An Ohio man bought 50 movie tickets at a local theater for the release of "The Interview" for $13 each in hopes he could sell them online and make more money, according to NBC local affiliate WPTV.
Jason Best learned that his a local theater in Clifton, Ohio, was among the 300 theaters to play the controversial film on Christmas day and hoped to re-sell, or scalp, the tickets online at a higher price, NBC reported.
"I saw all the hype about 'The Interview' on the 23rd and thought, 'hey, folks are selling these tickets in other cities and it seems like that's the thing to do right now so why not give it a shot so see how it goes,"' Best said, according to NBC.
After Sony announced it would release the film online for $5.99 on sites like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, Best headed back to the theater to get a refund, NBC reported.
"I thought I'd get my money back because the theater's website *very clearly* said the tickets were refundable," Best said in an email, according to NBC.
Best had purchased the tickets from a third party site the Esquire Theater uses to sell tickets called movietickets.com, NBC reported. The site states no refunds can be given to special events, which in this case it was.
The refund policy states: "Tickets can be refunded at the box office (in person) up to 30 minutes prior to showtime purchased. Service fees are non-refundable. No refunds/ticket exchanges for Special Events."
"I did call movietickets.com customer service. ... They stated that they are just an information hub, and that the theater itself sets the policy and processes the payment directly," Best said, according to NBC.
The Esquire's management team said no and the theater's head manager, Allyson Duncan, said the return policy operates on a case-by-case basis, adding that they never give refunds for special events, NBC reported.
Duncan also said the theater would not refund him his money because he bought the tickets with the intention to resell for a higher price, "which is illegal," according to NBC.
