Canada’s competition commissioner doesn’t budge: the country’s largest movie theater chain uses “deceptive marketing practices” to sell certain tickets.
In a reply filed last week with the Competition Tribunal, Matthew Boswell reaffirmed the accusations he has been making since May, adding that Cineplex misrepresented the process for buying its tickets.
This document demonstrates that Mr. Boswell has no intention of retracting his allegation that consumers cannot purchase tickets to Cineplex screenings at the advertised prices, since a mandatory fee of $1.50 are imposed on them for online booking.
The Competition Commissioner argues that the fees applied to certain Cineplex movie tickets purchased online constitute so-called “partial pricing” display, a misleading marketing practice since customers are drawn into a purchase without the final cost being fully disclosed.
However, the Toronto-based movie giant said in its own filings, filed earlier this month, that the Competition Bureau’s claims were without merit and should be dismissed as moviegoers are made aware of the fees they may be charged. imposed as soon as they select a screening and ticket type.
“Not informed” of the price from the start
In his rejoinder, Mr. Boswell refuted this claim, saying that “consumers are not told the price of a movie ticket on the very front page of the website and app.”
“Cineplex also glosses over the fact that when the price of a movie ticket is displayed on the ‘tickets’ page, the company does not actually adjust each price representation to show the total price,” Mr. Boswell.
“Instead, the costs of each movie ticket are added to the online booking fee (which can be charged up to four times per transaction), leaving it up to consumers to figure out that the cost per ticket has gone up. »
The commissioner also took issue with Cineplex’s assertion that the online reservation fee is not mandatory for the purchase of a movie ticket, because anyone buying their ticket in theaters or using the CinéClub subscription program of Cineplex doesn’t have to pay for them. Additionally, those who use a Scene Plus loyalty program card during the purchase process will see the online reservation fee reduced to $1.00.
“The fact that consumers, having decided to purchase a movie ticket through the website or app and assuming they realize that Cineplex has added an online booking fee, may then choose to avoid online reservation fee, does not change the fact that Cineplex displayed an initial price that is inaccessible on the website or in the app due to fixed mandatory online reservation fees,” said Boswell.
The competition commissioner added that Cineplex’s purchasing process was designed to encourage customers to proceed with the purchase of a ticket despite the fee, and pointed out that the chain had put up signs in its cinemas to indicate customers that the box office was closed, but tickets could be purchased online or in the Cineplex app.
Cineplex did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. Boswell’s latest response.
The channel fee that sparked the dispute with Mr Boswell was put in place on June 15, 2022 and is intended to act as an online booking fee for buying tickets in advance.
They were launched as Cineplex recovered from forced shutdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of a deal that would have seen it be acquired by British firm Cineworld for more than $2 billion.