buys tickets through mobile phones and then goes to the theater to get the tickets, which has become a common operation for watching movies nowadays. The cooperation between offline theaters and online platforms has also added to the prosperity of the film market. In the midst of prosperity, discordant voices came quietly.
In early August, the WeChat mini program "Hiying" for ticket purchases was shut down. In the Shanghai Citizen Service Hotline 12345, there have been 200 complaints directed to the "Hiying" applet in the past three months, mainly due to the failure of refunds and the loss of contact with the company. In the country, at least more than 100,000 recharged users are facing difficulties in refunding.
According to public information, Hiying was launched on February 14, 2019 and is operated by Shanghai Yanshan Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yanshan Technology"). From the screenshots of netizens, Hiying claimed to be "the first domestic monthly movie-watching membership model, covering more than 10,000 theaters nationwide, and it also supports 2D, 3D, and IMAX theaters." In just over half a year, it quickly accumulated users , Suddenly shut down again, what happened? Regarding the Internet movie ticketing platform, what supervision measures does the relevant management department have?
There are fewer and fewer theaters that can redeem tickets. The use of
"Hi Shadow" is similar to the common movie ticketing platform. There are multiple provincial and municipal theater information and seat selection functions in the platform. After confirming the seats in the theater, consumers can place an order to purchase. After the ticket is issued, a QR code for ticket collection will be given. Consumers can go to the theater to pick up the ticket and watch the movie. In addition to choosing seats and buying tickets, HiFilm also offers options such as secondary card, annual card, and three-year card. The price of the movie is very favorable when you buy a card to watch movies. When HiFilm was established, its coverage of cinemas and films was indeed comprehensive, and it was also trusted by consumers.
On July 29th, Ms. Lu from Shanghai saw a 99 yuan redemption voucher campaign on Hiking’s distribution platform for 5 times. In order to be effective, she specially browsed the movie time information in the applet before purchasing, and found that all nearby theaters support ticket purchase. For example, a Chinese 2D movie ticket for "Heroes of Fire", the original price is 42 yuan, but if you choose to buy a secondary card, it only costs 31.96 yuan or 19.99 yuan for one session, which is very cost-effective. The page description emphasizes that consumers can redeem all sessions. So, Ms. Lu placed an order to buy 2 copies. Unexpectedly, after binding the redemption voucher on the Hiying account, it was discovered that although the theater closest to home supports ticket purchase, "Heroes of Fire" actually displayed "No scheduling information". "Isn't this cheating?" Faced with Ms. Lu's doubts, Hiying responded in a follow-up response and attributed the problem to "abnormal conditions caused by system upgrades." In the end, Ms. Lu could only choose a relatively recent one from a scheduled theater.
abnormalities continue. On August 2nd, Ms. Zhu from Wuhan, introduced by a friend, directly purchased a 100-time viewing card with a discount of 1,699 yuan at the original price of 1,699 yuan on the Hiying Mini Program. On August 8, when she chose a theater for seat selection, she was told that "reservation failed" because "the theater system failed or the seat was reserved." I randomly selected it and found that there were fewer and fewer theaters to watch.
△ At the beginning of August, there are fewer and fewer film sources that can buy tickets on Hiying. Before the shutdown,
had vigorously promoted the annual card of the second card
. Many consumers said that in the first half of the year, Hiying had cooperated with public accounts in various local life services and sold 5 times of 99 yuan movie viewing cards on third-party platforms. Each user can only experience it once. After the beginning of the summer vacation, Hiying began to vigorously promote sales, with 25 cards, 100 double cards, annual cards, etc., and there are often discount coupons and other preferential activities. But soon, on August 10, Hiying was officially suspended by WeChat because "the selected category does not match the operation content of the mini program". Consumers will usually be hung up directly after dialing the customer service number and transferring to manual. The service of
△Hiying applet has been suspended.
In order to protect rights and refund, users quickly formed a WeChat group. At present, there are more than 200 consumers in the group who cannot refund. During the refund process, movie fan Xiaoying had a brief contact with Hiying. In July of this year, she spent more than 1,500 yuan on a second-hand platform to purchase a 100-time Hi-Fi movie card. By the time the Hiying applet was shut down, she had only used it more than 10 times. In order to refund, she called 12315 for help. On September 16, 12315 relayed the reply of Hiking, saying that Hiking had already started refunding, but only 2 people were responsible for the refund, so the speed was very slow. If you can't wait, you can only appeal to the court. In the afternoon, Xiaoying received a call from Beijing with a mobile phone number, and the other party claimed to be hiThe film company agreed to the refund, but it had to be calculated based on the actual ticket price of the movie. In the end, the refund was only 700 yuan. If she does not agree, her refund application will be delayed. In the phone call, there was no mention of the reason for the shutdown. After careful consideration, Xiaoying chose to agree and filled out the refund form sent by the other party, but there was no refund message after sending it. The more I think about it, the more things are wrong, Xiaoying feels that the other party does not have the sincerity of refunding, and filling out the refund form may be just to make a payment to 12315.
on the Hiying Mini Program, the member details also stated that "China United Property Insurance" guarantees movie tickets throughout the entire process. Xiaoying once filed a claim with China Insurance, but the reply received was that Yanshan Technology did not insure the activated card as early as May 28. The
online movie ticketing platform has a blank for supervision and management.
business registration information shows that the business scope of Shanghai Yanshan Information Technology Co., Ltd. is software and information technology services. Because the business site could not be contacted, it was included in the list of business abnormalities by Shanghai Jinshan Market Supervision and Administration Bureau on August 12, 2019. The reporter's customer service hotline for Hiying is also empty. Previously, according to media reports, there were 100,000 sets of Hiying cards sold on a third-party distribution platform alone, involving a total of about 20 million. Some consumers have already received refunds from third-party platforms, and consumers who bought directly from Hiying applets and Hiying Taobao stores still have no news of refunds. The reporter called a former employee of Hiying, and the other party said that he did not get the commission. “The shutdown is probably because the funds can’t keep up.” Not knowing the specific situation, he hung up the phone. The
reporter contacted Wanda Cinemas (Baoshan Store) and Huaxia Jumu (Meilan Lake Store) shown on the Hiying Mini Program. Both studio managers said that the online ticketing channel for cooperation with the studios is mainly Taotiotiao , Maoyan, Baidu Nuomi, and Dianping, sell movie cards such as "Boying" or "Kango". I have never heard of the name Hiying. So how does Hiying realize seat selection and ticket collection? The studio manager said that many ticketing backends have merged, and Hiying’s movie tickets may also come from the suppliers on the aforementioned platforms.
According to Xiaoying, August 4th was the last time she successfully used the Hi-Film Card, when she bought tickets for the movie "The Purcell Movie" on Hi-Film. After swiping the QR code on the cinema self-service machine to pick up the ticket, the ticket display showed that the ticket issuer was actually "Baidu Nuomi".
△ Movie tickets purchased by consumers from the Hiying platform are issued by Baidu Nuomi. The sudden disappearance of
has made consumers who have just purchased it been cheated. Ms. Zhu, a citizen of Wuhan, once reported to Shanghai 12345 that the other party stated that it can be handled by the Cultural Law Enforcement Brigade by referring to the relevant laws and regulations of prepaid cards. According to the reporter's understanding, although Yanshan Company is registered in Jinshan District, Shanghai, its actual office is located in Beijing. It is said that Internet ticketing platforms generally require related qualifications such as publishing business licenses, and whether Hi Film has the qualifications needs to be investigated by the Shanghai Cultural Law Enforcement Brigade. However, the Shanghai Cultural Law Enforcement Brigade responded that it does not belong to its jurisdiction. The reporter contacted the relevant person of the Shanghai Cultural Law Enforcement Brigade and learned that the current cultural law enforcement is limited to physical theaters, movie theaters, and theatrical performance venues. There are no detailed management regulations on the Internet movie ticket prepayment model. How to enforce law is a blank. How about the follow-up refunds of the
Hiying Mini Program, and whether the relevant departments can come up with innovative measures to supervise behaviors that disrupt the order of the film market. Jiefang Daily·Shangguan News reporters will continue to follow up.
title picture: 1999 yuan 100-time viewing card sold by Hiying.
