MoviePass seemed too good to be true, with an unlimited plan allowing one movie a day for $9.95 a month. Although the deal was real, the company ran into financial problems and there are complications that come with MoviePass. The problems subscribers face include continuous alteration of payment plans, verification of tickets, app failure, peak pricing, optional movie upgrades, and to top it all off, HORRIBLE customer service on social media channels.

Here’s a look at what’s hurting MoviePass from gaining and keeping subscribers, from a social media perspective:

  1. If you take a look at its Instagram, it looks decent: active stories, a lot of memes and movie-related content. It could improve by having more original content with higher quality pictures or even useful information. But the real fail is located in the comments, as customers use this space to try to get the company’s attention since it’s difficult everywhere else. This is a bad reflection on the brand, and although it recently started to reply to every comment seeking help, this is cluttering the feed with negativity.
  2. The MoviePass app was down for hours on a busy Friday night. After becoming aware of the issue, the company tweeted to its followers that it would offer refunds. 167 users replied to this tweet, many stating how they can’t trust MoviePass to actually issue a refund, while others asked for the refund they were promised 4-6 months ago. MoviePass didn’t reply to any of these tweets publicly.
  3. AMC released its own subscription service for $19.95/month for three movies a week. MoviePass has been walking on eggshells when it comes to AMC accepting MoviePass at their theaters, so it’s not the best business relationship. Still, it couldn’t help but tweet about it. Replies were filled with remarks about unprofessionalism, working on its own flaws before bragging, etc. Worse, others are now aware of another subscription option. Addressing your competition on social media typically only works in the sports industry.
  4. MoviePass rolled out peak pricing in July 2018 when it also tweeted asking what people were seeing that day. Not only were subscribers canceling, but everyone was confused as to why. Possibly to make up for the money they need to stay afloat? Transparency is a high priority for the consumer as he/she understands the power of the dollar and deserves to be treated with clarity. That tweet only hurt MovePass’s social media presence.

As said by VICE’s Caroline Pahl “MoviePass is trying to save movie theaters, but it needs to save itself first”.