Telford film fan's cinema grumbles go viral on Facebook

It started off as a simple complaint about a trip to the cinema. But Telford teacher Matt Pledger was amazed when his

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Mr Pledger, 31, from Telford, visited the town's Odeon last Thursday to watch the comedy Ted with his fiancee and two friends.

His experience there led him to write a comment on the cinema's official Facebook page, which went 'viral' and has attracted more than 210,000 'likes' and more than 18,000 comments.

Mr Pledger said: "I wrote on their Facebook purely because we weren't happy with the service we got. The staff couldn't be bothered to be there and the ticket office was closed so we had to get our tickets from the food stand.

"I didn't realise it would get so many hits to be honest. I couldn't speak to anyone at the end of the film because all the staff had gone because it was a late showing."

In his comment, Mr Pledger said he his friend, Lee Ellis, had to shut the cinema door and complained that they could hear the sound from another film through the wall. He also complained about high ticket prices.

He said: "I posted it on the Friday and didn't hear anything until Monday, when it went ballistic, but I don't really know how. My brother phoned me to say he was looking at it and it was getting 10 likes a second.

"I don't know why it was my comment that so many people liked and commented on, but I suppose that experience is endemic at the moment because so many people have commented saying the same has happened to them."

Mr Pledger has since received an e-mail from the duty manager at Odeon Telford, offering him and a friend free tickets to another film.

He said: "My friend who I went with also complained on the Facebook page on the same day and I don't think he has heard anything back from them." Lee's comment got 81 likes and 20 comments.

Mr Pledger said: "They've offered me free tickets but if that's the case there's about 13,000 people commenting on it saying they've had the same experience, are they going to give free tickets to all of them?"

Many of the comments on the page agree with Mr Pledger and call for cheaper prices at cinemas.

Odeon has insisted that the ticket prices offered are competitive.

A spokesman said:"We take our customer feedback very seriously and as part of our ongoing commitment to offering a great value cinema experience, would like to thank the individual and the community for bringing the issues raised to our attention."

He added: "Odeon would like to reassure our other customers that we are committed to providing local film fans value for money in a number of ways."