They just last night sent out another "Whoopsie" email.
The Internet is very very very angry at this email. But honestly? I don't hate it.
So, the background on why they sent that message, THIS WEEK'S SAGA...
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MoviePass went ahead and made Indivisible the ONLY MOVIE AVAILABLE on their schedule every day for the second week in a row. However, they offered Suspiria on a couple days as one of their secondary "normally-unseeable" options, so boom: my wife and I were actually able to use the service to get a ticket this week.
Yay!
How pathetic is that? It's a reason to rejoice when you can ACTUALLY USE THE SERVICE YOU PAID FOR.
I monitor their app, too. Constantly gathering data points on what is displayed when and where. So I caught a couple interesting flukes/glitches this week.
In their ongoing quest to get everyone to quit... for a couple days last week, MoviePass displayed a full offering of movies/showtimes on their app up until NOON instead of until the usual 9 AM.
Glitch or something sinister? You decide.
My theory: they did this in order to more widely create the infuriating experience that early birds get when they look at the app first thing in the morning and see all the showtimes and end up furious when they later get to the theater to find nothing available. On those two days, normal people that randomly checked the app on their lunchbreak got their hopes up for the first time and went to the theater hoping things were finally different. And nope, they were smacked with "THERE ARE NO MORE SCREENINGS AT THIS THEATER TODAY." The rage will build, the frustration with mount, and they will quit. As MoviePass wants.
Moviepass is stepping up their efforts to alienate and infuriate people into quitting so they won’t have to actually buy tickets, just collect monthly subscription revenue. They will not rest until their customer base is 100% people who never use the service, or forget they're paying for it.
But here's a thought, in case MoviePass is listening: You want people to pay for your service without using it, you know, like people who get gym memberships and then never go to the gym, right? Ideally, they’d forget they’re even paying for it, right? Well here's a helpful pointer: STOP EMAILING PEOPLE ALL THE TIME TO REMIND THEM THEY HAVE MOVIEPASS ACCOUNTS THAT YOU'RE MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEM TO USE.
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The aftershock from that nonsense has been them totally locking the app down. For the days following the "noon incidents," they finally patched the glitch that made a full range of showtimes display from midnight until about 9am every day.
UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT!
Ah, Tuesday night, November 6, 2018...
It was the grandest glitch of all...
The Internet blew up as we all noticed MoviePass was displaying a full range of showtimes and movies. Many of us raced to the theaters and snagged tickets during this sweet, sweet 30-minute window. Many of us arrived too late and missed out.
But for those who succeeded and actually managed to purchase a ticket with the ticket-purchasing service they pay a monthly fee to use...
I salute you!
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The next morning was another interesting data point. I woke up to a full display of movies on the app and took my lunchbreak to go get a ticket. I was able to successfully use a checkin for a movie not on the daily schedule and purchase a ticket. HUZZAH!
In the meantime, my friend across town? His MoviePass app was displaying the dreaded "THERE ARE NO MORE SCREENINGS AT THIS THEATER TODAY."
He lives within check-in distance of a theater, so maybe that did it.
But it was the first confirmed instance I've seen (with screengrabs, I am a Doubting Thomas and had to see it for myself) where two people are being fed two different sets of offerings on the app.
Isn't that special?
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I'm not quitting yet, but many of my friends have. Many more probably will. I get it.
If you want to jump ship, I understand www.privacy.com is great for ensuring cancellations. It's a site that creates an alternate credit card number for you to use and you can put limits on how much it can be charged.
So people are using this service to create a new credit card number for their MoviePass account and limiting it to $1 for charges so MoviePass can no longer try to charge them or pull any horseplay after they cancel.
More power to them. But us remaining deranged cultists of the Mad God MoviePass may yet be rewarded for our irrational faith.
Perhaps the service will reliably work one day!
The promises made by the "Director of Barketing" may yet come to pass!
There may come a day where we will look back and laugh at this Dark Age and cry, "Remember those two weeks where Indivisible was the only option available?!?"
It's always darkest before the dawn. I just came up with that phrase. It's copyrighted now, don't try to use it.
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A few final notes:
-To no one's surprise, AMC is jacking up the price on their monthly subscription plan. Expect it to be jacked up further as MoviePass is no longer serious competition.
-FINALLY someone else is on to Sinemia's BS, thanks be to Business Insider for calling them out on their nonsense fees and shenanigans.
-Also Regal Cinemas has a new logo and I don't care for it at all. Do you?
-B.P. Kasik/Phony McFakename
I wrote the book on MoviePass TWICE, once from a positive perspective, and once from a more realistic perspective. I also wrote a horror book about a sort-of evil MoviePass.
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