From drip pricing to basket sneaking, movie goers have reported facing several dark patterns when they try booking movie tickets online. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) had on November 30, 2023, identified 13 such deceptive practices and classified them as dark patterns amounting to misleading advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights.
According to a LocalCircles survey, 8 in 10 users of movie and event ticketing platforms have said they experienced dark patterns like basket sneaking and drip pricing. As per the survey, 73 per cent users of movie and event ticketing platforms surveyed said they have frequently experienced basket sneaking where a social contribution or other charge was added to their transaction or cart without consent.
When asked, “How often have you experienced with movie and event ticketing platforms that there are hidden charges (other than taxes) that are not disclosed upfront when making the selection but they are levied when the transaction concludes,” 80 per cent users said that they frequently experienced hidden charges. Only 10 pet cent of respondents stated that they have “never” faced this problem.
The surveyed users reported experiencing three dark patterns – basket sneaking, drip pricing as well as false urgency on BookMyShow. On PayTM Insider and PVR too, users reported facing both basket sneaking and drip pricing.
The survey received 22,000 responses from users of movie and event ticketing apps located in over 296 districts of the country. A total of 61 per cent respondents were men while 39 per cent respondents were women. Meanwhile, 44 per cent respondents were from tier 1, 31 per cent from tier 2 and 25 per cent respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
LocalCircles, a Social Media platform, enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables the Government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric.
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