Warm: Netflix $15.99 a month

[Caminetto]

Been with BB 4 weeks and 9 total movies. Several have taken 12 days turnaround from time mailed to time received. Emails always state they receive it on one day but never shipped until the next. Have a service center in the same state. Even if the service improves, I will never see more than 3 movies a week.

 

[ebbebb]

How about Walmart? Anyone use them and would like to share your experience.

 

[proomba]

Wal-Mart has an 8-9 day turnaround for me (Colorado).

 

[Trader05]

I'm currently using blockbuster, very slow turnaround compared to Netflix. My friends get a 3-4 day turnaround while my blockbuster takes about 5-6 days. I'm in Central NJ btw

 

[nixie21]

Well, I guess I have to stick with Netflix, They received DVD's monday and I have the new ones today, bb shipped on Sat and still no sign of them yet.....

 

[Generic Moniker]

To echos most people's experience the Netflix, here's the deal:

Netflix is a dope pusher. They get hooked in early on with quick turnaround times, e.g., same day turnaround, one day ship. I'm in Boston, BTW.

However, after a couple of months, it gets slower and slower and slower. It started taking them so long to report that they "received" my dvds back that I started to test them. I'd ship 4 dvds back together (sometimes I'd rubberband them together) at the same time. Invariably, it would take 2-3 days for Netflix receive ONE dvd back. Then, the remaining 3 would trickle in. Bullshit liars.

Netflix is a scam and dishonest.

When they had the nerve to raise my rates--twice--I said bye-bye forever.

 

[Gilby]

However, after a couple of months, it gets slower and slower and slower. It started taking them so long to report that they "received" my dvds back that I started to test them. I'd ship 4 dvds back together (sometimes I'd rubberband them together) at the same time. Invariably, it would take 2-3 days for Netflix receive ONE dvd back. Then, the remaining 3 would trickle in. Bullshit liars.

Not that I'm questioning your conclusions or anything, but your experiment seems flawed to me. That bundle would have been taken apart by the post office that initially handled it--could have possibly led to a delay as it wouldn't work right with the auto sorters.

 

[9ball]

That bundle would have been taken apart by the post office that initially handled it--could have possibly led to a delay as it wouldn't work right with the auto sorters.

not true, I put 2 disks in one envelope. and in the last 2 weeks, twice they have received one disk and not the other (BOTH WERE IN THE SAME ENVELOPE) how can that be??

also, if they ship you the wrong disk, they wait until the WRONG disk is returned before shipping another one. blockbuster needs to get better so I can drop netflix

 

[scram]

To echos most people's experience the Netflix, here's the deal:

Really? Most?

Netflix since July 2000. Drop off a movie at a box that has a weekday pickup of 6PM in Portland, OR. Movie goes to Salem. Usually get an email late morning on the next day that they have received the movie, or movies if I bundled two. Replacements arrive next day in the early afternoon. Location can be key, as mentioned. When I first started, movies went out of state, and took about a week. Turnaround time has only improved. I think the monthly was $14.99 back then, went up to almost $22, then down to $17 and some change. I still get the original 4 out at a time. One movie I wasn't sure I lost or was lost in the mail. Told them it was lost in the mail and they took care of it. To echo most people's experience with Blockbuster: Late fees. Stopped going to Blockbuster years ago. Personally I don't care what they offer now, but if they offer a good service it will keep Netflix competitive.

 

[moviesguy]

Originally posted by: Caminetto
Been with BB 4 weeks and 9 total movies. Several have taken 12 days turnaround from time mailed to time received. Emails always state they receive it on one day but never shipped until the next. Have a service center in the same state. Even if the service improves, I will never see more than 3 movies a week.

I joined Blockbuster on Dec. 13. I've gotten only 12 discs in the mail from them so far. They usually take 5-6 days in shipping to me (They sent me one on Jan 22, and I'm STILL waiting for it). The last time I've gotten a movie from them was about 11 days ago! And that took about 5-6 days in shipping! I live only about 45 minutes from one of their distribution centers!

One movie in my queue, they told me they shipped. Seven days pass, and no movie. So I go onto their website to report it. They give me the option of either resending me another copy of the same movie or send me the next film in my queue. So I choose for them to resend the same movie. They do. Another seven days goes by and still no movie. So I report this as well (last monday night, the 24th). They give me the same two options. Rather than have then lose yet another copy of the same movie, I throw up my hands in frustration and decide for them to send me the next film in my queue. Yesterday I get the usual form email from BB telling me that they have received the movie (the one that I reporting missing twice in a row) back and thanking me for returning it. I'm like "WTF???". I never had my hands on the damned movie. I NEVER got it in the mail!

On the other hand. I joined Netflix on Dec. 20 (the same 3 out plan as BB). Seven days AFTER I joined BB. And I've gotten 22 movies from them so far (average shipping time: 1-2 days). 7 of them in the past 11 days. (and I'm expecting three more in tommorows mail) The same 11 days in which BB has failed to send me ANYTHING.

 

[Glpster]

My experience with Netflix also has only improved over the last few years.

I was concerned that my movie turn around times would lengthen after moving from a city where I was 15 miles away from the nearest distrbution center, to moving to a town in another state where I was 100 miles away from the nearest distribution center.

BUT, that has not been the case (at least for me). I still have on average a 2 day turn around. Send a movie out one day, and the 2nd day after, I get my next movie (unless it is a weekend), even though I'm 100 miles away from the nearest distribution center.

Of course, I am not one of these people that gets 5 movies one day, watches them all that day and sends them back the same day or the next. I guess a good experiment would be to try that and see if my service gets "intentionally" slowed down.

 

[douglassirk]

here in los angeles (where blockbuster must have a distro) netflix gets returns next day sends out new that day and i get em next day.....
so far with my blockbuster trial it is taking like 3-4 extra days per turnaround....... not exactly competative if ya ask me

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Glpster

Oh one other thing,

Unlike the larger and far more greedy companies (like Blockbuster) NetFlix made 100% of it's political donations to Democrats!!! The biggest, greediest, and most destructive companies (of course) donated primarily to Republicans.

So, if you want to prevent national horrors like Presichimp Shrub and other republicans who are regularly into screwing over the average American while pandering to the ultra religious wackos who are more interested in finding whatever means possible to harm people they don't like, than doing what is good for the nation, then stay with (or switch to) NetFlix.

:thumbsup:

I've been a Netflix customer for several years and I was feeling guilty for considering switching to BB. I've always felt like Netflix deserved my business for being the company that created this business. But the info you provided has made me feel much better and removed any feelings of guilt about switching from Netflix to BB. So thank you.

EDIT: By the way, your statistics are incorrect. According to what I've found on BuyBlue.org, the netflix political contributions look like this:
72.22% to Democratic candidates
27.78% to Republican candidates

The combined individual contributions from the CEO, COO, and CFO of Netflix,
$4000 to Howard Dean
$4000 to Barbara Boxer
$2000 to John Kerry
$5000 to Care PAC
$2000 to Solidarity PAC
$1000 to Democratic National Committee

I'm quite disgusted to know that some of my money actually went to Howard Dean and Barbara Boxer.

For comparison, Blockbuster's contributions were:
40.25% to Democratic candidates
59.75% to Republican candidates

And the only individual contributions from the CEO, COO, and CFO were:
$1000 to Leahy for US Senator (a democrat)

 

[Slikkster]

Come on, who cares about their political contributions? If you're using that as a basis for whether they provide good service at a good price or not, then you're just a kool-ade-drinking ideologue. Get a life.
Hot Deals are non-partisan!

 

[Moltres]

I had the Netflix 5 at a time for two years. Typical turnaround is: I mail them back on Monday and receive the next set on Thursday in time for the weekend. During that time, they moved the distribution center from 200 miles away to 150 miles away with the same turnaround time.

Switched to Blockbuster 3-at-a-time plan 3 months ago. Center is 150 miles away. I mail them back on Monday and receive the next set Wednesday of the following week. They sent an email stating the post office would scan movies in so the next could be sent BEFORE the movie made it back. Two of my last three returns took 10 days to show up (1 is still missing) and then 3 more days for the next ones to ship. I thought having those free rental coupons would make up for the occassional shipping delay, but it obviously doesn't.

Then there's availability. My Netflix queue of 120+ would maybe have 1-2 waits in the list. Blockbuster has around 75% with waits. Blockbuster should be able to do much better. I HAVE to switch back to Netflix. My friend did the same as me but he can live with the slow ship times in exchange for the free game rentals.

 

[Glpster]

Originally posted by: DT4K

I'm quite disgusted to know that some of my money actually went to Howard Dean and Barbara Boxer.

Wonderful!!

Obviously you want all your money to go to the pure unadulterated evil of the Republican party (not necessarily individual party members - but the party, based off it's platform, caters directly to some of the most vile evil of humanity - which Dumbya, Delay, Frist, Ashcroft, Gonzales, et. al. embody quite well).

Do enjoy hell.

 

[SirPappy]

when did this get political?

 

[Generic Moniker]

Originally posted by: Gilby

However, after a couple of months, it gets slower and slower and slower. It started taking them so long to report that they "received" my dvds back that I started to test them. I'd ship 4 dvds back together (sometimes I'd rubberband them together) at the same time. Invariably, it would take 2-3 days for Netflix receive ONE dvd back. Then, the remaining 3 would trickle in. Bullshit liars.

Not that I'm questioning your conclusions or anything, but your experiment seems flawed to me. That bundle would have been taken apart by the post office that initially handled it--could have possibly led to a delay as it wouldn't work right with the auto sorters.

You raise a good point. But, it happened ever single time. I was with Netfix for about a year. I typically watch 4 dvds over the weekend and ship them all back on Monday.

The reported return dates were *always* staggered. Because I did not excede ~16 dvds/month, I can only conclude that my account was intentially delayed.

 

[Generic Moniker]

Originally posted by: Glpster

Originally posted by: DT4K

I'm quite disgusted to know that some of my money actually went to Howard Dean and Barbara Boxer.

Wonderful!!

Obviously you want all your money to go to the pure unadulterated evil of the Republican party (not necessarily individual party members - but the party, based off it's platform, caters directly to some of the most vile evil of humanity - which Dumbya, Delay, Frist, Ashcroft, Gonzales, et. al. embody quite well).

Do enjoy hell.

Oooh! I rent from Netflix...does this mean I'm going to heaven?

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Slikkster
Come on, who cares about their political contributions? If you're using that as a basis for whether they provide good service at a good price or not, then you're just a kool-ade-drinking ideologue. Get a life.
Hot Deals are non-partisan!

LOL. I don't really care. I will stick with whichever offers the best service at the best price. I was mocking Glpster. He's the one who decided to bring his Republican bashing into Hot Deals instead of keeping that crap in P&N.

Originally posted by: Glpster

Originally posted by: DT4K

I'm quite disgusted to know that some of my money actually went to Howard Dean and Barbara Boxer.

Wonderful!!

Obviously you want all your money to go to the pure unadulterated evil of the Republican party (not necessarily individual party members - but the party, based off it's platform, caters directly to some of the most vile evil of humanity - which Dumbya, Delay, Frist, Ashcroft, Gonzales, et. al. embody quite well).

Do enjoy hell.

:beer::thumbsup:

Wow, you'd be right at home in P&N. Good to hear that anyone with a different opinion than yours is "some of the most vile evil of humanity" and is going to hell. Now tell me again, who sounds like a religious zealot?

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: SirPappy
when did this get political?

I'd say right about here:

Originally posted by: Glpster

Oh one other thing,

Unlike the larger and far more greedy companies (like Blockbuster) NetFlix made 100% of it's political donations to Democrats!!! The biggest, greediest, and most destructive companies (of course) donated primarily to Republicans.

So, if you want to prevent national horrors like Presichimp Shrub and other republicans who are regularly into screwing over the average American while pandering to the ultra religious wackos who are more interested in finding whatever means possible to harm people they don't like, than doing what is good for the nation, then stay with (or switch to) NetFlix.

:thumbsup:

 

[DT4K]

And back on topic,

I just signed up for the Blockbuster trial. If the turnaround time is the same or less than Netflix, I'll be switching. We just got an Xbox for christmas and I've been renting my son a game from blockbuster about once a week. At $7 a pop, those two e-coupons are worth $14 to me. So that means that the BB DVD online rental service is practically free.

I'm in Southern Oregon. Netflix has a distro center in Portland, about 300 miles away. I don't know if I'll get my BB movies from their Seattle center, or from the SF bay area. Either one would be about 450 miles away. With Netflix, it usually takes 3 days for DVD's to get from my house to them, then 2 days shipping from Netflix to me. Hopefully, BB can at least match this 5 day total turnaround time.

 

[scoreadeal]

My 2 cents... since I've figured out many ways to get free movie rentals...

Free Blockbuster Rentals
Free Hollywood Video Rentals

I was wondering if any of you with slow return rates have inserted your own label over the return envelope address so it goes back to the hub nearest to you? I haven't experienced the lag because they usually end up getting mine the next day.

 

[scoreadeal]

That's funny because I've had return labels addressed to Seattle... I wonder if the labels change as they need to move inventory between hubs?

Originally posted by: uo7
Blockbuster is very slow here to. I live in bellevue washington and the return labels for the dvds are to texas. Half my que states short wait and long waits.

 

[Glpster]

Originally posted by: DT4K


:beer::thumbsup:

Wow, you'd be right at home in P&N. Good to hear that anyone with a different opinion than yours is "some of the most vile evil of humanity" and is going to hell. Now tell me again, who sounds like a religious zealot?

P&N ???

Anyone? No.

Difference of Opinion? Um.. No. Policies and activities that have clearly drawn lines of personal, local, national, and global harm are not mere differences of opinion.

Hell? If such a place exists, these are exactly the sort that will find themselves there.

Now, perhaps we should get back to the topic at hand. I may have made a statement in regard to specific companies political contributions quite some time ago in this thread, but DT4k exacerbated the "political" discussion as of the most recent posts.