“We know it sounds too good to be true – but its not!” It was.

That was the message received at around 8.15pm last night (September 13) by subscribers to free cinema ticket distributors ShowFilmFirst. Only…well, it kind of was too good to be true – as hopeful cinephiles found out at 7am this morning.

The email, sent last night from ShowFilmFirst, advised subscribers to set their alarms early, providing a link that would be ‘live’ between 7-7.30am on Thursday 14 September.

ShowFilmFirst announced that: “We have a couple of hundred cinema tickets for use at the main Cinema Chains to see any film in the next month (yes they expire so we want to give them away before they do)!

We are confident all will begone by 7.30 so will close it then.”

By about 7.10, however, eager participants in want of the free tickets were confident that all was gone already.

It would be fair to say that they were not amused…

When users attempted to follow the link this morning, most found nothing but a loading screen, soon followed by text informing them that, either, the website no longer existed or: “We’re sorry. Tickets are now all redeemed.”

For those whom the link did prove fruitful…

If it looks too good to be true, well…lesson learnt!