Cineplex hit with two class-action lawsuits over online booking fees

A Vancouver-based legal firm has filed two class-action lawsuits against Cineplex over its online booking fees.

Slater Vecchio LLP, the same firm behind the recent Quaker Oats lawsuit, made the filings in Quebec and B.C., alleging that Cineplex has been carrying out “false and misleading advertising” with the $1.50 fee it adds to online ticket sales. The company quietly introduced the fee in July 2022.

Now, Slater Vecchio LLP asserts that Cineplex fails to “disclose the online booking fee that Cineplex charges on online ticket purchases at the outset of the ticket purchasing process.” When customers buy a ticket, they’re not told until the end of the checkout process about the $1.50 fee. This cost is reduced to $1 for Scene+ members and waived entirely for those with $9.99/month CineClub subscriptions or those who purchase tickets at the cinema.

“The action alleges that Cineplex engages in ‘price dripping’ through their online ticket sales platform, in violation of Canada’s Competition Act,” wrote Slater Vecchio LLP on its website.

For the uninitiated, price dripping is a practice in which a company’s initial advertised price for a product or service isn’t reflected at checkout because non-government-imposed fees have been added.

“The class actions filed by Slater Vecchio LLP allege that Cineplex did not disclose at the outset of the purchasing process that consumers who are not members of Cineplex’s CineClub would be charged a $1.00 or $1.50 online booking fee for booking their movie tickets through Cineplex’s website or mobile application,” wrote Slater Vecchio LLP. “Through these lawsuits, consumers seek repayment of the online booking fees, plus taxes on those fees, that they paid to Cineplex.

Notably, Cineplex was also sued by Canada’s Competition Bureau last year over these online ticket fees. In response, Cineplex says it clearly presents the fee on the first page, although Matthew Boswell, the commissioner of competition, pushed back against that by stating that “consumers are not presented with the price of a movie ticket on the very first page of the website and app.”

While the theatre chain admitted there is no dedicated page that lists ticket prices, it claims there “are many options that impact the overall cost of attending the theatre to see a movie” and that customers therefore have to go through the checkout to determine exact pricing. Boswell, however, argues that this only further obfuscates the cost of the online fee.

There haven’t yet been any notable developments on the Competition Bureau lawsuit, although you can sign up through Slater Vecchio LLP’s website for updates on the class-action lawsuits.

Source: Slater Vecchio LLP Via: Daily Hive