blockbuster vs. netflix

[kimberlym4]

If you use either one of them... what do you think. I have Blockbuster because I liked the fact that I could get two free movies a month in store as well as my mailed DVDs. However, lately the service has been terrible. It takes over a week to get a movie (used to be I could mail it on Monday and have a new one by Wednesday or Thursday). Plus I often won't get the first movie in my queue but they will send my second or third choice. This is a pain when I was hoping for a kids movie and I get a horror flick. I know they are making changes so I can't decide whether to wait it out or switch to Netflix. Any opinions?

 

[AKLRULZ]

Our Netflix dvds arrive the next day - the service is great.

 

[Papa Deuce]

you can do a search.... lots of this type of post here. That said... I LOVE netflix!

 

[ericamanda01]

I have a personal issue with blockbuster so I won't shop there. We have Netflix and we love it. I love the idea of not driving to the video store and hoping that the movie I want is there.

 

[smartestnumber5]

I have done netflix before and we were happy with it, but we were forgetful about actually putting the discs out in the mail and we spent half the time at my house and half the time at GF's, so we ended up not really getting our money's worth.

I just needed to watch some rare movies for a class so I decided to do a 2 week trial with Blockbuster. Turned out they didn't have one of the movies and another one was "available" but at the wrong mailing center, so it took like a week and a half to get it. I ended forgetting to cancel before the end of the free trial so they charged me for the next month so I'm still using it. I had the same problem with them sending the 2nd priority disc before the first. I put the 2nd season of Desperate Houswives in my queue and 3 days ago I got the second disc--but still no first disc!

We just used one of the free coupons at our local Blockbuster store and they told us they're starting a new system in which you can return the online discs to your local store and they'll give you a free rental each time you do. So we figure after this month we'll go down to one disc a month and w/ the coupons and returning to the store, that's more like 3 discs a week.

 

[theprincess]

We have netflix and love it.

 

[MrsKreamer]

I used to use Netflix years ago, right after it became available in my area(2002). I loved it. Then I moved. I had problem after problem after that. It took longer for me to get movies. When I mailed them in it took over a week for them to show up as returned and quite a few didn't make it. When I called to discuss this matter, as my account was put on hold(I understand they want to make sure I am not just keeping their movies) the customer service was horrible. So I canceled...a few weeks later I got a job at Blockbuster. I tried Walmart's service(after I left Blockbuster) and liked it, but by then we had my son and really weren't watching as many movies like we used to. I am thinking of getting their new service(Blockbuster's) because I like to go in the stores too...so that would be cool.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Number 1, I do not watch movies enough to even care about 2 "free" coupons.
Number 2, my point of joining Netflix was so I did not have to go to a video store.
Number 3, I have paid Blockbuster a mint in "late fees" (my fault) and I am done with them.

 

[azgal81]

I have netflix and I love it. I tried blockbuster for the two week trial but they were not as good as netflix!

 

[Disneyaunt4]

Another vote for Netflix.

 

[KikiFan]

I've actually got both right now. I was offered a free month with Blockbuster and figured why not. Frankly it sucks imo. It too three days for them to mail out my movie selections, their selection seems to be more limited and their website is not as user friendly as the Netflix one is. Without a doubt, I'll be canceling as soon as the month is over, I've even got a post it stuck to my comp, I'm never that organised!

That said I'm a little annoyed at Netflix right now because I'm starting to suspect I'm getting throttled. But I am their worst nightmare of a customer. I really take the "Unlimited" part seriously. I've got 7 at a time and I probably watch 28+ movies every month.

 

[janette]

I used Netflix a long time ago but they throttled our account because we got too many movies. It was pretty obvious and this was before they publically admitted they were doing it. Switched to Blockbuster and the service has been fine, not as good as Netflix before they flagged us but okay.

They've announced a new service where you don't have to mail the movies back to get a new one. I think that will add enough that we'll continue to stay with Blockbuster. I don't think we'll use it often but it would be nice for when the kids have friends etc and they like to go to the store.

 

[Beth76]

I've had both. I've had the same problems with both--taking too long, not sending the first movie in Q. Right now I have blockbuster and 95% of the time, we get the movies in 2 days (one to get there, one to get back). Very few times it has taken 3 days. One time, it was several days and I complained and they sent another one immediately. I ended up getting both eventually . One time they sent the 3rd movie in the list when the first two showed available. I complained and they apologized and sent me 2 free coupons for the store. I've had to send a couple of movies back broken (one my son broke and one another one I'm not sure)--they didn't charge me for them.

 

[Papa Deuce]

That said I'm a little annoyed at Netflix right now because I'm starting to suspect I'm getting throttled. But I am their worst nightmare of a customer. I really take the "Unlimited" part seriously. I've got 7 at a time and I probably watch 28+ movies every month.

I'm a Netflix stockholder and I subscribe to a stock news service. The service said that it "costs" about 69 cents per rental for Netflix. That was a year ago, so let's call it 75 cents per rental now.

 

[MrsKreamer]

Number 1, I do not watch movies enough to even care about 2 "free" coupons.
Number 2, my point of joining Netflix was so I did not have to go to a video store.
Number 3, I have paid Blockbuster a mint in "late fees" (my fault) and I am done with them.

I am curious, why do you put late fees in quotation?

 

[Keli]

I liked blockbuster a bit better than netflix because of the instore coupons. I have the same problems with both companies as far as length of turnaround time.
BUT since blockbuster has started their new plan where you can return your videos to the store and pick out new ones there I'm definitely going to stick with them.
My dh had to try it out on the very first day. He took all three of our dvd's in to the store, picked out three new ones (no charge).
As soon as the store scanned the dvd's we'd got in the mail they were 'returned' so that three more dvd's shipped out the next day. It knocked a day off of our turnaround time as well as gave us three more dvd's from the store.
All late fees and stuff with the store dvd's is the same so you can't keep them as long as you'd like but essentially we can have twice the dvd's in a month than we could have before. Plus you can run and pick up a new release the day it's released free of charge if you have a mailorder dvd at home to return.
This is great for our family since we don't watch the same movies. DD, Dh, and I all watch different types of dvd's and someone was always groaning when the movies came in the mail and there was 'nothing' good, lol.

 

[zaryax]

Please when you feel you want to travel don't go to a commonwealth country!
And for the latino's ex don't go to a latino country!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am curious, why do you put late fees in quotation?

Because they put that darn whatever time... movies in before noon, I think?
Some of the time I would have to fight with them when I turned it in right before noon.
Also, I hated that and I am glad I do not have to deal with "late fees"...It is one of the reasons I signed up for Netflix.

 

[KikiFan]

I'm a Netflix stockholder and I subscribe to a stock news service. The service said that it "costs" about 69 cents per rental for Netflix. That was a year ago, so let's call it 75 cents per rental now.

I've actually heard that anytime the price gets down to $1 per movie they start to throttle you. I'm starting to notice a pattern that when I get to the last 10 days of the month, my service starts to slow down. If it happens next month (which will be the fourth month) I'm going to start raising a stink.

Now I understand that economics of the situation. However, if that's the issue, they need to stop advertising their service as "unlimited" They need to be truthful and say 7 at a time up to XX per month. And the really annoying thing is that my membership has continually gone up, from 3 to 5 to 7. And last year I spent an additional $300 with them buying gift certificates .... to people who have all stayed with netflix past the GC dates (and don't watch nearly as many movies as I do) I think I'm a darn good customer.

Even with all that said. I'm not switching to Blockbuster. Right out of the gate BB's service was slow as heck. I signed up at 8am and it took 3 days to mail out my movies. Netflix mailed them out within 5 hours

 

[Cindy B]

LOVE Blockbuster! I had Netflix before and they throttled us. Blockbuster is great. My kids can rent games and if they rent two games its the entire cost for the month!

My kids also rent movies all the time. We did try the return in the store thing and while we got new movies. The mailers were not taken from the que right away--I manually overrode the que to reflect the return. So, either they forgot to do the que override at the store, or it was never updated. The employee was a new employee at Blockbuster so that may have been the issue.

We get movies in one day with Blockbuster, with Netflix it was 3. Blockbuster and Netflix both have distribution centers in the Philly area, so there is no reason it should have taken 3 days.

I'm lucky that I am within walking distance to my Blockbuster so thats not an issue either.