Lipid

Let me start by saying I've been a member of Blockbuster Online since 2004. I have the 3 out in-store exchange the entire time. A couple years ago when you would get 3 in the mail, then could exchange in store, and the second they exchanged in the store you got 3 more sent out immediately was the best an online rental service ever was.

But then they switched it. You had to return those 3 movies back to the store before you'd get 3 more out. Went from great to just okay.

But the main reason I'm posting this is how terrible the service has become. I recently moved in early September across my state. Virtually the past 3 months, I have only been sent 2 movies out at a time instead of 3. I have emailed literally at least 8 times, and called a couple. I get the same automated response "Your business is important to us, thanks for waiting, I am going to forward this to the technical support team." For the past 3 months! Sure, they do give me free rental coupons, but I'm renting far less than what I'm paying for. They have given me half off a month, assured me countless times the problem would be fixed. It never was.

I am not sure if this is just them being horribly inefficient at supplying their service, or if they want me to cancel my account. After 3 months I imagine this logically should have been fixed. I should have quit a long time ago, but I kept thinking about how good the service was in the previous 9 months.

Netflix here I come at the start of January!

EdTheRipper

Blockbuster Online was great to me at first as a supplement to my Netflix account. Then shipping delays started and it seemed like an eternity before I'd get any new movies. And then of the 200(or so) titles in my queue, something like 60% of them went to some sort of wait status. It got so ridiculous that I just canceled my account and got it over with.

JakeNeff

That's why I switched in April. It's been smooth sailing ever since. However, I maintain my BB online account by putting it on hold for 3 months, pay for 1 month, then put it on hold again. I do this to get the titles BB carries that Netflix doesn't -- double dips & Walt Disney Treasures mostly.

Lipid

The best part is this new response I have been receiving. "We work to send out the next movies in your queue within 1 to 2 days of our receipt of your return or report. Our shipping days are Monday through Friday. If an item is checked in on a weekend (including Friday) the next expected business day for a new shipment would fall on the following Tuesday with limited shipments on Monday."

So basically, you can return a movie on Friday, yet a new one will not ship out until Tuesday?!?!?? Unbelievable. That cuts it down to a 4 day ship week essentially. Terrible.

Drav3n

i had the same exact issues. Since August/September the shipping speeds became terribly slow. I was on one of the cheaper plans so i would just return the online rental to the store and they would ship the next movie. I would normally return a movie on monday or tuesday and then they wouldnt ship anything until thursday or friday! i would call and complain constantly, and nothing was done. They sent me a few free rentals and i couldnt use them bc it was saying that i had already redeemed these coupons??

I called and cancelled in october and they didnt even cancel it! they billed me again! and when i called to complain they claimed there was no notes made or anything on my account!

blockbuster online is the shadiest and worst online service! 80% of the movies i put in my queue were always on a wait. the shipping was terrible. The discs always came scratched up. I would return movies to the store and the online would contact me stating they never received it?

im glad i switched to netflix. every movie has been available. the ps3 streaming is nice (especially in HD). and the shipping is great! f*** blockbuster online!

nemein

That pretty much mirrors my experience. I dumped them a couple of months ago and just upped my # out at Netflix. The main reason I started w/ BB in the first place was Netflix was getting bad about getting new releases to me on release week, but that has changed recently so I don't miss BB at all.

adrenaline78

I loved that 3 at a time program with the return to store and then they would ship the next titles the next day or so. 6 movies a week was worth the 20 bucks they were charging. They they unexpectedly tried charging 35 bucks for the same plan. I canceled the next day when I saw that bill on the CC and tried to get an explanation, but never heard anything back.

Went to netflix, but after the Digital conversion, we were unable to get FOX and In order to get a Dish, netflix had to go.... I do miss netflix sometimes, but right now i can get 90% of the movies I want to see from the library for free.. So I guess I can't complain.

TheOne

I agree with Lipid. I got the same response. "We work to send out the next movies in your queue within 1 to 2 days of our receipt of your return or report. Our shipping days are Monday through Friday. If an item is checked in on a weekend (including Friday) the next expected business day for a new shipment would fall on the following Tuesday with limited shipments on Monday."

I've also been told it was a software upgrade at the distribution center that was causing the delay. And that it is almost fixed (as of this week).

The other thing I was told was to check my setting. Either set it at SPEED or QUEUE. Since I set it at SPEED, it should ship next available title within the next business day. But it's acting like my setting is at QUEUE (that means you can set the number of days you are willing to wait extra to get that movie and after the x number of days passed and not available, then the next available movie is shipped).

So far, this week, returned 3 over the weekend and only 2 shipped on Monday with the 3rd shipped today.

Last week, returned 3 over weekend and 3 shipped on Monday.

2 weeks ago, returned 3 over weekend and 2 shipped on Monday and 3rd shipped on Thursday.

Let's see what happens next week.

And the other thing I've noticed is that you'll see a message in your AT HOME queue that something is shipping. So if you have 3 open slots, you should see 3 messages. But this week, saw only 2 messages and 2 shipped. And same message today and 1 shipped. (The old system used to show the title of the movie and that it is processing in your AT HOME QUEUE. Now, all you see is a processing message and don't see the title till it is shipped.)
I also had happened to me that 3 messages showing processing and then 1 of the message disappeared so then only 2 would ship.

It's funny. Blockbuster used to ship on Saturday and Netflix didn't. Now I heard Netflix ships Saturday and Blockbuster doesn't.

Just sharing my observations. Methinks the upgrade is bug ridden or needs more testing than testing with us live accounts.

Zbu

If Blockbuster is breaking the terms of the sale they made with you, the best response is to find out the website for your state Attorney General and inquire about filing a complaint. Breaking a contract with you like that deserves the appropriate response and could qualify as a scam considering you were promised a set amount of movies and did not receive them. Blockbuster might be making a few mistakes, but that shouldn't affect you and the money you are being charged.