Do you remember the time when cinema counters had serpentine queues, and getting a ticket for a much-anticipated movie was more like hitting a jackpot? Pre-Internet times were hard in more than one way. There was no ease of shopping within the comfort of your home. When it came to watching a movie on a weekend, it seemed more of a struggle. The sign ‘housefull’ outside a cinema broke hearts. This generation is lucky enough for a lot of reasons and finding a movie ticket effortlessly is one of the reasons. BookMyShow was founded by Ashish Hemrajani and the platform was an instant hit with the ever-occupied working class. When Ashish went for a trip to South Africa in 1999, he coincidently came across a radio ad promoting rugby tickets. The idea soon became an obsession. Ashish left his job and returned to India for his first Internet venture, ‘Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd’. One thing led to another, and the venture finally became widely known as BookMyShow.Â
What is BookMyShow?
BookMyShow is currently the largest entertainment ticketing website. The company is headquartered in Mumbai. The portal is one of its kind ticketing destinations for movie and non-movie options like plays, sports and leisure activites. The company is operational across 250 cities in India and has partnered with 3000 screens. Currently having major partnerships with some of the biggest Indian production houses and studios, BookMyShow has collaborated with Cinemax, Inox, Fun Cinemas, and Big Cinemas, for a seamless experience. The website sells more than a million tickets each month. Besides movies, BookMyShow is a ticketing partner for theatre venues like NCPA Mumbai, Prithvi Theatre, Ranga Shankara Bangalore and Indian Habitat Centre.Â
How to book a ticket?
Booking a ticket on BookMyShow is just one single click away. Users on the website can use the search for movies or events available in their city. Enter your area, select the movie or event, and click on ‘book tickets’. BookMyShow will display all the movie halls showing a particular movie on a particular date. Through the interactive seat chart you can choose a seat of your liking. Make the payment using net banking, credit or debit card, or wallet. Print the ticket or add it to the smartphone wallet. A ticket is also sent to the mobile number or email id used for the booking.Â
Cancelling a ticket
While some of the cinemas provide cancellation for the confirmed tickets, some might out rightly deny the privilege. To check if your ticket has a cancellation provision, you can go to ‘purchase history’ on the app or the website. You will see an option to cancel the tickets. Confirm and proceed with the cancellation. Make sure you are logged in with the email id used to book tickets. Once your ticket is cancelled, you will get a confirmation via mail and SMS. Cinemas allow cancellation of tickets between 20 minutes to four hours before the movie time. The refund from the ticket will reflect in your payment source within 5 to 7 working days. If you want to add the amount to BMS cash, the amount will reflect in 2 hours in the profile. If you have used a gift voucher to book the tickets, on cancellation the amount will be refunded to the voucher only, which will be redeemable after 24 hours.Â
Support for refund
In case of an unsuccessful transaction, or cancellation, the amount is refunded to the source within 5-7 working days. If the stipulated time passes with no refund, you can contact the BookMyShow support team. You will have to log in using the email address or phone number, which was used during booking, and the app/website will allow you to connect to the support team via chat. Write in your query and expect a prompt response. Customers can also dial +91(022)-61445050 to reach the customer service team for quick redressal. Prefer email? You can write to [email protected]. If you still failed to receive help, we suggest you head to their official Facebook or Twitter handle to share your experience.
