(Downgraded) Sinemia Movie Plan Review: How Does it Compare to MoviePass?

For those who haven’t heard, Sinemia recently did an aggressive push for new subscribers and then this morning they abruptly shut down all services in the US. They are not planning on refunding any money and aren’t even hiding the fact that they are a scam company now. They are still operating outside of the US and also working to provide their “tech” directly to certain theater chains.

NEVER buy SINEMIA movie pass …
My reply to CITI bank and my bad experience after buying Sinemia Movie pass: Dear CITI Bak,

I would like to bring to your attention that we bought 3 Sinemia movie card under 2 credit cards. Both cards are under primary holder’s name – ### ###.
The two CITI cards used ending with ### and ### were used to purchase 1 and 2 sinemia annual movie pass respectively. The 3 movie pass were bought on same day in 2018 and none of the pass were ever used since then, almost half an year have passed struggling to make these work.

Of the 3 pass, Sinemia refunded full amount for 1 pass bought by the Citi card ending in ####.

My question is:

1. Legal system (courts), follow precedent that establishes a principle or rule. Similarly, if Sinemia acknowledged that they were not able to provide service that they promised in exchange of my money and hence they refunded whole amount for the pass bought with CITI card ending with ### then why should they not refund the money for other 2 purchases? This makes no sense. We bought 3 annual movie pass same day using 2 CITI card under primary holder ### ### name. We tried two use these card to have some good family time. We struggled, wasted our time, only to realize that we could not use the Sinemia online app and also to find that they have no service to support their customer. They never reached back to either resolve our concerns and assist us to make our account active and workable after taking their money.

2. We bought these 3 annual pass in 2018. Half of the year had already passed and we are still struggling to find a way to use an almost NON-working online app. We have not been able to make even a single purchase after so many failed attempts. We have tried to reach Sinemia, through different communication mode and they have NEVER reached back to us to address and resolve our concerns. Please show us even a single proof where Sinemia reached back to us from the time of the dispute to their recent communication to CITI bank that suggest “service are available” dated 3/30/2019. Please ask proof from Sinemia and present that to us if they ever reached us back or made an attempt reaching to their customer to address and resolve their concerns. We have NEVER heard back from them. I wish they had taken initiative to reach their customer along with replying to bank. From Time of dispute and even after our multiple efforts writing to them, Sinemia has not reached us even a single time, how unprofessional and ill equipped they are after charging such high fee. This suggest that they are insensitive towards their customer after taking their money. The poor customer is trapped in justifying his ill fate.

3. We bought CITI card because we are loyal Costco customer. We are told that CITI Visa card will protect against any fraudulent transaction. CITI bank should protect its customer against any merchandise that faile to provide service after receiving a transaction through CITI Costco Visa card. Please tell me, should I report this to Costco being their executive member and getting CITIcard through them?

4. I am really frustrated by apathetic and unprofessional attitude of Sinemia that too me seems grabbing money fraudulently on false pretext oF providing service. CITI bank should protect their customer from such online predators.

Like many others, after paying the membership fee ($29.99) and first months subscription ($9.99) and membership card ($15.00), Sinemia made me pay a membership violation fee ($12.00) when I did not check in on my mobile app the first time I used it. (I tried but the mobile app did offer me the option). The subscription autopay processed the second month for $9.99. When I attempted to use the service a second time, I was blocked because my membership had been cancelled due to me not accepting the new rate of ($17.99) per month. I have no record of being requested to agree to the new fee. To re-enroll again I would have to pay the membership fee again or pay for a year’s service in advance. Having already spent $85 dollars for only one movie (actually, $85 times two as I bought a membership for my girlfriend too) I was not about to re-enroll or pay for a year in advance. I emailed Sinemia several times about the mobile app problems without response and they have no customer service number posted to call. Lastly, their mobile app instructions are unclear and confusing to users. Please let’s stop this consumer abuse.

Sinemia is by far the worst and most shiesty company I have ever interacted with. If you are thinking about buying this subscription service, don’t. I switched to Sinemia after Moviepass started going downhill thinking Sinemia couldn’t be worse, but I was terribly wrong. Sinemia randomly canceled my subscription because “the system has detected examples of your membership use that violates the terms of service,” which made no sense because I have only ever used the service to watch movies and have always checked into the theatre. When I contacted Sinemia to find out why they terminated my account they said “We see that your account’s been terminated by the system automatically. Unfortunately we cannot provide any further details as we do not have access to such information.” They terminated my $216 annual subscription (not including their abundance of hidden fees and my physical card cost) after 4 months with no real explantation whatsoever. And to make things worse, I was only credited $31. Sinemia’s customer service is horrible and they take multiple days to get back to you. Their app is extremely clunky and it’s navigation is illogical. The check in system needs to be reworked. I really wish I could say one positive thing about Sinemia, but I honestly can’t think of one. DO NOT get suckered into this service. Do yourself a favor go with another movie subscription service. Sinemia is not worth the stress.

Has anyone had any success/interest reporting SINEMIA to Better Business Bureau, News Media? There’s certainly sufficient evidence of mismanagement, fraud.

Same thing happened to me. Did everything by the book. So after 4 months with Sinemia, this has been my experience: Charged me 1.80 service fee for every movie I attended even if I bought it at the theater, then charged me $25 for the debit card to avoid the debit fee, charged me for a movie when I didn’t follow proper procedure for a check in, then required submission of photo id, then after that said there was fraudulent activity. Had done nothing wrong. Sinemia is nothing but a scam.

I pre-paid for two full years of Sinemia, and then obsessively, religiously, followed every requirement of the service to the letter. I was extremely careful to “check in” every time. I never shared the subscription or used the card inappropriately. I even dutifully sent them photos of my government ID when they requested it – and the photos were approved. Never once did Sinemia cite any problem at all with my use of the service. But today my account was terminated for completely unexplained “fraudulent activity,” and Sinemia now wants to charge me FULL PRICE for every single ticket purchased with the service — movie tickets I would have never purchased in the first place if I didn’t have the Sinemia subscription.
I paid for this service and went through all their increasingly-annoying requirements because I’m on a budget but love movies. Now, instead of saving money, Sinemia is ripping me off for hundreds of dollars. They are terrible. Stay away!

pathetic service.. please do not fall for this. Instead get Cinemark membership as its more reliable.
they keep changing subscription rules (many a time that means adding cost to user) without any communication and when you ask questions, you do not get any good response except that this is the new rule and deal with it. No phone number for customer service so have to rely on email back and forth and try to decipher their lousy response. finally, they can cancel your subscription whenever they want without any specific reason or communication and you cannot do anything since this was somewhere in their 20 page long “USER AGREEMENT”

Apparently my credit card company just recharged me for my disputed Sinemia complaint. I will call them tmrw but apparently Sinemia spends more time and money fighting the disputes with credit card companies than on honoring their commitments to their customers. It really is a criminal enterprise and needs to be dealt with by government entities.

For anyone who is having trouble getting a refund through Sinemia, just dispute the charge via your credit card company and include any documentation if necessary and you will 100% get your refund back through them.

I used sinemia for three months, they deleted my account after three months claiming that I violated the rules,which I didn’t missused
From the day one of sinemia I faced many problems while booking advanced tickets, they charge $2 every time I book tickets in advance , they are very commercial they charge for everything $10 for careless pass, $14 for card pass
It’s waste of money, it’s better to take movie pass instead of sinemia
They charged me for year and deleted my account and not refunding my money back claiming that i voilated
Sinemia is a big scam which they steal your money when we take yearly membership
They don’t know how to protect the users
Their customer service is worst they don’t have any support or contact details for help

My account has been locked up for 3 months and still no support. I don’t know why they are still in business. BBB should shut them down, I think it’s their business tactic.

All these sad stories remind me of my disastrous 3 month membership with these frauds. Luckily they did monthly membership back then so got out, but what a mess it was.

Every pre-ordered movie cost extra. And going through Fandango back and forth was such a pain. Then their app never worked in my local theater to allow me to check in. What is checking in all abo? Instead of just allowing us to use our pass, once in theater, we had to Check In. Yes, that is how they make their money. If you fail to connect and they determine you have not followed the last of their 374 Byzantine rules, they FINED ME FOR MORE GHAN THE PRICE IF MY MEMBERSHIP! Think about that! After 15-20 emails the first time, they responded by arguing with me for three days of emails. Finally they removed penalty. Of course the next two times at that particular theater, it happened again. These times I took screenshots of me checking in and showing how app didn’t work. I immediately contacted them w the information as soon as I left theater. $30 fines both times. So I appealed to my bank, and quit this thieving company. I won my appeal, and I got an email from Sinema telling me they saw I was appealing and they were canceling my membership. Which of course I had ended a month ago.

I signed up with AMC and it is an unbelievable pleasure. So easy and customer friendly. All movies, IMAX, 3D, and regular. No extra charges. Happiness is LIFE AFTER SINEMA.

Wow! DO NOT USE SINEMIA. We did not commit “fraudulent activity” on our Sinemia account but we did use it every month. We did have some user errors because of their COMPLEX system. We just got shut down this month and we would re-up in July. We have had ALL and I mean ALL the problems that everyone has listed above. I sent them an email and said that I was frustrated because the only time I knew something was “wrong” with my account was when I clicked to go to a movie. It was disappointing frequently when they wanted a picture of me holding my drivers license and we had to “wait” for them to process it so we couldn’t even go to the movie that night. They are a total scam. Now we are 4 months shy of completing our annual membership (pre-paid) and they will only give us money back that they haven’t spent on our movie passes. So basically all the extra fees we paid is a loss and the time they’d switched to us needing to check in and charged us fees and our tickets was another loss plus we don’t get our last 4 months. I am a person of integrity and totally feel insulted by being accused of fraud and then knowing that they’ve done this to others. So frustrating.

DO NOT USE SINEMA MOVIE SUSCRIPTION SERVICE! #Sinema
I joined Sinemia in October 2018. I wasn’t too happy with them from the start that you had to pay for the whole year upfront and then all of the extra fees for everything Including getting a physical card, using the service to buy your tickets online, if you forget to check in at the theater, etc. Getting the physical card took forever. I just tried to use it at the movie theater and I got an error message that I needed to log in and it said they terminated my account they said I did something fraudulent which I DID NOT!! I put in a request to get my money back also sent them a very mad message to their customer service!! WTF? Ugh

For those of you unfamiliar with Sinemia, Here’s how it works: they get you to sign up by selling you premium memberships where you get 3 or so movies a month for a reasonable price. If their app works you’ll get a ton of hidden fees once you actually start using it.

It gets to the point where you’re basically not saving any money by using their membership, but you already paid for it so you’re screwed. Then they’ll shut down your account for “verification” purposes where you’ll have to submit a bunch of different forms of ID.

They want you to “check in” for every movie when you get to the movie theater, and they will penalize you and hold your account hostage even if it’s their app that doesn’t work. Did I mention that their only customer service is their automated responses on social media?

After all of that, if they see that you use their service often, they will more than likely shut down your account for “violating their terms of service”. If you don’t believe me, search “sinemia” on any social media platform and see what people are saying.

Do yourself and your wallet a favor, don’t go anywhere near Sinemia.

Big ripoff. They are now charging $25 for a debit card. There is no avoiding convenience fee even if you go to the theater and buy ticket there without using fandango or other movie app. So your choice is pay extra $1.80 every time or $25 for debit card. Then there is the misuse fee. Apparently I checked in but didn’t do all 3 steps. So my account shows that I saw the movie but they still charge me the cost of the ticket for not checking in properly. And that still counts as 1 of the 3 movies of the month. Ridiculous.

Thank you. I did say I wanted the process for canceling and a full refund in the txt. Much better in subj line as you suggest. I did receive the auto email that they received my email a few hours ago.
Since I had not seen any comments regarding ID verification my biggest concern was the possibility that the app had been hacked and they now had all my license info AND a photo. This morning I did find ID Verification info on SINEMIA Website under HELP.

They are only responsive on Twitter if you have a big following. I had posted something and even saw that Sinemia had seen it, but they never replied because I only have a few followers. They were responsive however to my emails when I put I wanted to cancel my account in my header. And even more so once I told my bank to dispute their charges.

I used the SINEMIA card for a month without problems. Today. as I approached the theatre and started entering info in App. A new screen appeared saying I had to go to the Website for ID verification. I did this which involved taking a photo of your ID and another of you holding your ID. The message said “you can continue to enjoy Sinemia and we will notify you when Verification is complete. The card was not accepted at box office. I was so furious, I decided to return home. I have send 3 messages in the past several hours, no reply and I cannot use the app without “checking in” to the movie I couldn’t see. I’m concerned as I haven’t see any comments with this issue.

When I go to their website, the first thing it says is “Monthly Movie Plans” yet every single one of the plans is billed annually. So that is not a monthly plan. If your landlord says your monthly rent is $1,000 and you must pay me $12,000 at the beginning of each year, that is not monthly rent – it is annual rent. Even ebay on their annual store subscription you pay it monthly but they still call it an annual subscription. It is NOT monthly if you have to sign up for a year – it is then annually.

COUNTERPOINT: I’ve been with Sinemia for just over a year, and like many of these commenters above, ended up hating them in October, when they yanked the physical card and forced you to use on-line ordering. HOWEVER, in December they seemed to finally get the card issues fixed (no more false positive check-ins) and they gave a permanent virtual number, so now you just have to enter it once in your ticket purchasing app, and it’s the same going forward. Also, I have not been charged the convenience fees. And, finally, you can now have them send you a physical card (yes, for a fee).

So I re-upped for another year with the new movie-a-day plan (which at $28.99 is still cheaper than the $45 Moviepass cost when I first started using that). So far, it’s been mostly terrific. I use my AMC or Fandango app, keep the card stored in there. The only issue is when I forget to check in, so I’ve had to set an alarm on those.

Yes, there are still minor issues (I can’t, for instance, figure out how to reserve a ticket for an upcoming movie that starts after another movie I’ve already reserved). But they’ve definitely improved. I’ve used it 14 times this month alone, and all without a single problem. Since movies in Seattle cost between $12 and $15, that’s a minimum of $168 worth of tickets, which is already halfway to my annual plan fee and the first month isn’t even over.

You should review it again. I will give them zero star! This company is Horrible, there is no saving! They charge fees after fees, convenience fee, process fee, no-check-in fee..etc Consumer support is nonexistent. App is crap, never works as the intended and purchasing process is so freaking confusing and cumbersome.

They fail repeatedly. Again can’t buy tickets because if credit card error with new system. They promised last time this was fixed. Made plans with family and could not purchase tickets. Had to buy directly or cancel plans. Only firm of contact is email and it takes a long time for response. Finally response is the tix you tried to use were credited to account… of course they were the card was declined. I ask for refund… respnse: NO they have no customer service and dont care at all. Will cancel membership.

If only I can write with a negative STAR for SINEMIA! I purchased this as a gift to my boyfriend last year and up until we have not used it! it is such a hassle to book tickets to the movies, with movie houses not accepting the virtual card numbers that they offer and need to sign up for a PayPal account to go around the system! Completely waste of money! I wanted a refund as I have paid a full year and they said no refunds are given! complete horseshit. Sorry, but you should not be offering something that you have not yet tested thoroughly here in Australia! it is so frustrating! so quick to take your money.

Their customer service is non-existent, try Twitter they will respond but no rectification. No phone number to call.. no nothing! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!

Can I ask a question about the family plan? It asks me when I’m doing advance ticket 1 or 2 tickets. Can I purchase 1 ticket to the same movie twice so I can use to different regal accounts and get the points? Or will I be terminated and then be upset that I lose my entire annual cost? Any info super appreciate it.

Please don’t fall in the trap of Sinemia !
This is a scam I strongly believe.
The payments keep declining from the card details that appear on the app !
When you make a complain through their website, as they don’t have a phone number, within 10 seconds you receive a reply which is a fake reply to a question completely misunderstood by them.
The complain that I have raised does not receive any answer. All of my money spent so far on trying to access Sinemia movie tickets have been wasted. Stay away from Sinemia ! I will report to Australian trade & business practices that this is a scam and take it off from Australian market.

I’ve had Sinemia for 4 months and it has only worked once. I’ve been denied access twice when purchasing tickets through the app. The app generates a card number that doesn’t work. There’s no phone number for you to call. The app tries to limit your access to customer support by saying you have to access them from your desktop. They charge you additional fees when you try to use the app, up to $6. No Refunds. No concerns about your inconvenience or frustration. Starting to feel like a company that’s low on money or an outright scam. It seem that they’ve changed the term of our original agreement without my consent or knowledge.

This company is a total scam. They claim to give you a monthly movie pass for 3 movies, however you are charged so many fees for purchasing a ticket that it defeats the purpose. You end up paying the full price for a movie ticket once you add all of their fees. Not to mention this is a very difficult service to use. Its merely impossible to actually get a ticket bc of all of the steps you have to take. I would say this company will not be around very long. This is for lack of better words a “legal” scam of fees and bogus charges. Buyer beware.

After 2 months of being charged double my monthly bill for SUPPOSEDLY not checking in, and fighting them via over 60 emails, I got credit forcfirst two. And yes, I checked in each time at least 5 times because there was no, you are checked in message. I even took screenshots of me pressing check in w the time on it. No response, 10 more emails, no response. I canceled account and then I contacted Chase and filed a grievance. I showed all my correspondence and Chase ruled in my favor. Meanwhile Sinemia is emailing me please to return to the great deal I had. Really? They did not reply to my issue but then suspended me, even though I’d canceled, and then begged me to come back.

I switched to AMC and it is soooo easy to use plus each theater can help you w questions. No extra charges and 3 movies a week for $20 a month. IMAX, 3D anything and the app works. Sinemia was the worst company I’ve ever dealt with and I’m 67. They literally tried to steal my money with their convoluting fraud of an app.

I miss Moviepass and regret ever signing up for Sinemia. It’s only been 2 months and it’s had multiple errors where the credit card generated would not be accepted by Atom tickets and I had to either skip the movie that day or pay out of pocket. Then they said I had never checked into the movies and froze my account, even though I had been pressing the check in button at the theater. I guess the check ins had failed but there was never any prompt in the app saying the check ins failed. Just an email recently saying I hadn’t checked in when I had, and that they were freezing my account until I paid $18.50. Even though I emailed them about the check in problems on their end and also included screen shots, I got no response until I asked to cancel my subscription and get a refund, with them refusing any refunds. I’ll be charging back through my credit card; they are a shady company that people should stay away from.

Sinemia cardless would not process via Cinemark app on 11/23/2018. Contacted support, no response other than the “support ticket received” email.

Also was promised a physical card at sign up and was last advised to “wait for the physical card request feature” to be added to the app. That was in August. Still no card, still getting charged extra fees because no regional theaters participate with Sinemia’s e-ticketing parter apps. Now cardless didn’t work when I went to the movies last weekend. Not good!

Terrible customer service. I tried to cancel Sinemia I’ve been with them 5 months no card and the cardless feature has additional fees now. They offered me a refund October 24th I waited 2 weeks and asked what happened to my refund new representative messaged saying they are no longer offering me one even after I copied the screenshot in the email showing the proof. Now my account is suspended I have 7 months left and no refund.

TOTAL SCAM – STAY AWAY EVERYONE

I joined for a year membership and was unable to see any movies at all.
Tired contacting them through email several times without a response. NO PHONE NUMBER LISTED TO CALL ANYONE FOR HELP.
I was denied a charge back from my credit card company.
DON”T WASTE YOUR MONEY

Steer clear of Sinemia. They got my 250 bucks and have failed over and over to deliver what was promised. On top of it all, they recently terminated my accounts and kept my money stating I violated TOS.

Here’s what I did. I thought I bought 3 monthly memberships and realized I was charged for the whole year. I ordered back when they had call in customer service number that worked (they don’t anymore). I was going to cancel but the rep assured me I could have 3 accounts and that month to month would cost lots more.

After 70 days they say I violated TOS having 3 accounts linked to one phone, even though I was clear about that on the front end and had them all on the same device since the beginning. I appealed with credit card and first attempt failed because in there TOS they basically say they can do anything they want whenever they want and that you agree to the abuse.

So even though I was charged a full year x 3 (Very deceptive), never received a physical card as was promised, and even though I was using an app for free fandango service, they then started charging additional fees on top of the others and you can’t continue unless you accept. I’m the bad guy and they won’t respond to any messages or questions I have. So unless you like losing money don’t join.

Also don’t join unless you fully think the TOS make sense: ie…you agree to having the rug pulled out from you and having no recourse. Please don’t pay for a whole year. That is the biggest scam. They’ll terminate you and not prorate it!

Surprise surprise! For those who jumped ship from mp. Mp never once gave me a problem. Except the occasional snap a picture of ur tkt earlier on. Now that most of abusers are gone. I can enjoy it even more! Sometimes procrastination is a bless.

What is extremely frustrating (and probably illegal) is that Sinemia stopped allowing use of their physical card, and yet is not allowing a pro-rated cancellation of their service. I go to at least 2 theaters that do not have online ticket purchasing, which means I can no longer use the service at those theaters. I told Sinemia I wanted to cancel the annual service and get a refund of my 2 remaining months, and they said that they cannot do so, because I agreed to a full year. So exasperating!

Sinemia is a scam! DO NOT BUY! So many hidden fees.

You need to revise for article to avoid at all cost. I signed up base on your review now I’m fighting them to get my money back for my entire family of four. They charge additional fees per ticket and it doesn’t work half the time. They need a 0 rating not 3.5 on your site. Bbb gave them a f rating

WARNING TO ANYONE CONSIDERING SINEMIA

So my account mysteriously stopped working, said my card was declined every time I tried making a purchase no matter if it was in person or advance tickets. I contacted Sinemia via every possible method (FB, Twitter, website, email) as they don’t have any other contact methods. Needless to say, there wasn’t a single person that could help me out, just kept saying to keep trying. Obviously this wasn’t going to magically fix itself.

After 3 weeks of this going back and forth I finally mentioned to them if they didn’t help me out I’d have to contact my credit card company… Their response? “Your membership has been suspended for preventive reasons due to your objection to payment.”

I purchased a 1 year subscription back in April. Since then they’ve imposed fees that equal an ADDITIONAL $8/month, which means I’m paying 50% more than I signed up for, without any warning. Very shady company, with extremely shady business practices. I’d recommend never dealing with these guys, and if you do definitely DO NOT sign up for a 1 year plan.

This is a Bait and Switch. Do not buy!

I prepaid for yearly subscription and now they’ve added an NEW PROCESSING FEE that adds 40% to the cost.

My credit card company says I can not get a refund because of the fine print.

The company has not phone number and does not respond to emails. I made the mistakes of telling my family and friends to sign up before they pulled this Bait and Switch.

Do not make the same mistake.

Finally getting back Mark. Sinemia was an utter disaster. Not only did they keep claiming I didn’t check in on advance purchases, they continued to fine me $30 each time, which was more than my monthly charge. I even sent them screenshots of me checking in, but no response. After fighting them for 3 months, getting 2 credits but ignored on most recent, even though I checked in like, 30 times, and sent them screenshots, when after a week (and now a month) of not one response to 7 emails) I finally cancelled my account and challenged charge w Visa. I documented everything. The only response I got were 3 emails imploring me to come back to Sinemia, and then one suspending me, although I had canceled a month earlier.

This is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with, w no customer service and they are fraudulent in so many ways. Finding me more than my monthly fee because they said I didn’t check in? It so so difficult to follow their procedures and yet I did.

I switched to AMC plan and for $20 I get 3 movies a week, any type including imax and 3D, no advance charge and no check in procedures. It is like going from hell to heaven.

This is biggest SCAM. Their custom support is a joke. Collecting SSN 4 digits for a movie plan?? This is ridiculous. Please stay away from Sinemia and you are better off buying tickets full price or some costco coupons.

DO NOT BUY.
The process to purchase a ticket is so complicated and time consuming. My experience with their customer service has been so frustrating and after I realized that the movie theater I wanted to utilize wasn’t directly available and how many steps were required to procure tickets, I asked for a refund. Customer service wouldn’t grant me a refund so I spent $500+ for a terrible service and really wished I had seen some of the comments above before purchasing.

*This is a scam! Do not pay for this*
I paid for my one-year membership in June and to date, I have not received anything from them! No membership card, no movie tickets, no proof of anything! Whenever I emailed them, they apologized and asked me to wait. It’s been 3 months! No more waiting. I WANT MY MONEY BACK, every penny, all $479.76!!!!

I’ve used Sinemia (couple’s plan $29 a month, 3 movie nights) for almost a year now (22 movies so far) and have had only 2 hiccups. Both times when I tried to buy in front of the theater (network error). Other than that, I’ve used advanced ticketing and been banking on Regal Rewards. The best app to use the Sinemia card on so far is the Atom app because they also have their own deals like watch 4 movies get free ticket. The only negative I see is their customer service is horrible, you might as well not contact them. But I’ll take that trade off for the amount of $ my gf and I are saving.

I haven’t signed up yet (still very skeptical about all of these programs, for varying reasons) but I heard that if you order your tickets through Facebook (facebook.com/movies) there are no fees. It will still redirect you to Fandango for purchase, if I understand correctly, but the $1.50 is waived.

Might be a limited time offer though, so YMMV.

DO NOT SIGN UP FOR SINEMIA. They are just as bad as movie pass. I have tried five times to try and contact someone at Sinemia- oddly this company has no phone number.
I never received my Sinemia card (I have been a member since last May).
I tried contacting them a month later asking where it is- then a few weeks later, and two more times after that. I have never received a response back. No indication my card is coming. And the last two times I’ve tried to cancel my membership and get a partial refund. Still, no response.

Avoid Sinemia at all costs.

They no longer have a card, its only e-ticket now.

They won’t disclose this fact until your third or fourth time asking, trying to divert and avoid a direct answer.

When they finally admitted it, I asked they cancel and refund in under an hour of signing up. They said they would do so. When they didn’t I had to dispute with my credit card company.

When Sinemia got the chargeback, they insisted they never said they’d cancel and credit (I still have the message) and that they were unable to do so. They claim the only way is for my CC company to decline the charge, or they’ll “restart my membership”.

And then closed the ticket as resolved to my satisfaction.

Run, run away!

Will was my main person as well. I think they may only have 3 people handling customer service. I’ve emailed over 40 times in past few months trying to get response and resolution of issues. It’s always Will, or Adam and Vera. It got to the point I actually sent them the following: “Someone besides Will please read Next step has to be VISA, Facebook, and Google.”

I canceled service yesterday after 4 months of no customer service and 3 penalties of $28 or more for not checking in when I did. It is an unusable app. I will try AMC Stubs for my next movies. Reviews look promising on being able to deal with app and service. More expensive but if I do 3 movies a month it’s worth it let alone 3 a week.

I need to leave a 0 star review. NOWHERE was it clear that the customer would be required to pay an additional $1.50 fee for each online ticket purchased. That is not something I ever agreed to. When I asked for a refund, I was denied multiple times by Will. Will in customer service has been nothing but useless. My friend emailed with the same issue and demanded a refund. She used harsher language than me and was able to secure a full refund, but Will told me they can’t grant me the same. Unbelievable how the lied and are completely unfair.

I’ve tried using the service, but it hasn’t worked. Also, when I signed up it was never it clear that the customer would be required to pay an additional $1.50 fee for each online ticket purchased. That is not something I ever agreed to. When I asked for a refund, I was denied multiple times by Will. Will in customer service has been nothing but useless. My friend emailed with the same issue and demanded a refund. She used harsher language than me and was able to secure a full refund, but Will told me they can’t grant me the same. Unbelievable how the lied and are treating 2 people in the same situation completely differently.

They don’t make it very clear that they no longer offer physical cards and now all tickets must be purchased online. Which also means service fees every time you go to see a movie. Before it even activated, I requested a refund and it was granted. Trying to get in touch with them was tough though. I then went to AMC stubs and couldn’t be happier. The app is incredibly easy to navigate, checking in and reserving movies times is simple, and you even get stubs points for the monthly membership fee. It’s not as good for the money as moviepass was for the first 9 months, but I’d have a hard time going back now. Sinemia is just as bad as moviepass is now though.

After 4 months of Sinemia, I am about to implode. It is a very good option when it works. My ONLY complaint, but it’s a gigantic one, is the need to check in at the theater on advance purchases. I hit the check in button and it goes to a new screen. It never tells me, thank you for checking in. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, they penalize you for as much as $30-$40. I have resorted to taking pictures of me checking in. I got penalized yesterday after attempting 10 or more check ins. I’m about to cancel and try AMC STUBS. It is infuriating and the only customer service is email. The representatives are not customer friendly and make me feel like the enemy and not the customer.

This app is extremeley NOT user friendly. Very difficult to use.
And their customer service?! OMG I have never dealt with a worse and useless customer service team. No phone number for technical support. And no urgency in responding to issues.

Sorry but this service in Australia is totally messed up and i strongly suspect they would be a scam. I paid for a year membership and only got my first booking work. ALL, yeah, all other attempts failed miserably. after long time back and forth, they concluded that they have issue with EventCinema and that i should try with other brands!??!? However, 5 other attempts still fail with Hoyts and they then as me to go make a paypal account in US (im in AUS) and link their cardless with that account to purchase the hoyts ticket?!?!?! and you guess what? still fail.

Then i just simply gave up and ask for refund. They then lead me through a long journal of “pls try other brands” and “please try again”
then they finally agree to refund, after i threaten to dispute them in bank. But guess what, they would charge my first 2 vmax ticket FULL-PRICE: $58, and only refund the rest.
This’s definitely a scam, Sinemia is a SCAM!!!!!

Sinemia is a scam!
They took my money and never send the card. After two months and many emails (emails only because they don’t have a contact phone) they finally replied with saying that my problem has been resolved. And, by resolved they meant that they would keep my money and not care about sending the card.

Came here to see how furious people are at Sinemia, as this is the worst user experience I’ve ever had by far.

Not surprised to see the complaints.

There’s been 4-5 movies already that I’ve tried to see but had to pay full price for, due to an app bug, Sinemia having me on file for two card numbers, or some other ridiculous thing.

The latest: I hit “change plan” and it extended my plan by a second year. Now in order to fix it they want me to pay full price retroactively for all the movies I’ve seen! Literally a scam.

But it’s such a good deal that I’m at least going to get my money back once the kinks get worked out.

Thank you Mark- I will try doing that with the credit card provider :). I realize its an app now but to be honest with such poor customer service I no longer want to give them my business.
cheers
Tanya

BUYER BEWARE – this is the worst experience I’ve ever experienced as an online consumer. They were very quick to take my money but failed to fulfil on the order. I had to continuously contact them to advise I hadn’t received the membership card- I suspect along with the thousands of other unsatisfied customers – the companies solution was to provide an online card to alleviate their inability to fulfil orders. Due to the constant chasing and one-sided communication, I asked to cancel my membership. Surprise surprise- they don’t offer refunds. What a horrible way to run a business. Buyer beware- this is a great concept but they fall way short on delivery.

hey do they refund you your annual premium after you cancel your membership? I never used it because i cant even reserve movies in advance . I’ve signed up about 2 months ago and STILL havent received my card at all. On top of that there is no way to contact them (at least i tried everything no response ).No customer service AT ALL. This feels like a very dishonest business that bait people to just sign up with them and after nothing .

So do you have to pay the service fee for whatever site you use for advanced ticket reservations? Or is that covered with the Sinemia membership? Also, can you purchase tickets in advance at the theater using the card?

worst service ever didn’t get my card after 2 months and just after I emailed them through everywhere possible they answered that they didn’t ship my card yet.
Sinemaia email address is sezerpolat101@gmail.com

My husband had signed up to receive the card over 2 months ago, and we have not yet received the card. The company has already taken the yearly fee from us and has failed to respond to our emails (we’ve sent 4 different emails now).

Sadly, all online purchase choices charge fees. I think more people need to complain about this change. Sinemia claims they will never change terms within your “cycle,” but I paid for a year in advance and one month (or less – hard to say due to when I purchased my tickets online) after I got my card, they changed the terms and I now have to pay the fee to buy online. I cannot even purchase advanced tickets at the movie theater any more. This is the ONLY reason I chose them over MoviePass. MoviePass is cheaper than the plan I have with Sinemia AND I could see three movies a month instead of 2.

Thanks for the article. Exactly what I was looking for as I do my research.

Sinemia is definitely something I am considering. I would go for movie pass but it doesn’t work at my fav theater (Harkins), it doesn’t work for large format/premium screeening, and no advance reservations / seating selection.

Sinemia hits all those points: works at harkins, allows (1) large format, and allows advance reservations. BTW, movietickets.com is just $1 fee for harkins movies.

The part that irks me is the yearly signup requirement… If I could do monthly, or even 3 month, I would just sign up. But I have no way to know if the company will shut it’s doors in two months and this new marketing promo was just a last ditch effort to drive up cash.

The biggest question for me is, is Sinemia worth all the hassle when costco sells movietickets.com gift cards at 20% off (this counts towards both the fee and ticket). Not sure yet.

Sure would like to enjoy Deadpool 2 in MX4D but Sinemia has systematically IGNORED every email i have sent them! I have to resort to Facebook/ social media hopefully to get a response. i was trying to view Avengers in MX4D but the Sinemia card wouldn’t work, what happened to getting ONE Premium movie. Wasted my time, this will be my last month if someone does not message me.

I have movie pass for a month and like it. But I was under the impression that it provided unlimited movies not just 4.
https://www.moviepass.com

The app interface is slick and very intuitive

Their website from the link above still says unlimited

No one answers at customer service

I can live with MoviePass, except if only they would come out with a 2 person option. So hoping to see that. It would be nice to be able to book seats in advance without having to go to the theatre to do it, but the complications with having to have two cell phones to book for 2 people if awful. Who really goes to the movies alone? I am sure there are enough people that do, but for me, I really hate the inconvenience of having to go through the motions for both people. Plus I don’t always go with the same person every time.

Not sure I want to switch to another service with terrible customer service.

Glad to hear twitter is better

I have been having trouble with refunded movie tickets. I emailed them countless times over 3 week period and all I received was automated reply saying they received my message. They have NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT AT ALL.
I would avoid Sinemia like a plague. Their app and process are far less than perfect so you will run into problems. Guess what? If something goes wrong, you will just have to suck it up. And now they are collecting 1 year fee up front. No thank you.

Sinemia customer service is horrible at responding. And their website is lacking in info (even in FAQ section), if not outright deceptive. But the service itself has been a good fit for me. Despite the customer service and poor website and app.

Hey Pam, I signed up for Sinemia on April 26th and still didnt get my card. How do I let them know?

Another benefit to having either MP or Sinemia – since I have been a member (also Fandango VIP) I receive free screening tickets for 2 at least 3x/month now over what I was getting! I guess my info has been sold as a frequent moviegoer, but in this case I don’t mind much.

I’ve been on Sinemia since November and I’m also on MoviePass. I see a ton of movies. While Sinemia definitely has some advantages over MoviePass, such as seeing 3D, there are a number of problems I have with them, but have accepted them for now.

1. I have watched my full monthly periods each month and never get the full 30 days. I usually get 29 days. I have pointed this out to their customer service and they acknowledged the error but never changed anything.
2. While on that note, their customer service is non-existent lately. I have had a number of questions and have tried pretty much all avenues to contact them from Twitter to Facebook Messenger to email and have gotten no responses.
3. There are actually two cycle periods for each month. One is for the normal allowance of movies of 3D or 2D. The other is for premium – DBOX, XD, Imax, etc. So if you were to see a premium format today for example, you would have to wait 30 days from today to see another one.
4. Lastly, this is more of an issue with how 3D is going away in the US. Finding 3D for home viewing is pretty much gone now and the trend is moving that way in theaters now too. Sinemia’s edge for the longest time was that you could see 3D movies for all of your allowance… but many times now for a given month, there is only 1 3D movie being released and thus you have to use Sinemia for a 2D, and if you have MoviePass as well, that’s rather redundant.

Thankfully, I have at least used my 3 movie Sinemia allowance each month with no problems in the time they give me. On most months I have gotten at least 1 to 2 3D movies. If 3D was to go away in our country all together, I would drop Sinemia, as there would be no need for me to have it since MoviePass would serve just fine, that is unless MoviePass sticks with it’s current 4 movies a month only. Currently, I am on the annual plan with MoviePass allowing me a movie a day. (I see usually two movies a week on most weeks.)

Nevertheless, I appreciate your article and thank you for your evaluation. 🙂

I’ve read that Sinemia actually doesn’t work on calendar months, but rather you have to wait a rolling 30-days. This makes it pretty much impossible to get 12 full cycles in a year unless you go almost every 30 days exactly. This is in my view the biggest downside of it.

My biggest problem with this is that it is billed annually (sounds like a gimmick, give you a monthly price but you can’t buy it for just a month). At least moviepass has a 3 month option, so I can get it for the summer which is basically the only time that I have time to go to the movies.

Also…Sinemia sends a phone notification to check-in for your movie, & they give you up to 30 minutes after the movie has started.

PDX appears to be on the Elite plan for 2 tix/2 ppl/mth which costs $5 more than the Classic plan. Classic membership can only be applied towards 2D movies, but Elite also includes 3D + 1 experience in IMAX-4DX per month.

Some theaters are not covered every day. Sinemia updates theaters daily, so a theater may stay closed or open up. I have never had theater issues, but this is a link to search for theaters in a certain area: https://www.sinemia.com/theater-list