Sometimes, greed isn’t so good

Good day all. I saw this story this morning and it brought a chuckle to my heart. It seems that someone had the bright idea to try and scalp tickets to The Interview, and instead got stuck with a batch of worthless paper.

When the scalper found out that Sony was also going to stream The Interview online, and at a cheaper price than the theater’s were charging, he suddenly saw his virtual riches suddenly turn into actual poverty. Here are the details from WCPO in Cincinnati (Not to be confused with the mythical WKRP in Cincinnati)

The controversial film “The Interview” has been the buzz of the entertainment world in recent weeks.

Yes it has. First with Sony caving into to North Korea, or someone, and canceling the showings, then caving in to Obama and releasing it. Finally we have the buzz on just how crappy a movie it was in the first place.

So when Jason Best learned that a local movie house was among the 300-plus theaters across the country that planned to debut the film on Christmas Day, he wanted in.

I believe the sounds that went through this dimbulb’s brain were “Cha-Ching!” So what did this Gordon Gecko wannabe do?

Due to the limited release, Best bought 50 tickets to the showings at the Esquire Theatre in Clifton. He spent $650, or $13 per ticket (with service charges), because he thought he’d get his money back when he sold them online.

I hate to break it to this “Evil Genius in Training” but he might have actually done a bit of research before plonking down all that money. A lot of people who had seen preview showings of The Interview were not impressed at all with it.

“I saw all the hype about ‘The Interview’ on the 23rd and thought, ‘hey, folks are selling these tickets in other cities and it seems like that’s the thing to do right now so why not give it a shot so see how it goes,'” said Best, adding that he planned to use one ticket for himself.

And just how did it go Mr. Best?

But his plan backfired once Sony, the distributor of the film, announced it was releasing the film to streaming services like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix.

“The Interview,” originally canned all together because of an alleged cyber threat from North Korea, got released online Dec. 24. That made the film widely available for about half the price of what Best paid for his tickets.

Oh I can see what went through this pea-brain’s head when he saw that announcement. Mostly, it would consist of many many four letters words in sequence.

The demand was nowhere near as great for Best’s tickets. Once he realized that the he wasn’t going to be able to sell the tickets, he tried to return them to the Esquire.

And what did the theater say to this? I’ll give you three guesses, but you will only need one.

“I thought I’d get my money back because the theater’s website *very clearly* said the tickets were refundable,” Best wrote in an email to WCPO.

The refund policy from the ticket broker said they could be refunded up to 30 minutes prior to the start of the movie. However, the theater said these were tickets for a “Special Event” and as such, all sales are final, and it suck to be you doofus.

While tickets are usually refundable, the theater’s head manager, Allyson Duncan, said the return policy operates on a case-by-case basis. She said they never give refunds for special events.

Which is pretty standard for special events, and since The Interview had been canceled and was now being released at the last minute, it became a special event.

Best, a self-described longtime patron of the Esquire, said he wasn’t told the theater considered it a special event when he purchased the tickets.

“I was never once told by anyone at the theater, that the showing of the movie was a ‘special event.’ Especially since any theater was able to show the film, and again, anyone with a cell phone could see it as well, for half the price,” he wrote.

Shall I bring out the little tyke? Why not?

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_8YTa_-hZw’]

Another reason the theater listed for its refusal to give Best a refund is the fact he was trying to scalp the tickets at a higher price, “which is illegal,” Duncan said. The company’s president, Gary Goldman, added that Best is not considered a customer in this instance because of what he planned to do with the tickets. He said he’s a businessman who was trying to recoup a loss at the theater’s expense.

So, Mr. Dumbass was committing a crime, (I won’t bother with the legality of banning scalping tickets. That’s another post if I ever bothered to care enough to write it), and when the whole nefarious project blew up in his face, he decided to get his investment back. And here is what I think best describes the reactions of most people regarding this attempt.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbp_JQ7RxqM’]

I would like to offer Mr. Best a bit of advice. First, know your market. Second, be willing to take a loss. Third, don’t be a jerk when everything goes south. Just take this as a learning experience, a painful one at that.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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