Sinemia

Sinemia service did not work for me for months. I contacted Sinemia several times & did not hear from them. Then I asked to cancel my service & refund
I bought a yearly subscription with SInemia for any 3 movies a month. First off, the Sinemia charged extra fees that they explicitly said they would not. They introduced the extra fees as they go but I grudgingly accepted that.

Next, a few months in, in November, Sinemia service stopped working for me for months. I tried to book a movie, got charged the fees, and the movie was not booked. I had to pay for movies out of pocket. Considering that I've paid $179 for the service that was unacceptable. I asked my friend who had Sinemia to test it. He had exactly same issue and had to buy tickets out of pocket.

I kept trying to reach Sinemia for support with no luck. Finally, I was able to open a trouble ticket on their website (they added that feature by then) and described the issue and asked for a prorated refund, considering that I've used the service for a few months. They refused, stating that the service is non-refundable, and that I can cancel the service and should not expect anything from them, even apology.

I've been emailing and creating tickets with them ever since trying to resolve the issue and get my pro-rated refund, so far with no luck.

According to the AppStore reviews I am not the only one who Sinemia scammed out of their money. The average review is one star and almost everyone has similar complains.

A technology company, their system is severely flawed. Yet they blame the customer as if the errors are theirs, and continue taking money. Fraudulent!
Excerpt from 1/5/19 email to support:

"I got an email from you this week informing me that I didn't check in at a movie on date at theater and that now I owe a 'misuse fee.'

This is total factual rubbish, not to mention ethically wrong. Factually, I very deliberately heeded the check-in reminders and clicked the check-in button. Since enrolling in Sinemia in August ... I have tried ONLY 3 TIMES to use Sinemia and EACH TIME it failed. The first time, the app was totally unresponsive. The second time I didn't know I needed to check in and was not reminded to do so. This third time, I was DETERMINED not to make the same error and quite demonstratively--ask my wife!--clicked the check-in button. Yet it appears either that the app failed again, or that I still managed to do something wrong.

Quite simply, you're a technology company, and your process shouldn't be this difficult. The shuttling back and forth from your app to a ticketing app is ridiculous. Moreover, the two ticketing apps you currently support (Atom, Movietickets) do not work where we see most of our movies. Therefore, you would make me cover two service charges myself. For the movie in question my personal credit card was billed the full ticket price ($9.73) plus the two service charges ($1.80, $1.70), totaling $13.23.

Three failures is enough to convince me that I'm either too stupid to use your service (unlikely) or stupid to even bother (likely). Yet when I attempt to cancel my membership, you have locked me out from doing so until I pay the $13.72 'misuse fee'.

Please consider this email a request to cancel my subscription forthwith. As far as I can tell, you have taken revenue from my subscription since August and covered just one movie ticket, so you have made a decent profit off of me. Take it and leave me alone."

Here's an excerpt from their so-called response (quite typical, if they do respond):

"Hi, my name.

The system detected that you have not completed your check-in process...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. You can make the payment for your Sinemia card misuse fee at website."

I just paid the misuse fee only so I could cancel my membership. I am going to call my credit card issuer and attempt to claim the charge and will consider claiming all of my membership charges and service fees as well.

I placed an advanced movie ticket and on the day of the movie I never got the checkin option.they are charging me a mis use fee
On dec 17 I never got the option to checkin to the movie, I emailed them the issue they charged my account a mis use fee of $13. Responded to waive the fee cause app was not working properly it has been three weeks and they wont help with issue and now I cant use my account to buy movie tickets.

I have signed up for premium subscription on 1/08/2019 and signed up accelerated service for immediate activation.

I have tried couple of times the given virtual card getting declined and I have tried today 01/08/2019 also same issue . I have sent an email to support team no response from them .

Looks like this is not genuine website/service . Am requesting them for refund as am not used for single ticket from this sinemia website.

Emailed multiple times and no response.
Even though they have all 1 ratings, I thought of giving it a try and follow all the rules mentioned and see if it is worth it?
I had few questions before purchase:

*** I buy an annual subscription with a sinemia gift card? Their website says yes but I want to confirm since all customers are saying they are having issues. If yes and I *** buy an annual subscription with a sinemia gift card, please give clear steps on how to do that?

How *** I get physical sinemia card and how to request during purchase of an annual subscription since I do not see an option to request a physical card?
Please provide clear steps for requesting a physical card during purchase of an annual subscription?

How long does the physcial card take to arrive once I bought subscription?

First, I'd like to say that Sinemia is not easy to use and puts you through a long process to get it working, and even unnecessarily longer to meet their user agreement terms. This is not completely their fault as they receive no support from ticketing offices, but 100% their fault for arbitrarily go out of their way to punish customers like myself.

For example, you must scroll down to the exact hour and minute of your show, then select the movie and date, then copy and paste (or memorize) 4 items: Card number, exp date, CVC code, zip code. Then open ticketing app (eg, ticketmaster, atom) and enter in the details and buy a ticket. Then remember to open sinemia and and "check in" when you're about to see the movie. You are also "required" to check in between 5 hours and 30 minutes before the movie starts.

If ANY of this goes wrong: fail to check in on time, type in the wrong card, etc, you are charged anywhere from 12-15 dollars as a punishment. These fees are undisclosed until they assess them to you. Your membership is then disabled until you pay - which means you'll be paying your monthly fee for locked out access - Which is FEDERALLY ILLEGAL - but who is going to sue them over 100 bucks?

You also get nickle and dimed on top of your membership fee. You are charged a convenience fee, and in my case, I forgot to check into a movie and they assessed me full price for the ticket as a penalty on top of the convenience fees.

I feel really bad for anyone buying an annual pass *** they add suprise fees and screw over customers at any time knowing they will have a charge-back battle to waste time with.

The service did not work for me. I paid for the year up front to avoid the additional fee they charge if you don't. It takes weeks for the service to be "activated" (if you pay another additional fee you *** shorten that wait) and once it was "activated" I tried several times and the payment would be declined by the ticket vendor with the exception of one matinee showing that the fees ended up totaling half of the ticket price so after the yearly charge the value is eliminated. Fees that were not disclosed when I signed up and one of which was charged to my card despite me being unable to purchase the ticket due to the declining payment. The company just does not respond to emails so no assistance was offered despite many attempts. Finally I gave up and I disputed the charge with my bank since I did not receive the advertised service or responses to my emails asking for assistance. I then of course received a response from them in response to the charge-back and they stated the service was non-refundable but for an additional fee the could send me a physical card that may help with the issues I had in regards to the payment declining. I sent 34 emails in total asking why I was having the issues with their service and why the felt a physical card would resolve those issues and no one responded to one of them. I was unwilling to pay for the card since no one answered my emails because I fear it will just be more money spent with the company for no services in return. They have since canceled my account (which would be fine if a refund was offered) and disputed my charge-back so in summary I spent $108 on a service that over 2 months time I was able to purchase one ticket that cost them $5.25 and I paid a total of $3.30 in fees for the ticket out of pocket. I *** not use the service now even if it decided to work so buyer beware. Also keep in mind a lot of fees and processes were not disclosed when I originally signed up although I do believe they have since addressed that in response to lawsuits. Very unhappy and would not recommend to anyone under any circumstances and from the reviews below I am not alone.

Frandulent advertising and policies. Sinemia advertises being able to use their service "...at any theater, for any movie..." (sinemia.com) and "Go to any movie theater you want..."

However, they have added fees to my account for not using theaters of their choosing.

Service is discontinued and fines are collected for unnecessary reasons.
I was asked to pay 14.15 dollars as a my ticket is vended is improperly but for that matter the ticket was redeemed for a later movie show. Now that that when I try to reach the customer support.They are not even responding back to me.

stay away. a few customers are happy, but sinemia burnt many of us.

Sinemia isn't even worth 1 star.

We signed up for our membership a couple of months ago and in that short amount of time, we have had more issues than not. We would have never paid in full for a one year membership (which was not made clear when we signed up) that we aren't able to use.

We have attempted to use our membership to purchase advance tickets through the app and the website several times over the last two months. Twice we were actually able to use it and 3 times we weren't able to because of the "Connection Error" and "Host Error - Bad Gateway" messages that prevented from being able to do so. That is also 3 times (10/31, 12/27 and ½) that I have contacted their so called "Sinemia Support" only to receive an automatic response stating that my message was received and that they would be in contact "as soon as we ***." Needless to say, I still have yet to receive a response.

In hopes of having avoiding any issues online, I have requested our physical cards. I realized after my initial request that Sinemia doesn't have my address to actually be able to mail my card to. I added my address and requested a card again. After several weeks of waiting for the card, I went on the Sinemia website to request the physical card AGAIN. I noticed that there is now a fee of $29.98/card. We have the Classic Membership, which is for 2 people, so I would have to pay another $60.00 just for us to have physical cards.

Ironically enough, the same day that I had an issue, I received an email from Sinema with the "newly added features." One of the new features is that they "made a conscious effort to eliminate ticket purchase errors." Apparently they didn't, because that is the same day that I received an error.

Sinemia also claims to have increased their customer support department "to prevent customer issues before they occur. Their claim that their "biggest priority is to address customer support issues" is another LIE!

We made the switch to Simemia from MoviePass *** we are certainly regretting that change. Sinemia is a total ripoff. They were quick to take our money and after that...crickets. And now, 2 months later, I am still waiting on a response from 3 separate messages.

Oh and their email address on their website to contact for support (https://help.sinemia.com) isn't even a real email address!!! SUCH A JOKE!! I would like a refund of my membership. Considering that I paid over $200 for a membership that I ***'t even use, in addition to the ticket purchases that I made because Sinemia wouldn't work, is in my opinion, theft. If you are considering Sinemia, DON'T DO IT!! I wish I would have read all of the negative reviews before I gave them my money. It should be illegal for them to run just a scam.

I have been having issues with Sinemia since November, and I am now requesting a refund for the portion of my annual membership that I have not used.
I began my annual membership with Sinemia in August. The terms that I agreed to at that time were 2 standard movies per month (for 12 months) for $7.99 each month. I paid in full in August 2018 for all 12 months ($95.88). The first time I used the service in September, I was charged a $1 fee to book my ticket online (a fee I was not aware of when I purchased the membership). However, I decided $1 more per movie was not too much. By October, I started being charged an extra $2.80 fee per movie. This is the first major issue I had with Sinemia because I was not notified of this fee, and I had not approved it.

My next issue with this service was near the end of November. I went to the Atom app (movie ticket purchasing app) to purchase my movie ticket using the one-time payment info provided by Sinemia. Atom refused my payment. I contacted Atom customer service because Sinemia did not have a phone number to call for immediate service. Atom informed me that this was a problem on Sinemia's end that they have been dealing with and that I would need to contact Sinemia to handle it. I emailed Sinemia (their only form of customer service) right after talking to Atom. I was forced to buy my ticket out-of-pocket so that I would not miss the movie. This was Nov. 25. I received a response on the 26th stating that the "advanced ticket would be canceled and the charged fee will be refunded to the original payment method".

On December 4th, I contacted them again because I still had not received my refund to my card. They assured me that the refund would be processed within 5-10 business days. They also told me that they would add "+1 movie day to my next monthly cycle as compensation".

At this point, I decided to give it one more try and pay the $2.80 fee on December 14th. My payment was refused again by Atom. Again, an issue with Sinemia's app.

After contacting Sinemia support, they offered to upgrade me to a permanent payment info plan that would be easier to use. I gave this a try on December 15th. I paid the $2.80 fee, and it worked. I saw another movie on December 19th with no problems.

Finally today, December 23rd, I tried to purchase a third ticket, but I was restricted from purchasing due to an "outstanding misuse fee". Prior to this attempt to purchase a ticket, I had no notification of misuse or of any fee. I contacted Sinemia immediately and was told that I did not check-in last time I went to the movies so I need to pay a misuse fee before they will let me use my account. I responded to tell them that I did check-in. Once again, I suspect an issue for which their app is to blame.

I still have received no notification via email or any other avenue to tell me that I owe a misuse fee. They also have not told me how much the fee costs or how to pay it. I am very skeptical of the timing of the restriction of use of my account.

Furthermore, when I first bought the annual plan, Sinemia had an option to buy a physical card for $14.99 which would avoid having to check in online and any fees associated with it.

To my surprise they stopped offering that option a short while after I signed up with no warning whatsoever.

They have only recently started offering the card again, however, when attempting to purchase the card it no longer states a cost of $14.99. Instead, it now says, "Sinemia card fee is determined based on the usage & operational costs vary depending on the plan" and "Sinemia reserves the right to make changes to applicable fees and introduce new fees at any time". This seems like a very deceptive tactic.

In summary: 1)I have had numerous issues using the service I paid for (app issues with Sinemia's card payment/ambiguous physical card cost). 2)I am now being told I have to pay a "misuse fee" with no explanation given as to why or even how much the fee is before I can resume using the services I paid for. 3)I have yet to be refunded the $2.80 from a month ago, one that I was supposed to receive within 1-2 weeks.

Service only worked on occasion and no responses to correct it or issue a refund on balance.
My paid membership was supposed to get me 2 movies a month for 2 people at $13.99 a month. This was a 1 year membership and I was supposed to get a Sinemia Gift Card/Credit Card to use to purchase movie tickets at various theaters. I used my bank issued American Express card and was billed on May 31,for $167.88.I received an e-mail on 5/31 welcoming me and that my Sinemia Premium Card will be delivered in 30 days. Then on June 12,I get another e-mail explaining that all new subscribers will be going card-less so you can start enjoying benefits without waiting on the card. It was explained that I had to download the app to my smartphone in order to activate it.I downloaded the app with no issues. However, I was surprised to see that in using the app I would be charged a convenience and a service fee depending on which movie ticket service I'd use (Fandango, Atom, AMC, other movie ticketing site). I emailed Sinemia.I explained my dissatisfaction in changing the terms of the membership when I was supposed to get a Card to purchase my movie tickets. I was told that cards would no longer being issued and that I had to use the new process.First you use a third-party website like Fandango. Place an order for tickets with date, time and location of theater. Go back to the Sinemia app and put it in the same information under Advanced Ticket. Sinemia would give you a temporary 16 digit number like a MasterCard with an expiration date, security code and zip code.I emailed Sinemia again during the summer to complain of this process and wanted my Sinemia Premium Card as was described. I never got a response.Each time I would order advanced tickets for a movie. The payment information would change. Mainly the 16 digit number.I kept going to the movies and Sinemia paid for the tickets and I paid the fees. However, late September I received a notice from my bank, that I would be getting a new American Express card due to suspicious activity. I received my new card in early October.I attempted to update my Sinemia account payment information, so I could continue using the Service. Sinemia's website would not let me use American Express now. Even though I signed up with one and was using it to pay the fees. Their website would not allow the 4 digit Security Code that they use. The site would only take 3 digit Security codes.Once again, I emailed their Support Group from within their website as there is No Other way to contact them. In my email I explained to them that I am just trying to update my payment information and that their website won't let me do it, due to it won't accept American Express's 4 digit Security code. I did get a response that they will look into it. A week goes by and still nothing. So, I emailed again.A couple of days go by and still no response. I go back into my Sinemia account and change the payment information to a Discover card. It updates fine. I then try to order tickets like I have been doing. Sinemia would not give me their Payment Information to order tickets on the 3rd party ticketing website. It was saying my payment information needed to be updated and my credit card On file was not accepting charges. I verified with Discover that my card was good and there was plenty of room in the balance.I then changed it to a Visa and it worked fine until November.Emailed support and they explained to me not use Fandango.I used AMC. It worked once. They told me to use Atom. I followed their instructions. Atom would not take their payment information. I emailed them the error message 2 times and never received a response. Meanwhile I get an advertising email about the Premium card being issued again.However, you have to pay extra. I was furious. I emailed again for a refund as their service was not as advertised and that they cannot correct the payment errors in getting tickets. It has been 3 weeks and still no answers or refund to my now canceled membership. I do not recommend this service to anyone. Save your money.

I purchase the Sinema movie Plan. I thought I was buying the monthly amount at 11.99 a month, I didn't see the top tab was on yearly. charged $215.88
I thought I purchased the monthly plan from Sinema at 11.99 a month. I didn't realize the top tab was on Yearly. It is not clearly stated on their website. Kinda deceptive. So I was charged 215.88 instead of the 11.99. I emailed the company from their help & support email page and never received a response back. I had my bank TCF try and get my money back. They reviewed the case and said I had to resolve it with Sinema. I emailed the today 11/24/2018 and They said I had to re-isssue my membership. I told and explained to them that if I had to do a plan then I wanted the plan for 8.99 amount. explained the whole yearly plan mistake to them.(215,88) I haven't had any service from them. after my bank contacted them , they canceled my membership which I never actually received! So in all total I was charged on 10/17/2018 215.88 & then 37.98 and also 9.99 from my checking account with absolutely no service. I sent 2 emails today 11/24/2018 asking to resolve the issue and they have not returned with an answer!!

I'v been charged an initiation fee, a "convenience" fees and, a monthly fee, for what should have been 3 movies, not 1 movie. The app rarely worked.
I have emailed your website about 4-5 times without a response. This buggy app continues to fail me. THREE TIMES now I've planned my evening around seeing a move only to have the app fail on the spot. I have seen only one movie successfully (Roma), yet, somehow, it says I've seen three. I've also been charged an initiation fee, a couple of surprise fees, and my physical card is being held hostage for $15 with a two-month waiting period. The UX is a nightmare, always sending me off to Atom or Movietickets.com. And they've made cancelling a membership as technically difficult as possible, hiding that option away in .4 font with a bunch of warning screens. No one has yet to respond to my attempts at complaints / help requests, and I suspect some of these charges are fraudulent from a consumer rights standpoint. I expect nothing less than my initiation and monthly fee refunded fully, and to be reimbursed for the cost of the two movies that weren't covered but claimed to have been.

Unauthorized processing fee
I purchased this membership in Novembe. I used the service fine the first time with no issues. Then is December Sinemia added $5.40 "Processing Fee" undisclosed prior the start of my subscription.

I purchased 2-movie plan per month for 3 people and paid $359.88 for full 12 months subscription to Sinemia. After 1 use, Sinemia decided to add $5.40 processing fee. This Processing fee is accessed by Sinemia should be included in the plan but was not disclosed prior the start of my subscription. I contacted Sinemia regarding the refund of my subscription and the processing fee and never received a response through email. I tried to use my last tickets for this month and it said I had already used it but does not show up in my "watched movies".

Company changed terms of service on a prepaid service to introduce hidden fees.
Customer service doesnt respond to service not working
Company changed terms of service on a prepaid service to introduce hidden fees.
Customer service doesnt respond to service not working

Their app wasn't working properly and they are charging me a misuse fee
I signed up for Sinemia a few months ago and have had issues with their app since the beginning. The first time I used the app to purchase movie tickets I thought the app checked me in automatically because I had two location turned on for the app so missing check in that time was my fault. After that they told me I missed check in so I went online and learned how to check in. The next few times I went to movies the check in button did not show up in the app. I emailed them about it and they just sent a standard response that I missed check in even though I told them the app wasnt working right. Out of all the times I used the app the check in button only appeared once. I ordered (and paid extra for) the card feature as the app isnt working but it hasnt arrived. After my most recent movie when the check in app didnt appear they told me I have to pay a $14.95 misuse fee and I cant use the program until I pay it. I emailed them again telling them the check in button isn't appearing but they said I have to pay it.

The service I paid for rarely works and their customer service refuses to resolve the issues after repeated attempts.
I signed up for Sinemia on October 6, 2018 for $129.87 for one year of service. Their claim is that you can use their cards to buy movie tickets at any movie theater at any time. This is false, as their cards only work about half of the time (this is supported by hundreds of other complaints and reviews online). Also, they have a mandatory check-in feature on the app that rarely works, which means they get to charge you a "misuse fee" that locks your account until you pay it. When you contact the company's customer service (via their only option of e-mail), it takes weeks for them to respond and even then they don't resolve the issue. This company is a scam and I want the following refunded:

$129.87 (Chase credit card) -- October 6, 2018 -- sign up for one year of service.

$10.31 (Chase credit card) -- December 12, 2018 -- "misuse fee" they required me to pay to unlock the account

Purchased product/service and the merchant does not provide a platform to allow use. Fraudulent/deceptive business practices w/o returning emails.
Good afternoon,

I purchased a Sinemia Premium membership in December 2018. Two weeks later, I received an email stating the "cardless" membership with the iOS app was active. When attempting to purchase the first movie, the card provided to purchase the tickets was declined. Subsequent attempts confirmed the card number provided by Sinemia continues to decline resulting in me not being able to use the services I paid for.

Emails via the support function on the Sinemia app and DM attempts via social media have not been answered.

I would like my subscription refunded as I paid for goods/services and the business has failed to uphold their end of the deal.