Canada’s Competition Bureau has launched a lawsuit against Cineplex, the country’s largest theatre chain, accusing it of advertising misleading ticket prices. The Bureau alleges that Cineplex is violating the law by adding an extra fee to the price of its tickets purchased online, a practice known as drip pricing.
The Bureau’s investigation revealed that many consumers are unable to purchase tickets at the advertised prices on Cineplex’s website or mobile app due to a mandatory $1.50 online booking fee. This fee, according to the Bureau, is a clear example of drip pricing, sometimes referred to as a junk fee.
Recent amendments to the Competition Act explicitly classify drip pricing of mandatory charges or fees as a detrimental business practice. Unless the additional fixed charges or fees are government-imposed, such as sales tax, drip pricing is considered false or misleading under the law.
The Bureau alleges that since Cineplex quietly introduced the online booking fee in June 2022, it has generated significant revenues for the company. As a result, the Bureau has filed an application with the Competition Tribunal, seeking for Cineplex to cease the deceptive advertising, pay a penalty, and issue restitution to affected consumers who purchased tickets through Cineplex’s website or app.
Cineplex claimed at the time the online booking fee was to “fund the expansion and improvement of our digital infrastructure,” whatever that means. Scene+ members did get a discount at $1, while CineClub members saw the online fee waived.
No wonder moviegoers are skipping theatres and streaming movies at home. First, overpriced popcorn with buttery-like topping and now hidden fees. Skipping theatres can also thank your waistline as you get to skip eating a whole bag of Sour Kids all to yourself in the dark.
“Consumers expect to pay the advertised price. We’re taking action against Cineplex because misleading tactics like drip pricing only serve to deceive and harm consumers. For years, we have urged businesses, including ticket vendors, to display the full price of their products upfront. I remind all businesses to review their pricing claims to make sure they do not mislead consumers,” said Matthew Boswell, Commissioner of Competition, in a statement on Thursday.
The Bureau has a history of taking action against drip pricing, notably in the car rental and online sporting and entertainment ticketing industries. It strongly encourages anyone suspecting deceptive marketing claims to report it using its online complaint form.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
I don’t like how this article starts off as fact-based news, but later devolves into weird editorializing: “No wonder moviegoers are skipping theatres…” I go to the theatre quite a bit. There’s plenty of ways to do it on a budget if you don’t want to splurge on candy. Everything is ridiculously expensive these days anyways.
No doubt, movies are more fun at home with the 75 inch IPS OLED and theater seats.
get rid of the fee, its a big downer. upgrade ALL all locations to VIP. i would agree, watching movies at home is way better. BIG BUT, the experience of going outside to watch with friends and family you cant replicate. i would be sad if they went out of business. should be open to food bringing in like the rogers centre. that would def intently attract people. love to openly bring in a big mac and eat it while watching. shouldn’t have to hide anything. cool concepts like japans movie bed theatres would bring in some nice money too! they just need to be creative.
This is a hard ask. How can they invest capital to upgrade all theatres to VIP which happens to be more labour intensive if they get rid of revenue streams (online booking fee and allowing people to bring in their own food) while still recovering post pandemic? They’d also probably not want to reduce capacity with beds as that limits another revenue stream. It’s fairly well understood their margins on tickets aren’t high and a good amount of that goes to the movie distributors.