occasion. As far as who you could talk to, you could e-mail Teresa Welsh in our customer service department, and she would help you out.

Big Brown Dad Responds:

Cheers. The GM at Edwards Mountain Village has been very helpful in answering questions regarding the lack of shovel straws for your Freeze Frames. He notified me that the reason his location lacked shovel straws was because the standard supply order form does not list them as an item available for (re)order. He checked with corporate to see if they might add it as an item on the purchase order form. Corporate said, ‘no.’ Your GM could not provide the reasoning behind Corporate’s decision. This is why I’m writing to you.

Can you provide me a reason for failing to provide this convenience?

Thanks again for your assistance in this matter

 

This exchange took place nearly 5 years ago and I’ve never received a response.  I believe I’m due a free refill or a free drink, hard to tell but I will follow up this week to see if the pressure I applied was enough bring Goliath to his knees. I will post their response in Pt. 2.