New, bad change for Blockbuster online members

[DianeV]

I quit Blockbuster when they kept raising rates and taking things away. I was one of the original to even join when they first started but they didnt even care. I can see why they are having problems now and I told them they would! LOL

Our libraries around here do have some new releases but they are usually rentals..like $1 for a day or 2 I think..I dont remember.

We have a Family Video near here that is priced great

 

[UCFALUM]

Their stock is like .45 so I guess they are trying anything. I agree they will probably not make it through this recession which stinks since we own the stock :-(.

 

[RN4Babies]

I cancelled my Blockbuster account last month for several reasons. I was no longer receiving my monthly e-coupon, they started limiting how many videos you could exchange at stores every month, and the stores by me have done away with the no late fee policy.

I made the change to NetFlix, and have been very happy. Less expensive monthly fee, and I receive the movies I request in a day or two at the most.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

I guess I'm another grandfathered customer. I checked my account and I'm paying $19.99/mo for unlimited rentals 3 movies at a time, unlimited exchanges in-store, and 2 e-coupons/ mo that we use for Xbox game rentals. In one year, they mailed us 52 movies, and we exchanged those titles for 52 in-store movies. So that's 104 movies in a year for $240. Not bad, plus we got approx. 24 video games to play with for a month each (plus the $1.25 fee x 24 games = $30 more) So $270/year for pretty good entertainment. Not too bad.

We almost always have 3-6 movies/ games in our house all the time, and I like it b/c I swap my grown up titles that were mailed to me for kids' titles in-store. We get those for free, and we keep them up to a month or as long as it takes for the kids to burn out on them, then we return them. We get dinged for the cost of the movie initially at 7 days overdue, but when we take them back, we are only out $1.25 after the credit back for the movie. We try to watch movies as quickly as we get them and then take in all three for an in-store exchange on Thursdays so we have new movies on the weekend. We also keep the games for 30 days that we get with the e-coupons.

My husband hates BB.com b/c it messes up our checking account with the deductions and credits for each late movie. If they do go OOB, I'll probably switch to Redbox $1 rentals and just be vigilant about returning in 24 hours.

 

[Melrosgirl]

I guess I'm another grandfathered customer. I checked my account and I'm paying $19.99/mo for unlimited rentals 3 movies at a time, unlimited exchanges in-store, and 2 e-coupons/ mo that we use for Xbox game rentals.

This is a new change that (from what I understand) will affect everyone across the board. Not sure if the new change is in effect yet. I found it online one day when logging into BB.com. I'm on the same plan mentioned above (grandfathered), but looks like that will affect me too.

BB is considering bankruptcy, so this may be an issue that won't matter in a few months sadly.

 

[Melrosgirl]

I read that Netflix was considering major changes, too.

 

[bicker]

Blockbuster has informed the studios that they would be seeking bankruptcy protection in September. Over the last year and a half, since this thread was active, things have gotten even more dire for the industry: Margins are cut even finer, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that several forces are at work to undercut the value that investors may derive from investing in providing video entertainment. This is causing issues for content creators, and for practically all the various modes of distribution. Blockbuster's last gambits involved offering customers an undeniably superior product, including movies a month sooner than Netflix, and including video game rentals in the same $8.99 per month subscription rate. Customers reacted anemically; the gambit failed.

A marginally-related data-point: Our local Blockbuster video rental store closed over a year ago; The local Hollywood Video closed two or three years ago. Neither was really a big deal. However, today is the final day for our local mom-and-pop video rental store, Village Video. So now there are no video rental stores anywhere close to central Burlington.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I have never had BB but I love netflix, I stream online with my wii and get dvds mailed. For nine dollars a month I am happy.

 

[pyrxtc]

I have never had BB but I love netflix, I stream online with my wii and get dvds mailed. For nine dollars a month I am happy.

I just canceled my BB membership yesterday. Talked to DH about doing Netflix thru our game system once it get's too cold to spend our weekends outside.

 

[Poohbug]

I will keep my BB account for the time being and just see what happens. Right now I still get 3 movies at a time/unlimited exchanges/two $9.99 pre-viewed movie coupons and one extra game/movie rental coupon per month.($19.99)

They just added the video games so I find it hard to see how they can tell how that affects business yet.

I also like to rent movies at the library but that is not the best option. It can take a long time to get the new releases(I have had one reserve for over a year and it still is not available) and the movies are usually in bad condition. All the skipping bothers me.

 

[hffmnheidi]

We still have our locally owned/private video store in our town which is nice because it's the same people working there and their policies have not changed since they opened some 15 years ago.

Blockbuster is a joke. I worked for them for two years and it was a joke. Too many shady/backroom deals that were going on. Like not checking in movies because they didn't want to and earning a customer a late fee that was totally invalid.

My favorite had to be the employee 'contracts' they made us sign that prevented us from going to other rental places while we worked for them, couldn't appear on tv for any reason. I ended up getting a written warning because I appeared on the news talking about my college's education program that I was enrolled in before I got hired at BB and had nothing to do with where I worked.

 

[LilyWDW]

I have Netflix... and I love it. It is one of the few "luxury" items that I have kept. I live between 2 distribution centers and have never had a movie take more then 2 days to get here (sent in on Monday, gets there Tuesday and new movie goes out, and gets here Wednesday). I also am not bothered by them not being able to send out some new releases when they come out. If I want to see the movie THAT bad, then it would be one I would still be buying for my collection.

 

[bicker]

I will keep my BB account for the time being and just see what happens.

Indeed, the worst case scenario would have folks losing a portion of one month's bill, and I doubt that they're going to terminate operations regardless - they'll probably just cut costs.

They just added the video games so I find it hard to see how they can tell how that affects business yet.

Two things: First, it is hard to tell how game rentals would really work out, overall, because their game rental options are so incredibly poor that current performance of that service cannot possibly be a clear indication of what performance would be if the options were better. Second, despite that, even with just a couple of months of data they can get a good idea just how much offering game rentals makes overall, and can make some good projections about whether the benefit will outweigh the costs.

 

[bicker]

I have Netflix... and I love it. It is one of the few "luxury" items that I have kept.

These services actually saw some significant strength during the recession, probably because people were "switching down" from more expensive options, like going to the movies.

 

[superme80]

We still have our locally owned/private video store in our town which is nice because it's the same people working there and their policies have not changed since they opened some 15 years ago.

Blockbuster is a joke. I worked for them for two years and it was a joke. Too many shady/backroom deals that were going on. Like not checking in movies because they didn't want to and earning a customer a late fee that was totally invalid.

My favorite had to be the employee 'contracts' they made us sign that prevented us from going to other rental places while we worked for them, couldn't appear on tv for any reason. I ended up getting a written warning because I appeared on the news talking about my college's education program that I was enrolled in before I got hired at BB and had nothing to do with where I worked.

Wow they have really changed since I worked there 6 years ago. We never had to sign a non compete agreement and we always were vigilant about checking movies in on time. It is sad to see where the company has gone. It was a good place to work for the first year and a half I was there. The last 6 months went down hill which is why I chose to leave.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

We've had Netflix and Blockbuster several times over the years. Right now we are back with Netflix and I am looooving it!! Because of crazy schedules right now I downgraded us to the 1 movie at a time option with free movies streaming through our Wii. LOVE it!! And it takes usually 1 day for me to receive my mailed movie so I'm not left waiting.

 

[Mom2micayla]

I've gone between BB and Netflix for quite a few years. Currently I'm with BB, and when my month is up I'm canceling it. I've found that their turn around time is VERY slow, and I'm pretty close to their AZ distribution center. I returned a movie last Thursday evening to a store, and they didn't even send out a new movie for us until Tues! By the time we got it it was a week after I returned it in store. That is terrible turn around!

Also, as to the video games being added.. at first we were kind of excited about that. But they don't ever send the games out. We've had 5 games at the top of our queue for the last 2 times we've sent movies back, and both times they have completely skipped over all the games (even though they said they were available) and went further down our list and sent us movies. What good is having the games to rent if they won't ever send them out to you?

 

[ilovejack02]

Wow, a lot must depend on where you live as far as Netflix goes. I mail a movie and they get it the next day, get an email saying they are sending me a movie and I get it the next day. Quick, quick, quick (and not even once has it been more than a 1 day turnaround). I never liked Blockbuster as a store and didn't want anything to do with them online. All Netflix for me!!!

This is how it is for us and now we have the WII movie instant watching option on our TV. No way I will ever go back to B.B.

 

[DianeV]

EXACT same situation with us! Same initial plan, same changes, same OH WELL when I contacted them. We tried Netflix but right now we just use Redbox or the library

Blockbuster asked for all these problems with how they did things----

We ditched Blockbuster a couple years ago. We originally had the unlimited 3 movies at a time deal which also included unlimited in store exchanges and 2 ecoupons per month. Then, they changed my plan to unlimited 3 movies a month with 5 in store exchanges and no more ecoupons. Plus, they raised our rates from $16.99/month to $24.99/month for the privilege of less benefits. I emailed them to try to work something out. Basically their reply was "Too bad, so sad". In the meantime, come to find out that a lot of other people were "grandfathered" into their existing rate plans and had no changes or rate increases made. So, it was a no brainer. We happily switched to Netflix. We have been very happy with the switch.

To Blockbuster I say, Kharma's a *****. They angered a lot of customers with their arbitrary rate/plan changes. Not a smart move. They lost me(and a lot of other people) as a customer for life. Ironically, since I dropped them, they continue to send me emails trying to woe me back. Not gonna happen. They had their chance to work with me. So, too bad, so sad.

 

[bicker]

Blockbuster asked for all these problems with how they did things----

Yes, but I not in the way you mean, I believe. (Employing 20/20 hindsight...) Blockbuster did two things wrong, imho: First, they didn't sell-off their local store division. They should have found some sap to buy it from them, and forcing the buyer to not use the Blockbuster name. They would have gotten a lot less for the chain that way, but it would have keep the Blockbuster name from getting sullied when the local stores division crashed and burned, something that was inevitable due to external factors, i.e., radical changes in consumer demand. Second, they focused more energy on offering premium services, which a budget-conscious customer wouldn't adequately value (such as unlimited exchanges, no 28 day wait after release, etc.), instead of focusing on following the path toward the more cost-conscious ways of doing business, such as subscription streaming.