UPDATE (2 Jan, 9.16pm): A GV spokesperson has informed us that both the affected area and cinema hall were disinfected following Ms Tan’s email on 21 Dec.
During their checks, they found no evidence of bedbugs and reported their findings to the couple on 26 Dec, apologised, as well as checked on their well-being. The full statement has been updated below.
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Public seats can be well, kinda gross, since you never know who sat on them before. However, you’d expect a cinema to keep their seats clean for hygiene reasons.
But what happens when you discover bites on your body after sitting in a cinema?
A Golden Village (GV) moviegoer is seeking clarification from the cinema operator over the bites he allegedly received while at GV Plaza, at Plaza Singapura.
Ms Jeanette Tan made a public Facebook post explaining the incident on 27 Dec (Fri).
Ms Tan and her fiancé were watching Ip Man 4 on Fri (20 Dec) at 8.25pm, in Cinema Hall 6.
Upon the conclusion of the movie, they found several bites congregated around the same area of the fiance’s right arm.
According to Ms Tan, the bites allegedly got worse and after checks were made with professionals, they were told that the bites were from bedbugs.
Said professionals were not specified, however.
Ms Tan has highlighted the case on Facebook because apparently, GV have not gotten back to her after she filed a complaint through the customer service email on their website “a week ago” – judging from the post, on 20 Dec itself.
A GV spokesperson has responded to the case. Here is the statement in full:
“Golden Village is committed to delivering the ultimate movie-going experience for all its customers, and that includes ensuring all our cinemas are well-maintained. We take customers’ feedback seriously and ensure they are addressed.
Following the customer’s email on 21 December, we immediately blocked out the affected seats and activated the pest control unit to conduct a thorough investigation. While their report showed there was no evidence of bed bugs, we have since proceeded to disinfect the affected theatre again as a preventive measure. Following the report, we responded to the customer via email on 26 December to apologise to her and her fiancé on the matter and check on their well-being, and to also update them on our findings.
Golden Village takes the hygiene of its cinemas seriously and has stringent cleaning processes in place. Pest control checks are conducted regularly at all cinemas. We have always worked closely with our pest control unit and will continue to do so to see how we can improve on our cleaning processes.”
It is indeed pretty scary to receive bites while at a cinema, implying a lack of pest control.
At the same time, the issue may be greater or less bad than feared – at this point without comment from GV, it is difficult to ascertain. We advise not spreading anything unsubstantiated until a confirmation is obtained.
As for the alleged delay, for example, the seats would have to be checked and more testimonials would have to be obtained to ensure that the bites originated from the same place.
As a result, there is also no guarantee that Ms Tan’s fiancé, at this moment, did not sustain the bites from somewhere else.
MS News have reached out to GV and Ms Tan for comment and we hope there’s a resolution to the issue soon.
What do you think about this incident? Let us know in the comments.
Featured image adapted from Facebook and Washington Post. Right image used is for illustration purposes only.
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