Schedule A

Or why I dislike MasterCard® SecureCode™.

My girlfriend and I had a simple goal, to pay too money much to watch 19+ showing of a movie in nice comfy seats. Cineplex has a new class of service called VIP, which is , well very European. You get to pick your seats, drink alcohol, and eat food which is claimed to be slightly better. All and all VIP movies are interesting, and work really well for couples. I guess the “echo” generation is coupled enough for this kind of thing to work.

We thought we would buy the tickets online. It would be easy, we would avoid the lines and even get to pick our seats. Only problem is they make is that Cineplex don’t make it all that easy. I will admit that sane payment systems are difficult to write, but I think it is worth the effort.

First you have to create an account on their website, which isn’t so bad, and you only have to do it once. Next you can actually pick your seats in the cinema, which awesome, except their seat holding algorithm is flawed. Next comes payment. Since I don’t bank with a bank that provides online debit I am left to resort to my Master Card. I buy things online all the time using my Master Card, and normally it is really easy, but other times I see a little logo which reads “Secure Code” and a little part of me dies inside.

Security codes are awesome, except when they are used so rarely that the user you are trying to verify doesn’t ever remember them. For my Master Card I have a PIN I can’t change, this Secure Code, and my trusty signature. That is two separate things to remember, and I only need to remember my Secure Code maybe 25% of the time online.

The other problem with Secure Code is its implementation. Something magical happens and the merchant’s site passes control over to a site I might guess is generated by my bank. Then if I am really lucky control will be handed back and the transaction will continue. More often I fail after about 3 tries, being too suborn to admit I forgot the code, and I end up in the merchants failure case which in the case of Cineplex, is nothing. I don’t get bounced backed. I can’t try again. Don’t pass Go, don’t collect $200.

I could start over from the beginning, but when I get back the Secure Code page it says I have already failed! No chance to try again. Here I am reserving seats, and my bank already knows the transaction is doomed. I am thankful for the security, but I want to watch a movie here. Meanwhile Cineplex thinks the seats I just failed to buy are still taken, so every time we try again our previous favourite seats are unavailable. Even waiting didn’t seem to open up the seats back up. Which implies you could probably reserve a whole cinema who out paying for any seats if your tried hard enough.

In the end my girlfriend was able to buy us tickets. She also didn’t remember her Secure Code, but she admitted it sooner.

We made it to the movie and enjoyed our leather seats and drinks. But I am left wondering why did it have to be so hard.

Businesses which make giving them money easy, make more money and have happy, loyal customers. Look at Amazon or Apple, they are pros. I have probably spent well over $200 on iTunes since they removed DRM from the music library, and I barely realize it. The experience is instantly getting the music I want to hear, not trying to figure out how to pay for.