Naija Review Blog: Genesis Deluxe Cinema Polo Park Mall Enugu – A Review

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Changing movie times without notice – Thrice I have experienced getting to the cinema to discover that a movie was cancelled or moved to another time. The first two times were because of some ‘technicalities’, the last time because they had a movie premier. The problem is not so much as changing the movie times as it is updating the changes on their website. Most people make plans with the info on the website.

Refreshments are too expensive – The snacks and drinks are unreasonably expensive and yet they restrict us from bringing our own refreshments. It’s not a bad policy, if I owned the business I’d definitely do the same, but you don’t have to rip us off. Sometimes you spend more in buying snacks than you do purchasing the movie ticket, it’s just ridiculous. They expect us to pay #200 for a bottle of drink, when it’s just #90 downstairs? I mean come on!

Selling Children’s ticket to an 18-rated movie – I mentioned this in 13 Annoying Things You Should Never Do At the Movies, how I saw a child with his parents seeing Savages. The parents share the blame of not checking the rating of the movie but the cinema staff was wrong to have sold the ticket knowing it was an 18-rated movie. They should have a policy of selling to the right age as indicated by the movie rating system.

No seats at the lobby – it’s very frustrating and annoying when you get there and have to wait for your movie time because you’d have to stand. Well, except you go down to the food court, which is packed on weekends by the way.

Arcade games don’t work – The arcade games will make a good ‘hang-around’ activity only that they’ve never worked! Every time I ask, they say it has some technical problems that will ‘soon’ be rectified. I wonder if ‘soon’ now means a different thing these days. Those boxes have been there for months and they still can’t get them to work. Why not get rid of them.

Theater rooms finishing – At first, I assumed the rooms were the way they were because they just moved and were still putting the place together. But after two years, one begins to wonder why the walls are still unpadded and the floor bare.

Cleanliness – The first time a rat ran across my feet, I refused to believe it. Even more shocking when ants drove me away from my seat once, I had dropped my popcorn and the biting and chewing ants hurried over for a feast. More alarming is when you look under you seats and find empty cans and/or bottles of drinks, foils used to wrap snacks and empty popcorn bags. I thought the rooms were meant to be cleaned after each movie.

Playing the wrong movie – I once watched the wrong movie for 30 minutes before we realized they had played the wrong movie. We immediately complained and they apologized and put the right movie. Should that be happening at all?

Screen Resolution – Imagine watching a movie with the heads of the actors cut off by the screen. Yep! I was confused at first if it was how the movie was made until my companion convinced me that something was wrong. We complained and they adjusted the screen. I used to think they were people in the tech room who monitored the screen or do they just play the movie and doze off?

Sound Proof – Every time the movie is quiet, probably during a dialogue or transition, you hear the sound from another movie in another theater room. Worse still, when it’s raining, the sound of rain drums out the movie.

Room Temperature – Most of the time, the theater is so hot people use paper, even more sad, their hands to fan themselves.

Aisle Lights – If you’re late to your movie at Genesis, then you should be ready to trip down the stairs in the theatre or develop super night vision. I don’t get why they do not have aisle lights. They should wait till I fall down those steps and sue them.

Theater room doors – it is either they install swing back doors or they keep a doorman to always make sure the door is shut. When people come in or go out and leave the door open, the music/sound from the lobby can be heard in the theater and most times distracting. 

Thumbs Up

Customer care – Their customer care is awesome, from their welcome smile to their goodbye wave. They’re very nice in helping you pick out a movie (don’t trust their choice though) or a snack. They also recognize their regular customers.

First come, first served policy – I admire that they attend to customers in the order at which they arrived unlike most organizations in Naija where older people are served before the younger people that come before them or ‘high-class’ is served before the ‘low class’ or a customer known to drop huge tips is served before the ones that don’t.