Jun 14, 2010

An Open Letter to the Huntington Theater

Dear Huntington Theater,

Once upon a time, I used to tell all my friends to go enjoy performances that you put on because you have that great "$25 [if you're] under 35" program. What a deal!

But then two things happened.

1. T and I saw your holiday production - A Civil War Christmas - this past December. It was so weird and not good that we left at intermission. I don't think I've ever done that, but the show was not what I expected. It was weird versions of carols intertwined with criticisms of Mary Todd Lincoln. And an odd Abe Lincoln. All caricatures of themselves. We hated it. A month later we saw something at the Central Square Theater that was amazing, so.. we're biased towards them now.

2. You call incessantly. You call more than my boyfriend (though we live together, so that's not a good excuse). You call more than my mother. You call more than anyone else I know.

In the beginning of our relationship, I used to answer the phone when you called. I told you to call back in the evening hours, and you kindly obliged. Later, I told you that I wasn't interested in ticket packages, nor donating over the phone. I said that I preferred to be emailed or mailed.

You ignored me. No, that's not accurate - One week you called me three days in a row, including a Sunday - so it's more like you ignored my request. And, recently, you started calling me in the afternoon. I guess you figured since I ignored your 7 PM calls, I might answer the 3:51 PM call. Wrong.

I'm under 35, hence my ticket purchases. Here's a clue for you for targeting my demographic - WE DON'T LIKE BEING HARASSED ON OUR CELL PHONES. Or on any phone, really, but cell phones are likely our primary numbers.

Here's a clue for you for your marketing in general - if someone doesn't answer the phone 100x in a row (I tried to log into AT&T to provide an accurate count, but the server was down), you should stop calling them.

Now, instead of being an occasional Huntington theater-goer, I'm an active Huntington Theater-hater.

Good luck - you clearly need it. And please - stop calling me.

Best,

Casey A. Williams
Former Fan

PS. Terrence wants you to stop calling him too. And you only need to send us one mailer, not two. We have the same address - duh.

Update: They called again today (Tuesday), this time at 3:53 PM.
.

5 comments:

  1. Manly Terrence despite the playgoing2:44 PM

    I think because my last name begins with F, I get the calls roughly 20 minutes before Casey...but I get them all and ignore them all. They once tried to sell me tickets to a show that I just told them I already bought tickets for! Actually, I think it was shitty Civil War Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Casey and Terrence -

    I'm so sorry our telemarketing department has been overly persistent with you both. Irritating you beyond belief is certainly not our intention! We've marked you both as "do not call" and will absolutely stop calling you from here on out. Telemarketing remains a surprisingly effective tool for us (weird, I know!), but it's clearly not for everyone.

    I'm also sorry to hear that you all had a terrible experience at "A Civil War Christmas." Our season has just ended, but I'd be happy for you all to come see a show next season as our guests to make it up to you. I appreciate your support of the Huntington and want you to have good experiences with us, whether it's our shows or our staff. I'll send you all a voucher, and please let me know if there is anything else I can do or anything further you'd like to discuss.

    Sincerely,

    Temple Gill
    Huntington Theatre Company
    Director of Marketing
    617 273-1560
    tgill (at) huntingtontheatre.bu.edu

    ReplyDelete
  3. B- a.k.a. the one whose dad designs stuff10:48 AM

    haha, I had the same experience...on one of the many calls I got they were trying to sell to me by asking if I had heard about their new theater, the Calderwood Pavillion...I responded that yes, I had heard of it, my dad was the architect who designed it. Somehow that statement must have been noted because I no longer get their phone calls. That said: I do enjoy the new space and think we should find a maybe non-weird performance and have a group date night.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  5. They did the same to me their telemarketing strategies need to be changed I will never go to a show at the Huntington again. When I confronted them about the phone harassment the started arguing with me and were very rude

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions! Makes this much more interesting.