By As we noted yesterday, MoviePass is raising prices and changing its service plan for select customers. Prior to these changes, MoviePass allowed members to see one 2D movie at participating theaters every 24 hours for as low as $30 a month. In New York City, the price is $45, but still, there was no cap on the number of movies you could see in a month.
Starting in late June, select MoviePass customers received an email saying that they would no longer be able to use their original plan they signed up for. Instead, they had three options regarding service: pay $40 a month ($50 in NYC) to see up to six-and-only-six 2D or 3D movies; pay $99 a month to see one 2D, 3D, or large format movie every 24 hours; or cancel MoviePass entirely without any penalty fees.
I was disappointed to receive that email since I enjoyed MoviePass and was even recommending it to friends. I chose to cancel, and until things get hashed out at MoviePass, I can’t recommend it to people anymore. While I understand the need to change for the company to remain viable, the new pricing plans were poorly and abruptly implemented, and it doesn’t bode well for the future.
If you go on the MoviePass website right now, they still tout $30 as the starting price for service. Anecdotally, it seems as if the service changes weren’t done across the board for all users but only affected some MoviePass users. This included early adopters who may have been with the company since it started in 2011. Meanwhile, other customers who may be newer to the service may not be subject to these restrictive or expensive rate hikes and service changes. New users, for instance, may get the one movie every 24 hours version of MoviePass service rather than having to choose between the $40/$50 package and the $99 package. (Also, $99? Guys, that’s a passive-aggressive $100.)
Then again, I’m relatively new to the program. I’ve only been using MoviePass since March. Fellow Flixist writer Alec Kubas-Meyer has had MoviePass longer than I have, though as of the weekend, he had not received an email about service changes. This makes me wonder if the number of movies seen during each billing cycle played a part in who got the email of doom, but that’s purely speculation at this point.
Based on what I’ve seen online, it seems like long-term MoviePass users were given no option to grandfather their previous plan despite their loyalty to the company over the years. It was the same limited menu of options: pay more for basically less, pay more than double for additional formats, or leave.
Lolo Loves Films has been especially critical about these MoviePass changes, with many of their tweets devoted to this issue. MoviePass contacted Lolo Loves Films and discussed the matter with them by phone. Sadly the representative they spoke to offered no answers about reverting to the old service, no option of older users keeping their previous service, or any other matters regarding these pricing and services changes. They simply listened, offered gentle apologies, and that was it. That’s all the customer service reps can do, really, since this wasn’t their decision and they’re probably just as bummed out as the customers that the higher-ups have messed up the company.
Even though they listened, it doesn’t seem like MoviePass cares. This isn’t the first time the company has implemented changes that upset customers.
Ryan Scafuro, producer of the documentary Bending Steel, mentioned that he’d been a MoviePass member at the beginning, when the company allowed customers to see one movie per day without the 24-hour restriction. The 24-hour restriction started in October 2013, at which point Scafuro dropped MoviePass.
“That may be a petty reason but it really annoyed me and seemed like a shady move,” Scafuro explained. “Now [with the new changes] it doesn’t seem worth it at all.”
“I was a pretty early adopter to the program (I think I signed up in 2012),” Scafuro said. “When I called customer service I expected the rep to offer me some sort of grandfather clause. He was basically like ‘I can refund your subscription,’ which seemed like a tactless ‘f**k you’ seeing that they were still in the early stages of operation.”
Even though MoviePass in its current (and fallen) form could potentially offer savings, there’s the principle of it all. The changes have been forced on customers without their input or a dialogue, and the changes have been applied unevenly, targeting certain people rather than all of the customer base. It seems unfair because, well, it’s unfair. (I think Yogi Berra said that.)
Had MoviePass issued a customer survey of some kind across the board prior to implementing any changes, there’d be more goodwill from customers. There’d be a sense of choice and involvement in the service moving forward, a service that many of these customers liked. Even just a little bit of input would go a long way to easing the change. Instead, MoviePass has basically said, “Here are your choices. Now s**t or get off the pot, kiddo.”
There’s also an issue of the limitations in the new services and the immediate psychological response to having your choices taken away from you very suddenly. I don’t care about 3D movies, so paying $5 more to see only six movies a month seems like a limitation on my ability to choose. That’s not a good way of maintaining customer loyalty, which is why I can’t recommend the service to anyone anymore.
As of this writing, MoviePass has yet to publicly respond to the criticism it’s received online and from individual members about these price and service changes. On July 5th, they posted a letter to customers on their blog, which was received with overwhelming negativity. Just read them comments. I sent an email to customer service over the weekend when I canceled, though I don’t expect to get a response. If there’s one thing that seems clear in all this, it’s that MoviePass doesn’t care what you think anyway.
