People are starting to notice MoviePass' CEO performed the nearly miraculous transubstantiation-esque feat of turning his $7.25 million in stock into $50. He still wants to get paid, though. A lot. And hey, why not? He recently gave an address which is also nearly miraculous in how many words he used to say absolutely nothing.
A bit of a lengthy thinkpiece here, but worth a read as it holds up MoviePass as a textbook example of how not to treat your customers.
To
be clear, though: you should ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS treat your customers as
MoviePass did from mid-August 2017 to mid-July 2018. By all means, give your
customers infinite trips to the movies for a few bucks a month. But don't do
the stuff MoviePass has been doing to their customers since August 2018.
*
Since
I'm fast becoming an expert on all things movie-business-related, I
should also share that I had an experience with Atom Tickets this week.
If you haven't heard of them, Atom Tickets is basically Fandango. But they're called Atom Tickets. There. Now you know.
I saw an online promotion where you can get $7 off your first ticket purchased with Atom and I was all over that. (If you want to grab it, it's supposed to be valid until early January, just pick your ticket, create your account, and enter HOLIDAY7 as the promo code. You're welcome.)
Well, my first thought was that my local Alamo and Violet Crown have $7 ticket days, so this would be basically a FREE TICKET.
I looked. Neither of those theaters are supported by Atom. Just the local Regal.
Bah.
Whatever, Regal daytime tickets are $10.90, so that would make the ticket $3.90. Still a good deal.
And then I saw somewhere online that if you go to Atom through Facebook Movies, they'll waive the Atom convenience fee, which is apparently $1.35 a ticket.
Sweet!
So let's do this. Pick your movie on Facebook Movies and select "Check Out with Atom Tickets."
Create your account and go to the checkout screen where you enter the promo code.
So far, so good.
Enter the promo code...
DENIED!
Apparently the promo cannot be used "in connection with affiliate offers."
And the Facebook Movies discount on the convenience fee is an "affiliate offer."
Oh well, let's remove that and get the $7 discount.
Go to your account profile and remove the Facebook connection...it's not there.
Search the entire site...no mention of any Facebook connection.
Shrug and figure you need to cancel your order, log out, and log back in to make sure you're not accessing the site via Facebook to avoid the Facebook "affiliate" connection.
Doesn't work. Checkout screen still says the Facebook fee discount is in place and it won't let you get the $7 discount.
Bang your head on the desk and search the FAQ and online to see if you can find a solution. Find none.
Hit up Atom Tickets customer service via chat.
Have a 20-minute conversation to try to explain a very simple problem. That you just want the Facebook connection removed so you can use the $7 off promo.
Listed to the chatter say she can't replicate the problem and has never heard of such a thing.
Provide the requested screenshots to prove you're having this problem.
Enjoy the long silence.
Get disconnected.
Head: slam it on desk.
Chat back in, start from scratch and send the screenshots immediately to avoid the lengthy conversations and denials leading up to them.
After a few centuries pass, have the chatter acknowledge that there seems to be an error there.
She deletes your account and asks you to start a new one.
Start a new account. Select your movie. Go to the checkout screen...
The Facebook connection is STILL THERE!
Have the chatter acknowledge that there seems to be an error there. Again.
Hear them say they're willing to be super generous and offer to manually apply the $7 discount that you clearly and simply asked for AN HOUR AGO.
Tell them no dice.
That would have been a-okay an hour ago, but they just wasted an hour of your life. Tell them to comp your ticket or delete your account while you screenshot the entire interaction and prepare to send it to their corporate feedback email.
Have them offer the $7 discount again.
Reiterate: comp the ticket or delete your account.
Repeat the previous two steps ONE LAST TIME...
And finally have the chatter connect you to their supervisor.
Start from scratch with the supervisor.
Explain that you have had an hour of your life wasted by this problem which should have been very simple to solve. Mention your screenshots of the entire interaction.
Enjoy the silence...
And the supervisor says they'll be making your ticket free.
Jump on the checkout screen and checkout with your free ticket.
The QR code for the ticket pops up in your email and you're all set.
So you didn't get to use the $7 promo discount on a $7 ticket at a theater, but you ended up with a free ticket, anyway.
Let's call it a draw.
*
Dagnabit, I was gonna tell you about how I signed up for Sinemia.
But now this blog is already too long.
I was supposed to get my physical card from them within two weeks and it's been 13 days since I requested it. So hopefully I'll have the card by next week. Though I doubt it. I assume delays and shenanigans are inevitable, plus we haven't gotten any mail in almost a week thanks to this blizzard that wrecked my little town.
Tune in next week, I'll let you know all about Sinemia then. Signing up was quite the harrowing story.
As long as MoviePass doesn't go completely bonkers and I don't have any blog-worthy encounters with deranged online ticket vendors before then...
-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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