Sinemia has announced that its shutting down US operations effective immediately. It’s unclear what will happen to those with existing annual memberships or memberships based in other countries, although I suspect those will be cancelled shortly as well. The official statement can be viewed as below:
Sinemia had tried to improve revenue and expenses by making a number of unpopular changes including adding a processing fee, removing the physical card and even shutting down accounts due to ‘violation of service‘. If you have recently made a Sinemia purchase you should be able to file a chargeback with your credit card issuer.
I paid for an annual plan last Sep. I haven’t used it since they requested ID verification. Last week called Fidelity card to file a charge back on the remaining months (April onwards). A few days later Fidelity sent a letter saying they concluded the research and issued the credit.
I cannot think of a worse use of my entertainment money than Sinemia. Thankfully I successfully got a chargeback via Chase after about six attempts to get Sinemia’s attention over as many weeks failed. Then they had the gall to contact me and ask how they could help, and provided a totally useless answer to my detailed communications about how I was unable to use the one year’s worth X two people’s gift cards I had purchased on Black Friday…once they found out that Chase was investigating my chargeback request. ‘Best in market service” was light years from my experience. And the app sucked big time + non/poorly disclosed fees…they deserved to have gone under much sooner. Glad I got out when I did. I really feel for everyone who they are screwing over.
Yikes! Rough timing too.
We are in the endgame now. Only AMC A-List is left. 😉
Was this one of those selling $20 bills for $10 companies?
To be clear Sinemia has not yet filed for bankruptcy which is good news for those due refunds. Purportedly it’s closing down its consumer subscription service to focus on SubGen Inc., a so-called white-label business which creates subscription plans for theater owners.
I didn’t get an email and the app still works. Not surprised.
For me, the app doesn’t work when you try to pick a movie
Paid for annual membership with my Citi Prestige in March. Citi immediately approved a chargeback online. Surprisingly easy.
Who thinks these types of companies have sustainable business models? They are nothing but middlemen with nothing value-added to offer.
They’ll just change the name to Anemia.