Question and a comment. How did the few of you get the Year Trial at Blockbuster Online?

I am in my third month with Blockbuster Online - and have the conspiracy theory thing going. My first month - (the free month) - every disc was shipped - and then received the next day (I'm 40 miles from the distribution spot). My second and third month I've had only two out of 20 movies come on the next day and sometimes waiting for up to 4 days.

Brody

Do you have to be a rental card holder at a Blockbuster store in order to redeem the "Free DVD" coupon?

Yes. They scanned my card when I used my coupons.

the one year free thing was a result of tampering with the offer URL, and has since been caught and fixed by BB. At least for my account, they changed it to only three months free.

I'm not sure if it's because they've been ticked off by my use of that "offer" or if it's because i've now had the account for over a month, but I have noticed that my shipping times to and from have increased by a day or so each way.

I cancelled my BB subscription today and didn't get the free month "give us another chance" offer that some people have reported receiving.

I've signed up with Netflix to see if their is an improvement with delivery.

FWIW, I'm with BBO but am seriously considering giving the Netflix trial membership a go. The reason is that I have so many movies in my BBO queue that seem to perpetually be on "short wait". This is very frustrating since many of these are the first disks of a TV series - I'm one of those anal people who likes to see my shows in order! :)

The 2 free DVD rentals should be a plus with BBO, and considering that the store is about a mile from my home this should be enough to sway my decision. BUT - service at our local BB is so pathetically slow that sometimes it hardly seems worth the effort to use coupons. :(

Both BBO and Netflix have shipping centers in Phoenix (about 100 miles north of my home), so I'd assume that shipping times should be similar . . . but you know what they say about ass-u-me!

Anyway, it's been a while since anyone has posted anything in this thread. Have opinions about BBO and Netflix changed since then?

Thanks, Bill

It's a no-win situation. Both companies pull the same underhanded tactical manuevers. I'm back with Netflix from cancelling BB and now, going into the third month, the slow(er) ship/receive times are beginning again...it's a sad state of affairs.

Of course all of you are imagining this problem. -wink-

The more people complain about this the less I hear from the NetFlix apologists who claim that an intentional slowdown is rubbish. Where are you all at????

I am thinking of giving Netflix a try again. I haven't used them since I moved, but don't they have a distribution center in North Carolina? If so, I wonder if that would help in my getting dvds sent to me faster and processed quicker when sending them back.

I think both Netflix and BBo have a distro in NC. I think one is in Greensboro [NF] and one is in Charlotte [BBO]. I have noticed that it seems like BBO tends to focus more on sending you stuff from your local distro, but NF was better at sending from the top of your queue.

I'm pretty close to the one in Greensboro. Netflix usually receives my DVD the day after I mail it, ships out my next one that same day, and I receive it the day after. Of course, YMMV. I recently had one DVD that was shipped from Oregon? wth?? must not have been a copy at the local distribution center.

I have a Netflix distribution center about 100 miles from me. Since August it's has taken a minimum of three days (and sometimes four days) for them to receive movies from me. Nobody is going to convince me they aren't throttling me. I'm in the process of trying various mailboxes and am dropping them in a differnt town this week just to see what happens. After that trial, if it doesn't change, I'm done with Netflix and am going back to the local B&M. I've also been telling everyone who will listen about my experience.

I'm in ATL and out of the past 4 rentals, 3 came from Seattle. :( It took 4-5 days to get to me and another 4 days to get them back. :( :(

i have the blockbuster movie pass and the blockbuster online (5 at a time) rental plan.
I really like using the movie pass for new releases and bb online for tv series dvds like the xfiles or hard to find dvds. I find that this method works the best for me.
I usually go to my local blockbuster almost everyday. The blockbuster manager was used to seeing me so much she offered me a job. LOL

Interesting, the local BB told me that a customer could have a movie pass or BB Online, but not both! Since I had found the movie pass inadequate for TV series DVD's, I went with the 5-plan with BBO.

interesting. I signed up for the bb movie pass when it was first introduced. I didn't sign up for the bb online pass until 3-4 months later. that was when i noticed my local bb doesnt carry a big selection of movies.

I just got an interesting email from Blockbuster Online:

"As a valued BLOCKBUSTER Online® customer, you're the first to know:

Now you have another choice for your free in-store rentals.

It's up to you. Continue with your two free in-store movie or game rentals monthly. Or, opt for one free in-store movie only rental coupon every week. That's double the in-store value! Your choice. First to know. Only from BLOCKBUSTER Online."

Actually, it's less than the in-store value. Two games, 7.99 + tax x 2 = 17.09 or so. 4 movies, what, 2.99 each, plus tax = 12.79.

I think new or recently-opened accounts are only getting 2 in-store movie rentals, and I'm sure this is 'step one' of a move to eliminating in-store game rentals for everyone. However, my BB's in-store available movie selection is even worse than its game selection, so I think I'll stick with the two coupons.

Oh-ho-ho, I missed something. In order to take advantage of this 'deal', I need to 'upgrade' my account, and pay 17.99/mo instead of 14.99. No thanks.

My biggest problem recently is receiving the wrong disc with both my Netflix account and my fiancee's Blockbuster account. It's still a relatively small percentage of the discs, but still.

When you start looking for a movie when they receive a discs from you on Monday, watch the disc ship on Tuesday and finally receive it Thursday (my Post Office is terrible, so despite being about 10 miles from a shipping center, it often takes two days for discs to reach me these days) only to see that instead of Veronica Mars: Season 1: Disc 6, you've got Saw (or today, with Blockbuster, we were supposed to be shipped 'Nero Wolfe: Season 2: Disc 3' and instead received 'Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 3: Disc 2').

Though I'm sure that's not a purposeful thing (there's no cost savings for them to ship the wrong disc even though it significantly slows down my receipt of movies), it's very annoying.

EDITED: to note that it was 'Saw' rather than the still-to-be-released 'Saw 2' like I originally said that I mistakenly got the other day.

i know exactly what u mean. when i rented crossroads with ralph machio from bb online they sent me Crossroads with B. Spears.

I've only gotten two 'wrong disks' from either NF or BBO. Once I got some movie that was not on my queue, and that i had never heard of. [Netflix]. Once I got disk 6 of a tv series instead of disk 1 [BBO], which was at the top of my queue.
More often, I get things that aren't at the top of my queue. Sometimes I'd rather wait an extra day and get the title I wanted, that I purposefully placed at the top, than get something quicker, that I'm not in the mood to watch [which is why it was number 8, say].

Yeah, I just got that email for "weekly movie rentals" too. At least they didn't just axe the game rentals, though I know that's coming. I mean, if you're already subscribing to Blockbuster Online, why would you need four in-store rentals a month?

Yep, I never really understood that. In 1.5 years of BBO, I have used one coupon on a movie, and that was a 'new release' my B&M had that kept saying Long Wait on BBO. I guess if you're a new release, local renter, they'd be good; but if so, you should have one of the instore plans.
I'd rather them offer it this way than just cut game rentals--when they do that, and raise the price, I'll be back looking at NF.

I haven't gotten the E-mail yet, but I checked my BBO "My Account" link and saw that I could change to a weekly coupon vs. 2/month. I made the change - if it doesn't work out, or if they change their price structure for the weekly coupon, I'll switch back.

I'm just curious... why did you change over?

52 coupons/year vs. 24 coupons/year at the same price sounded a bit better to me. Additionally, I'm only 3/4 mile from a BB B&M.