When did the process for Online Ticket Refunds Change?

I live a full hour away from my closest Cineplex location but that doesn't stop me from going to the movies. I make 3-4+ trips a month and I love it. Nothing beats the experience. I've been doing this since 2013.

I don't request refunds for tickets unless I absolutely can't make a showing and tonight was one of those nights.

I had two tickets to a 6:50 showing that I had purchased online with a combination of Scene+ points and my PayPal account. I had some business to attend to in the afternoon while I was in the city that unfortunately held me up for much longer than I was expecting it to, so we didn't make the movie.

When I returned home, I logged into my account and opened up a chat with guest services explaining my situation and requesting a refund so I could re-book for another date...

I was informed that I wasn't eligible for a refund because the movie had already started. I asked if this was a recent policy change and was told that it wasn't. I found that strange because a Cineplex agent had made me wait in the past for a film to start before they'd issue me a refund.

I then tried doing the same thing but by phone and was told that this changed over the past few months. The agent said that if there was no ticket refunds on my account from the last 11 months that he would ok the refund. However, there was one from back in May when I was sick so he refused...

I asked why customers weren't notified about the change and the agent just said that there is a notice on the bottom of your ticket confirmation email and that they didn't have to. What wonderful service! I was and am still a little pissed off about this whole situation as an avid moviegoer.

That message on the confirmation email actually reads:

"All Sales are final, including interac purchases. We do not offer refunds or exchanges for ticket purchases online."

Most of us know this to not be the case as we have gotten refunds in the past.