Video of the Day: Your East Side Moment of Zen
The Big Pink @ El Rey Theatre 11/18/09
If You've Got the Time: Sunday Brunch @ Casa del Mar
The Great L.A. Walk Treks Adams & Washington Today
They Might Be Giants @ Royce Hall 11/14/09
LAist has been a subscriber to Netflix and until today, Blockbuster Online Total Access. Today we were canceling our subscription to Blockbuster Online and it prompted the question, “Why are you canceling today?” Since we were only able to give them a 255 character answer, we decided to write a post here to fully explain why they fall short of being a good service.
First, we never received the movies we wanted from the top of our queue. The first movie on our list at the beginning of the month was Amores Perros. The first movie at the top of our list at the end of the month was Amores Perros. The entire month its status was “A short wait”. Well, we’re done waiting.
Blockbuster Online acquired an unanticipated 2 million subscribers last quarter, and has failed to keep up with the demand. We were roped in by the Total Access program, which supposedly never leaves you empty-handed since you get free new release rentals in-store. When you actually go to the store however, everything is checked out and you end up wandering around looking for anything to rent. I don't want to rent a Steven Seagal movie or American Pie 5. What the hell is the point of free in-store rentals when there is jack shit available in the store? Garbage.
Third, it took forever to receive our movies. From where I live they get mailed from a distro center in Santa Ana, so it takes around 2 days to receive your movies… usually. One week we didn’t even receive any movies. Netflix’s turnaround is 1 day, not 2. In theory, Blockbuster never leaves you without movies. Wrong. In practice, Netflix kicks Blockbuster’s ass.
Fourth, the recommendation system is a joke in comparison to Netflix. We have no idea what type of algorithm they are using over at Blockbuster for their recommendation system but it is useless. We took the time to tediously rate 493 movies in their system, which then recommended 200 movies back to us. And by a shot in the dark, we were interested in seeing 6 out of those 200 recommendations (which were added to our queue). We'd like to think that if anyone randomly named 200 movies, we would be interested in more than only 6 of the ones he or she mentioned.
What the hell were those movies it was showing us? Is their system based on showing you movies that are available because no one is renting them? How is it that we can give a movie like Raging Bull 5 stars, and then in turn be recommended Men in Black? If we go see Children of Men for example, and then log on to our account and recommend it, right away we should be suggested another Alfonso Cuaron flick, like Y Tu Mama Tambien -- or maybe even films made by his friends like Amores perros by Inarritu or The Devil’s Backbone by Guillermo del Toro. Sadly, we resorted to logging in to our Netflix account just to search for movies to rent with our Blockbuster Account.
Fifth, the way in which you search for movies is lacking. You can only search by movie name or actor. How about date range, movie studio, genre? Nope. You can of course, use their categories to browse movies (80’s, horror, etc). But the movies listed under each category are pathetic. Most of the movies are so far from worth watching that it feels like you’re wading through the $5 DVD bin at Wal-Mart.
The only insightful part of the Total Access experience was the easy-to-find “Cancel My Subscription” button. Bravo on that.
Photo by mini K via Flickr
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yeah but if you wanted that movie on the top of your list and it was Netflix, you would never have the option of being tired of waiting, and going straight to a physical location to either bitch and moan, or grab the copy yourself.
yes that might defeat the point, but to me that's what blockbuster is selling, not just another online service.... but an online service that has the capability to provide the customer with an actual place to go when the internet option is failing you.
i see your points in the other areas of the service that you didnt like, but i still think that when I felt betrayed by netflix, i had nobody to scream at. and i always hate that.
Well thanks for tipping them off to the "Cancel your account" button. They will probably move it now and make it impossible to find in order to "retain" customers.
I have not used Blockbuster stores in the UK for 10 years now.
They were without doubt, the worst company I have had to deal with.
They never have what you want in stock.
I got accused of not returning items which I never even rented.
I rented a game console and was accused of not retuning it, once may have been excusable, but three times?
Dont bother complaining to Blockbuster customer services staff, they just ignore you.
BLOCKBUSTER_SUX
When you actually go to the store however, everything is checked out and you end up wandering around looking for anything to rent.
So a BlockBuster store is useless (because it doesn't have what you want whenever you get there? Strange!
I will have to agree and disagree with you. I certainly have had my fair share of problems with Blockbuster in the past. Now I would rate them 7.5/10, which isn't bad. I would give Netflix the same rating from my experiences with them.
Both companies keep movies "in waiting" at the top of my queue. But Netflix has always had a four to five day turnaround on my movies and I live in a city that hosts one of their shipping centers. I would have been happy with two to three days, but after a couple months I had to cancel. Blockbuster ships my next movie the same day I turn the old one back into the store.
As far as getting movies from Blockbuster, things have gone pretty smoothly. I keep my queue full of movies that are always available and can usually find the unavailable stuff in the store. Also, I always plan it so that I have movies to return to the store on Tuesday and never have problems getting the new releases.(of course, I usually go in the morning)
Searching for a movie and the recommendation system for Blockbuster is crap. If you don't know what you want, defiantly go with Netflix, their recommendation system is excellent.
You points are very weak. Your point about recommendation algorithm is STUPID. You dont know what kind of movies you like, you have to have a computer pick one for you? Also, I had Netflix for about 6 months and they NEVER had a 1 day turnaround , only at beginning. They have a very careful formula they use to make sure your shipments are delayed so they make money.
At least with BB, I can go to the store and return my movies immediatly and get new ones. With NF, if a movie arrived broken or scratched (which happend frequently btw) I had no recourse but to send it back and wait.
In my opinion, BB kicks NF ass, how do you like that?
Devil's backbone is a great movie, and Blockbuster is using the Amazon recommend engine which doesn't base recommendations on similar plots/directors or themes, but rather based on what people bought - so a few people that bought Men in Black may have bought some of the other movies you had rated.
It sucks because the majority of people have really bad taste in movies, so you'd end up getting a lot of recommendations for low rate movies that the majority likes, rather then movies of quality that are suited to what you like.
Where do you get your information? Blockbuster does not ship movies out feom their store. They have many shipping stations spread out across the US. Also, Blockbuster has a free rental e-coupon each month that they still have for each account holder. That allows you to rent a game if you choose. Games are 7.99 for 5 days. Not a bad savings for those that would like to rent a game once in a while.
Netflix throttles shipments so you get only a certain amount a month... Keep on drinking the kool aid buddy... I'm sad to say, but having tried both services, for the price and value... big ole' corporate Blockbuster has come out the winner here at this point.
The stupidest thing that Blockbuster's service did during the one month I was a member was to send me "series" discs out of order, as if I was going to watch Disc 5 of "Lost: The Complete Second Season" before seeing the first four in my queue. Netflix never did that, and it's one reason why I'm still subscribing.
One thing that I did not like about this rant is the fact that I do not believe that this guy is giving Blockbuster a fair chance. I have NEVER been to a Blockbuster store and they have NOTHING! Yes they may not have New Releases well... because they are new releases and everyone wants them. But seriously this guy went on talking about movies I have never heard of let alone seen: Amores Perros and The Devil’s Backbone, no wonder this guy couldn't like anything in the store. This guy would be more suited for a mom and pop movie rental place (assuming they still exist). Blockbuster is in it to make money and believe me I'm sure more people have seen Men In Black (a great movie BTW) than Amores Perros!
Shame on you for such a shotty rant! Here is a word of advice for you that you failed to realize when you started your 'experiment' is that if the Blockbuster store near you doesn't carry your movie or only has one copy that they rent out, they are not going to magically GROW titles or a larger quantity of titles just because you signed up for an online movie rental service with them!
I know 3 personal friends (not 'guys I work with' or 'guys I know') that LOVE the Blockbuster system. Not to mention the fact that you can essentially have an extra movie out per movie you rented as the ones you get from the store with the coupon do not count towards your 'online' rentals. Also you FAILED to mention that in addition to what Blockbuster gives you up front they also give you a monthly coupon that is good for ANY rental IN STORE... meaning a movie OR a game! Let's see Netflix do that.
I agree about the search and how it should be expanded but that is a small blemish to the service as obviously as stated you can use the internet (which you are ALREADY ON if you are adding movies to your queue) and use IMDB, Google or any other resource to search movies and then you will have the title to find in blockbuster. Again that is why I stress that the search feature is a 'small' blemish on the service.
No Digg!
I agree with ncnetdude above, although I have to admit that I haven't ever used Netflix. But at this point I have no need to. My blockbuster movies have never arrived late, I get one free in-store rental for every mailed one, plus I get a free game rental coupon every month.
My wife and I were watching more movies than we possibly needed on blockbuster's basic $10 (USD) program. Now that they've effectively doubled the movies I can rent with Total Access, (plus added the game coupon remember), we have more entertainment than we will ever use until we have kids or become permanent couch vegetables.
On top of that - I enjoy the experience of going to the blockbuster store more than browsing online. In the store I usually find titles to rent that I never would have normally picked online. Granted, often the latest box office hits are out .
that's too bad, i rent A LOT of movies and watch them on the train during commuting. i watch them so fast, that netflix delayed my shipments by upwards of 4 days!!! blockbuster has been amazingly fast. i do agree that the site needs a bit of work though.
hey,
i have to disagree with this. I have had both netflix and blockbuster, and while neither system is perfect, I have been much happier with the Blockbuster service. The biggest reason is throttling. When I had netflix and rented several movies in a month, the next month i only received movies approximately every two weeks. With blockbuster, I get movies at least every other day, and I have the option to exchange them in store. While i agree netflix has a larger selection and a slightly better user interface, blockbuster at least sends me the movies
My fiance and I joined Netflix and Blockbuster at the same time to see which was better. We chose Blockbuster as the winner because
1. They deliver on Saturdays, while Netflix does not.
Yes, we also agree that the search/recommendations website for Blockbuster is lack luster...but the fact that the movies were delivered on Saturdays won us over. We have also started to notice that movies have been moved lower in our list when there is a 'short wait', but it doesn't bother us that much.
You are an idiot. I have NEVER received netflix in one day, average 3 days. Blockbuster does not ship from their stores, and I get mine in two days from blockbuster. (I live in Colorado Springs) Free in store rentals are probably going to suck on a Friday or Saturday night, yes, duh, get over it and go there on a Mon - Thurs and you usually will find what you want. I don't even want to comment on people who let the website pick movies for them. And don't even start talking about how Netflix carries more of the 'hard to find' movies; yah if you want to watch Japanees Rape Cartoons?
i stopped using them about 8 years ago when they accused me of not returning 2 movies i rented. they managed to find one of them "on the shelf" and apologized for that but refused to acknowledge the other was returned at the same time. they then sent me invoices for the extra rental period, once it hit £20 .. they then decided to hire a Collection Agency to recover the "debt".
After that I never used them.
i've had both, and my vote is for blockbuster. netflix throttling was the reason i left them, and blockbuster's in store return policy where you pick up another movie is the reason i'm staying with them. and i've never had a problem getting a new release at my blockbuster.
Gamefly has a deal with the post office who scan the envelopes as they come in so they know to send the next one out. It cuts the down time almost in half, I don't know why they haven't done this yet.
I get Netflix deliveries on Saturdays, what podunk place do you live?
You sir are an idiot. You sound like a PS3 fanboy. Just because the service you are wasting your money with sucks, your ego is too big to admit it.
I get 9 movies at a time over 3 accounts (1 I'm actually paying for). Plus every one of those, I can return for a free rental in-store. In addition to that, 3 total free-game rental included.
You complain because Blockbuster can't recommend you proper movies? If you are such a know it all movie buff, you should know what movies you want.
Enjoy your rant on your crappy blog nobody reads. You are only convincing other Netflix die-hards not to cancel their Netflix membership that would be considered blasphamey if they did anyway.
So continue to feel good about yourself. At least the 4-week trial was free anyway...
...you did sign up for the FREE trial right? If not, you're an even bigger moron than I had previously thought.
Blockbuster, ftw. I don't need recommendations. Yeah, their website is weak and a resource hog, but I don't care. Exchange movies in store and get two free game rentals per month? Pwned, Netflix.
No Digg. Buried, in fact.
I've had both services, in my book Blockbuster is the clear winner.
Netflix is all great at first, but once you hit that 4 or 6 month mark with them... seems like they would only mail out about 1 movie a week... then when you shipped them back.. it took them 3-4 days to get it in. With is total shit, the place it was being mailed to is only 45 min. away... should be there next day, early morning.
Blockbuster I've had for almost a year now. I admit it is flawed in several aspects, but overall far superior than Netflix. Sure, the rating system sucks... but who cares. I personally wish they would just do away with the suggestion feature of each service. I personally love the "free in store rentals" from blockbuster. I can almost guarantee myself the new releases when they come out. It also makes it handy while watching a tv show on dvd, that way you dont' have to wait 3 or 4 days to see what happens next, you can just go to blockbuster and get the next disc.
But wait.. Netflix is now offering "streaming" movies... who gives a shit... this is a poor attempt to battle the great service offered by Blockbuster.
Netflix is not the "God of online movie" rentals... they are mediocre at best.
Great article. The last place I want to set foot in is a Blockbuster store. It's no fun looking through their limited selection and then having to wait in line. Returning movies at a store is simply no value added. And now that Blockbuster is closing stores left and right, it only increases an already inconvenient and unpleasant experience.
Blockbuster has permanently lost many customers due to their late fees and predatory practices against the small mom & pop video stores of yesteryear. Maybe the mom & pops were dinosars, but now Blockbuster is the dinosaur -- with one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel.
The recommendation system on Netflix is the best! We got to watch amazing movies based on Netflix recommendations! Movies like Amelie, The Tunnel, Nowhere in Africa, Dear Frankie wouldn't have been on our radar if it wasn't for Netflix. We had grown tired of the garbage Hollywood was spewing out and Netflix restored my love for movies. I wouldn't trade it for anything else. We don't have much time to watch movies theses days but I've kept my Netflix membership alive because I don't want to let go off of such a wonderful thing. I guess if you have a discerning taste in movies, Netflix gives you the opportunity to expand your horizon. Netflix gets my thumbs up!
I have to say I LOVE my Blockbuster Total Access account. I think it's a great service and have had no problems at all.
I tried Blockbuster Online before the Total Access thing started. Although they had some movies that I couldn't get from Netflix, they amount of time it took to get movies made me not want the service. Our local Blockbuster never seems to have anything good on the shelves and sometimes they won't even carry a lot of the controversial movies. As much as people complain about Netflix, I still have no reason to switch or cancel.
This "article" is so full of inaccuracies.. Let me debunk/refute your points.
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"First, we never received the movies we wanted from the top of our queue."
You NEVER received movies from the top of your queue? NEVER? I have. Don't act like this NEVER happens with Netflix. Second concerning this point, Blockbuster tells you why some movies at the top of your queue might not ship first/right away..
"Whenever a rental slot is open, we review the first listing in your Queue to determine whether or not it can be shipped from the closest distribution center to you. If the title is not available at this center, the system automatically searches for the requested title at other distribution centers throughout our network. If the top Queue selection falls outside of an acceptable shipping window, we will ship a title that falls lower in the queue. This process helps you receive more titles each month, based on anticipated shipping times, and allows you to experience fewer delays."
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"We were roped in by the Total Access program, which supposedly never leaves you empty-handed since you get free new release rentals in-store."
Supposedly never leaves you empty handed? Supposedly? I think your wrong here. I am never without a movie with Total Access. Your alos missing the point! "since you get free new release" is where I think you went wrong. It's for ANY movie in the entire store AND video games. Total Access means you will never be without a MOVIE, they didn't say you'd never be without a NEW RELEASE! I bring in my mailers and pick out any movie in the store. You are after all signed up for Netflix to watch movies....
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"Third, it took forever to receive our movies. They mail them from Blockbuster stores, so it takes around 2 days to receive your movies… usually."
Again, your making assumptions based on God knows what. "They mail them from Blockbuster stores". You ARE retarded. Secondly concerning this point, my movies come in 3 days, usually less. Not to mention I bring the mailers into the stores to watch movies while I'm waiting for them to arrive in the mail...and I get movies on Saturdays...
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"Fourth, the recommendation system is a joke in comparison to Netflix. We have no idea what type of algorithm they are using over at Blockbuster for their recommendation system but it is useless."
Blockbuster's might not be all up to snuff, but seriously, if your counting on ANY algorithm to match movies for you, ...your retarded.
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"Fifth, the way in which you search for movies was an even bigger joke. You can only search by movie name or actor. How about date range, movie studio, genre?"
You have me here. Their site is a bit lacking in this department, however they just updated their site and I expect it will improve. After all, I don't think they put up their site, stand back going, "Alright, it's finished!". How do I get around this? I use Google/Wiki/IMDB to find what I want. I also browse the movies on their site. My queue has over 150 movies in it.. I'm not in short supply of coming up with movies, I'm in short supply of time to watch them all.
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You need to stand back and understand why Netflix and Blockbuster Online exist. Firstly, the service is to rent movies. Secondly, it's to have the movies delievered to your house. Each is there for a certain type of person. If you want movies, Blockbuster is clearly the way to go. You will end up getting FAR more movies at the end of the month than with Netflix. If extensive movie searching and a complex recommendation algorithm are what your looking for then I'd choose Netflix. If you want movies delieverd on Saturdays, choose Blockbuster.
Granted, Netflix has now come out with movies on your computer via streaming, but I will put money that Blockbuster will do something like this sooner than later...
I've tried both too. I liked netflix's selection better. I never use either systems recommendation (and with more than 200 movies in my queue I don't really plan to.) Blockbuster seems to get my selections out of order too, even though they all say "available."
With the new Total Access system I don't seem to be getting my movies any faster. If I turn a movie into blockbuster, I don't get an e-mail saying they got it until the next day, and then they don't send a new one until even the next day.
The in-store rentals is the only reason I stay with Blockbuster. I have absolutely no problem finding movies that I want to get at the store, and they usually have new movies in stock.
Were I to move to an area where it wasn't convenient to go to the store, or the store nearby was lousy (as the one near the writer seems to be) I would absolutely go back to Netflix.
I've had both and, so far, Blockbuster is better. Why? Because I can take my mailers in and trade them for movies in the store. I like being able to walk around and look for obscure gems.
But my local Blockbuster stocks a shitload of movies and the only ones that are usually unavailable are the shitty first releases that mostly suck anyway.
I liked Netflix -- but it had its "short wait" problems, too. And yes, sometimes I got the movies in a day, but the faster I turned them back in, the slower the service got. Hell, I think they even got busted for delaying service to heavy users (don't quote me on that).
The Total Access thing makes a huge difference.
I've seen more movies using my Blockbuster Total Access account in the last 2 weeks than I saw with my Netflix subscription in the last 2 months. No, I didn't see Amores Perros, but I did see the entire season 1 of Deadwood, Taladega Nights, the entire season 1 of Famly Guy, and 5 or 6 other films. Somebody must be spoiling this guy because he sounds like a brat who goes crazy the instant something doesnt work out the way he wants it to.
I think they both suck. You need to get the Blockbuster Monthly pass what lets you keep two out at a time, all the time. You go to Blockbuster on Tuesday or Sunday and all the new releases are in stock so there's no wasted rentals. Then, if you want some esoteric movie, you subscribe to Nexflix for $10 and pull one at a time.
You really have to play both to get the best deal.
I had netflix for one month. In that month they sent me 2 broken DVD's and 1 DVD wasn't even the one I ordered. I switched to blockbuster and they've never given me a problem. Yeah, theyre online system is a little rough around the edges but THEYVE HAD THE SERVICE FOR ONLY A YEAR, NETFLIX HAS BEEN ONLINE ALMOST 10 YEARS. Obviously blockbuster has more money, more recognition, and more room for making netflix users switch.
Netflix is terrible and had a large lawsuit against them because of how scandalous they really are. Blockbuster sends movies much faster and allows you to always have a move and not have to wait 5 days. I think this blogger is working for Netflix because he obviously doesn't know what he is talking about. Netflix has to do all they can to keep customers from going to the best. Blockbuster is the winner by far.
Tried both - Blockbuster is faster in Central CT. DVD in home mailbox on Tuesday = Thursday delivery of new title. If DVD is put in local post office "bluebox" before noon, I have a new title by Wednesday. If I really want a new movie for Tuesday night, I drop it at the local Blockbuster, rent another movie and have a third by Wednesday. You can't match that speed with Netflix.
Recommendations are a joke, but use another online source to discover new movies and you'll be fine. Intelliflix should also be part of the discussion. I've used them as well and they are starting to come around. For a cheap alternative, they're not bad. Not nearly as quick, but usually a 3 day turnaround which is fine if you join the 2-at-a-time or 3-at-a-time club. AND. . . it's much cheaper than Netflix or Blockbuster.
I DON'T want "far more movies at the end of the month" if they are not good movies. Didn't you flaming diggers understand the article?
If Blockbuster doesn't have good movies to offer in the store, what good is a damn free rental? And second, if they don't have the movies I want available online, then what good is the service altogether? You guys keep coming back with "I have 9 dvd's in my hand, how about the netflix discs in YOUR hand?" 9 DVD's of what, exactly?
Movie watching is not about quantity, it's about quality if I'm not mistaken.
And second, I was told by a Blockbuster employee that they ship from stores, and guess what? THEY DO. The warehouses augment the rare movies that are shipped from the store.
And for the record, Blockbuster does edit movies. The version of Requiem for a Dream that they stock is edited for content, and same with the movie Audition. Quit denying it.
My wife and I really enjoyed Netflix two years ago when we lived in our apartment, so we decided to try it again last month. In the three weeks that we used it, we checked out 9 titles. Three of them arrived with only the top part of the sleeve (no discs - in fact, in our first batch of rentals, two were like this), one arrived broken, and another showed up but would not play. So we canceled and got BB instead. The turnaround for Netflix was a bit quicker, but with BBs in-store returns it doesn't really matter. Plus, our location seems to have a pretty good selection. No complaints here, Blockbuster wins hands down. As a bonus, the employees at our location are really nice.
I have used both services recently, and, like the reviewer, I canceled my Blockbuster account for basically the same reasons. He's absolutely right about both the algorithm and the browsing method that Blockbuster's website uses - They are horrible. Netflix's recommendation algorithm and website layout, however, are wonderful. I rated about 60 movies, and their algorithm consistently returns movies that I am interested in seeing. Browsing their website is also a breeze. I will continue to use Netflix's service in the forseeable future, and I will probably buy some of their stock.
Different strokes for different folks we will all have our differences. I too have been screwed by Blockbuster. Once I didn't even get the movie that they stated they sent out, do you know how much it cost me? Over $20. For a movie I did not receive!!! I transfered over to Netflix and I couldn't be happier. The first movie that I put in my que was listed as a "short wait" yet when I went to my mailbox (the very next day) sure enough it was in there. They are faster then Blockbuster and as far as being able to go into the store BIG DEAL. That is why I signed up for a ONLINE service. That way I don't have to deal with the no movie selection, crap that blockbuster has.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the throttling that NetFlix does to high volume renters. I used to subscribe to NetFlix, and returned their movies almost the next day after I received them. After a while, they would never send out any movies for a few days, leaving me without a movie. Many times popular new releases would be LONG WAIT even after a few weeks. With Blockbuster, I can just walk in and rent a new release which are usually available a week later or if I go in early in the week and not wait until Friday or the weekend. Plus you never mentioned that advantage that Blockbuster gives you a free VIDEO GAME rental once a month.
All of you have way too much time on your hands to rant on and on about something so ridiculous. Do something great with your life.
i completely disagree with you. in fact, i was just telling my wife today how happy i am with BB (i know, the words shocked me as they were coming out of my mouth). i never thought i'd be happy with the company that pissed me off so many times, but they've really hit a home run with their total access service- not to mention free video game rentals(!). you've obviously exaggerated and just plain made up junk in your article. recommendation system? who cares? i talk to friends who like the same movies i do. shipping from stores? are you serious? what a ridiculous logistics idea. all i need to know is i put my obscure movies in my Q (que, i know) and the new releases that i want to see, i get from BB right away on the way home from work. oh, and i get to rent A NEW WII GAME EVERY MONTH. IT'S AWESOME.
idiot.
I have had Netflix for years and had BB for a few months since I got a special promotion. In my area the BB stores never have anything good in. Any new release worth a crap is always gone and there's no HD movies. The online service, at least here, is slow and took about 3 days to come. I guess the BBs around here just suck and there must not be a distro center near me.
As for Netflix: I love them, always have. I would say 90% of the time there's a 1 day delivery time and I never have had a problem with availability. I also don't see how people can say "Omg who uses recommendations?!!". Well, I do. If I rate movies as I watch them then a high percentage of the time I like what they recommend. Its a great way to see movies you've never heard of or that you thought you might not like.
So I can't say which is better for sure, but around here Netflix gives better service.
I have to say my experience was radically different from yours. In your case, I totally would have gone for Netflix, but for me, Blockbuster was the way to go. My Blockbuster store (in NJ) always has the new movies I want and there's only been 2 times where they didn't (they were the more rare ones but I got them eventually).
For me, the deal and convenience was all Blockbuster.
Ha. I bet they're going to hold the record for people signing up and cancelling in the same month! I did.
I wrote about it a couple of days ago over here:
http://almostlucid.com/?p=980
Your post was more detailed in describing their failures, and very accurate.
We have been using blockbuster for a year or 2 and have never had problems. Even if we loose the mailer or something they will send a new one with no hassle. Even out of the city we get our movies the next day, and it cheaper then netflix.
I was a member of Netflix once. I wasn't satisfied with their services. So, I canceled my membership. My bill arrived with a $20 charge on my account. I called and they said I never canceled. They said to try again plus credited my $20. Next month? Another $20 charge. They still said that I never canceled. The whole process repeated one more time with a total charge of $60 for a cancellation screw-up.
Oh, what the hell is "Amores perros". That sounds like something you're using as an excuse to say that Blockbuster sucks.
First of all, my thanks to pushyoudown for its brilliant insight. "Japanees Rape Cartoons" is now the name of my solo project.
"Oh, what the hell is "Amores perros". That sounds like something you're using as an excuse to say that Blockbuster sucks."
Cletus, if you're too lazy and/or empty-headed to look it up and git-r-done, it's easy to see why you're a devoted Blockbuster sucker. Besides, they've censored films and video box artwork for years. That alone should banish them to the "artistic cyanide" column.
RIP Video Out-Takes in Redondo!
I disagree. Blockbuster Total Access has been AMAZING for me! I have been with them for well over a year and I haven't had one problem!
When I first signed with BB online they skipped the first 6 movies in my queue and picked things out of the middle of the list. Now I have one at the top of my list that never seems to be used as the next shipment. And yes, these all say available.
Going back to Netflix at the end of the month. Just want to use my free game rental.
Those of you complaining that Netflix throttles shipments are probably not even watching the excessive number of movies you are receiving each month. You're making illegal copies and sending the movies right back.
I know a guy who joined Netflix, rented 5 DVDs at a time, copied them, and sent them right back the next day, then did it over and over. It wasn't long before he noticed a delay in receiving future shipments, and got fed up and canceled his Netflix account.
Aside from the cost of delivering the service, Netflix also incurs a 78 cent postage expense for each movie they ship to you with pre-paid return envelope so it is easy to see how a "power user" might start costing Netflix more than they receive from this user in membership fees.
Don't assume that because Blockbuster is not perceived to be throttling users that they never will. Blockbuster's online service is in the startup phase and is willing to operate in the red to gain market share. They can't keep it up forever. At some point, they will have to make life difficult for customers who abuse the service if they intend to stay in business. One way they could accomplish this would be to require abusers to return DVDs to the nearest store. Abusers returning 5 DVDs they just rented the day before will be embarrassed and guilt-ridden when forced to explain to a store employee how they managed to watch 22 episodes of "Desperate Housewives" overnight!
BBI may suck for you, but you are not the average consumer. Average consumer doesnt watch 5 movies a week, cringing for some fairly obscure (by middle america standards) flick; average consumer is married with kids, run ragged, and may watch 2 or 3 movies a MONTH. Average consumer (as validated by weekly box office top grossing figures) has no discriminating taste whatsoever. Average consumer is more than happy to get "Snakes On A Plane" or "Talledega Nights", and if it isnt available they will happily settle for "Ghost".
Average consumer makes up 80% + of the market, and Total Access is just fine by them, trust me. Speaking from a purely business point of view, you are a liability to BBI and Total Access; I am sure they would RATHER see you go back to NetFlix, because you cost too much $$ to serve. Dont think that this isn't all very planned and very intentional.
Long BBI. Very long.
Did Blockbuster pay a bunch of people to reply to savagely defend their shitty business practice? I was a customer of Blockbuster for ten years. Now I feel like the shackles have been taken off. Netflix turnaround: 2 days at most. My cost averages $1.80 per rental a month with them. I don't get accused of not returning movies & games I have never rented and charged an absurd fee.
You Blockbuster warriors uphold the sanctity of mediocrity. If you like middle-of-the-road, barely passable service, you probably defend the quality of McDonald's, and I'm willing to bet that most of you BB folks love Olive Garden, too. And they suck as well. You're just used to it, and it's safe. Which is o.k. But stop attacking the guy that says BB sucks, because for him, it does--and for the most part--deep down-- you know you want more than they offer, and you know that they could do a lot better. Netflix stands to improve also. But jeez, the way some of you staunchly defend such a second-rate store, you'd think the person was insulting your religion.
Did Blockbuster pay a bunch of people to reply to savagely defend their shitty business practice? I was a customer of Blockbuster for ten years. Now I feel like the shackles have been taken off. Netflix turnaround: 2 days at most. My cost averages $1.80 per rental a month with them. I don't get accused of not returning movies & games I have never rented and charged an absurd fee.
You Blockbuster warriors uphold the sanctity of mediocrity. If you like middle-of-the-road, barely passable service, you probably defend the quality of McDonald's, and I'm willing to bet that most of you BB folks love Olive Garden, too. And they suck as well. You're just used to it, and it's safe. Which is o.k. But stop attacking the guy that says BB sucks, because for him, it does--and for the most part--deep down-- you know you want more than they offer, and you know that they could do a lot better. Netflix stands to improve also. But jeez, the way some of you staunchly defend such a second-rate store, you'd think the person was insulting your religion.
I just use Netflix and have always had a 1 day turnaround, at most 2 once in a while. I also never had a throttling problem. I'm on the 4/ month plan and I usually watch and return the movie the next day, they receive it the following day and ship out the next one with no delay. They deliver on Sat if you return the movie on a Thursday so it gets there in time. So maybe it all depends on where you are and what you need.
Amen to this! I have been a dedicated Netflix subscriber for the past several years.... and I hate Blockbuster. Whatever they do, they seem to screw it up. Remember no late fees? They are always a day late and a dollar short.
I think Rocket Video in Hollywood kicks both Blockbuster's and Netflix's ass.
Plus, they're locally owned!
BB is weak. They don't even allow u to use their own giftcards online. When I cancelled and even got a confirmation email, they kept sending me movies. I logged back in and the site said I hadn't cancelled!!
I don't know what's lamer, Blockbuster, or Blockbuster's childish "defenders" on this site. Name calling and misspelling "shoddy" (duh) don't make you smarter, just louder and lamer!
Jeez. What a pack of morons.
I disagree. I think Blockbuster Total Access is compelling for two reasons: more movies overall and weekend movie access.
Here's more:
http://consumerjimbo.blogspot.com/2007/01/blockbuster-back-in-game.html
Wow, my experience is completely the opposite. I was a member of Netflix. I was getting fewer and fewer movies, and in fact the top three items on my Netflix que started the month of December at the top of the list and ended there! Not one was shipped.
If you have a 20 minute yoga or self help dvd ths probably cost netflix $0.99 on your netflix que you can bet that will be what gets shipped. Wha tis worse is the longer you are a customer the worse they treat you. I was with netflix for two years, meaning I am apparently on the bottom of the list for decent dvd allocation according to whatever algorithm they developed.
We joined Blockbuster total access to compare and it is a WORLD of difference.
BTW, the two Blockbuster stores in my neighborhood both have amores perros!
The review sounds a bit "shilly" to me. It has factual mistakes as well. eg the idea Blockbuster ships its movies from stores -- no only rarely. poster never went to a store and then says they did. Oh, I see the review has been "fixed".
The number of faux-"comments" here by Blockbuster shareholders is insane.
I was enjoying the free Blockbuster Online subscription for a couple of days, until I noticed that every time I returned a movie directly to the store--which is supposed to "immediately be reported as received and automatically open up a free queue spot, while sending the next movie on queue"--this never happened. The queue opened up one or two days later, which is what would had happened if I had sent it through the mail. That just pissed me off.
I've been aggravated by the deteriorating quality of service by Netflix.
So when I saw the Blockbuster Total Access thing, I signed up.
I've had the service for about 5 weeks now, and I've had more problems with these 5 weeks with Blockbuster, than I've had in over 3 years with Netflix.
Not only have movies shown a wait time, most of the time, the movies at the top of my queue are not sent even when they're marked "Available"!!
They have sent me movies out of order 4 times now. 3 times with series - the earlier dvds also marked "Available" (no reason they shouldn't have been sent). And once with a movie & a sequel - Both movies were practically at the bottom of my queue of about 30 dvds, and the second one was sent, even though there were SIX movies, showing "Available", higher in the queue, including the earlier movie!!!
One movie that I added to my queue, I was sent an entirely different movie, that had the same name. But it wasn't that the dvd was wrong or marked wrong, the sleeve was also clearly marked. It was just the wrong movie. (Don't they have numbers to track these things?) Worse, the movie they sent me was not even listed on the Blockbuster site as a movie available to rent!!!
I've had to report 6 dvds as damaged. Two were unwatchable, the others I missed whole chapters on the dvd, or a whole episode (in the case of a tv series dvd). All but maybe 2 dvds I've gotten from them have been damaged in some way (skipping or distorting or stopping during playing).
When I've looked at them, I could see they were heavily scratched, every dvd they've sent.
This is all in the space of 5 weeks.
Lots of the series are not labeled correctly or clearly on the web site.
Many of the movies don't have any description at all.
And lots of the movies that do have description, have plot SPOILERS in the descriptions. (Like blow by blow of what happens in the story with details!)
It's UNBELIEVABLE.
The web site... They are terrible, including ones I'd already rated, or ones that were already in my queue, and ones that I'd already marked "don't show me this". And the rest, I'm not interested in most of them.
But I don't even care about the recommendations so much.
The web site itself is a monster on both my home computer and my computer at work!! Takes forever to do anything, and it's confusing.
And though they claim the web site is refreshed every hour, I find that hard to believe from my experiences with it, it's about 2 days out of date, at any given time. (Might explain why movies aren't available that are marked available. And why it takes 2 days for my next movie to be sent after I return it to the store.)
My local Blockbuster store isn't horrible, for a small corner store. But yeah, often there's bundles of copies of the Steven Segal movie, whereas the movies I want to see, there's one copy, and it's checked out forever, never to return.
I just thinking at this point that in-store rentals, even twice the movies, isn't worth the aggravation.
The out of order thing is a HUGE issue.
This isn't a big problem with Netflix. Even if something's not available, they'll hold back the later ones too.
Netflix pulls some crap deliberately, but it seems like Blockbuster is completely incompetent.
To have all these problems in 5 short weeks?
Actually, it's been in 3 weeks. Things were okay during the trial period, except for a damaged dvd.
I've had the service for about 5 weeks now, and I've had more problems with these 5 weeks with Blockbuster, than I've had in over 3 years with Netflix.
Not only have movies shown a wait time, most of the time, the movies at the top of my queue are not sent even when they're marked "Available"!!
They have sent me movies out of order 4 times now. 3 times with series - the earlier dvds also marked "Available" (no reason they shouldn't have been sent). And once with a movie & a sequel - Both movies were practically at the bottom of my queue of about 30 dvds, and the second one was sent, even though there were SIX movies, showing "Available", higher in the queue, including the earlier movie!!!
One movie that I added to my queue, I was sent an entirely different movie, that had the same name. But it wasn't that the dvd was wrong or marked wrong, the sleeve was also clearly marked. It was just the wrong movie. (Don't they have numbers to track these things?) Worse, the movie they sent me was not even listed on the Blockbuster site as a movie available to rent!!!
I've had to report 6 dvds as damaged. Two were unwatchable, the others I missed whole chapters on the dvd, or a whole episode (in the case of a tv series dvd). All but maybe 2 dvds I've gotten from them have been damaged in some way (skipping or distorting or stopping during playing).
When I've looked at them, I could see they were heavily scratched, every dvd they've sent.
This is all in the space of 5 weeks.
Lots of the series are not labeled correctly or clearly on the web site.
Many of the movies don't have any description at all.
And lots of the movies that do have description, have plot SPOILERS in the descriptions. (Like blow by blow of what happens in the story with details!)
It's UNBELIEVABLE.
The web site... They are terrible, including ones I'd already rated, or ones that were already in my queue, and ones that I'd already marked "don't show me this". And the rest, I'm not interested in most of them.
But I don't even care about the recommendations so much.
The web site itself is a monster on both my home computer and my computer at work!! Takes forever to do anything, and it's confusing.
And though they claim the web site is refreshed every hour, I find that hard to believe from my experiences with it, it's about 2 days out of date, at any given time. (Might explain why movies aren't available that are marked available. And why it takes 2 days for my next movie to be sent after I return it to the store.)
My local Blockbuster store isn't horrible, for a small corner store. But yeah, often there's bundles of copies of the Steven Segal movie, whereas the movies I want to see, there's one copy, and it's checked out forever, never to return.
You are totally right about blockbuster, and Ive noticed that their service has gotten increasingly worse. Anytime you complain about not getting your dvd's they say that you have to check and see whether or not those dvd's are available. Most of my dvd's picks are always listed as available, and blockbuster still refuses to send them out. I would switch to netflix, but ive heard horror stories about them accusing people of not returning dvd's and then charging them for said dvd's and eventually cancelling their account.
Netflix ads are to the Internet what cigarette butts are to the sidewalks and highways.
Everybody is bound to have good and bad experiences. I have only used blockbuster online so far. In the 5 months I have used them all my moves in my queue went from available to long wait. So with that said I can't help but feel like they're rental program does suck. In the last 30 days none of my movies in my top 40 have been shipped. Instead they just go to the bottom and send me whatever they want which is fucking bullshit!!! Anyway if any of you want the hole story here is the E-mail I sent blockbuster online. Yes I was pissed off when I wrote them sorry for the caps!!!
__________________________________________________
HELLO,
I HAVE BECOME VERY FRUSTRATED WITH YOUR RENTAL PROGRAM. IF YOU NOTICE IN MY Queue I HAVE ALLOT OF MOVIES. THE ONES I WISH TO VIEW THE MOST ARE IN MY TOP 40 Queue. NOW HERE IS THE PROBLEM. TOO MANY MOVIES HAVE A WAITING PERIOD. OKAY FINE I UNDERSTAND THAT BUT IN A 5 MONTHS TIME THE WAITING IS STILL WAITING!!! IN OTHER WORDS I HAVE YET TO GET ANY OF THE MOVIES I REALLY WISH TO VIEW! THIS IS GROWING PAIN AND I DON'T SEE ANY CHANGES COMING. I DO BELIEVE THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS USING YOUR PROGRAM HAVE EXCEEDED THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF DVDS YOUR PROGRAM HAS AVAILABLE. WHICH IS ULTIMATELY NOT MY PROBLEM.
FOR EXAMPLE WHY IS IT THAT YOU HAVE MOVIES IN MY TOP Queue AVAILABLE BUT WEEK AFTER WEEK YOU WON'T SEND THEM TO ME!??? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? WHY DON'T YOU SHIP??? I'M UNDER THE IMPRESSION ALL THOSE MOVIES IN MY Queue WITH LONG WAIT SHORT WAIT VERY LONG WAIT YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE. NOTHING MORE THEN A MARKETING PLOY TO KEEP CUSTOMERS INTERESTED. WELL MY PATIENTS IS NEAR ZERO. EITHER START SENDING ME THE DVDS OR FAREWELL. IF YOU CAN'T BACK UP YOUR RENTAL PROGRAM THEN ALL YOU FOLKS ARE DOING IS DEFRAUDING & RIPPING OFF YOUR CUSTOMERS.
ON A SIDE NOTE I SPOKE PRIVATELY WITH 2 EMPLOYEES AT THE STORE I RENT. THEY TOLD ME YOUR RENTAL PROGRAM SUCKS?! NOW ISN'T THAT A NICE THING TO SAY??? YOUR OWN EMPLOYEES MADE COMMENTS LIKE THIS. "THEY TAKE FOREVER TO SEND MOVIES" "THEY LIE AND DON'T HAVE THE MOVIES THEY CLAIM TO HAVE" "THEY FORCE US TO ENCOURAGE CUSTOMERS TO JOIN THE PROGRAM" " WE GET IN TROUBLE IF WE DON'T SIGN AN X AMOUNT OF CUSTOMERS TO THE PROGRAM" "THE PROGRAM IS A SCAM" NOW ISN'T IT AMAZING I STILL RENT ON HERE AFTER COMMENTS LIKE THAT FROM BLOCKBUSTER EMPLOYEES? PLEASE ANSWER BACK AND DO NOT SEND ME A GENERIC E-MAIL!
THANKS FOR READING!!!
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No they never replied. Ain't that something???
Netflix is a shit company and going to fall, and blockbuster is a shit company and is going to fall.
I just cancelled BLOCKBUSTER. Like the first guy said, they didn't give me a chance to explain why I had cancelled. They advertised they would mail two new movies as soon as they got the old ones.No deal! This only happened at the beginning of my subscription. I sometimes had to wait a whole week. Right now I switched to Nextflix. If it doesn't work out the way I expect I cancel. As simple as that.
We were with blockbuster for 7 months... We were doing the unlimited exchanges but they just recently stopped us from doing that!! they changed our plan without telling us, so one day we were in the store and were trying to rent a movie and they told us we had exceeded our limit (of 3 movies)...3.. what a low number, going from unlimited to 3...
I own a Playstation 3, and a HDTV.. so of course we wanted blu-ray, and out of the 48 blu-ray movies in our queue when we canceled our account today, 6 out of 48 showed Available... the rest of the list says "short wait"... with netflix it currently says that 40 / 45 movies are currently available...
We signed up late last night, and are supposed to recieve our first dvds in the mail tomorrow from netflix. Blockbuster rep on the phone told me that she couldnt give me a refund that her company didnt do that and it wasnt in the policy, but working for Dell in tech support as a phone rep, i know thats a bunch of crock, so i kept pressuring them and asked for a manager, and got my way. Woohoo refund, now we are free from the ugly beast that is BB.
Also i was mad about returning the movies to the store for PS3 games.. at first they let me do it, then they changed it to 2 dollars off... grr.. i thought that was retarded :(..
Hurray for netflix and the online viewing ability, because this post was so correct, we would go to the store at blockbuster, and everything was out.. because unlike that one poster, that went at like 7am on tuesday morning, we go when normal people go.. thurs, fri, sat night around 6-7pm.. good luck finding any movie..