MoviePass users have trouble canceling, company calls it a bug

MoviePass subscribers trying to cancel should keep an eye on their credit card bill.

Many MoviePass subscribers are reporting on social media that their cancellation attempts aren't working, and have even resulted in getting an additional, unwanted credit card charge.

MoviePass issued the following statement Tuesday calling the cancellation issues a bug that has since been fixed, and denies claims that the app itself is holding customers back from leaving the service.

"On Monday, August 13th, we learned that some members encountered difficulty with the cancellation process. We have fixed the bugs that were causing the issue and we have confirmed that none of our members have been opted-in or converted to the new plan without their express permission. In addition, all cancellation requests are being correctly processed and no members were being blocked from canceling their accounts. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask that any impacted members contact customer support via the MoviePass app."

Further confusing the matter, the subscription service told customers Monday that anyone who agreed to the company's new three-movies-a-month plan might not be able to cancel.

"Please note: if you had previously requested cancellation prior to opting-in, your opt-in to the new plan will take priority and your account will not be canceled," MoviePass told subscribers Monday.

MoviePass said Tuesday afternoon that customers who do not respond to the in-app prompt will not be rolled over into the new plan.

"Those who have not already done so will continue to have the choice of either opting in or canceling their membership over the course of the coming weeks. Monthly subscriptions will automatically expire for members that do not respond by the end of their billing cycle," MoviePass said.

This appears to mean a MoviePass subscriber who canceled their membership and then hit the "I agree" button when prompted about the service's upcoming plan change will remain subscribed.

I personally did this the other way around -- at first agreeing to the service change but then deciding to cancel -- but received the same email from the service. So I have no idea if I truly canceled my membership. I'll find out soon, I suppose.

MoviePass will begin moving subscribers to the company's new plan starting Wednesday, which for $10 a month allows subscribers to see three movies a month at movie theaters. This is down from the plan's previous one-movie-a-day policy; however, the service's peak pricing and ticket verification features are being suspended. Customers planning to see more than three movies per month will receive a $2 to $5 discount off tickets using MoviePass, with the company saying the discount will vary based on geography and movie title.

Watch this: MoviePass manages to get more expensive and less useful

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MoviePass has constantly changed throughout its existence, even briefly planning to raise prices to $15 per month, which it quickly scuttled in favor of the current plan that starts on Wednesday. Over the past few days, subscribers have seen substantially fewer showtimes available within the app, at times only having two or three movies available to see, if any at all. MoviePass has been actively telling subscribers that if a showtime isn't available, that they should not be asking the service for ticket reimbursements.

All the while, competitors to MoviePass such as Sinemia, AMC A-List, Movie Club and an upcoming entry from Alamo Drafthouse are also looking to compete for customers using the subscription model that MoviePass popularized.

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First publilshed Aug. 14 at 9:33 a.m. PT.
Update at 12:02 p.m. PT: Adds comment from MoviePass.