Terrible experience at THE 39 STEPS today...

[RoseStopnikCooks]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:39pm

Was at Roundabout's THE 39 STEPS today, and, with hiptix seating, was seated in the rear mezzanine. I don't hear well and the show was not mic'ed so I asked for a hearing device. They told me without proof of necessity, they wouldn't give it to someone so young. So, at intermission, I asked an usher if I could move to an empty seat and she said yes. I found one in the front row! The house manager followed me and asked me for my ticket and told me to return to my seat. I asked her if I could sit there if no one took it and she said no, that's illegal and I didn't pay for that seat. I explained to her my situation and she replied, "If you can't hear it, too bad. Leave if you hate it so much."

So I did. I was not refunded or anything. Now, I'll be writing a letter to Roundabout.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:44pm

You have to take this further, much further. Im sure you will remember the manager if you saw her again. You need to go back to the theatre and talk to a person above her.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:44pm

You should absolutely write a letter. There is no excuse for their behavior. I don't understand why they would not allow you to use a hearing device. Is there an epidemic of young people stealing hearing devices from theatres these days?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:46pm

Oh, I'm so incredibly sorry for your experience. That's horrible, I would DEFINITELY be writing several letters to the Roundabout!

No one should be spoken to in that manner. Let us know what happens.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:47pm

Definitely report the manager.

I explained to her my situation and she replied, "If you can't hear it, too bad. Leave if you hate it so much."

That, to me, is proof she doesn't know how to do her job.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:52pm

Thats awful

at the theatre i work we will always try and accommodate and re seat people the best we can.

And if someone wants the loop system we would never second guess them

I would take it further

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:53pm

Email AND write letters.

http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/contact.htm

What about contacting the sponsors?

http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/sponsors/index.htm

I would write about it on Yelp, too. Can't hurt.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/american-airlines-theatre-new-york

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 04:53 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:53pm

They told me without proof of necessity, they wouldn't give it to someone so young.

This is absolutley against ADA regulations. Even if you don't have a disability they cannot ask you to provide "proof of necessity". Shame on them for not knowing better.

For general ADA information, answers to specific technical questions, free ADA materials, or information about filing a complaint, call:

800 - 514 - 0301 (voice)

800 - 514 - 0383 (TTY)

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:55pm

Did you get the woman's name? If you didn't, there's a slight problem. See, the house manager of the AA theater is male, so saying "she, the house manager, told me such&such" will obviously pose a credibility issue.

Generally, I've had a multitude of pleasant exchanges with the staff at the AA, so this is most surprising. In fact, I moved from my seat into one of the empty (and partial view) boxes and they were more than happy to accomodate.

I do believe the actors are mic'd, but I could be wrong. In any case, good luck to you. I would have marched to the box office immediately to ask for a refund.

[RoseStopnikCooks]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:56pm

Thanks, everybody. I would've dealt with it had they re-seated me. There was no reason that they couldn't do that. I've been re-seated at NUMEROUS Roundabout shows before. Majority of the time, they've actually offered to do that instead of giving me a device. It only ever happens to me at shows that aren't mic'ed. I'm not terribly hard of hearing, but at shows like this today, I only make out every other word.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:58pm

Male or Female -they will have more than one duty manager.

[StageFan2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 4:59pm

What an awful experience! You definitely should write a letter and go back as WickedBoy says and speak to someone above her. No one has the right to speak down to someone in that manner, most especially someone in her position. Talk about bad public relations. Good luck to you. Please do let us know how it turns out.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:02pm

Take someone with you. This is such a no no these days. Good luck and dont be scared x

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:03pm

Even if it is house policy to not allow patrons to move seats (which it is obviously not, since others have stated that they have been allowed to move previously), the way that the manager went about handling this situation is disgraceful. Write a letter. I had a similar situation once at New York City Opera, and I reported it to their administration and later found out that the usher was reprimanded, so it does pay off.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:08pm

Yes, definitely write a letter and don't mince any words in it. I'm getting a little tired of Roundabout's policies about a lot of things, including their overly-agreessive telephone marketing, which I deplore and have told them in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS to stop and they STILL keep bothering me. A fellow theatre-goer had had a bad experience with them (re: their DREADFUL production of Threepenny Opera). They "apologized" by offering him a free show if he subscribed to their full season, which hadn't even been announced. Totally deplorable, IMO.

[RoseStopnikCooks]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:09pm

Granted, I only paid 21 dollars, but that's a lot for college students. I was really looking forward to this show and it put me in a terrible mood and frankly, I don't even want a comp. I just want to be refunded and move on from the experience.

Yes, but she was probably on duty that day. As I was leaving, I told some other ushers that I had a terrible exchange with the woman down front and they told me that was the house manager. She came up and told me that if I was going to leave, I should leave. So, I flipped her the bird and left. Probably shouldn't have had that last exchange, but I'd pretty much had it.

Just wrote letters to the sponsors and to Roundabout. And I'll call to follow up on Tuesday.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:12pm

Speaking of their "overly-agressive" telephone marketing: A couple of weeks ago, both my home phone and cell phone rang non-stop. (My caller ID informed me that it was from Roundabout). Whenever I answered there was no one on the other line.

This went on for over 6 hours. I turned the phones off early on, but each time I turned them back on the phone started up again!

Fix your computers ROUNDABOUT, and STOP CALLING ME!!!

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:14pm

Roundabout's incessant telephone spam makes me not want to support them at all, and if I do see their shows to get tickets as cheap as possible. There was a span of a few weeks where they would call my cell every day, sometimes more than once per day, never leaving a message. Even when I told them I was not interested, their spamming continued.

edit: Exactly TomMonster! Most of the time if I answered them no one was even there! Or if they were they had such a horrible connection that they could never hear me!

Updated On: 1/13/08 at 05:14 PM

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:14pm

Im back in NY in 2 weeks i'll go with you!

[JRybka]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:15pm

If you do go to speak to someone in person bring someone with you as a way to have someone on your side. It is always good to have someone else there so it is not a he said she said situation. Also whatever you write make sure you make copies and send them to places like Playbill.com, BroadwayWorld.com and other places... so you mean business... BUT do not point fingers and say she was a jerk she was mean.. Just put the situation out there and explain how you felt. If you say.. you did this and you did that it makes it sound like you are a whiner. You are 100% right in your upset-ness.. but make sure it comes out with you being a better person.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:17pm

What a shame! You really need to report this.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:17pm

Roundabout's telemarking service is aggressive and awful. I'm an ex-subscriber, and have told them many times and in no uncertain terms that even if they gave me a free subscription, I would never subscribe again. Still, they continued to call me at least once a day, and even started calling me on weekends. Finally, I lost it, said a few choice words and told them never to call me again. It worked and I haven't been called in almost a month.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:19pm

If you do go to speak to someone in person bring someone with you as a way to have someone on your side.

Right, and it'd be good to have someone to calm things down just in case things get out of hand, tempers flare, etc. On either side.

[RoseStopnikCooks]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 5:22pm

Haha, WickedBoy2, if it's not solved by then, I'd love to have your company. :)

Thanks so much for the advice everyone. I'm going to see what happens with my e-mails and call on Tuesday. If I get nowhere, I'll return to the theater that evening with someone.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/13/08 at 7:22pm

Ok... once a few of you chimed in about their telemarketing, I HAD to post !!! They are SOOOOO annoying !

Last year, I received a call from a woman (she calls all the time) from Roundabout, after I saw "110 In The Shade"-

She starts talking to me about Audra McDonald, and I mentioned that I was a big fan, and I hoped that she would win the Tony Award, but that most likely Christine Ebersole would win.

Her reply? "Who is that?"

A few weeks ago, the same person called, and I rushed her off the phone.

The other night, I receive a call from Roundabout (after I had told them the previous three times to stop calling me) from a gentleman.

As soon as I pick up he says "So, how did you like the "Ritz?"

I replied "I didnt see it"

He says, "You didnt see it??!!!- did you sell your ticket?"

With that, I just hung up.