Summary
On a recent visit to New York, my girlfriend and I purchased tickets to attend a show at the Broadway comedy club.
Sadly for various reasons this turned out to be a solitary low-light on what was otherwise a great vacation.
You may not have either the time or inclination to read my full report of what took place. This is a brief summary the main problems:
False information about additional conditions of the purchased ticket leading to a minimum doubling of ticket price
False information about the calibre and number of comedians playing at the show
False information about drink prices
Incredibly hostile and aggressive treatment by staff
Failure by management to take responsibility for any of the above
Detailed report
We purchased a promotional ticket for two for $20. The false or mis-representative information we were given was:
You don't have to buy any drinks
Drinks start at $3
Every comedian at every show has at least four national television awards and there will be six playing at each show
We were told that they were doing a special season of taping at the moment and so the tickets were reduced from the normal $40 because they wanted a full audience so things would look good for the taping.
When I got my ticket, after having paid for it, I did later notice that it said in small print in the bottom corner of part of the ticket that there is a two drink minimum per person. This was problem one. However I thought it wouldn't be an issue because we would both probably have a few drinks in the course of the evening anyway.
After arriving at the club a woman who was in charge of the bar approached us and asked what drinks we wanted to order because there was a two drink minimum. We had just come from dinner and didn't want drinks immediately. I told her this and that we might get some drinks a bit later. She insisted I had to buy drinks immediately or we would be billed for two drinks each as soon as the show starts. I said that I wasn't happy to be bludgeoned into buying drinks and that we had been given false information at point of sale. I politely asked her to go and deal with some other customers and come back to us because that would give the situation a chance to resolve and we would probably get some drinks a bit later. At this point she attempted to throw my girlfriend and I out of the club because she was doing her job and had decided I was going to be a problem and that it would be better to do now than have to call the cops. Yes she did seriously say she would call the cops because I wouldn't buy a drink immediately.
It is also worth noting at this point that the price of the drinks is insane (cheapest is $5 for a water and an average small bottle of beer is $9).
Because the totally unreasonable and unprofessional attacks of this woman had seriously put a damper on things my girlfriend and I decided it was best for us to leave. I asked to speak to the manager so I could get my ticket refunded.
I was directed to a guy called Dave and frankly I have never talked to someone with the title manager who was so indifferent and unconcerned about paying customers. At the point I spoke to him the show had not begun. We had received nothing of value from the establishment and so I expected a full refund and apology for the false basis on which the sale of the ticket was made not to be a problem. This was not the case. Practically before I had finished my first sentence he just started saying that it said on the ticket and in the club that there was a two drink minimum. He was totally unable to differentiate between the totally legitimate concept of upfront conditions made clear at point of sale and the unethical concept of false claims made at point of sale followed by additional conditions only added after money has changed hands.
He refused to give my money back, giving the rather pathetic excuse that the promotions team is totally separate and so I don't have your money to give back. When I asked if he felt that there was any responsibility on the club for promoting itself with true and honest information he said no. I thought he hadn't understood what I said and asked him again later in the conversation just to check and he repeated that he didn't think that he as the manager of the club or the club itself had any responsibility for the way it was being promoted by the promotions team. He repeated the line of the initial woman that if it was going to be a problem we would have to leave although admittedly with less rage and venom than she did. He then excused himself saying he had to go and start the show and basically as far as he was concerned that was that.
We could have staged a sit in I guess and it would have been funny if they had actually called the cops, I don't know what they would have said he won't buy a drinkarrest him??! Anyway we were fed up and thought it was best to cut our losses so we got out of there.
Frankly it didn't seem like it was a great loss due to some other points of note:
There were only 5 other people there in the audienceseriously.
It wasn't a special taping, they may have been taping the performers on stage but that was it (other audience members had been fed this false line too).
The line up was not going to be as promised. Their website says that there are four national headliners every show, which is not quite the level of stars we were promised. Even that promise is questionable given our experienceI will leave it up to you if you think national headliners play to audiences of 5?? We didn't find out for sure because we had left.
Other than rudeness and lack of professionalism from club staff the main thing I object to is that what is being promoted is totally different to what you get when you purchase tickets. We were sold a cheap evening with top class comics and the added excitement of a taping. What was actually on offer was a medium cost evening (because the mandatory drinks effectively increase the ticket price by 100-200%) with a lower talent level.
If you want to go to a show, you need to think about it as a $25-30 ticket with two free drinks (and that's without any tips). Also check out all the details of who is performing and how good they are on their website because their promotions team give out false information and the club are unconcerned about this.
Unless you like aggressive staff, stupidly expensive drinks and want to risk tiny audiences with no atmosphere then my recommendation would be that you find another venue for your comedy nights outit New York after all you aren't limited for choice.
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