Cineplex says online booking fees are ‘completely avoidable,’ but it’ll cost more

Cineplex has issued its arguments in defence of its online booking fees that are at the centre of a Competition Bureau lawsuit.

Canada’s largest theatre chain has been accused of “misleading” customers by not providing full disclosure of the added costs associated with the booking fees. During the second day of trial, the company repeated claims that the fee is displayed “prominently” on its website and app, immediately left of the “proceed” button customers must click during the checkout process.

The company also argues that the fee is “completely avoidable” because you can either buy in the theatre or pay for a $9.99/month CineClub membership to have it waived (Scene+ members also get the fee reduced to $1). The company claims that half of its customers already go into the theatres to purchase tickets as is.Of course, one could argue that “completely avoidable” doesn’t mean a whole lot when that means you either have to pay more (a subscription) or spend more time by going into theatres. The latter point is especially frustrating since it’s far more convenient to guarantee seating in advance (especially for popular movies and/or if you’re going with groups) than to go into a theatre right before showtime and risk not getting tickets.

It also should be noted that Cineplex’s insistence that the fees are “prominently” displayed on the site isn’t exactly true. Once you’ve selected a showtime, you’re brought to the checkout screen where you first have to select admission type and quantity. Immediately, there is no clear mention of any online booking fee, as you can see below in a screenshot from the website. The ad on the right for CineClub is the only mention of the fee, but it doesn’t disclose any further details like pricing.

Instead, you can easily hit Proceed here without seeing the fee at all, which certainly goes against Cineplex’s “prominently” and “left of the proceed button” arguments.

It’s only when you scroll down to the very bottom that you see this fee fully disclosed. These have been captured from the Cineplex website on a laptop, so naturally, the smaller screen of the mobile app will only require further scrolling.

If you compare this to Landmark Cinemas, Canada’s second-largest theatre chain that also charges the $1.50 booking fee, you can see that it’s clearly displayed right beside ticket prices. In other words, it’s unmissable.

Evidently, Cineplex obfuscates the process, which is something that the Competition Bureau has been arguing in its lawsuit. The agency has also said that Cineplex’s lack of a clear listing of ticket pricing on its website further hides the full cost of admission from consumers.

Cineplex, for its part, argues that there “are many options that impact the overall cost of attending the theatre to see a movie,” which therefore requires an “interactive” approach from the consumer during the checkout process.

During the trial, it was also revealed that Cineplex has already earned nearly $40 million from these fees. The Competition Bureau is pushing for Cineplex to stop this practice, remove the countdown timer that runs during checkout (which it argues will only lead customers to rush and “underestimate the total price of purchase”) and pay a financial penalty equal to what it’s gained from these fees.

Cineplex, meanwhile, is calling for the case to be thrown out with costs awarded to Cineplex.

This isn’t the only ongoing Cineplex controversy. The company (along with Landmark Cinemas) came under fire for raising ticket prices for the hotly anticipated Dune: Part Two, which it also did last year for Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Via: Canadian Press