Anyone use Blocbuster Online?

[rgriffin25]

Anyone use Blockbuster Online?

I have been using Blockbuster Online since the begining of the year. For the most part it has been a pretty good deal. Until recently that is. It seems in the last week or so there are not any movies available. Am I the only one experiencing this??
Any Netflix users having this problem?

 

[guess88]

i jsut started using it the past month. I'm loving it so far.. haven't had any problems or delays. Maybe it's a local thing. I noticed most of mine get shipped out from a local station.

 

[jrfuda]

I started using it 2 weeks ago. So far we've gotten 6 movies. One was split completely in half, the rest were in good shape. I went to the blockbuster site and informed them of the damage and they immediately shipped a replacement, before I even mailed the defective one back!
I'm in San Antonio and Blockbuster has a hub in Houston, so we usually get movies the day after they ship.
I've noticed that they're pretty good with availability on new releases, but older releases - particularly ones that were released during the infancy of DVD - have short to very long wait times.
Right now we have over 100 movies in our que, so we're always going to get something shipped to us

 

[BMXTRIX]

I think a lot of people are really starting to use it right now. We just signed up a few weeks ago as well and are likely the reason why no movies are currently available for you.

We have been very happy to this point with their service and also have a ton of movies in our queue so that we almost always have 3 movies at our home. Since we only are able to watch one... maybe two a week, it means that some movies take a little longer to return to them.

Great service though - I dumped my premium cable stations (30 bucks a month) for the 15 dollar a month service they offer. Most material is out on DVD before it hits HBO/Showtime anyways. At the end of a month we didn't even watch 20 bucks worth of movies. HD was nice... but hey, Blu-ray is right around the corner right?

 

[jzac]

BlockB, Netflix, DVDBarn... experiencec.

I've used all the online movie rentals there is.. Blockbuster, Netflix, Walmart and DVDBarn... and I think as far as fast delivery and availability goes BlockB is the best. They also give you 2 free movie coupons a mth to take from their brick and mortar store in your area. They have a deal with the US Postal Service where as soon they scan your returned dvd barcode BlockB is notified and they ship your next queued movie immediately... even before they get your returned DVD. That's sweet! Price has also come down recently... making it nice. If you live in big metros like Charlotte they ship it from their local warehouse.

Even if you take 7-8 flicks a mth from any of these online rental stores its cheap compared to walking into a store! Netflix has the best range in selection compared to all. If you want lot of the old classics then Netflix is good 'cause they have more copies. DVDBarn is small and sucks... stay away from them! For those of you that don't know, Hollywood video rentals has a promo now where you pay $10 a mth for 3 mths and you can take 3 flicks out at a time and as many times as you want a mth. After the 3 mths it goes up to 15 bucks or so, but you can cancel it. Good deal if you have one closeby. Enjoy!

 

[SacKen]

Overall, blockbuster and netflix are very similar in most important respects. If you are mostly a "new releases" DVD renter, then blockbuster is probably best because it is cheaper and gives you the 2 free in-store rentals per month.

I have been using netflix for two years and absolutely love it. They also just started a "friend recommendation" feature where you can recommend movies to your friends with netflix. Nice way to share good obscure movies that you find. They also allow multiple people in the family to create their own list of movies. Nice if you have kids.

If I drop a movie in the mail on monday, I usually receive the next one by wednesday. But that probably depends on how close you are to the distribution center, regardless of the service you are using.

Personally I have not found a reason to switch to blockbuster and have not tried it out yet. Netflix definitely has a better selection. They aren't afraid to offer all sorts of movies. My litmus test is the movie "Caligula". While I have never seen it (honestly! although my friends say I should...), if the service doesn't offer it then, IMHO they are a company that tries to enforce their level of morality on everyone. Walmart is really bad about having "cleansed" versions of movies and not offering books/movies/CDs that they feel are inappropriate. But that is just my personal philosophy and has nothing to do with the quality of the overall service.

Either way, the movie-by-mail experience is definitely worth it. Even if you don't rent enough to cover the cost, the convenience is still worth it.

 

[SacKen]

BTW, if blockbuster starts offering games in the mix, then that would probably make me switch

 

[rgriffin25]

Thanks for the response guys! Overall I have been very satisfied with Blockbuster. Well that is until the past couple of weeks. I have adjusted my queue to see if the results improve. Right now 20% of the movies in my queue are available. I live in Wichita KS. and they are shipping from St. Louis. So maybe that is the problem.
Oh well I will wait and see what happens.

 

[Audioholics]

For me, 5 out of 11 have some kind of wait attached to them.

That is odd, now that I think about it. They obviously need to purchase more copies or have them sent in from the stores. For example, Resident Evil has "Very Long Wait" and has been at the top of my list for over a week. There are like 20 copies at the local store (yes I know I can rent it there, but I'm experimenting.)

In my opinion, "very long wait" should trigger an immediate buy on their part. Let's all send in a message to the email contact form. Simply click on "Customer Service" at the bottom of the page, and then hit the "Contact Us" tab.

I did read somewhere that they are moving the shipping system to the local stores within a year. That may of course help.

 

[rgriffin25]

I sent this shortly before I started this thread:

I am becoming a bit irritated about the availablity of movies in my Queue. Out of the 20 movies in my Queue there are 3 that are available. I even changed a few of the newer movies for older ones with the same results. I know this online rental service is a great deal if it works out the way it should. If this doesn't improve you can be sure myself as well as many others will look elsewhere for movie rentals.
Is there anything being done about this????

Their response:
Subject
Short Wait

Discussion Thread
Response (Blockbuster Online) 02/22/2005 04:30 PM
Dear Robert,

Thank you for contacting Blockbuster Online Customer Service.

We are currently in the process of correcting these issues. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Always here to help,

Your Friends at BLOCKBUSTER Online


Maybe they should spend less on advertising and a little more on Movies.

 

[Duffinator]

I have been using Blockbuster Online since the begining of the year. For the most part it has been a pretty good deal. Until recently that is. It seems in the last week or so there are not any movies available. Am I the only one experiencing this??
Any Netflix users having this problem?

Rarely. I have a distribution center in my home town so I mail my disc in on Monday and receive the "latest big release" on Wednesday. I just checked my queue that has 120 movies in it and there are no short waits noted. I've been a Netflix customer since 1998 and love it. Not if I had only purchased their IPO stock and sold it last fall.

 

[SacKen]

No "wait" problems with Netflix here either! I have a queue of over 200 movies and none show a wait. Even on the rare occasion that my #1 pick has a "wait" status, it has never affected anything and I still get it when I expect it.

BTW... Does the online blockbuster have a clause about the max time you can keep the move like their fake "No Late Fees" in-store policy? The in-store policy says there are no late fee, but the fine print also says that after 7 days they consider it purchased and automatically charge you the full retail price. Anything like that with the online service?

 

[SQ Kid]

i tried a free month of blockbuster. was happy with it for the most part. i did have a couple movies on very long wait, but it was to be expected with the movies i picked (heck, i didnt think they would even have them to begin with). movies arrived quickly and quicker than i could watch all of them. overall, good stuff.

 

[rgriffin25]

Update

I left blockbuster about a month ago. After I started this thread it only got worse. I am now with Netfilx, and 100% of my queue is available.

I will say I do miss the free in store rentals I had with Blockbuster.

 

[Audioholics]

Blockbuster = Not Committed to the Business Model

I have now sent two emails to them about the wait times. It has gotten to the point where 80% or more of the queue has a wait. This equates to "we'll send you what we have, not what you want."

My emails, of course, were not sufficiently answered, so I think I will do a little "advertising" of my own and write an article about it.

They got in this home delivery game to compete - but they are severely dropping the ball and they show no indication of caring or remedying the situation.

BTW, it's really after 30 days that you have to buy a movie, not 7, should you not return it on time. That's fair in my book.

 

[rgriffin25]

I have read that they are in the process of using local stores to assist with their online service. Which if done correctly could drastically improve their turn around. I think before they went on this huge advertising campaign they should have taken care of this. Oh well, its their loss and Netflix gain.

 

[calgarianperson]

I am in Canada and have been looking at zip.ca which is the biggest online thing in Canada... only problem is the pricing seems unfair to me... 1 DVD at a time with a 2 a is 10.95 Canadian or about 8 US... 2 at a time with a 4 a month cap is 15 Canadian or about 12-13 US... 4 at a time with no cap is 25 bucks or about 21 US and 6 at a time no cap is 35 bucks or about 30 US.

On here the rates you guys get in the states are way better. You all have a 3 at a time cap but hell Im not even going to watch three before another one comes so I dont understand why they dont offer this in Canada for cheaper

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

We were going to sign up for the Blockbuster online, we found info on it at our local Blockbuster. I went and asked the counter clerk about it and he talked me out of it saying the online never has any new releases, and went onto list other complaints people have of it.

I ended up joining the local blockbuster movie rental program.

 

[Audioholics]

Just to give you a visual. Click on the image linked below... If you want to rent chick flicks or movies no one else (but your wife, apparently) wants - then Blockbuster seems great.