Blockbuster Total Access is just as big of a scam as Netflix is!

BurtonCCC · Mar 24, 2007

I've now used both of them and both of them slow down your shipping considerably when your free trial ends. I assume the reason for the Blockbuster slow down is the same as Netflix: if their computers determine that you're an "unprofitable customer," i.e. you watch and return movies so quickly that Blockbuster pays more for shipping all your DVDs than they receive from you in monthly fees, they slow down your shipping. They still ship first class, but they lie about when they receive the DVDs you ship back and then after they receive them, they still wait a day or two to ship them. The trick is, Blockbuster and Netflix WANT you to cancel your service, that means they'll only be losing a customer that they're losing money on. Therefore, I'm sticking with Blockbuster. Even with the slow shipping, I can still exchange the DVDs to the store, therefore allowing me to get twice as many DVDs as Netflix. I'm also planning on calling Blockbuster at least once a week to complain and then documenting my results in a report to the Better Business Bureau. I'll let you know how it goes.

Anybody else sick of these shady business tactics?

Daniel.

TheDance511 · Mar 24, 2007

BurtonCCC said:
I've now used both of them and both of them slow down your shipping considerably when your free trial ends. I assume the reason for the Blockbuster slow down is the same as Netflix: if their computers determine that you're an "unprofitable customer," i.e. you watch and return movies so quickly that Blockbuster pays more for shipping all your DVDs than they receive from you in monthly fees, they slow down your shipping. They still ship first class, but they lie about when they receive the DVDs you ship back and then after they receive them, they still wait a day or two to ship them. The trick is, Blockbuster and Netflix WANT you to cancel your service, that means they'll only be losing a customer that they're losing money on. Therefore, I'm sticking with Blockbuster. Even with the slow shipping, I can still exchange the DVDs to the store, therefore allowing me to get twice as many DVDs as Netflix. I'm also planning on calling Blockbuster at least once a week to complain and then documenting my results in a report to the Better Business Bureau. I'll let you know how it goes.

Anybody else sick of these shady business tactics?

Daniel.

YEAHHHH F*** BLOCK BUSTER F*** NETFLIKS

BurtonCCC · Mar 24, 2007

TheDance511 said:
YEAHHHH F*** BLOCK BUSTER F*** NETFLIKS

Haha, that's two MacRumors users. Would anybody like to get in on a letter to the Better Business Bureau with me?

Daniel.

shecky · Mar 24, 2007

so long as i put my netflix in the mail before 10AM, i get new ones in the mail 2 days later (eg; in the mail monday AM, new movies in my mailbox wednesday) - it works like this about 90% of the time, the other 10% i wait one more day. its been like this for a couple of years, regardless of how many movies i turn over in a month.

yg17 · Mar 24, 2007

Netflix has never, ever slowed down shipping on me. They always send out the same day I get it, and movies get scanned in one or 2 days after I drop it in the mailbox. I live 300 miles from the distribution center, so that's the reason it sometimes takes 2 days, because USPS is slow. I love Netflix.

halfprep455 · Mar 24, 2007

I hate both Blockbuster and Netflix! I got ripped off by both of them! I have decided to use Comcast On-Demand or download the movie or show off of iTunes and connect my iMac to my TV insted.

GoCubsGo · Mar 24, 2007

I left netflix because they throttled my rentals. With blockbuster I had similar issue but with their new total access it is better. I documented the issues with Netflix but when I was with them not only could I not call them, I couldn't even find an address. I had to use tools I use at work to find those f'ers and then when I got someone they acted like I broke some national security laws by locating them.

Suture · Mar 25, 2007

I tried to sign up for Blockbuster's service, but it would not accept any of my credit cards. When I contacted their customer service, they informed me I already had an account, which was a crock of $&*@. They really had no idea what they were talking about, and couldn't fathom the idea that their registration system would not accept any of my credit cards.

I finally gave up and tried Netflix. And yes, the movies came very quickly, and now, a month or two later... things are much slower. I used to put my DVDs in the mail, and receive notification that same day that they had received said DVD. Now it takes 2, and sometimes 3 days for them to acknowledge receiving them, and now mysteriously, the DVDs I want are not at my local hub, so they have to come from a couple hundred miles away from a hub in Kentucky.

I'm on the 2 DVD plan for $15/month. Unless it gets even worse, I'll probably stick with them since Blockbuster's technical support is a bunch of donkeys. Also, most of the DVDs skip of course.

someguy · Mar 25, 2007

I don't know what everyone is complaining about.

I've had the Blockbuster service for a few months now and every month goes as follows:

We have the $9.99 service which costs $10.59 each month. This gets us unlimited rentals, one at a time. There is usually a 2 day turnaround time for the movies to be shipped to us, which means if when we put a movie in the mailbox, we get another within 3 days. Now that we use the Total Access deal, we return the movies to the store and get a free rental there and receive another movie in the mail within 2 days consistantly.

Even if we don't watch the movies the same night we get them, we can do the above twice a week with no problems, three times a week if we watch them right away.

If we receive 2 movies in the mail per week, and return them at the store, we get 4 movies per week. 4 weeks per month gives us 16 movies per month, or 24 if we watch them immediately.

Let's use the lesser, more casual of the two numbers, 16. What is a normal DVD rental, $4? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll assume $4.

$4 x 16moves is $64 per month! Subtract my ~$11 and im saving ~$53 per month.

Oh, and I also get one free movie/game coupon per month, but we won't count that.

quagmire · Mar 25, 2007

The only issue I have with Netflix is occasionally they don't ship my movies in order. But, I have always had the same 3 day turnaround. Mail it one day, next day ships, receive it the next.

FleurDuMal · Mar 25, 2007

Well, I was with mymoviestream.com for a while. During the free trial, everything was great. Then everything got slower, and slower, and slower. Eventually it took them a week to return a movie to me, so I cancelled.

All these DVD rental things seem like a scam to me. The quicker iTunes gets DVD rentals and puts these cowboys out of business the better.

livingfortoday · Mar 25, 2007

Netflix customer service told me when I complained that since I had been returning movies too quickly, they were putting a one day delay on shipping new ones out. So I switched to Blockbuster. They started taking 3 - 4 days to get movies to me, and once I complained, they started coming quickly again. Now... another slow-down. It's not just the shipping times, either, from the moment I drop off a DVD at a store, it can take more than two days for another one on my list to ship.

I'm still sticking with them since it comes out to being a good deal in the end, but I do feel kinda shafted.

siurpeeman · Mar 25, 2007

netflix was always prompt with my deliveries. i only canceled because i felt like there was nothing left to watch. a few months later i got a too-cheap-to-pass-up blockbuster membership, and they were good with deliveries, too. again, i ran out of material to watch, so i canceled there, too.

pseudobrit · Mar 25, 2007

I've never had a problem with Netflix shipping or throttling, and I have occasionally been pretty quick with turnaround. Of course, I've also had movies out for over a month, so maybe they don't throttle me because they predict it'll even out.

BurtonCCC · Mar 25, 2007

I complained to Blockbuster last night.

"I was a Netflix customer before I switched to Blockbuster Total Access. The reason I switched is because I became aware of the shady business tactics of Netflix. Tactics in which their computers would flag any user who was "unprofitable," i.e. had a very fast turnaround time. Personally, I'm a guy with not much to do except watch movies, so my practice is to pick up my DVDs in my mailbox in the morning, watch them, and then put them back in the mailbox the next morning for pickup. For example, during my trial of Netflix, I would get the DVDs on Monday morning, watch them on Monday, put them in the mailbox Tuesday morning, get an e-mail from Netflix on Wednesday morning and an immediate e-mail that they had shipped my next DVDs, on Thursday morning, I'd have my next DVDs. So, I got my new movies every other day. After the free trial, my shipping service slowed down considerably. I then canceled my service, wrote a lengthy letter to the Better Business Bureau, and signed up for Blockbuster Total Access, thinking that such a well-known and established company wouldn't use the same shady tactics as Netflix, an only online company. The free trial of Blockbuster was absolutely incredible. I got the same 3 DVD at a time service, but the ability to return and exchange DVDs at the store made for an incredible service. I would get my three DVDs on Monday, return them to a store for three new ones on Tuesday morning, and then I would get three new DVDs in the mail on Wednesday morning, so I still was getting my DVDs in the mail every other day. When my trial ended, however, this turnaround time has doubled, if not tripled. Now I'm not so sure if Blockbuster's business ethics are any better than those of Netflix. I don't like thinking this after so many wonderful years of having a Blockbuster retail store membership and then two wonderful weeks of an impressive free trial of the Total Access service. Can you restore my faith in Blockbuster by explaining this slowdown and loss of quality in my service? What are we going to do to fix this? Thank you for reading this lengthy message! Have a lovely day!"

I received this message:
"Hello Daniel,

Thanks for taking the time to submit your e-mail. Unfortunately, our systems are temporarily down, which prevents us from accessing our database. We are working diligently to correct the issue. May we ask you to please call our Customer Service number 866-692-2789 on Monday from 8:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. CST. The Customer Service agent on the phone should be able to promptly assist you with your concern. We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience and understanding.

Carl
Customer Care Associate
BLOCKBUSTER Online"

Kind of sounds like he just didn't want to talk to me...

Anyways, I am going to call Blockbuster on Monday and let you all know how it goes. I'm also contemplating trying to buy USPS Delivery Confirmation on a mailer that I send back to see exactly how long it takes for them to get from me to Blockbuster. I know, I'm a sneaky little bastard.

Daniel.

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