DJariya

Just curious, are your actually a subscriber to Movie Pass? or do you just like to analyze their business model and scratch your head how they survive?

RichC2

I'm a subscriber and scratch my head, and I also wonder if people have found a way to unlock the funds and buy other products with the card -- not because I want to, but because that kind of fraud seems like something that would happen.

fujishig

I'm a subscriber. I used it last night. I've said it before, but I'm fine with taking advantage of their business model to see cheap movies (without violating their TOS). When I first heard of this, I thought for sure they were getting subsidized tickets from the theaters, and when they did that initial interview where they revealed they were basically paying out of pocket full price, I was really surprised. If they want to go through their funds to subsidize movies, that's fine by me, I just don't see how it's sustainable like Lowe and others are claiming.

I just see people saying that theaters should be bending over backwards to keep them around and I just don't see why. Business is being driven to the theaters, sure, and that's a good thing, but that's mainly because Moviepass is just writing checks all over the place.

People were using the funds to buy other things, because once you load the card up with funds, it doesn't track how you spend the money (besides taking pictures of a ticket thing), just where you spent it, so people would load it up and buy stuff at the concession stands. The problem is that apparently moviepass always loads a little extra above what they assume the ticketed price is just in case (I assume stuff like taxes and things) so if they detected you were always withdrawing the maximum amount, I think they banned you. That was in the mass banning a few months ago, and it screwed over people who were using moviepass and a different credit card to buy two tickets at once, not knowing that was a problem.

About the annoying part to customers: what I'm saying is that they don't have a decent way to verify you spent the money they gave you on the movie you said you would, without inconveniencing customers by doing things like making you take pictures of your stub. The theater chains, on the other hand, could implement a program that doesn't load debit cards and have to jump through hoops, though the limitation would obviously be you could only use it in that chain.

bluetoast

Short answer: Yes, that could and did happen, including with gift cards, years ago (and possibly now). But people obviously got kicked out for doing so.

jjcool

I'm sure it could and does happen. Once you check in, you now have a credit card with $ on it. Theoretically you could go anywhere that accepts credit cars and use that card to buy something. Of course it isn't a huge limit and you wouldn't really gain much by doing so. It would also be real easy to track if you used the card at somewhere other than a theater. Hopefully those fucktards that are scamming that way are caught out and kicked out of the program, along with the ones buying tickets for movies they have no intention of seeing. There are some people on this forum that are doing that. They may have other info on how people are scamming Moviepass.

Inhumans99

I remember in the Twilight Time thread when an actual employee of TT posted in that thread...it would be too funny if someone who works for Movie Pass is lurking in this thread and taking notes on how people are taking advantage of the system so they fix these loopholes, if you will.

jjcool

We can hope, I guess. It would serve these assholes right to get caught by bragging about their theft.

tanman

Because they would make more money.

That's the bottom line.

Look movie theaters aren't selling a physical profit. So their operating costs are more or less the same. The more people in the seats the more money they make. So if you had a third party that was driving people towards your business why wouldn't you make a deal with them? Say they increase their ticket sales by $10,000/month and ask for a 20% cut. They'd still be making $8,000 more than they would anyways. It's absolutely ridiculous that they wouldn't want to make a deal with Movie Pass.

But I understand the mechanics of why they won't make a deal. Because when it comes down to it people aren't really worried about making more money they're worried about doing their job. So while MP has been increasing theater's profits no one wants to be that executive that actually makes a deal that will cut those profits, even by a slim margin. Because when it comes down to it most people and business are short sighted. They'll gladly take the $10,000/month for a couple months instead of $8,000/month for years. Which is incredibly stupid. The movie industry has a rare chance to actually be ahead of the curve in terms of changing how people consume media while increasing profits and because of pride and shortsightedness they are just going to throw away the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Now I'm not saying that MP's business model will succeed but it's a rare low risk way to see if this business model can succeed and I don't see why the different players involved wouldn't want to work together.

Decker

Tonight I got forced to send a picture of my stub, which I thought I did right away snapping a picture and hitting the check mark button on top. Then after the movie I see my app was asking for the stub picture (which I thought I had already sent). I sent them an explanation (which included some angry tones and ended by telling them to get their act together!). That's when I realized that the app isn't formatted to the phone correctly and it's not enough to snap a picture, you then have to scroll the whole thing down to reveal the SEND button. I realized that when I couldn't figure out how to send my explanation once I had typed it.
They really do need to figure things out better. The app isn't ready for Prime Time.

TheBang

No, you can't. They will reject any attempted charge that comes from any retailer other than the theater that you checked in at.

dex14

I’ve never had an issue like you described. It’s easy as be for me to take and upload a pic. Is everything up to date on your phone?

Obi-Wanma

I doubt they have that much control over the debit card. The bank that holds the funds would approve or reject the card, and would likely approve any charge that was less than or equal to the amount loaded. I would be very surprised if it's looking at where the charge comes from at the time of purchase.

If you did this, it wouldn't take long for MoviePass to find out about it and ban you though, so you could only do it once.

Decker

Yep, all up to date.
Walk me through the process. You snap a picture of the stub with the camera button, press the Check Mark button at the top of the screen, then what? I got no message or anything. Is there another Send button to press or something?

dex14

It works exactly like it’s shown in the video for me:

Decker

I had a check mark on the top right and an X on the top left after I took my photo. I didn't see a Use Photo button on the bottom but I also didn't see one on the send email page until I scrolled up on my phone. I think that was the mistake- how the app is formatted on my phone. Also in the FAQs (which I checked at the time to confirm) they never mention the Use Photo button - after giving you instructions on how to grant the app permission to use your phone's camera and images, it literally says
-Take a picture of your ticket stub
- That's it! Your picture has been submitted and you have completed ticket verification.

So it's no wonder that I didn't scroll the image up to find a Use Photo button. I took them at their word. I also closed the app and reopened it just to make sure the message was gone and it was -- until I got home.

TheBang

I think you're wrong. At a minimum, it would be possible for them to put permanent blocks on all MoviePass-issued cards so that any charges from a non-movie theater MCC (merchant category code) are denied.

Of course banks can inspect and deny charges in real time. How else do you think they do fraud protection? Like when you suddenly have a charge from a foreign retailer that they deny? Yeah, they inspect where the charge came from, what merchant, the amount, all during the authorization phase.

jjcool

Not according to some of the reports I have read online. I have no personal knowledge of this of course, but maybe some of the boards resident thieves would have more firsthand info.

jjcool

Was this a movie that you actually went to or one that you just bought a ticket for to fuck Moviepass over?

Orbi-Wan Techno

I taken a picture of my ticket stub for IW four separate times now, only given the options of “Retry” or “OK”. I select OK, and I don't get any indication that the picture is being accepted.

Decker

That was Blockers, one I went to. Super Troopers 2 was the "Fuck You" purchase. It was after that purchase, my 24th since September, that I got the photo requirement.

RoboDad

Are you on iOS or Android?

On iOS the options on the camera screen are to press the shutter or select cancel. Once the photo is taken, the options are Retake or Use Photo. I don’t know what options look like on Android.

Once I select Use Photo, I get a confirmation after about 10-20 seconds stating that my stub was submitted (as shown in the video).

DJLinus

I went to see Beirut today and the same thing is happening to me. Stuck in an endless loop of submitting a picture of my ticket stub. I sent a message via app to customer service and attached a picture of the stub, but who knows if that will do anything given their spotty CS track record.

I later looked at the MP subreddit and this seems to be a problem with the latest Android app update. Some folks there are downgrading to fix it. Others are simply uninstalling/reinstalling, but there are reports that that will let you submit the stub you're stuck on, but the problem resurfaces the next time you see a movie. I haven't tried either fix yet.

stingermck

I got caught in the pic loop last night as well. My wife submitted no problem, but mine did not. Sent a note instead describing the problem.

Orbi-Wan Techno

Android, recent development, I've sent my stubs with no issue prior to this.

Sent a message to Customer Support, they contacted me this morning to send a picture as an attachment.

Decker

Fuck that. If they can't get their own app to work, then they'll just have to trust us until they fix it. They are a bullshit Mickey Mouse company.