MoviePass Accused of Resubscribing Canceled Accounts Without Permission

Former MoviePass customers express frustration after the company allegedly canceled their service cancelation. The complaints arrive as MoviePass faces mounting financial problems.

MoviePass’ problems keep piling up.

In an apparent effort to avoid bankruptcy, the unpopular ticketing service recently announced a major change to its subscription plan: Beginning Wednesday, customers will pay $9.95 to see three movies a month—a drastic shift from it’s previous one-movie-a-day plan at the same rate.

Unsurprisingly, many customers weren’t happy about the change, so they decided to jump ship and cancel their subscriptions. Simple solution, right? Well, not exactly.

As pointed out by Vox, a growing number of former users are claiming their canceled accounts were resubscribed without permission. Some of these customers say they ended their subscription weeks ago, but received a confirmation email Monday thanking them for re-enrolling in MoviePass’ latest plan. And when they attempted to unsubscribe again, they allegedly received an error message that wouldn’t allow them to cancel their accounts.

We are in the process of transitioning our members to the new, $9.95 plan, which launches officially on August 15th. Those who have not already done so will continue to have the choice of either opting in or canceling their membership over the course of the coming weeks. Monthly subscriptions will automatically expire for members that do not respond by the end of their billing cycle.

So, how did this happen?

Shortly after MoviePass announced its three-movies-a-month plan, it began posting an in-app message that announced the disappointing changes. At the bottom of the message, users were given two options: a “More Details” link and “I Accept.” Many customers who already canceled their subscriptions, simply selected the latter, assuming the message didn’t affect them because they were no longer paying for the service; however, it turns out selecting “I Accept” canceled the user’s cancelation.

The MoviePass confirmation email mentioned this at the bottom: “If you had previously requested calcellation prior to opting-in, your opt-in to the new plan will take priority and your account will not be cancelled.”

According to Vox, there were a number of ways to get around this mess: You could X out of the “I Accept” message or “simply not use your MoviePass subscription during the days remaining on your plan.”

Shortly after the complaints started rolling in, MoviePass released a statement addressing the re-subscriptions and the apparent glitch that prevented users from re-canceling.

This wasn’t the end of MoviePass’ problems on Tuesday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company—Helios and Matheson Analytics—posted an operating loss of $126.6 million in the most recent quarter ending June 30. This news arrives as Helios and Matheson faces a class action lawsuit over its alleged shady business practices. The company’s shareholders filed the suit, claiming Helios and Matheson misled them about MoviePass’ potential success. The plaintiffs cited press releases that “are materially false and/or misleading” because “there was no reasonable basis to even imply that the MoviePass business model could lead to profitability.”

Latest in Pop Culture