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Ask HN: Has anyone else been scammed by MoviePass?

11 points by borkt ↗ HN
I signed up for MoviePass the day their new plan hit the news in September and was genuinely excited to try the product. I waited weeks for a card but none arrived; I assumed it was due to the level of interest their new plan had generated.

I noticed I had been charged in October without ever having received a card which seemed odd as the sign up said there would be no charge and the account wouldn't begin billing until my card had been received and activated.

I contacted them and considered cancelling, but at this point they said I would not be billed until after I had used up the month they had charged me for and a new card would be sent.

Another month passes, no card, and I was charged again. At this point I contacted them and asked for my account to be cancelled, all charges refunded, and that I had no desire to use their service after these issues and customer service lies. Additionally I let them know I would be travelling for a month so I hoped they could handle it from there.

Now we are at today. I returned home from my trip to find 2 cards in my mail and yet another charge. I believe I finally have gotten my account cancelled now, however the customer service representatives seem to be completely ignoring that they billed my for 4 months of service I never was able to use because the card never arrived.

Does anyone have a working email address with someone in Customer Service who can help with this? I can't imagine I am the only person who has had this issue.

11 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 32.6 ms ] thread
Something1234
Why don't you just issue a chargeback through your credit card that the services were not rendered?
gesman
+this

CC company are on your side as long as you did some fair effort to resolve situation with merchant.

File chargeback and let them force-return you the money + have them pay lots of chargeback fees to CC.

This is likely not a scam but lousy support. Which they'll force to better. Chargebacks are very painful for merchants.

dangrossman
Is MoviePass a YC company? I'm just wondering why this is on Hacker News.
hkmurakami
There's been a few submissions in the front page over the last month about movie pass and it's competitors so it seems somewhat relevant
ladberg
I personally haven't tried MoviePass, but I know a few people who have and weren't scammed. It took a few weeks for their cards to come in the mail (not sure if they were paying during that time or not), but they eventually did get them.
mattbgates
I've been using my MoviePass, at least once or twice a month. My wife had also ordered one but she hadn't been able to activate it and they had billed her for the first month.
kleer001
To calm your soul don't forget Hanlon's razor.

Since they're growing so fast you probably just fell through the cracks, some idiot pressed the wrong button, something about your account was misspelled, your entry got caught between one version and another, or some other tiny mistake that exploded out beyond all reason because they're still a young company and growing quickly.

Now, if they're worth their salt they'll eventually make it right by you, but you might have to escalate it a little more before they budge.

1123581321
I read the MoviePass subreddits a lot and some people have had your issue. It seems like customer service was eventually able to resolve it for people who persisted. Annoying but I don’t think it’s a scam; that connotates an unlikely intention.

I’d say most people on the subreddit, including me, are happily seeing free movies with it.

nxsynonym
I signed up around the same time and have 0 issues. Got my card right away and have been using it 3-4 times a month with no issues.

I have heard their customer service is slow, which is probably due to the high influx of new customer sign ups.

Best course of action is a CC charge back.

abcdefghijklm
I have two personal email addresses for MoviePass employees who might be able to help you (I say might because my issue didn't get resolved and I had to issue a chargeback).

How should I send them to you? I don't want to post them here and get them spammed, even if I feel they deserve it.