Sinemia

The Sinemia movie subscription service often doesn't work when I try to get the tickets I paid for. Their customer service has provided no solutions.
I subscribed to the Sinemia service on June 21st, 2018, a service which promises 2 movies a month for 9.99 a month. Though Sinemia claims the service should work for any theater, I discovered after subscribing that the service does not work with Guzzo Cinemas, my preferred theater to go to. I was able to successfully buy tickets through the service once or twice in the summer from Cineplex. However, in the fall changes were made to the service that made it impossible for me to use the service. If I tried to buy tickets at the theater, their card was declined. If I tried to buy tickets online I would get an error message saying that the card was not valid. Once or twice I bit the bullet and paid for the movies that I had planned on seeing anyway. To add insult to injury, though their credit card did not work, they still charged a service charge for the failed transaction a charge that was apparently added months after users like myself had already subscribed. Furthermore after several attempts to use the service as recently as three weeks ago I decided to contact them. I got two responses asking for details about the problem which I provided. No solutions were offered save an inadequate offer to give me one movie for that particular month. After the third exchange they stopped responding. The emails were exchanged between December 1st and December 5th. Fifteen days later, I am still not able to get the service to work.

TERRIBLE - In short the app did NOT work properly. I have made multiple attempts to get a legitimate response from this company for over two weeks. I'm now having to dispute this with my credit card company because they will not issue a refund for service that was not adequately provided.

Here's my experience:

1) I bought their lowest cost account as a "tester" account to ensure that I liked how Sinemia's service works before buying even more accounts for the rest of my family as holiday gifts.

2) I paid the extra $9.99 advance activation for the ability to use the online app that day plus another fee for booking.

3) I checked with the theater to find open seats (I had to check multiple different websites/apps to find a movie to reserve).

4) I did the ticket reservation with the Sinemia app - note that it took at least a dozen times before it would register my correct timeslot... it kept reverting to midnight every time I would submit the correct movie time.

5) I drove a separate car to the theater over an hour early to give myself plenty of time to make sure this worked correctly before the rest of my family arrived.

5) I patiently waited until the 30 check in window and followed the prompts to check in. At this point in the process, the app should have issued a ticket code for the theater to scan - instead it asked for permission to access my camera functionality and social media accounts. This was NOT part of the diagrammed check in process.

6) I showed the app to the guys at the counter - they poked around with all the tabs, read the instructions, and settings, but after 3 people attempting to help me, nobody could figure out how to issue my ticket to check me in because the steps indicated were not happening. Major Glitches. We went back multiple times through the step by step check in process diagram, but the photo function was not part of it, and the numbers that were supposed to display to be scanned by the theater, did NOT appear.

7) We escalated this to the manager who then went into his accounting records to see if they received the funds for the movie - they had not. He too spent nearly 10 minutes trying to troubleshoot the app with me - he couldn't figure it out either.

8) By this time the movie was close to starting and the kids had arrived. The app had my reservation accounted for, so I could not start from scratch. I had now created a line of impatient customers who were waiting for me to get my tickets. There was no way to chat or call Sinemia in the moment to get help.

9) After sitting down, I wrote the Sinemia, hoping that by the end of my movie there would be some level of support or a refund for my troubles. I just got an auto responder telling me that I didn't check in on time. Clearly I had tried in vain to check in but could not. I later got a generic reply from "Jeremy" who did not seem to read my email.... I got the same exact canned response after writing Sinemia a 2nd time.

By the 3rd and 4th time I wrote the company requesting a refund I got NO RESPONSE.

At the end of all this, I had spent over $100 for a disfunctional app, paid extra fees and had to buy full priced tickets to boot. My family lost out on having this service as a Christmas gift.

Other services like AMC Stubs provide far better customer experience, are reachable when things don't work and provide a reliable way to have a discount movie going experience. Even the Moviepass *** functions better than Sinemia, although after all their new limitations, I do not recommend them either.

Simply put, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!!! The app may not work as instructed and if you have problems, good luck ever getting customer service to help you in a manner that is timely or effective. I have not got a single legitimate response that addresses my concerns in over 2 weeks and I'm upset enough to continue sharing my horrible experience until I am FULLY REFUNDED. It seems that they only reply if you escalate matters publicly into Revdex.com or Social Media... and even then people claim that the response is not satisfactory.

I've never written a negative review of any company on Revdex.com and so that should tell you something. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. I've had bad customer experiences in the past, but SINEMIA IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST!

This company clearly has flaws in their system. My account started in September 2018, there were some months that I could not watch the 3 movies I had signed up for.
There are also times where the cancellation button did not work.
Other times trying to use their services ends up with "Your order has not been processed" messages.
Today I used their service to watch a movie, before the movie I tried to "check-in" as required. The app had NOT shown the check-in button on both the Watch Tab and Planning Tab.
I thought maybe I had already done so.
Ended up being told to pay a "misuse fee". This is absurd!

Awful. Signed up in July expecting a card from Sinemia that would allow me to purchase tickets at the theater box office at no additional cost. I never received one so I had to buy online tickets through Fandango or Cinemark. Those added charges of $1.50 per ticket, and then Sinemia started charging a $1.80 processing fee on top of that. So $3.30 per ticket more than originally advertised. Sinemia is the target of a class action lawsuit for doing that. Then my Android app stopped working in early December, and has never worked since. I lost my movie allocation for December, and don't know if I'll ever be reimbursed for it. Other than an occasional auto-response to an email, Sinemia doesn't respond to requests for help. From what I *** tell, they only have three people listed as handling customer support. They need a lot more than that.

Sinemia is a disingenuous bait and switch company with extra fee traps.

We purchased two 1-year memberships which allowed us to watch 3 movies per month at any theater of our choice. The costs of the 1-year membership was a flat $155 per membership.

About 2 months into our membership, we were informed that Sinemia would start charging $1.80 ticketing processing fee for each movie to cover. They say its to cover ticketing processing fees charges by 3rd party ticketing services like Atom and Fandango, but we're Arclight members and we don't pay ticketing fees. Even though we let the system know that we pay $0 ticketing fees, it (Sinemia app) still makes you agree to pay the $1.80 fee in order to complete the transaction. That's an extra $64 a year if we use our allotted 3 movies per month. So our 1-year membership is actually $219, not $155 as agreed to.

If you fail to "check in" (I'm not sure why this is even necessary probably just a fee trap) at the theater they charge you an extortion fee of $17 to unblock the use of the advanced ticketing. In their Term & Conditions they tell you they will charge you a fee, but not how much.

If you want a physical card to make it easier to buy tickets in advance or at the theater, they charge you $14.99 for the little plastic credit card.

If you have questions about their policies, they never respond.

This all sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen to me.

Please note, I've given one star rating because this system doesn't allow proceeding with zero stars. Otherwise, my rating would be zero.

After pre-paying for a year of Sinemia service, the service stopped working over two months ago. Despite multiple attempts to resolve with Sinemia, they have still not corrected. The result is that I've not received the service for which I've already paid for over two months now, so am left with no other recourse but to contact the Revdex.com for assistance. The details of the situation are below. I'd appreciate any support the Revdex.com *** provide in effectively and fairly resolving.

9/1/18: I purchased Sinemia's 3 movies per month plan by paying the annual $119.88 fee in advance as required by Sinemia.

10/10/18: I was able to use the service as advertised until 10/10/18 when I used Sinemia to purchase a ticket to see a retrospective screening of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Afterwards I tried to use the Sinemia app to "check-in" for the movie, but the app didn't offer "Psycho" as an option under "check-in". I don't know why the app malfunctioned, but perhaps it wasn't configured to recognize an older movie like "Psycho".

10/20/18: Sinemia emailed me that they had cancelled my account because I didn't checked in for the movie, and offered no recourse on how to resolve.

10/21/18-To-Date: I made numerous attempts to contact Sinemia (first via email, then via Twitter) to clarify and resolve the situation, including providing a copy of my ticket stub and other supporting evidence that I had in fact attended this screening. As with other complaints posted to the Revdex.com site, Sinemia's response was simply to site their policy and claim that I failed to check-in, so had "misused" my account. In the various communications, has Sinemia continually ignored the evidence that it was the shortcomings of the Sinemia app that made it not possible to "check-in", and not some attempt at "misuse" on my part.

All I seek is that I receive the service that I paid for. To accomplish this, given that Sinemia hasn't provided the service for which I've paid for over two months, I respectfully request that my account be reinstated for 10 months from the date in which it is again active and working. Failing that, it would only be fair that Sinemia provide a pro-rated refund of $99.90 (10/12 of the annual fee that I initially paid, since it only worked for 2 months).

Thank you in advance for any support the Revdex.com *** provide in effectively and fairly resolving this matter.

Within a month of subscribing to their annual membership package (2 people for 2 movies per month), they changed the plan and now require paying an additional $1.80 per person processing fee on any online ticket purchased. This was not the plan when I joined and the cost is unavoidable for online purchases. They have an option for a physical card (costs $20 more to get), but that only prevents the fee if you use the card at the theater before-hand, but that's not what I signed up for. I could do that with Moviepass, the reason Sinemia seemed like a better solution was I couldn't do online ordering with Moviepass, so when I got to the theater the movie was already gone or seats were bad. Sinemia offered a solution at a comparable rate, but then destroyed that when they forced the additional $1.80 per person processing fee. So that's $3.60 extra I have to pay for 2 people PLUS if I see a movie at a theater that I don't get free online transactions with, then I have to pay for that convenience fee as well, so that could add another $2 to the cost. This was not what I agreed to when I signed up but you ***'t get out of it, no refunds, and they won't honor the original agreement. I understand if they needed to change their cost structure in the future, but they don't honor the original agreement now... which apparently means they will change more or charge more in the future without repercussions. Also, it's very complicated to use their service. You ***'t just decide to go to a movie, you really have to spend time in front of a computer and look up times, locations, and then work through the Sinemia app to login everything, get their card numbers, transpose all their information and then login/checkin again later at the theater. Pain in the ***.

Horrible customer service. Actually, horrible customer service would be better. Sinemia's customer service is nonexistentâ??. They have no phone number and I have written to their customer support email 3 times and I have not once received a response but for their automated email that goes out saying they have received your email.

They charged me misuse charge, so I ***'t buy ticket through Sinemia until I pay their fee.
I didn't know what misuse fee is. so I asked them what misuse fee is.
They said, I didn't check in what I made book.their policy said, they will charge me full price of ticket if I don't show up.
Problem is, I checked in on that day and I watched movie. It is obviously their mistake to charge me.
I 'replied' that I showed up, but they didn't answer.
Thus I sent email them as new mail, and they gave me reply and said

Hi,

You should check in at the theater for your advance ticket between 30 mins before into the movie. If you were unable to check in eg. just forgot, we'll let the team know to see if anything *** be done.
In most cases if this was your first missed check in, you'll just receive a warning email reminding you of the check in rules however please note that it is up to the team to take action or not.
Please make sure to check in at the theater for your advance ticket to avoid cost of the tickets being charged on your credit card.
Also, please always keep Sinemia app up-to-date for the best experience possible.

Best regards,

Jeremy

I 'replied' again with screen shot, and they didn't answer again.
so I sent new email with screen shot to prove that I checked in.
and they sent me exactly same message from Jeremy.

So I sent them and said, don't repeat same message and tell me how is going on my process.
and they sent me same message again.

I sent them to prove I checked in so I don't have any reason to be charged, but every time they gave me exactly same message from Jeremy.

It seems me that they don't check 'reply' from their customer, instead it seems they are checking new email.
Also, it seems that they don't read their customer's context, instead they are just sending copy and paste email according their manual if there is any specific word.
In my case, it would be 'misuse fee'

I've never experience terrible customer service like this. I tried to call them, but they don't have call number. Since my membership is one year, I have five months left. However, I ***'t use their service because it is prohibited due to misuse fee.
If I want to use their service, I have to pay them misuse fee, but it means I have to pay them although I didn't do anything wrong against their policy.
If I don't pay, I'll waste my five months membership.

My last email was - don't repeating same message. I want to know how is my case going on.

They didn't give me any reply.

Don't waste your time and money,
If you are regular fan of movie, just go Moviepass
if you are huge fan of movie, it is better to be a A-list member from AMC.
Because Sinemia requires you 30days to watch next special format movie such as IMAX or Dolby.
Also they have terrible customer service.
I'm glad to know that it was not only me who experienced similar things.
It proves that this company never respects their customer and never accept their mistake.
I contacted them many times, but they never gave me acceptable reply, even one time.

After paying for a 1 year subscription I have been unable to use the service multiple times. Several emails to their support team have gone unanswered
On November 21, I emailed the Sinemia support team about an issue where a card number that was given to me for a movie I hoped to attend that day was not working on the website like it was supposed to be. I attached a screenshot from Atom Tickets illustrating the error message I was receiving. I got an automated response indicating someone would be emailing me soon. I never heard from anyone and obviously didn't get to see that movie. A week later, I tried again for a different movie at a different theater and got the same error. I responded to the support line again, included another screenshot, and still did not receive a response. I got on Twitter and tweeted at your support team and didn't hear anything back from them either. I ended up paying for that ticket out of my own pocket. On December 8, after more than three weeks had gone by without a response from them, I emailed again informing them that my passes for the month were about the expire and I needed to hear SOMETHING - why was I getting the error? Was I going to be compensated? Why will no one respond? Still NOTHING. NO WORD. On December 12, I sent a final email asking again for some kind of response to my many emails. To date, I have received no communication from Sinemia.

Sinemia customer service does not have a phone number and they have not responded to over six of my emails with questions about my subscription.
Over the last few months, I have been trying to contact the customer service email constantly without any reply. They do not have a phone line to reach customer service so email is the only way. I have had multiple instances or issues where I needed to get help but couldn't because either 1) email was too slow and couldn't help me immediately or 2) they never responded. I believe my email may even be blocked because I no longer receive the auto-response saying that they will get back to me soon. The movie subscription service is fast paced and time constrained. If their app does not function within their required check in period (must check in within a specific time period otherwise customer is charged a misuse fee), I have no way of getting immediate help and therefore sometimes I either miss the movie, which is the sole service they provide, or I am charged a fee because the app was not functioning. I believe they are ignoring mine and many other complaints. There have been many complaints reported against Sinemia that one could find online. People are even looking to sue because of their practices. This is not the "Premium Support" that they promise. Today, December 21st, I am being charged a fee that is being incurred because their app wasn't functioning and I missed the check in time because of that.

It is impossible to get in contact with them. We have had all kinds of problems and no one responds.
They dont mention during your purchase that you will only get your card within 2 weeks if you pay extra. Also, there cards are not always accepted on all movie sites and the check in is NOT always available. However they will restrict you if you cant check in. This is a bait and switch company that refuses to help.

Simemia not delivering on promises. Terrible customer service.
I joined Sinemia and paid about $400 in all in early December and to active electronic card. Every time I try to use the card to buy a movie ticket through Atomtickets.com it says failed to load. I have sent several emails to there support team but they do not reply. Terrible customer service.

An erroneous misuse fee has been charged to my account, thereby freezing my account. I have tried to resolve the issue with the vendor.
My Sinemia subscription allows me to see 3 movie per month during weekdays (Monday-Thursday),.
I purchased a ticket to see Spider Man into the Spiderverse on Thursday Dec 13. When I went to check in via the Sinemia app there was no listing for that film to check in, I selected the "I don't see my movie listed" option in their app which took me to a search field.
When searching for my movie the only result was for a showing of the film on Friday Dec 14, which gave me an error that said my plan didn't cover that showing when I tried to check in. Therefore due to problems with their app I was unable to check in. I didn't't forget to attempt to hold up my end of the user agreement nor did I have poor cell signal as I was able to connect to their app & it's various screens.

I screen captured the errors, the showing information I went to & took a photo of my ticket stub to prove I was indeed attending the film at the time & date. I emailed this to Sinemia support & received a canned response stating I need to check in to all movies & keep my app up to date, which it is.I replied that I did indeed attempt to check in & that my app was up to date. I've received no other response from Sinemia via email other than an automated one telling me I've been charged a misuse fee for not checking in.
I also contacted Sinemia via Twitter & initially got a response asking for my email address so that they could confirm my account. Since Dec 15 (it's now the 20th) I've had no further response to both my emails & DMs via Twitter. There has been a bogus misuse fee applied to my account that prevents me from using the service I've paid for until I pay this extortion.

From this experience & other complaints I've seen online it would seem their app is intentionally designed to foil it's stated use so that people are unable to check in during the half hour window given & these fees can then be used to generate extra revenue & keep consumers from using the service for which they have paid.

Can't use my account to get tickets
I paid the membership back on 11/25/18 and got the year membership . Today I try to use my account to buy tickets however it said my doesn't have account.

Hidden fees
I purchased a prepaid annual Sinemia membership, 3 movies a month for a year. However, Sinemia has locked my account and will not unlock it until I pay $17.50. They call it a misuse fee for my not "checking in" at the cinema. I tried to check in at the cinema, but the Sinema app wouldn't let me. I've explained this to customer service multiple times, but they won't change their decision. As a result, my membership is useless and I will lose all of my investment if I don't pay them more money. This is one of many hidden fees that are only disclosed after entering into a membership. I also pointed out to Sinemia customer service that their terms and conditions say a "misuse fee" only applies for "fraudulent, persistent or serious" actions. None of these apply to this situation. https://www.sinemia.com/terms

Absolutely no customer support. Your emails are also never responded to. Sinemia has incorrectly charged me membership misuse fees, inspite of me checking in at the theatre before watching the movie. I emailed them a couple of times but have got no response and also my account is now locked unless I pay the misuse fees which I am unwilling to. They kinda hold you at ransom.

STAY AWAY FROM SINEMIA!! unless they have some customer service.

Sinemia is a ripoff. They took my money and I could not purchase tickets for the third time this billing cycle. Support told me to try again at a different theater. The movie I wanted to see was only at one theater. I will be cancelling at the end of the billing cycle and disputing charges.

To recap - I purchased a family plan for 3 tickets per month for 2 people on an annual basis and paid for accelerated approval. The first time I attempted to use Sinemia my "cardless" card was declined. Somehow someone at Sinemia managed to get it funded after an hour or so. The second time the "cardless" card was declined at the theater's site and I was forced to purchase through movietickets.com (at higher advance fees). The third time, the card was declined and support directed me to go to a different theater. However, the film I planned to see was only at the one theater. This service does not work - I want to cancel my subscription, get my accelerated approval fees returned, the balance of my subscription, and the unused 5th and 6th tickets I was not able to use before the end of the billing period.

This process worked for some time however now I am having issues. Sinemia generated credit card being rejected at atom and movietickets.com. Sinemia is very very slow in responding. They are very fast in collecting convenience fee & processing fee, but very late in responding. Very bad service.

This business is a total SCAM. When I first joined their membership in August 2018 they advertised that a physical card will be delivered to me at no costs, after waiting months with no result I had to contact their customer services (which is horrible) several times via Twitter and emails and I was still told to wait patiently for it to arrive because the card processing takes longer due to increasing demand, which is a total lie, because 3 months later they have officially changed the policy to charge anyone who wants a physical card for $14.99. So I guess there was no card being delivered to me at all when they said it was. Without the card, my only option is to pay a processing fee of $1.8 every time using their App to book movie tickets. Again, that fee was not disclosed when I first joined. And guess what, now they face a class action lawsuit against them for hidden fees and false advertisement.