Regal Unlimited: the psychology of expectation and reward

 

Screenshot of my Regal account

I’ll be clear: I love Regal Unlimited! As someone who loves and writes about cinema and hits the theater more than twice and very often more times, a month, the 21.99 (+taxes) is more than worth it. What follows is less about Regal Theaters, perhaps, and more about expectation and the unconscious desire for reward.

I’ve been at Ruby status for I don’t know how long but as the screenshot shows, I have only three visits to go before I get Diamond status. I emailed Regal and received a terribly unclear email that didn’t really address what I was saying and pushed back with “multiple visits a day don’t count”; but this was not the issue. The quandary is why, after all this time and more than three visits - often within a month (sometimes a week), am I still languishing at Ruby? Moreover, according to Regal's Terms, you reach Diamond "After 20+ visits per year." This year, I have logged 47 visits on my spreadsheet, not including yesterday's attendance of Oldboy and today's of Jurassic Park, both of which are stone classics and should be very much seen in the theater. (Jurassic Park is playing in 3-D at Regal and it's very much worth going to see.)

What's intriguing is that I am the least competitive, points hungry person I know, but there is a matter of principle here. Regal is obviously not honoring its own terms and has put me off with an email that missed the point of what I was getting at. Indeed, "Von" wrote that I wouldn't get credit for multiple visits a day. This wasn't the issue and I'm not sure why that was brought into the discussion.

A lot of this also has to do with expecting something and even I cared more about reward, I'd be demonstrably upset. However, I do expect something; Regal to honor their agreement by their terms.

Consequently, I am posting this to Reaction Shots and will send a link to Regal to see if I get a response. It’s all rather silly but I feel like some principles are involved and one a simple one is being violated: counting. The other, as remarked on is that Regal needs to be follow its rules.

By the way, Sunday is National Cinema Day! Do yourself a favor and go see a movie for four bucks! I think Regal is even offering four dollar popcorn, so there’s incentive!

If you live near an independent theater, throw some love their way, too! Make it a movie day!

The header photo is a screenshot of my account (look at those points!)

[UPDATE: 8/26/2023]

Regal's Customer Service was good enough to get back to me and deliver a word salad:

Dear Mr./Ms. Barrett:

Thank you for taking the time to contact our office.  

Please be advised unlimited subscribers don't get rewarded visits for the crown jewel bonus program by only using the unlimited pass after visiting the theatre as stated in the terms and conditions. 

Customer Relations Team "

Aside from the weird use of "Mr./Ms" (how hard is it to call up my record, figure out my gender and apply the appropriate title?), none of this makes any sense. One, why would I use the unlimited pass after visiting the theater? How would I use it? I have to present my barcoded mugshot in order to get tickets prior to the show. 

But in parsing "Sunny"'s statement, the latter portion gives rise to serious concerns. Where is it stated in the terms and conditions that this is the case? To repeat myself, which I'm likely to do as this goes on, according to Regal's Terms, you reach Diamond "After 20+ visits per year." That last is lifted verbatim from their terms and conditions.

Essentially, Regal's Customer Service is writing quite transparently that Regal is not honoring its own terms and conditions. 

This started out as a light-hearted nudge; but where there's smoke there is often, fire. One is led to ask, why would Regal renege on such a simple agreement that only benefits them? Increased engagement means more numbers of butts in seats often translates to increase concession sales and/or passing the world along to other patrons to hop on board with the Regal Unlimited train.

Be that as it may, I think I'll see if I can bump this up the pipeline. I have writing and other stuff to attend to, but this may be worthwhile to shake a tree.

My reply is here:

"Dear Sunny, 

This makes no sense. What is the point of the program then? I don’t use “the unlimited pass after visiting the theater.” I use it when I visit the theater.

But the entire statement is nonsensical: what, then, is the point of terms and conditions, at all, if Regal isn’t going to honor them? And where is it stated that - and this does not apply here - this is the case?

Again, I have attended twice as many shows as the base number of visits stipulated in the terms and conditions. I use my Regal app at point of purchase for admission, not “after visiting the theater”. 

This is now a matter of principle and I’m happy to use a more public platform to discuss this. I would like to know what the point of the jewel bonus program is, if it isn’t increased engagement and attendance numbers. Additionally, what use are term as and conditions if the issuer flouts them?

As stated in my post to Reaction Shots, I do support Regal (we need the theatrical experience), but this is nonsense. I have visited my neighborhood theater four times in the past five days. That alone should fill up the vacancies where the wording says three more visits to reaching diamond status. 

See the attached images for support. 

Regards,

John"

I added shots of my current Regal status (in the header photo here on Reaction Shots) and pictures of three ticket stubs.