MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — A trip to the movies turned into a real life horror story for a Mt. Juliet couple after they both ended up covered in bug bites.
"I had 42 bites. and my wife had 18," said Michal Steplowski, who lives in Mt. Juliet.
Steplowski and his wife visited the Regal Providence theater on South Mt. Juliet Road back in May to see Guardians of the Galaxy. They noticed the bug bites after returning home from the theater.
After calling the theater for three days and not receiving a response, Steplowski returned to the theater in person and talked to the manager. When he pointed out the seat where he was sitting, he found an egg sack under the seat.
Steplowski also shared the information with a district manager and received a text explaining the auditorium was temporarily closed and they were following protocols. The case was also assigned a claim number.
Steplowski said he later learned a pest control company did treat the theater, but it was three days after the incident.
He also received a letter stating: "Regal Entertainment Group is not legally responsible for this accident; therefore, your claim will be denied."
Steplowski said he had to go to the doctor as a result of the bites and missed two days of work. He also had to pay $2,250 to have an exterminator treat his home in case any bed bugs ended up inside. He believed the movie theater should cover the costs.
"This happened, and it happened in the theater," said Steplowski. "I just want them to take responsibility and try and make it right."
Steplowski also shared his frustrations and experience on social media in hopes of alerting other moviegoers. He said he never plans to return to the theater again.
"I can tell you that my wife and I won’t go see any movies at a movie theater anytime soon, if ever."
NewsChannel 5 reached out to the Regal Cinemas corporate office, and received this statement from Richard M. Grover, Head of Marketing at Regal Cinemas:
“The safety of our guests and staff are always of the utmost importance to us and once we were notified, immediate steps were taken to investigate this allegation. We engaged the services of professional pest control providers on multiple occasions and can report no bed bugs were reported. We want all of our guests to feel confident that they will be safe when they attend a movie at our Mount Juliet theatre and in furtherance of that objective, we continue to engage professionals to conduct routine inspections at this facility.”
