On Friday, MoviePass sent an email to subscribers — some of whom say they had already canceled their subscription or let it lapse — offering them a one-movie-a-day "test group" plan for $9.95 a month to get them to use the service again.

But the email says users will have their membership automatically restored and be charged $9.95 a month beginning October 5 unless they opt out.

Many people who say they canceled or never renewed their monthly MoviePass membership were upset, accusing the company of planning to re-enroll them without their consent.

Joan Martínez Evora, a lecturer in business law at the University of Miami Business School, described the MoviePass email to Business Insider as "unfair and abusive," and Andrew C. Wicks, the Ruffin Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, said it was "inappropriate and potentially bordering on bullying the customer."

MoviePass appears to be taking desperate measures to try to beef up its subscription numbers.

On Friday, the movie-ticket subscription service sent an email to members whose subscription had lapsed informing them that they would be enrolled in a "select test group" of subscribers who could watch one movie a day, based on its limited "existing inventory," for $9.95 a month.

But MoviePass says in the email that those who do not opt out of the test-group plan will see their subscription restored and the credit card on file charged $9.95 monthly beginning October 5.

The email, with the not-so-urgent subject line "MoviePass Updates," was flagged to Business Insider on Friday by a person who said they canceled their subscription but still received the email. The person said they completed the opt-out prompt and hoped they had now fully cut ties with MoviePass.

The complete letter is below:

The news quickly spread on social media over the weekend, with many former MoviePass users saying they were baffled about why they would have to opt out of a service they didn't renew or outright canceled.

MoviePass' "terms of use" webpage says: "To cancel, you must notify MoviePass in writing via email at least one business day prior to the next billing date stating your intent to cancel and providing the full name and email address on the account. You may also cancel your membership by using the MoviePass app. Cancellations are not effective until confirmation is sent to you via email, and you are responsible for all charges until cancellation is confirmed."

Though stories have emerged recently detailing the difficulties of unsubscribing from MoviePass, experts who spoke to Business Insider described this as the most egregious yet.

"Signing up consumers without their permission is unfair and abusive," said Joan Martínez Evora, a lecturer in business law at the University of Miami Business School. "Placing technological barriers like hiding icons from the screen, or showing errors, or automatically re-enrolling without giving fair notices with reasonable choices are unacceptable and the resulting 'agreements' unenforceable."

Andrew C. Wicks, the Ruffin Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, described the email as "inappropriate and potentially bordering on bullying the customer."

"How many times do I have to say 'no' before you hear 'no'?" Wicks said.

MoviePass sent Business Insider the following statement about the Friday email:

"MoviePass sent an email offer on September 28, 2018 to a set of members who had not yet opted-in to the new offering of three movies per month. The offer was the opportunity to restore their original unlimited plan (up to one new movie title per day based on existing inventory) — the subscription plan they had originally signed up for. This was a one-time promotional offer that is valid through October 5 for some subscribers, many of whom have expressed an interest in the original plan and a request for its return. As part of the offer, if the member does not wish to return to the original plan, they can simply opt-out in the email prior to October 5 and they will not be auto-charged. "There are a number of members who received the email from whom we have previously received conflicting indications over the last several months — having initially opted-out and then opting back in as we tweaked the offering. We had left their accounts suspended in an abundance of caution and are now offering them the opportunity to return to the plan that they originally liked."

In regards to why people who canceled the service were saying they still received the email, the company told Business Insider:

"There are a small number of people whose accounts have had conflicting status — whether they opted out and then back in again or their cancellation didn’t complete. In case this was the result of a glitch in the system or an incomplete cancellation, we put anyone whose account status was unclear into a suspended status and did not charge them. And we have now included them in what we think is a terrific one-time promotional offer. If they are interested in returning to their original unlimited subscription, they can. If they are not, they simply click the link below and opt out."