Question for Blockbuster online members

[Saturn23]

I've been a blockbuster online member for about 4 years now. During the last month I've noticed that the movies I send back are checked in by early morning, but a new movie isn't sent until a day later when previously it was sent on the same day. Also, they used to have an estimated arrival date of two days after mailing. Now they have them listed as 3 days. (They actually take 3 days when in the past they used to arrive in one day most of the time).

Has anyone else noticed this change? I remember when I was a Netflix member they started treating their long term members with lower priority so I switched to Blockbuster. I hope they're not doing the same thing.

 

[mom2mikel]

Happening to me too. I actually emailed to complain -- threatening to go back to Netflix. They said something about their system being upgraded and said they would have IT try to resolve the issue. The movies started to come faster for a week or so and now it's back to the same sloooow process.

I told my DH I may cancel at the end of the month due to this new service downgrade.

 

[Saturn23]

Thanks for the reply. I guess it's happening to everyone then. I just got a response to my email. They said that since my top 3 movies had a short wait their policy is to wait a day to see if one of them will become available before mailing out the next movie to increase the chances of getting one of the movies I really want. It would seem like a reasonable explanation except that I always keep the new releases that are usually unavailable at the top. Sounds like they just give out convenient replies.

I could always go back to netfilx using my husband's name so that I'm considered a new customer so that they treat me well for a few years.

 

[bicker]

Blockbuster has been getting a bit more sluggish in the last few months, according to what I've read. They may indeed have adopted the policy outlined ("wait a day to see if a top choice becomes available") as part of customer satisfaction efforts ("Why do I never get my top choice?"). Netflix gets attacked for their corresponding policy ("New releases go to the person who hasn't received a new release in the longest time"). Short of having a copy of everything everyone wants at all times ($$$$$$$$$), there is no way people won't find something to complain about with regard to how services operate. I have heard more people call Netflix's policy "fair" more often than Blockbuster's policy, but that's still just a subjective judgment, and remember Blockbuster has its advantages if you choose to pay for them and they're convenient to you.

 

[pyrxtc]

I ahve notcied and sent in more than one complaint. I returned a movie once and it wasn't replaced for over a wekk. They said I didn't ahve enough availablility in my top 15, so I said then go to my 16 or 17. Isn't that reason you make a list so long, so that they can pick from any of them as they go down the line ? I don't care of it's #1 or # 32, as long as I get a movie that I want to see ! They sent me a coupon for an in-store rental wiht the first reply and in my second, I told them I ahd no intention of using it since i don't ahve a store close enough and no account there anyways. So they apologized and gave me the same excuse as the first (even though I had moved my whole list around so 12 out of 15 were showing available) and sent me another coupon ! It has been really getting slow.

I returned all 3 movies Thursday morning and they have listed two gone out already but not the third. They always hold off on the third ??!!

 

[bicker]

I suppose the best way of "catching" them is to ensure that the first few items in your queue are available now. Has anyone tried that and still encountered the same problem?

 

[MaryJ]

This is the reason that I quit Blockbuster and went back to Netflix. Well, that and the fact that the nearest Blockbuster store to my home closed so I didn't have anywhere to go to take advantage of the coupons for free rentals anymore.

So far, Netflix has been great. Even when I was 1000 miles from home visiting my daughter in Denver, when I put a DVD in the mail there a new one would get mailed out the next day.

 

[bicker]

Both Blockbuster stores near here have closed. That's got to have really killed BB online...

 

[dollydell]

one of the blockbusters near me closed, and the other one is always empty, I don't know how it stays open, though maybe with the other one closed it will pick up.

 

[pyrxtc]

I suppose the best way of "catching" them is to ensure that the first few items in your queue are available now. Has anyone tried that and still encountered the same problem?

yes, the first 10 were showing available but it still took them another week. Is ent out 3 on Thursday and 2 have shipped out but not the 3rd one yet.

 

[mom2mikel]

well -- I decided to give Netflix another try. I'm using the 2 week free trial (I just used my new email address and it didn't recognize that I was a member years ago).

I've sent several complaints and I'm getting tired of their excuses. Like another poster said, who cares if my 1-15 aren't available -- then send me number 16 on my list. It's silly to have to keep reshuffling the list just to ensure they sent movies in an acceptable time.

The only time they were truly responsive to my complaints was when I threatened to go to Netflix -- otherwise I get the standard email saying to give it time. They used to have such a fast turnaround time -- now I'm lucky to get one set of movies a week (used to be at least 2).

I wish Netflix had the same "in theaters" section so you can queue up movies as soon as they hit the theaters so you don't forget them by the time they are released to DVD!! I guess it'll just take a little more work on my part -- but if their overall service is better - I'll deal with it.

 

[dollydell]

Netflix doesn't have a in theatres section exactly, but if you type the name of the movie that you want it will bring it up with a save button, and let you save it in a lower, seperate part of your queue and it will move it up to the bottom of your regular queue automatically as soon at it comes out to DVD.

For instance, Couples Retreat just came out on Friday and you can save it, just like Princess and the Frog which doesn't come out until sometime in December.

 

[bicker]

I have movies in my Netflix queue that haven't been released (into theaters) yet.

 

[Saturn23]

I just sent back a movie. It was checked in and a new movie (first on my list that said "short wait" last night) was shipped right away. I'm not sure if it's because I complained or just luck. I'll see how it goes for a while.

 

[bicker]

TiVo now supports BlockBuster Online.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/whatsnew/blockbuster-on-demand/index.html

 

[Saturn23]

Looks like the quick turnaround time for my last movie was a fluke. I'm back to waiting indefinitely for a movie to be sent, even though the first movie in my queue is listed as available. Oh well...

 

[cruisnfamily]

I suppose the best way of "catching" them is to ensure that the first few items in your queue are available now. Has anyone tried that and still encountered the same problem?

I made my first 10 movies available and I've still been having trouble for the last week or so. Very aggravating!

My DH wants to look into this Netflix instant download unlimited thing. Anybody know anythign about that?

 

[MaryJ]

I made my first 10 movies available and I've still been having trouble for the last week or so. Very aggravating!

My DH wants to look into this Netflix instant download unlimited thing. Anybody know anythign about that?

We have used the instant download thru Netflix with our Tivo and have had mixed results. Sometimes it works great...streams thru the Tivo to our TV with no problems. On one particularly annoying time, the movie would freeze up every 10-15 seconds, then start up again. Also, the movies that are available for instant download are limited and as far as I can tell, none of them are new releases.

 

[bicker]

My understanding is that most of the problems with the Netflix/TiVo solution are TiVo's -- one of the few things that TiVo hasn't done as well as others have done. However, they are still caused by interruptions in service on Netflix's side (i.e., due to demand on Netflix's servers being greater than Netflix can handle, so the TiVo gets an error from Netflix that TiVo doesn't handle very well).

What is available via Watch Instantly is severely limited.

And of course, for us, since my wife is hearing impaired, it is as if the service doesn't exist at all, since Netflix doesn't think that providing accommodation for the hearing impaired is necessary important enough to ensure that they can provide it with that Watch Instantly service, before they offered the service.