No Rewards For Your Loyalty

(I’ve had the local cinema’s loyalty card for a few years and, having had some rough times and low funds of late, I decide to treat myself and use what points I have left to ‘purchase’ a ticket for a special anniversary showing of a trilogy of films that I’ve always loved. I book online and, because my points cover the cost of the ticket, I am not required to provide any further payment information. The email confirmation says I can use my loyalty card to collect my tickets at the till.)

Me: *holds out loyalty card* “Hey. I’m picking up a ticket for [Films].”

Worker: *looks at the card but makes no move to take it* “I can’t use that. I need the card you paid with.”

Me: “I didn’t use a card. I used my points, so you should be able to find it through my account.”

Worker: *still not moving* “You don’t get it; I can’t look it up with your account. I need the card you used to pay for your ticket.”

Me: “I didn’t pay anything.”

Worker: “Yeah, right. Tickets aren’t free, and I need the card you booked with or you’re not getting your ticket.”

Me: *starting to get frustrated* “This is the card I booked with. Because I used my loyalty points!”

Worker: “Ma’am, at some point in the transaction, you had to put in your card details and—”

Me: “No, I didn’t! I didn’t have anything I needed to pay. I wasn’t asked to put in my card information, and the email said I could use my loyalty card to collect!”

Worker: “Look, I can’t do anything. I can maybe sell you a new ticket.”

Me: “Is there somebody else I can speak to?”

Worker: “There’s no point. Nobody here can do anything for you if you don’t have your card.”

Me: “Listen here. Either you are lying or misinformed and I can collect with my loyalty card, or the email telling me as such is wrong, and I wish to complain to someone who can do something about it. Either way, I need you to get someone here to talk with me about this right now, because I refuse to miss any of my film over this.”

(A supervisor comes over and apparently the employee has “warned her” about me.)

Supervisor: “Ma’am, I understand your frustration, but if you don’t have the card you paid on, we cannot print off your tickets. We can, however, sell you a new ticket and give you our company’s customer service number so you can get your original ticket refunded.”

Me: *glaring daggers at them both* “I am telling you, as I told him. I. Didn’t. Pay. By. Card. I used the points on my [Cinema] loyalty account, and the email told me I could use my loyalty card to collect my ticket. I wasn’t asked to give any card details.”

Supervisor: *looks at me briefly before turning to the worker* “If she paid with her points, the tickets will show up when you swipe the card.”

Worker: “But she doesn’t have her card!”

(The supervisor rolled her eyes, took the loyalty card I was still holding out, and printed off my ticket with an apology. She was still trying to explain it to him when I walked away.)