I just noticed Sinemia is even cheaper than before. I have an elite membership with them for about two months now and it works for some places, not all of them as advertised. I got two tickets at IMAX Melbourne - premium seats - with no problems. It would have costed me $84 otherwise.
LOLL
$47.88 a year is a bit meh, considering it's only like two good marvel movies good a year and no imax in sydney
Note that in any case IMAX is not included in the classic plan (which starts at 47.88/year).
I too had a bad experience and recommend you do not sign up.
+1 to this, didn't work, sent 20+ emails over a 5 week period initially about support, then eventually about refund, received two copy pastes in response. Had to get a chargeback from the bank.
Literally made my OzBargain account to warn against a previous deal. It's basically may as well be a scam for 90% of people by the looks of it.
My experience has been poor also. Only ever worked once, at IMAX Mel. Doesn't work at Village or Hoyts, which are conveniently the most prolific theatre chains. They must make money off the people who never get it to work, and funnel that through to pay for people who coplain enough or soimething. I just can't work out how their business could be profitable otherwise. Regardless they are pretty responsive on twitter messages, was able to organise a refund.
I'm also in QLD and I've had success with
* The Elizabeth Picture Theatre & Yatala Drive-in
* Palace Cinema
I tend to watch movies after work in the city so it works out well. I can't get Event cinema to work with the temporary card and I haven't tried the Paypal method. Has anyone had success with cineplex?
I’ve heard that their Twitter team is much more responsive than elsewhere
I’ve actyally messaged them a couple times on twitter and received a (semi helpful) reply in a day or less
I had the same issue with the card not working and yes, sent them several messages without reply. However, someone posted on a previous deal a work around with the payment method. I attached the prepaid credit card number to PayPal and managed to use it at event cinemas. It’s a bit of a pain to do but the $9.99 I pay a month for the double pass beats the $45 or so they would charge you for the tickets normally. I’ve used this service twice and it has worked both times
Just be aware for those looking to get this , you most likely won't get a card and will resort to using the app which can be a horrendous experience.
Using cardless had gotten better with updates but be aware that it can be a mixed bag on whether your tickets can be bought. I've successfully gotten platinum tickets at palace with no hitch but rejected payment for antman at event cinemas. Had to resort to making a US PayPal account and adding the temp card info at Hoyts since they don't accept the vanilla temp card info either.
The annual fee upfront is a big negative and dealing with customer support sucks. You have to tweet at them and then DM them to get any help.
But it's saved me money…so if you like saving money and having a service that can be temperamental then this is great!
Horrendous experience for me even though I had the card.
When did you signup? I got the impression that they haven't been sending out cards for at least a couple of months. I wasn't even asked for a mailing address when signing up.
Useful information on the previous deal.
edit: In particular, note that after going back and forth on Twitter, Sinemia eventually waived the accelerated cardless activation fee for me.
how did you manage to get accelerated cardless activation for free? What did you say to them?
I just said that the fee wasn't disclosed when I signed up, they were refusing to provide the service that I had already paid upfront for, and the fee was not permitted under their terms. I had to go back and forth a few times before they agreed to waive it. I think their concern is that a chargeback costs them a $25 Stripe fee (on top of the refund) so they want to avoid disputes. Keep in mind that the fee is only $5 shortly after you sign up, but they hike it to $10 if you refuse to pay immediately, so if you aren't confident about winning an argument with them you should either pay it while the fee is $5 or ask for a refund.
I’m in Vic. Sinemia worked for iMax and Palace Cinemas. It never worked for Hoyts or village even using PayPal. I signed up when it was monthly and the cardless option was free. For those worried about using PayPal and being charged after I spoke to them on twitter and they suggested me doing that “hack”. It’s not the best but can save you a lot of money.
Didn't work for my local palace or IMAX Melbourne in Vic for me.
Works fine for Hoyts if the Hoyts website can connect to PayPal (which isn't always). Just need to book in advance.
I’ve been doing this for three months now and have never had any problems - both using direct payment methods and through PayPal. It’s a bit of a risk admittedly, but it’s worked well for me in the past and I figure as long as I make my money back then I’ll be good. At this rate, I’m well on my way to getting my money’s worth.
The deal itself is great, but the large majority of people by the looks of things don't actually manage to redeem their tickets.
I'd sign up to another company who actually honours their tickets 100% of the time in a heartbeat, and stay a customer long term.
The difficulty is that the reliable services (at least, moviepass) have to keep restricting their terms to cut costs and are not doing well financially - the share price of HMNY (parent of moviepass) is down 99.8% from its peak.
Absolutely. I think it would require the cooperation of major cinema chains (lowering their cost price per seat on empty chairs), or even a big cinema chain like Hoyts to implement their own subscription model on off-peak tickets for it to work profitably.
Regardless, as a customer I'd be willing to spend more money per year than I usually do on movies for a subscription based model where the cost per movie is very cheap - even if it meant going in off-peak times.
I'd even be happy to wait until an hour before the movie to find out if I'll be getting my hands on a ticket if it were cheap enough. There's enough empty seats in cinemas that there is 100% extra revenue to be made.
I also think a lot of people would enjoy cinemas more if they were completely packed out all the time - it adds an energy to the movie for me, and feels like a special event.
Note that it may be difficult to argue a paypal dispute over a service. You may prefer to pay directly with an amex where chargebacks are easier.
Post a positive vote if you're happy with it?
DO NOT BELIEVE PEOPLE WHO SAY IT DOES NOT WORK!!
I have been using this for two months now, Village and Hoyts and it WORKS PERFECTLY. Those who say it does not work are not willing to do a couple of very simple processes.
Here are the steps I followed. Paypal is the key here.
Create a new Gmail account
- Don't put in a phone number as if you do you need to verify it.
Create a new paypal account
- When creating the new account, put in the address details as
925 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038
- FInd any LA number, a hotel for example
- Put in your new Gmail account details as per above (I recommend this as it means you can keep this completely separate to your daily transfers)
Go to hoyts and find a movie you want to see, note down the time
Go to your Sinemia app and select "Advance purchase"
Put in the details of the movie and get your temporary payment information
Log into your paypal account and link a new card with the details above
To back to the hoyts website and proceed through to payment
Select the paypal payment type, log in with your new paypal account and pay.
And there you have it!! Your ticket will be sent to your new email address and you are good to go.
The next time you want to see a movie, you follow from step 3 onwards however in step 6, add the new card then remove the old to ensure your payment information is up to date.
If that does not work there was another process posted :
Australian PayPal Sinemia Steps
Enable Advance Ticket within Sinemia App and get your Temp VCC (Virtual Credit Card) Details
Checkout as normal on preferred Cinema Website.
Select PayPal as Payment Type
Login with your Australian PayPal details
Select Option to Add New Card
Add the Temporary VCC Details from Sinemia App
Select Add new address and use details below
a. Address Line 1 - 925N LA Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA
b. Address Line 2 - Blank
c. Suburb - Your normal Suburb
d. State - Your normal State
e. Post Code - Your normal Post Code
Finalise checkout
Payment should be succesful.
After successful payment, the final step is to remove the temporary card from your PayPal account, otherwise, others won’t be able to add it to their own PayPal the next time the card gets generated. To remove, just login into PayPal, and remove the Temporary VCC details from your Wallet.
In the end, this WORKS PERFECTLY and for $3.50 per ticket (the price i paid) it takes about 2 mins longer each time to book. Well worth it if you are a movie lover….
I had success using the Australian PayPal method to watch 2 movies at 2 different Hoyts in Melbourne. The second booking was much easier due to the USA address already in my PayPal account from the first purchase.
I did have to pay $10 for the Accelerate Cardless Activation after waiting almost 2 weeks. That part felt like a scam to make more money.
They eventually waived the fee for me over Twitter. Maybe you could try again.
Post a positive vote if you're happy with it?
I already posted a positive vote for the other thread…but sure….why not…
I didn't have the option to use a temporary card in my case - they sent me an actual physical card. I think the problem with my service was that they weren't actually loading the card up with funds. So I don't think this method would have worked in my case.
I'm glad you've discovered a workaround, but it doesn't change the fact their customer support is basically non-existent. If your workaround stops working, and you've signed up for a years subscription, you'll be screwed.
If people are considering signing up - I would highly recommend only going month to month, that way you can ditch the service if it starts to go wrong for you.
I think it's a great deal, and that's the reason I signed up in the first place, but telling people not to believe people who've had a bad experience is problematic. Clearly a LOT of people have issues, and the same issues are seemingly occurring again, and again, with no support.
There is support, it's just very busy support.
If you want support, you need to contact them on Twitter. They responded within an hour or two for me each time.
However I disagree with anyone that says its problematic. You NEED to follow the process outlined above and those that do it works EVERY time. Now its possible that there will be glitches but given I have seen 4 movies now I have already paid for the yearly subscription so its all gravy from here.
Have you tried adding the physical card up to a US paypal account, sign up for a new Gmail account and follow the process as per the above? It might hep…
Works perfectly for me - been using for a couple months and watched 6 movies with no issues
For those who subscribed to the classic plan rather than elite, does classic include 3D session types when you try to book an advance ticket? The terms suggest that it doesn't, but the plan pages suggest that it does.
With Sinemia Classic your tickets can be used for 2D movies and with Sinemia Elite, your tickets can be used for a 2D or 3D movie and one of your tickets can be used for either of the following technologies of your choice once every 30 days : IMAX 2D, IMAX 3D, XD, Dolby Atmos, ScreenX, Dbox, or 4DX.
You can find this in FAQs.
Thanks, but I was hoping that someone could confirm that the screening type appears in the app when using the advanced ticket function, as there are inconsistencies between the information on the website, the terms on the website and how the app operates.
guys, does it only work for the cinemas listed instead of the whole chain. for eg it has the event cinemas cbd listed but not chermside so I am assuming it does not work there. right?
Events Cinema Chermside Megaplex is available and listed in the Sinemia app
it will work for any cinema that does "Standard" pricing. I.e. anything less than around $23 per ticket.
Not necessarily - there are far more cinema locations in the app than are listed on the website, but the location must be listed in the app (and you must specify that location in the app when you book the advanced ticket) so that you can check in at the cinema location when you go to see the movie. If you do not check in, Sinemia say that they will charge the ticket cost to your credit card (although I haven't seen anyone report this happening).
Right but I have never heard of anyone who says their cinema is not available on the app so I think they are all there..
@Savitar: Fair enough, the list in the app seems quite comprehensive, but for example Windsor Cinema in Perth appears to be missing.
@josho9: You might be right. I am CERTAINLY not saying this app is perfect. But for the majority of people the vast majority of cinema's are there and it does work, and if you follow the paypal method it works. Sure its more of a pain than booking yourself directly but for a 80% saving I am in…..But I am a true OzBargainer, anything for a discount… :)
Doesn't work. Virtual card rejected at every cinema i tried. Asked for refund. DO NOT GET ON THIS BOAT.
Make sure you ask through Twitter as they never respond to emails.
Read my instructions above. Works EVERY time..
Hi Savitar,
Two questions if you do not mind.
Would Elite be required for Event Cinemas vMAX 2D?
Have you tried Event Gold Class, if so what level is required?
Apologies I have tried google, but nothing specific.
Yes, VMAX is considered a "premium" format, so you need an Elite subscription and also you can only watch VMAX (including IMAX, 4DX etc) once every 30 days (no matter how many movies per month you have subscribed for - your remaining movies must be 2D/3D).
@spammenotinoz: It is not listed as a session type which can be booked, and I received a payment declined error once, but just recently I managed to book a gold class ticket using the "VMAX3D" option so your mileage may vary.
Be warned that the Sinemia terms say that if you charge anything to their card number which is not permitted within the terms, they reserve the right to charge your supplied credit card to recover that amount.
I have used it for 3 movie tickets
Imax - $34 + Booking fee ($2?) (Paid direct)
Hoyts Xtreme Screen - $24 + $1.5 Booking fee ($19 with optus $12+$3.5 xtremeScreen Surcharge + $3.5 Recliner Surcharge)(Paid direct)
Village 4DX - $30 + $1.5 Booking fee (Paid using PAYPAL Hack)
That is $93 worth or $87.50 even with Optus for Hoys and I paid $125 for the membership ($120 + $5 for international merchant fee) Another $38 and I will break even.
Please note Xtreme Screen is a premium movie format now so the 30 Day limit will apply.
Did you book both imax and 4DX within 30 days of each other? If so, could you please tell us what session type you chose in the app?
MoviePass, the company Sinemia mimics ran out of money the other day and no one could get tickets. They got another round of funding but the yearly membership is spooky.
This probably bodes well for Sinemia because of their annual billing - they will get a cashflow surge from ex-moviepass users signing up which should keep them going for a few more months.
yeah, more shenanigans, I think MoviePass on last legs, they refunded everyones annual membership and put them on monthly plans, and you can only go to see particular movies now etc
Hi,mate I am trying to book Imax premium but my payment gets declined. Can you tell me which step you followed?
If you are on Sinemia Elite plan then it should work.
Card details name try and put: Sinemia
it wont work, all these payment systems used by the cinemas will detect its a foreign bank and automatically rejects the payment.
you have to use the paypal trick, however its now been removed from Hoyts as a payment option.
I had no such problem last time I booked online with IMAX.
Village and Hoyts payment system was from the start problematic and did not work besides the paypal workaround…
Lets face it,
their corporate greed will try everything to block Sinemia members purchasing tickets and rip off customers with ridiculously overpriced popcorn / drinks :(
Thx god there is still ways to get partially free cinema tickets online :)
What do you mean "Its been removed"? Works perfectly for me….
@Savitar: The paypal payment option at checkout is still there but maybe its a bug on Hoyts website with the paypal gateway payment system… Who knows as sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't :)
@Savitar:
Your right it's back, wasnt there last night or this morning
Thought they had taken it away
Hoyts did not accept paypal payments at the moment. Sinemia (via Facebook) advised me to try booking on reading cinemas instead and it worked using cc details provided by the app. Sinemia support was quick to respond +++
If anyone following, MoviePass is having increasingly hard times.
https://www.slashfilm.com/moviepass-annual-subscription-canc…
NO NEVER DO THIS.
DO NOT SIGN UP.
I signed up to Sinemia, it never works in any cinemas.
I'm in Queensland, every time I use the payment method provided by Sinemia, the cinema website simply rejects it.
I've even tried signing up to a new Paypal account and attach the Sinemia payment method to it, doesn't work either.
I sent them multiple support tickets through their website AND Facebook, never received a single reply.
I have never received any service or response from Sinemia, I will be opening an investigation case with my bank and claim a chargeback.
EDIT: Typo.