Sinemia Misuse Fee or Extortion?

If you forget to check-in on the Sinemia app, an honest mistake many make and just one of the hot friction points of many when using Sinemia these days. You will be asked to pay for your tickets in full + the service fees. They also will keep the service fees already charged when you first bought the tickets if you purchased online.

I paid their "misuse" fee for two tickets which is suppose to let me continue using their service. Then promptly a couple weeks later they cancelled my account when I attempted to buy tickets for Captain Marvel. That's when I received the message that my service had been cancelled in my previous post.

As the fee was suppose to let me continue using the service, but instead they cancelled my service, I promptly contested the "misuse fee" charge on my credit card. You can do the same.

From Sinemia:

The system detected that you have not completed your check-in process by using the Sinemia mobile app at the time and date of the advance ticket.

Your membership is still active however the online/on-site ticketing feature has been disabled due to the outstanding misuse fees (the cost of the ticket). You can make the payment for your Sinemia card misuse fee at https://www.sinemia.com/member. The online/on-site ticketing feature will be activated right after the misuse fee (cost of the ticket) is charged. Please note that failure to check in may lead to account termination per terms of service. 

​

Best regards,

Gisele

Sinemia Support Team

Sinemia Pulls a MoviePass Move to Cut Its Losses

As you can see from my posts I was a fan of Sinemia. WAS as in the past.  I imagine my Google location data, Sinemia usage data, and charges to my card for service fees will prove I never violated their terms of service. They even charged me the full price of my tickets when I forgot to check in on the app to continue using their service.  Does it seem like Sinemia is cancelling everyone who surpassed what they paid for the service in the price of tickets purchased to cut their losses?

Here's my cancellation notice:

Sinemia Premium

Honest review of Sinemia 6 months later

+Sinemia offers single and family packages. I have a two person, two 2D movies a month subscription that I paid for one year in advance to get the best discount. It roughly came out to $15 each a month. Being tickets are up to $16.99 here for a single ticket it was a no brainer. The single and multi person packages are very convenient. They also have tiers to choose from.

+You can buy tickets online and reserve seating through Atom and MovieTickets.com way ahead of time. You can also order a physical card to use at the the theater to avoid a $1.80 per ticket service fee when ordering online.

However, there are some catches (or penalties):

• You can pay for the year in advance to get the best discount on pricing, however when you order tickets online to reserve seating, you will be charged $1.80 per ticket for a processing fee.

• Don't like the fee? You can opt for a physical Sinemia credit card and buy tickets at the theater to avoid the processing fee but then lose the ability to get tickets online ahead of time. Unless you physically buy them days ahead of time.

• You must check in on the app once at the theater between specific times when the movie is to start. They give you an hour or two before and after the start time to let you check in. Remember it's based on the start time. If you forget once they just give you warning. HOWEVER, if you forget to check in a second time, you will be asked to pay for the full amount of the tickets otherwise lose the service.

You would think its easy to remember to check in but I forgot twice and paid for it. Being that six months is left in the subscription, I paid.

Move over MoviePass here comes Sinemia, AMC Stub A-List, and Cinemark Movie Club

Back on July 17, 2016. I wrote about MoviePass as a loyal subscriber since 2013. I cancelled my subscription to MoviePass as the convenience and our love of going to the theater 2 times a week waned. We were originally paying $29.99 each (for two) for a movie a day. No reruns. Then it went up to $34.99 a month for 6 movies max. Then you had to start taking photos of your ticket stub. Fail to do this and you would get charged full price for your ticket and subscription suspended. Then they made it so it's impossible to watch new releases by blacking them out on opening and many times on following weekends. It became too difficult to use MoviePass to get into a movie.

I wasn't against paying my fair share, the $34.99 for 6 movies a month worked for me since I saw 6 movies mostly on Friday nights and Sunday afternoon. It was still working for me in terms of numbers. However, all the other problems added up and we ditched MoviePass as it got caught by Helios and Matheson Analytics, Inc. which became infamous for making the service $9.99 a month for unlimited movies. A completely unsustainable maneuver. Now MoviePass is almost gone with only $1.8 million value, the company can't even support a weekend of movies for its subscribers.

Well move on over as there's movie theater subscriptions popping up EVERYWHERE.

The best deal thus far is AMC Stubs A-List at $19.99 a month for 3 movies a week. That's 12 movies a month! Not a bad deal if you live or are near AMC theaters anywhere. With it comes extra points for concessions and goods purchased with your AMC Stubs A-List subscription.

Second is Cinemark Movie Club at $8.99 a month you get one ticket and then all tickets are $8.99, including two additional tickets at $8.99. In addition, get 20% off concession for everyone! If you skip a month, it rolls over to the next month. Not bad and only good at Cinemark theaters.

Sinemia has (which is what we now use as a couple) a multi tier subscription program where you pay for the year in advance and can view from 1 to 3 movies a month. We have a couple's plan and we can purchase 2 tickets for 2 movies a month at $15.99 a month. In our area one adult ticket is $16.99 each so this works as long as we watch 2 movies a month. Also since they essentially give you a credit card number, you can use it to purchase tickets from Movietickets.com and Atom for any movie at anytime in advance. After using Sinemia for a month, it works for us. We never received a card in the mail but we can use the Advanced Ticket feature to get a number to purchase tickets. Then at the theater you need to check in on the app to prove you went to the theater. That's it! The check-in was a little quirky at times but works.

Look for more of these movie theater subscription services come to life as theaters look for additional ways to retain customers and revenue as superhero movies and Star Wars slow down and online subscription services like Hulu, Prime Video, and Netflix keep stepping up their presence in the feature film and television series world.

Is MoviePass penalizing its most loyal subscriber base? Offers more expensive take it or leave it plans to existing customers.

My wife and I both have MoviePass subscriptions since 2014 but I somehow am the only one to receive a take it or leave it option to more expensive plans recently, they also don't offer me the lowest priced subscriptions currently available.

I am confused and disappointed by the way MoviePass has decided to treat me, one of their most loyal customers. We don't watch more than 5-8 films a month and sometimes during cheaper matinee shows. This experience is disappointing being supportive subscribers with MoviePass for the past 2 years and talking it up to friends and colleagues.

The strategy they are using is to track their subscribers usage (and perhaps average ticket price) then force the subscriber to pay more for less. Part of the problem is likely that the theaters, content brokers, and production companies may not find MoviePass's user data all that valuable. All the data they collect is the same collected by the theaters. So the only way for MoviePass to be profitable is to hope that their subscribers watch 6 or less movies a month for $40. I can think of business plan for them to be in the black if not profitable but it will take working with the theater giants.

In light of this change, I've considered if my funds would be better used to subscribe to HBO Now, Amazon Prime, and/or Netflix. A subscription to HBO Now and Netflix is only about $30 to $40 a month compared to the $75 for two subscriptions to MoviePass.  We can also get tickets online through AAA for $8.50 that are good for any 2D movie at anytime at three different theater chains, even peak weekend hours. We may go out to the movies less but we'll be saving money not just on movies but eating out as well. Eating delivery and watching the latest episode of Homeland or Game of Thrones doesn't sound bad at all.

*Some subscribers claim only being offered $45 to $50 for (6) movies a month or only the $99 a month plans which may be due to the area they are located.

Still want to experience more? View this email in your browser

Dear John, We started MoviePass to make it easier to see more movies in theaters and encourage the exploration of cinema.  We constantly strive to provide the best service to make this possible, and as a result, we are making some adjustments to our membership plans.   Below we have 2 new plans to choose from.  The Premium Plan now features any large screen format.  In addition, we now have a Standard Plan that offers a total of 6 2D movies per month. Once you’ve had a chance to review plan options, as well as read and approved the updated Terms and Conditions, please select your new plan, which will begin on the next billing cycle on 07/26/2016: Premium Plan - $99 / month for a movie a day of 2D, 3D and larger format Standard Plan - $40 / month for up to (6) 2D movies Your plan will take effect at the start of your next billing cycle. You also have the option to cancel at no charge.  If no decision is made by your next bill cycle, your account will be placed on hold.  We look forward to providing you the best theatrical subscription service on America’s largest theater network. For more information check out our blog post here. Select Plan Thank you for your continued support and love of cinema. The MoviePass Team

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