I imagine that blockbuster USA is very different from BB UK. Here in the UK the online rental is a joke...started of OK 6 months ago and is now terrible.
- takes them 5 days to acknowledge you return a movie
- another 5 days to send the next one out
- my top 50 dvds have been sitting on the list for over 4 months as "temporarily unavailable"
- they never answer customer emails
- often send wrong dvds or badly damaged (scratched) titles

stay away from them if you are in the UK...they are poison !!!

Good! F'em..

I remember going to the VERY FIRST Blockbuster back in '86 when it opened off Sunrise Blvd., in Ft. Lauderdale.

Wayne Huizenga purchased the company in 1989 before selling it to Viacom in '94. He has owned the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers and currently owns the Miami Dolphins. At one point, Huizenga was the first person to own three major-league sports franchises at once.

So.. I really don't feel sorry for Viacom and it's losses due to unreasonably high rates and surcharges for late fees.

They started small and they'll end small... I love irony.

It's just a matter of time before a sleeping giant awakens and pummels Wal-mart into the ground. I live for that day.

Blockbusted

@whoozhe

Quote:

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Blockbusted

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I couldn't have said it better... :)

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I live about 30 miles from nearest rental place so i do on line rentals i was doing both netflex 5 out at a time and bb 3 at a time i kept bb 2 months it sucked . netflex i got 7-8 movies a week block busters i was lucky to get them 2 a week i had the service 2 months and counting the free time had 17 movies also the postlady at the post office showed me what was wrong block busters stick a code on there envelopes its a code with your zip and stuff a line at the bottom and it goes in a circle comes to you you send it back it comes back again then your post office sends it back i was finally marking a line threw it and that help them recceive them faster also they said not enough avalable in my q and i kept 40 and most was avaliable they also never go down your q like netflex i no which ones im getting from net flex in a glance cause they go down the line. netflex in the 15 months i been with them had one cracked disc that is it..

Now that i have BB. It's not that bad. ONly one day later than nerflix. But i'm a netflix guy. anyway i'm glad that netflix have comption. cause the price will be outrages if there was no bb. my 2cent

If blockbuster wasnt such a rip off to rent at maybe i would still go there. Its like $5 to rent a game there when i can rent one for about $2 at a smaller less established place called family video. You can also rent movies at family video for around 1 or 2 dollars compared to 3 or 4 at blockbuster. Then blockbuster has the nerve to sell previously viewed dvds that they rented out god knows how many times. And do they sell it for cheap, no they sell it for like $10 when u can get the same movie BRAND NEW for like $15. I feel so bad for blockbuster losing $50 million profit. NOT

i go to family video sometimes to on weekdays tue,wed,thur, you rent a new release for 2.00 or 2.50 and get a dollar movie free works for me.)

I've had both services going on about a year now. I've really had no problems with either of them. Blockbuster has a little faster turnaround for me because the nearest location is closer than Netflix. The only realy problem I have with BB is that they don't have near enough compies of some of the titles. I've had five OLDER (1998-2000) movies in my queue for 6 months and they are still on "short wait" I just recently removed them from BB and put them at the top of my Netfilx list. Now I've already seen and returned them. Netflix is still a better deal for me.

As for damaged discs, I've had about the same number of bad ones from both. So there's no difference there for me.

Just found this thread. Lots of interesting posts and opinions. I recently sent an informal email to the BlockBuster stockholders/investment website "Contact Us" link. I sent it there because, after searching, I couldn't find a BB link anywhere which allowed me to send an email to corporate officers who actually run the bloody company! (don't call us, we'll call you; we're too busy loosing money right now)

Online rentals is a newish, novel idea and netflix hasn't had the time to "bloat-out" yet. This too will pass. In the end I believe people would rather visit a storefront. But I've been over to the Netflix Los Gatos, CA headquarters and they ARE running much leaner than BlockBuster. So they appear more successful to investors. They invest more in inventory and execution of function than in Corporate structure and internal comfort.

Anyone seen the amount of revenue generated monthly by Blockbuster?!!! If they are not reinvesting the revenues in a way that grows the company then they must just be spending the revenues on internal comfort & saleries for their suits, fancy offices and perks, wild expensive "dreamscape" marketing plans ... when all they really need is more inventory and a website that better directs people to their stores and (again) INVENTORY investment to please the renters once they arrive at the store. Typical, over-bloated attitude that crashes empires.

This is not just an American business attitude, any large international company can fall victim to a corporate staff who think more of them selves than the well-being of the company. Legally, a Corporation is a person; so treat and nurture it like a person's parent.

Best regards,
Whisperer

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Following is a paste of that email:

For lack of any other obvious link to provide feedback to the Blockbuster orgainization, I am sending this to you. Please forward this email to the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Blockbuster.

You announced a $57M loss in the second quarter. Analysts say it is largely due to the company's "no late fees" policy and that you can't compete with online rentals.

Baloney! You are a great company, you've just fallen into a static, comfortable corporate methodology that could become your quicksand ... quarter by quarter. I believe the people who are making the important decisions inside BB don't really love movies. But you ARE in the movie business. You should require your suits to prove that their enthusiasm for movie-based entertainment before hiring them. Hire older people to mix with the young hotshots. Create a movie loving diversity that will pick up the energy level in an effort to reach a critical mass of rebirth. You need an internal "Pumping-Up"! Cut deadwood ... stockholders like this. Spend that money on inventory. And you need more creative thought. Freshen the design of your logo. Use a new eye-catching shade of blue in your stores.

And, I say again, you need to spend your money were it is needed ... DVD movie inventory. BB stores have, mostly, the bland, safe choices. Make deals with the major studios for non-retail packaging, plain grey DVD disks if necessary to afford more inventory for reasonable cost. You have to provide the multi-disk "Special Editions". In other words you have too little to offer in selection and you are not keeping up with special re-releases of original "vanilla" movie releases. Movies are hot! Get SuperBit versions. Get DTS versions. Movie lovers will come into a BB store because it provides HOT!

You own the perfect business: There IS no agegroup segment ... all ages were raised on and movies. Americans remember moments in their lives, concepts of beauty, morality, preferences, excitments and courage based on movies that they have seen. Young people will rent just as many Special Extended Edition Johnny Depp movies with DTS sound as babyboomers will rent Director's Cut, 2-Disk Edition Grace Kelly movies in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. ...but you've got to have the movies ... and the hot. That's what makes people of all ages get in their cars and drive to blockbuster.

The reason why the bulk of my rentals come from netflix is because they DO HAVE the movies! They could do better but your stores only provide the "safe" movie choices for rent based upon some suit's charts and graphs and cost analysis feasibility reports. There is no diversity or variety in your stores. You stock only a fraction of the movies you should be providing to DVD renters.

True, your online service has more choice but:

1. BB's advantage is that we can just run down to the corner BB store and return to our homes with movies ... now ... not when the mail arrives. We get out of the house and mingle, in the store's aisles, with a broad, diverse cross section of people. But you are unwilling to invest in the inventory that attracts and every store has the same, uniform movie catagory shelves. Let your store managers order their own movies instead of ordering package #3. Invest heavily in older movie Favorites. New releases are fine but don't forget that Hollywood is having trouble selling tickets to newer movies because they are over-calculated, special effect dependent, no-risk bland and predictable rehash remakes with L.A. children playing the parts of seasoned adults. Let your managers create their own community's Favorite individual catagories like westerns, gothic horror, romance, classic drama, period drama, mystery, Hitchcock, film noir, bible stories etc. ... Instead of uniform categories enforced by corporate-suit-robots who don't even like movies and who's motivation is control and stiffleing of a local store manager's creativity or local community enthusiasms. Somehow, people like this always take root and flourish in large corporations. Customers would visit multiple BB stores because one might be better in the classics but another has a great Special Edition new release action section etc. Put back some sizzle and individuality, Americans are a free thinking people who want to discover what a BB store has to offer. Create a managers-only website-forum where store managers can share their successes and ideas. Creativity and unpredictability is exciting; "normal" status quo and uniform is boring. American movie lovers will respond. That's what I mean by hot; that's what sizzles ... it's an environment, not some career-making marketing plan.

2. Your online service only provides a 3-out at a time program. I can blast through 3 measely movies in one afternoon. I live in San Jose; you ship from Sacremento ... two days to reach my house ... two days to return ... a day or more for you to process my next shipment. I get 3 crumby movies in 5-6 day period! Not good! I can get 8 movies every 3 days from netflix because they ship out of Los Gatos. Actually, that's still not enough; so I pay for two netflix memberships. Why not just expand your website into a massive database of all movies ever made. Knock IMDb right out of the picture! Even if a movie has never been released on DVD, the number of "hits" on a title's page would help the movie studios decide which pictures to release on DVD. And such an undertaking would "prove" to the public, Blockbuster's true corporate purpose: Enthusiasm for, and love and enrichment of movie entertainment.

I suggest you either dump BB's online service or expand your shipping center locations. I prefer dumping online services in favor of expanding inventory in your stores. The staff and management at both your Santa Clara (El Camino & Bowers) and Mountanview (Grant Rd) stores made my visits fun.

There are others like me. People crazy to watch rented movies. We play movies in the background like other people play music. We buy expensive home entertainment centers. We seldom go to movie theatres because they are too expensive in admission price, snack price and parking fees. Just a big, fat marketing trap. In our own livingrooms, we can control the picture quality, surround-sound separation, volume and we have a pause button instead of being hustled out of a theatre in X.X minutes. We are the cu$tomer base Blockbuster needs to $urvive. But your limited selection limits our participation ... you had us once, but you haven't got us now. Bring us back! Cut back on your expensive, "don't care about movies" suits and invest your money in inventory!

I want to walk into your store and rent 10 DVDs on my gold card membership and come back in two days and rent 10 more. But your selection is TOO limited. Open SuperStores or, if the real estate proves too expensive, get better shelving with hinged flip-binder holders for packing more inventory into your present size stores.

Don't forget ... You are in the movie busness. So provide us with movies ... tens of thousands of movies! You've got to make a hot, sizzling market push to get back the American tradition of the video rental store.

Best regards and forgive the informal nature of this communication,
Eric Furrer
Blockbuster Rewards Gold Card Member

PS: Look me up. See my rental record since I joined you. You ran out of movies for me to watch!
PPS: May I also suggest that $4 per movie for 7 days is a false market value. Let me be blunt, it's too much bloody money! Add another "plan" that allows for $2 per movie and we don't need 7 days, only 1 or 2 days. The "pay for one; get one free" gold card terms was the only reason I kept renting "Favorites" from BB. You need the same plan for New Releases. Call it the Platinum Membership.

Don't think it's as much the fee(restock) itself, rather the way they come across when presenting it to you- like your some kinda dumb @ss.

Netflix is the only way to go, without question. Yea, once in a while we'll get one that won't play(scratched), receive the wrong one, but over the many years we've been with them that's happened only a few times. Get ours next day and are received next day after mailed. Have even lost one- sent it back via mail and they claim it didn't arrive, they didn't charge us a thing.

When you(as in BB & nflx) have a queue to put your movie list in, give you the option to put them in the order you want, you should get them that way. Nflx does that without fail, BB??? N O T !!!!! How can you put a product in place(with options) and then not feel responsible when it doesn't perform as advertised. I D I O T S ! ! !

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When I first decided to get an online movie rental service. I pulled bb and netflix up side by side and chosose bb based on what I believed to be my advantage. I agree, that, how they select from the queue is a mystery, however, I get all the movies I can watch and return, plus the two in store ones. So far, I'm happy with bb. Why anyone would keep a movie long enough to even require a restocking fee is beyond me?

My .02

It seems from what I am reading that we have possible legal action against BB. Here is my brief stay with BB:

1. When I first signed up I got 3 movies at a time plus 2 store rentals.
2. They were very eager to please. Shipments were real fast, usually 2 day turnaround, i.e, I mail, 1 day, they mail, arrives 1 day later.
3. Many titles began to be listed as a few days wait as opposed to available now every single time (in the beginning).
4."Long wait" began appearing.
5. The titles I order on not in demand, trust me, I usually order music dvd, if it shows short wait, I don't order it, if it shows "available now" I order it (add to my queue) then it gets renamed short wait)
6. I was paying a special rate through some marketing code of Ticketmaster, (who now deals with netflix) for 3 movies a time , & 2 store rentals. Price fixed at 9.99 a month for one year. That was the deal, guess what, we don't need to be lawyers (although I bet lawyerws would like to hear about this) to know we had a one year contract that they breached.
7. After about 4 months, they stopped sending movies; I called and said WTF? They told me my 9.99 fee was now only good for there 1 movie at time plan. (I was holding on to one movie for a friend) The kicker is, they bumbed my monthly payment up to about 16.15 (with taxes and garbage) per month.
8. What happened to 9.99?
9. What happened to my three at a time. I'm just guessing here people, but did they warn you? We all know we can't find contracts like these with big ass companies, but guess what? Weren't you always warned that you were about to be screwed from other companies? That's the law they broke. It's called DISCLOSURE and they failed to do it.

I hate attorneys, and it's unlikely any attorney will take the case, b/c no one really died or lost an arm in this deal. I only know a little bit about the law b3ecuase I worked in a` CPA practice who shared space with an attorney. That guy would have taken the case, but he would have asked us tp pay the costs first. Go find a good rich atty, who is willing to pay the costs of the law suit. That means`s/he knows can win this case, and make a tidy profit.

10. I'm switching to Netflix tonight, as I already told BB to FO last week. I hope netflix has a lot of Music DVDs. You know, bands in concert. U2 Live at Red Rocks. Plus I'm a die hard Stones fan and I'vew b een trying to get "let's`spend the night together" DVD (Stones) BB never had it.

11. Anybody have or seen a DVD by Adam Sandler where he was in Concert, it was like half music concert, and half comedy...lots of beach bqalls being kicked around. Anyone know of it? I can't even buy it from Amazon. It's Like gone.

12. Also looking for the Best of the Alarm. The only one I have is the story of the alarm. That's just vthe lead singer, not the band.

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Netflix is faster and has a better selection...BUT...if your movies are delayed or lost in the mail they acuse you of stealing it/them and drop you as a customer! AND...when the movie they acuse you of stealing turns up they don't say so much as a "sorry about that" or anything.

BB is slower, and has a few other faults, but they "somewhat" make up for it by giving you 2 "in-store" rentals as well as a few other things.

I wish someone would start up a third, and better online service.

With Blockbuster the lag is in sending out movies once they've received what you sent back, with Netflix it's getting them checked in once you've sent them back. Either way, it's been my experience that I haven't been able to turn over more than one "set" a week with either service. Set being defined as the maximum number of movies your rental agreement is for. I've even sent the whole set back the same day I got them and still didn't get the next set till the following week.
I too have noticed that some of the oldest titles, not something that every Tom, Dick, and Harry would be looking for are on a perpetual wait with Blockbuster. One such movie that comes to mind is "The Legend of 1900" It sat at the top of my Blockbuster queue for well over a month before I opened a Netflix account and got it as one of the first movies they sent in a couple of days. Not exactly what you would call a high demand movie for sure. I've also run into a situation where Blockbuster took a selection off my queue after it was on there for months. All I can assume is that they only had one copy of the movie and it got damaged before my turn came up to get it. That particular one, Netflix doesn't have either.
On the subject of late fees versus restocking fees, it doesn't matter what you call it. To be realistic about it, they have to have some incentive for people to return rentals or they'd never get them back.. with mail order it's simple. If you don't send it back you don't get any more till you do. But you can't do that with the storefront operation so what are they supposed to do?
I don't like the Netflix policy of having to wait for a week to report a movie as lost either. I think Blockbuster's policy of sending out a replacement as soon as you report it missing is much better. I've gotten an email that I wasn't happy about from Blockbuster questioning the number of lost and broken DVDs I've reported but there's no question that the broken ones were broken..in half as a matter of fact and I sent them back to them the same way I got them. Of the several movies I've reported as MIA, a couple of them did turn up in my mailbox... more than a week later and I sent them right back as well. After the first movie I reported to Netflix as not having received they jumped right on me about it.. got an email right after they sent the next ones out asking if I got them and when.
I think I would like to see a third online rental option as well that incorporates the best of both Blockbuster and Netflix, but I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

The whole issue will soon become irrelevant.
When ADSL2+ or faster connections become the norm you can bet yer boots the major studios will bypass the retailer and stream movies on demand to the consumer.
I even reckon that the type of movie made will also change to meet this future demand with production designed to suit the home more than the theatre.
Independent movie productions will increase greatly as the distribution cost will be minimal.
This change could easily be pushed into reality by social issues and personal security concerns.
Unfortunately the owners of Video stores may end up ducks without water.

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moocowgal:
I know what you mean about movies in transit, to & fro, going walkabout and then sometimes reappearing. I don't know what Blockbuster DVD mailers look like but the Netflix mailer's adheasive could easily be opened and closed up again and appear to have never been tampered with. Could someone be watching your movies and then re-mailing them days later? Who would best be in a position to take a little sampling of movies for their viewing pleasure? Someone on the night shift perhaps(?) ... it's not really stealing if the most of the movies get returned ...eventually ... most of the time... is it ... ?

whoozhe:
I rent alot of movies. But I want to own a movie I like. If I can't buy it and put it on my shelf, I will be real unhappy. I am hoping streaming movies will be another way to see a movie in addition to disk availability.

Best regards,
Whisperer

I agree, there is that possibility that movies are being borrowed or even taken permanenly out of the mail system. I have had a movie dissapear then reappear.

The film industry should be using technology to keep their movies from being stolen rather than harassing the public about sharing. the money they spend on greedy politicians to impose dumb behind laws could be better spent to upgrade their technology in protecting their product.

thanks!

Nothing is`free? It's free for me to tell you that you are one biased MF. Business is a dog eat dog world, and BB is`wearing milkbone underware. It's also free to steal a joke from Norm on Cheers. DVDShrink WAS free :-(

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Bottomline...no late fees when returned when due!

plus.. no late fees when you sign-up for monthly rate.

To expand on that, I think pretty much putting "things" into "things"
is pretty much over. I'm not an Ipod fan, but I hear they hold up to 60 gigs of storage on one little memory card? My niece and nephew do not even know what a CD is. (ages 8 and 10) They don't know how to stick a cd into a PC and install software. I ask them where they get the install files from, "we download them, btw, Uncle Nihz, what is that thingy on the front of your computer." He points to my floppy drive. Why even tell him.

This is where I get confused though. Tivo, and the like, have a built in HD, so essentially movies could be sent to your device via sattelite, cable, whatever.(Not sticking "things into things," and we only have one good reason to that :-)"..) I'm not real clear on these memory cards though. Have we seen the end of HDD's too? I mean if you can get 10 DVD's on a 60 gig memory card, there goes DVD's and their horrid sensibility. I mean, a finger smudge will render a DVD inoperable. Come on we've all done it, burned a new DVD, "stuck it in their," it doesn't work b/c we failed to simply clean it. Those problems I hate with a passion. Any movement towards memory cards replacing DVD'S? and HDD'S?

Quote:

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The whole issue will soon become irrelevant.
When ADSL2+ or faster connections become the norm you can bet yer boots the major studios will bypass the retailer and stream movies on demand to the consumer.
I even reckon that the type of movie made will also change to meet this future demand with production designed to suit the home more than the theatre.
Independent movie productions will increase greatly as the distribution cost will be minimal.
This change could easily be pushed into reality by social issues and personal security concerns.
Unfortunately the owners of Video stores may end up ducks without water.

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Nihilator..You nailed it..faster speeds mean bye bye to store and online rentals..the movie studios will stream directly to consumer.. Oh, bye bye movie theaters too..we will determine the future of the movie industry, not the courts.

Both mostly the same except that BB is slower to throttle and has games.

Here's an analysis by someone who obviously has too much time on their hands.


http://dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com/

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Well I just went to sign up for my free month at netflix courtesy of my special Ticketmaster discount, so I got 15 days free for 6 dollars more than they said. I know pretty much nobody reads those terms of service (By clicking here, you agree..." )Yeah kiss my ass, prove it was me who clicked anything. That really is a good defense if a judge actually held you to it. Anyways, here is what my 8 year old nephew agreed to when I told him the click the button:

Right to Terminate
We reserve the right to terminate or restrict your use of our service, without notice, for any or no reason whatsoever.

I'm not leaving anything out of that sction. That's exactly what it says LOL. Doesn't it seem like my nephew also wrote their rules? I'm not kidding, go look for yourself. It's not even legal jargon!

Claims of Copyright Infringement
It is the policy of Netflix to respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that content on the Netflix Web site constitutes a copyright infringement, please notify us of your concern by submitting a written notice to us at the following address:

Netflix, Inc.
970 University Avenue
Los Gatos, CA 95032
Attention: General Counsel

Your notice must be signed and contain the following:

(i) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
(ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
(iii) Identification of the material on the Netflix Web site that is claimed to be infringing, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and, if available, your e-mail address;
(v) A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
(vi) A statement that the above information is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are, or are authorized to act on behalf of, the owner of the copyright that is allegedly infringed.

Our copyright notice hotline is (408) 317-3990 and the email address is copyright@netflix.com. Please note, however, that in order for your notice to us to be effective under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, your notice must be in writing and contain the elements described above. We will not be able to respond to any customer service or other issues through this phone number or email address. For queries that are not related to copyright matters, please see other ways to contact us.

Okay tell me why that needs to be signed, but I don't need to sign when I EXPRESSLY agree to absolutely nothing. My cat walked across the keyboard you JO's.

Disputes
You and Netflix agree that the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and/or the California Superior Court for the County of Santa Clara shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute between you and Netflix relating in any way to the Netflix service or Web site or these Terms of Use. You and Netflix expressly and irrevocably consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in these courts.

Nope. That's even illegal. Yes, they can bind us to a state, but not a particular venue, by that I mean they can't just choose Santa Clara b/c it'ws convenient for them! I have to find out if they even have a lawyer. Trust me guys, I'm not a lawyer, don't work for one, hate em all, b/c of crap like this. I read it to see how each company takes more and more rights away from you because even they know you aren't going to read it. Once that is established, that they know no one reads the crap, they have no basis for any claim whatsoever.

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Could someone be watching your movies and then re-mailing them days later?

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Whisperer,
Anything's possible around here. lol It doesn't even have to happen at the post office. We have cluster boxes here that serve a number of homes in one place instead of everyone having a mailbox in front of their houses and it's not an uncommon occurrence to get all of someone else's mail as well as your own. Each compartment locks but if the mailman can't read it doesn't help. One time all I got of my Blockbuster rental was the portion of the envelope that was addressed to me, no envelope, no DVD, just the address portion. Took it to the post office and they looked at me like I was crazy. It was so neatly torn on the perforations that to me it seemed that there was no way it was an accident. They wouldn't even give me a form to fill out to report it.

It amazes me that with Netflix's envelopes being so much thinner and seemingly more likely to be damaged I've never gotten a mangled one. I've gotten Blockbuster movies in envelopes that looked as if they'd seen a war zone and come back. Maybe the thicker heavier envelopes get caught in the machinery more easily than the other ones do. I just don't know. lol