This was posted 6 years 1 day ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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$5 Per Month for 1 Movie Ticket Per Month, $7 for 2 Tickets Per Month (Billed Annually) (+ $10 Activation Fee) @ Sinemia

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Looks like they've just launched in Australia but not much info about it yet. Currently supported cinemas are severely lacking in all major cities at the moment, no idea if that's just because they haven't added more yet. Does anyone have any more info?

Edit: I bit the bullet and signed up. I'm hoping that it would be easy to cancel if they don't add more cinemas given that their whole motto is "Any cinema, any time".

Edit 2: There are a lot more participating cinemas in the app compared to those on the site. Almost all the major ones from what I can see, more info in the comments.

Edit 3: Make sure you enter the coupon to see the pricing. The website does not always automatically apply it, sometimes the correct pricing isn't even displayed. Try again later if it's not. If (high) pricing exists for multiple days, mark expired.

22/6 Mod note: See this comment. Warning that users are being told to pay a $4.99 - $9.99 fee to be able to use the service immediately (despite the annual fee having been already paid).

31/7: Activation fee reported to be $10 in all cases.

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    • +2

      There's only 8 pages of discussion on this, so yeah cool, "dunno if its a scam or not"

  • I gave up, refuse to go through PayPal as I have a feeling this will bite me in the butt down the track. If I link to my existing PayPal, and it declines it'll use my back-up payment option. If I create a new account under a different name / email address etc…I could get done for fraud, all the while leaving Sinemia in the clear. I asked them what details would they like me to use for PayPal…nil response.

    On a positive note I have initiated a chargeback through my credit card provider, and have been re-credited.

    Just be careful peeps. If Sinemia provide a service that does not work, they are in the wrong. If you have to create a dodgy PayPal account to get their broken system to work, then you would be in the wrong with nil liability to Sinemia.

    • +1

      Service does work, Issue is Australian Cinemas aren't liking the US Based Virtual Credit Cards, which is why paypal needs to be used, Used it 3 times now with no issues when using my own australian paypal account.

  • How is everyone doing renewals? The 2 tix for 2 people has gone to $44.

    Is everyone just cancelling and signing up again?

    • It's billed annually, so does that mean we have to renew each month or till next year?

    • I'm on a monthly sub and renewed for the next month using a promo code to keep the same rate ($19.99 for 2x2). You can do this from the Membership page on Sinema's website using the Extend option. Make sure to do it well before your billing cycle ends, else they may renew you with the much higher rate.

      • Where does it tell you that you're on a monthly sub? On my account it says my tickets reset on the 17th of July so does that mean I'm on a monthly sub ?

        • Were you charged more than $100 when you signed up? if so, your on a annual plan. If you paid less than, you're on a monthly plan.

        • @cuball: I probably am on an annual plan because I remembered that when I paid the amount was 12 x $6.95

    • The pricing jumps over the place, if it's higher than expected, try again at a different hour of the day (tomorrow).

  • +1

    Hmm, good little mistake tonight.

    Accidentally booked an XtremeScreen session for tonight instead of Friday. Went in to change it over. Prices are changing overnight so got a $7 refund in cash.

  • -1

    Hi, guys need a help my membership started on Membership start date 05/26/2018 and I watched both movies till 24 June 2018. So I thought that on 26 June I will get 2 more tickets of my membership since it will complete my 30 days membership allowance. But it is not allowing me, it says I will able to book after 24 July only, which is 30 days from the last movie which I saw so I am still confused how there 30 days membership work.

    • -1

      Found this on reddit "*They are pretty shady in how they operate. So your 2 movies per month is based on when you started your plan. HOWEVER advance ticketing is based off when you last used it in the month.. so wtf right?

      So for example. Your month expires June 15th. You decide to use your advance ticket on June 12th.

      The new month term starts June 16th and and you wanted to use your advance ticket again— you need to wait 30 days from the date you last used it*."

      I didn't know about it? anyone any idea

      • You are most likely looking at the Premium ticket date, Premium tickets can only be used after 30 days from your last premium viewing, But advance tickets can be used straight away in your new month period.

    • Was the last movie you saw a premium format (IMAX, 4DX, etc.)? And is the next movie you're trying to book a premium format as well? From what I've understood, you can only book a premium format again 30 days after seeing the previous one.

      • -1

        No i am trying to book 2d movie.

        • -1

          I booked the same ticket from my brother id he doesn't have that problem with his id.

        • This is what their TOS say about advance tickets:

          27.17. Advance tickets created using the Sinemia app must be purchased within 2 hours. Advance Tickets can be created for a movie that will take place within the span of the member’s 30 days membership period, There aren’t any limitations on how many advance tickets can be ordered in a 30 days membership period (within the ticket limits of the specific subscription) however the second advance ticket cannot be created before the showtime of the existing advance ticket is passed. For US memberships, the advance ticket online convenience fee is not covered by Sinemia.

          Are you trying to book a ticket outside of your membership period?

        • -1

          @AcidSyl: https://imgur.com/a/QN3CdF6 this is status of my and my brother id.

        • @agam2104:

          You need to read your own pic buddy, It says you have your 2 monthly tickets available, It's just telling you, you can't watch a premium movie until after the 24th July which is correct,

          You can still book an normal advance ticket from the Planning tab on the app.

        • +1

          You need to realise, Premium tickets for Oz is pretty much just Imax since we dont have 4DX-XD-ScreenX-DBox theatres here. So there's no reason to buy a ticket with premium unless your watching it in imax.

        • @cuball: I'm guessing Vmax is also considered premium as well?

        • @super_sayam:

          Doesn't look like it, I've booked vmax 3 times now and each time it's only been considered as a standard ticket.

        • @cuball: really? Awesome, I might advance book Ant man and the wasp.

        • @super_sayam: Yeah got it ,but still they having a server issue ,you can not book a ticket

        • @cuball:

          I signed up my partner and I (using all the helpful hints from this forum how to pay on paypal) and we bought Vmax tix a couple of weeks ago. We tried to book for our second monthly movie today tried goldclass (error), vmax (error) normal (worked). So I suspect they've tightened up and can only do one Vmax session per week.

        • @LouiseJ: Same here, I was able to book a vmax last month but just tried for ANtman and it was declined but worked when I tried a normal session. Might also be that I see Event cinemas Vmax is a whopping $24, I'm sure it use to be $22.

  • I think it counts 30 days from the last movie you saw not according to billing date.

    • You can always try to ask them on Twitter, their support there is pretty swift usually

      • Yeah, I got it was using my brother id. But still, they having a server issue.

  • My Sinemia account started on the first of June, so I have two tickets for the month ending 30th June.

    At the bottom of the page it also says that I have two movie check ins (one is yellow, one is green, not sure if important)

    Now the funny thing is it tells me that I have one of my remaining two movie tickets for the month.

    I watched it earlier today. Does it not update automatically (and instantly) or do I have 3 movies this month? Should I risk it?

    • It'll be listed at the top of the membership tab what plan your on, mine says -

      Membership Type
      Personal Membership - 2 movie days/per month (for two)

      • +1

        I have the same plan, 2 movies per month, for two.

        But what I'm saying is that I've already watched two movies this month, yet it claims that I have one more movie to watch for the month.

        See the attached image here:

        • Yeah that's weird, I think it may be a bit delayed in updating your available tickets.

        • @cuball:

          Thing is, it said 2 of 2 after watching Inuyashiki. This movie wasn't in their register and I added it in manually, so perhaps they forgot to count it as one?
          Though they may get suspicious… The cost for inuyashiki was around $19 whereas Incredibles 2 cost $58…

        • +1 for watching Inuyashiki

  • Tried booking a Hoyts lux session on the elite plan but it failed, then worked on a normal extreme screen

    Only reason I went for elite was lux seemed to be included from other users’ experiences

  • Worked once with Hoyts no problem following the advice of people above. But I couldn't for the life of me get it to work with Village, it said there was a problem every time I tried to use the Paypal I set up.

    I tried making a bunch of other Paypal accounts with different emails, both US and Australian accounts, and then tried again with and without VPN, but nothing seems to work. I don't know what I'm missing.

    • It says when booking at ticket from Hoyts:

      To collect your tickets you will need:

      A copy of your confirmation, the confirmation email or the confirmation number; AND
      The credit card you made your purchase with; AND
      Photo I.D. so you can claim concession, senior and student tickets
      Photo identification for proof of age will be required for restricted films
      

      Did you need to collect tickets from the cinema or did you get an e-ticket?

      • I booked with Hoyts and was a little worried with this as I never normally go to Hoyts. IN short, you will get the ticket emailed to you with a QR-code (bar code) in the email. ALL you have to do is show that at the cinema, they scan it and you are in.

        Remember, cinema's are mostly manned by 16 year olds who have been trained to just "Scan the code" and as long as you have a valid code (which you will as you have purchased the ticket) you are good to go. They will NEVER ask you for ID…

  • Has anyone tried booking Gold Class? Is it covered by the Elite plan?

    • -1

      No, payment declined, and it doesn't appear as an option in the screening types when getting an advanced ticket.

    • +1

      Update - after trying again I was able to book Gold Class, event cinemas george st, using VMAX3D option under the Elite plan.

  • I've booked fine through village.

    I created a PayPal with the US address someone else mentioned. Did advance ticket. Got my virtual card. Added that VC to my paypal.

    Then went to Village website, signed in to get rewards points, chose movie, 2x adult tickets - $40 + $2.20 processing fee. Paid by paypal with account just set up and it worked. I live 5 mins away from the movies so I just used a fakegps app and checked in early just to make sure.

    It's a new month for me so I'll be seeing JW2 on Wednesday. Fingers crossed all works fine again!

  • I just booked my first ticket with Hoyts and the second for the first month (iMAX). I paid using credit card option both times and payment went through the first time without any issues. I don't know why people are using the Paypal method. Normal payment works fine.

    • Which Sinemia plan did you sign up for?

      • Elite $9.99 one.

    • and did you just put your first and last name when booking?

      • You mean during the payment process? I just entered the name on card something like S!NeM!a

        I bought using the email address only. Didn't ask for any other details.

    • Sinemia is constantly changing things so they might have worked around the issue with payment. For the last month or so the ONLY way it would work was with Paypal….With my next booking I will try this method and see if it works.

      • What would you put in the first and last name sections of the credit card form?

        • Personally I tried lots but none worked when I tried it previously. Given the Virtual card only has "Sinemia" on it, its really not clear.

  • I'm getting the "Sorry choose another merchant" error message when paying by paypal when booking with village cinemas. Anyone know what I can do ?

    • Alright i was able to book a ticket but I made a new Paypal account instead of the other one that I used to book the incredibles 2 (I keep getting the "You need to use a different merchant" message when I used the old account). Has this happened to anyone else?

  • My monthly quota of tickets is used up. Trying to get advance ticket for date falling in the next month. However the app doesnt allow me to get card details. Anyone else facing this problem?

    • +1

      You can only make a booking and use the card within the month. Once you used up your allocations, you have to wait until your next month before you can make advanced booking.

  • I'm not having any luck booking a 2D movie at Village for Sunday night. I have tried 2 x VCC's and tried both with a US paypal account and nothing is working. I'm on Twitter support but i have had one response to my 10 questions in 45mins. Even tried off my mobile on 4G incase Village have blocked my IP. Grrrrr

    • What is the error you are getting?

      Be sure to check :

      • That you have created a NEW USA Paypal account (you cannot reuse an old one)
      • That you have entered the CC details including CCV and expiry date correctly
      • The the movie you are selecting is NOT an Imax session
      • That you select Paypal from the payment and log into the account
    • Follow the steps in a post I made back in page 8, you don’t need to create a new US Paypal account, you can use your normal Australian one. Someone in the reply post said they got it working with village.

      • Thanks Cuball. The Australian Paypal steps worked for me successfully with Village.

  • Has anyone tried to Extend/Change/Upgrade thier membership? I tried moving from Classic 1 movie day to Classic 2 movie days ,
    however the dollar amount that will be charged on my card seemed mis-calculated.

    It was about to charge me for the whole 12 months again -

    i.e (New monthly fees x 12 months )

    What happens to the credit remaining in your existing membership?

    I thought I am suppose to pay only the differential amount like -

    i.e (New monthly fees x 12 months ) - (remaining $ on my existing membership).

    • Yeah referral credit can't be used for renewal (due to 12mth billing, you'd need $5x12 or $7x12 - 17 referrals - depending on plan) which really sucks. Monthly billing also doesn't draw from account credit… (charges you the rate you signed up at, unless they eventually change this)

      If the issue is it's trying to charge you the full/RRP - jump to the homepage and type the old promo codes in.

    • -1

      To extend (assuming you signed up when month to month), they will charge you immediately for the full cost for 12 months, but those 12 months will not begin until the end of your current membership period.

  • +1

    isnt this deal still on? You just click on discover family plans.

    • Yes, someone keeps marking it expired, it's getting really annoying.

  • -1

    I can confirm that using the US paypal method still works perfectly. Watched Jurassic World last night (good 7/10 action movie) at Hoyts without an issue.

    • Did you have to create a new US paypal account from any previous ones you used to book tickets? That's what I had to do. I might give checking out on AUS paypal account a go, as others have done.

      • Nope. I have setup one US account that I have successfully used three times. Once with the original virtual card they provided then twice by just removing the old card and adding the new card.

        Hey, if using Aussie paypal method works then go for it. What ever it takes right?? :)

  • So now that people have had this for a while what are their impressions? worth it?
    working well? no problems?

    • +2

      There is a LOT of information above with various view points. Here is my summary :

      • You will need to use paypal to get this to work so it can be a bit of a pain (and there are various methods to get it working that don't seem to work for everyone each time)
      • Check in at the Cinema is a bit clunky but still works
      • Sinemia's support ONLY exists on Twitter, but is quite good if you contact them there
      • Once you get familiar with how to make it work, its really not much more difficult that purchasing for normal, but it can be a big learning curve to understand the process.

      Overall, for $3.50 per movie this is an AMAZING deal. There are some bits that make it harder than it needs to be (our own cards would simplify this significantly) and takes a little time to understand and set up but overall it works so for me, this is a great deal and I will be continuing indefinitely it they keep it going.

    • +1

      Just started my second month and all is working well here. Cardless feature works as expected, haven't had a single problem with payments (although I haven't been to any Village or Hoyts sessions, which seem to require a Paypal account for the payments to work). The app is sometimes a bit buggy, especially when checking in for a movie when arriving at the theater. A few retries usually fixes that though. Happy user here! A movie at IMAX Melbourne for $5 instead of $30 = win

    • I'm about to head into my second month next week but so far everything's going well. I was able to watch my 2 movies for the month. Actually, I found the check in process really easy and smooth . Although the app can be improved, it's all working at the moment and I'm pretty satisfied. If you need help with setting up Paypal or anything, check out the previous comments. Overall, it is definitely worth it.

    • Second month for me and its getting better. I have the 2 x Elite plan and have just booked my second IMAX tickets directly without having to use PayPal etc. Village didn't like the VCC so i had to use my AU Paypal account and link the VCC but overall i will have paid for my annual subscription by the time i see my two movies next month. Great value for money.

  • +1

    So has anyone actually received their cardless activation without paying the Accelerate Cardless Activation (A$4.99)? or is it a must?

    • -1

      I did but I was one of the early adopters so we got it for free…..

    • Same as Savitar, I got it just before they introduced the Accelerate Cardless Activation.

    • I paid $5..was activated instantly..watched movie in 1st month..now waiting for 2nd month to tick over..

    • No reports of anyone eventually being activated for free since the introduction of the fee, but if you ask on Twitter they will give you a refund.

    • Update - their Twitter support eventually waived the fee for me (which by that point had increased to $10).

  • Second attempt to purchase 2x hoyts lux tickets at optus perks rate of $30/ticket with Sinemia Elite for 2. This worked for me last month, but today (in my second month of membership) after multiple attempts with different emails and accounts and logged in/not logged in etc… this was unsuccessful. However, I was still able to purchase one lux ticket at full price of $45. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that they may have reduced the amount they preload onto the VCC.

    Although this doesn't really make sense as on the elite plan there is one premium screening per month and an IMAX ticket costs around $30 so shouldn't there be enough on there to pay for two lux tickets at $30 each as well? Anywho, still better off overall than paying full price so can't complain.

    On a side, pretty sure my hoyts account, email and personal credit card has been blocked by hoyts, would anyone have any tips on how to remedy this?

    • Call them.

    • On a side, pretty sure my hoyts account, email and personal credit card has been blocked by hoyts, would anyone have any tips on how to remedy this?

      Is this because of failed sinemia payments?

  • +1

    Did anyone try 4DX at Village Century City? It comes with the option for 4DX when booking through Sinemia at that cinema on the Elite plan.

    • +1

      I just booked 2 tickets for 4DX at Village Century City using the Paypal method :)

      • How was it? I am thinking about watching Jurassic World in 4DX

        • +1

          Thanks for mentioning 4DX at Village Century City :)
          I did not even know it existed here in VIC…

          Watched Jurassic World with my partner and I like it a lot with all the extra special effects and motion seats…
          Makes you feel as if you are in the movie lol

          Regarding the 3D quality of the screen / picture 4DX Village vs IMAX 3D?

          3D quality of the screen / picture: IMAX 3D Wins

          But 4DX is in its own class and everyone should try it to see if they like it :)

  • I successful booked Hoyts by using the Paypal method before. Getting "Failed to connect to PayPal. Please try again." message when selecting "Checkout with Paypal" on Hoyts website. Tried different PC, phone, incognito window, logged in to Hoyts and without logging in etc.
    Any idea how to solve this?

    • Have you tried logging into the paypal account through their website directly? Perhaps try that and if it works, log out of your account then go back to Hoyts and try again.

      • Yes, I tried everything possible. Maybe it's just a bug on the Hoyts website today?

        • Hoyts often has this issue for me, try again during a non-busy period, but not at time when they might be doing backups/website maintenance?

        • Try changing your email on hoyts to a different one (while not logged in). Let us now how that goes. (It's working for me at the moment or hoyts PayPal is just coincidentally working).

    • Yeah, It comes often try to use a different device in incognito mode, do not sign in just check out as the guest.Still, the problem arises to try to use the different internet like mobile data.

    • FYI: Today I booked via Eventcinema and use regular cc payment method without a problem and to my surprise. What's the update with other booking sites?

  • Hey all, on my sinemia profile it said my two tickets were meant to reset today. Is it going by their time or Aus time?

    • The website is in US time unfortunately but i think the app states the correct date/time for your time zone. Anyone can confirm?

    • Plans reset according to their time, which is actually in Turkey, so it's roughly 7 hours behind.

      • It's 18th of July for USA and Turkey but still says I've used up my tickets and need to wait until 18 july. might wait and see tomorrow

        • It should also show a time of day that it becomes available as it did for me last month. I can't remember if it was on the app or website.

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