Theater Extras Consumer Reviews

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Theater Extras is a subscription service that costs about $100 a year that give access to super-discounted tickets that become available when producers are having trouble filling seats. The offerings, which you can check by signing onto their website, vary and I only saw a handful of shows with my year long membership, which did make it worth it, but this year I decided I didn't want to renew. Since I'm not a frequent visitor to their website, I didn't realize that my card would automatically be charged for the next year.

Only a week after discovering this new charge, I wrote to them and said I would like to be refunded because I didn't receive any notification that my credit card was going to be charged. Jed, the guy who runs the site, wrote back saying they informed me 3 times (When? I scoured my email and spam folders and found nothing), said that the registration date was on the website (my mistake, I didn't see it) and that the renewal policy was on the website. Still, it's not cool that they would charge me and not tell me, regardless of the policy.

He said that if I wanted to contact my credit card company for doing this "terrible" thing then I could and informed me that I was in the "vast minority" of dissatisfied people. He offered to refund me $30 as a "courtesy". Funny, as his attitude wasn't so courteous as it was defensive and snippy. Clearly he's not used to providing customer service judging from his manner of dealing with my simple request to be refunded. It honestly wouldn't take much effort to say "Sorry for the misunderstanding, here's your money back." Seems he has a problem with excessive pride.

I wrote back and said I couldn't find any notification and that I can't afford to pay for the service this year as I'm an actor and money is tight. It's true! I am! I suppose I could continue subscribing if I cared to tighten my budget even more, but the fact that he was being a jerk certainly didn't make me want to give him my money. I'd rather use another service, of which there are many, where I don't have to deal with condescension.

So then the attitude really came out: "My offer for a discounted membership of $69 stands, you can call your cc company or you can stay a member for what amounts to $6 per month. If you think seeing hundreds or thousands of dollars of shows per year is not worth this fee, then you should call your cc company." And then the sad little man shoots out another email because he can't help himself: "By the way 20% of my members are actors and THEY LOVE US."

Wow, if that's not a way to get me to run for the hills then I don't know what is. It makes my shrug and shake my head because he really wants me to fight with him. You'd think as a small business owner he would ride himself on customer service since the interactions are so personal. Guess not.