For what it's worth I'm going to leave my account as is and see what happens at the next billing date too ;) It sounds like the coupons are dead though. WRT the "discounted" game rental the stores I've seen the signs in say it's ~$5/game w/ the movie "trade-in". I guess it's better than the $8 they usually want though...

Looks like it is back to Netflix for me after 2 years at Blockbuster.

Does anyone have any recent knowledge if Netflix improved there new releases? I left in the past because it was tough to get a new release from them.

the only two new releases in my queue have a long wait.

Blockbuster.com is getting WORSE with their ship times. It used to be the next day, TWO max....now it seems like THREE days is the normal. I know this is USPS also, but I wonder if Netflix has the slowdown.

It seems like ALL the HD/BD take longer to ship. I just find this odd....and annoying. I may have to go back to Netflix.

If you don't get the new releases from Netflix as soon as they are released it's takes a while to get them. I try to get my returns to Netflix on Monday so they will ship the new releases for Tuesday and it's been working really good.

Bob

Sticking with them.
I just lose the e-coupon and I already swapped DVDs about 4-5 times a month. So this doesn't really change anything for me. This plan is already far superior to Netflix's.
The turnaround is a day or two less than Netflix and I don't have to wait 3 months to get new releases as I did with Netflix.

I had a real problem with getting a lot of my movies from BB. New releases came fast, but damn if it didn't seem like they only had a copy or 2 of certain Dr. Who episodes. Same with lots of anime.

So did anyone else cancel and get their "offers" to keep you? I did and all the offered plans say "plan no longer valid" after you select them. What a croc.

I think I might stick with Blockbuster and the 14.99 plan, you get three trade ins, I'll save those for the must have movies released on Tuesdays..

I left Netlfix 2 years ago because the new releases were a big issue, I suspect it has not changed much.

Haven't got an answer from BB on this question. Does anyone know?

What happens if you choose the fixed 5 out plan for $17.99 and it begins in the middle of the month. And you had the unlimited in store return prior to that during the beginning of the month. You have 5 or more in store exchanges during that time.

So during all those 5 or more in store exchanges counts toward the "new" limited plan when it starts at the middle of the month. Does that means when you start the new plan, you are screwed and have to wait till next month to get 5 in store exchanges?

I think your "5/month" would really be better stated as "5/billing cycle"... that's just a guess on my part but doing it any other way would be silly IMHO.

I noticed Blockbuster.com now is advertising Movielink for DOWNLOADABLE movies....interesting, keeping up with Netflix.

I have a question:

I canceled Blockbuster Online this weekend with a few movies still out. I returned two to Blockbuster yesterday and today I got an e-mail saying they had shipped a few more. Will they keep shipping up until the end of the month? If so, will I get charged as long as I have those discs out?

Got my email a few days ago, so I canceled today. Eff them. Gonna save my money for now, but might sign up for Netflix in the future.

I also noticed that their cancellation deals are not actually valid - hilarious since so many people will be canceling.

To update, it appears the MOVIELINK is only an ad, nothing for free.

I still have 1 month left at my $4.99 promo rate for 1 movie. We will see what I do after that month...either Blockbuster or Netflix. Maybe Netflix since BB is getting rid of the game coupons too.

this all just makes me wonder what exactly their plans were when they started total access less than a year ago


top exec: let's offer a really great deal. we'll gain lots of customers.

smart exec: but we'll lose money

top exec: let's cross that bridge when we get there



8 months later...



top exec: we're losing a lot of money. let's completely change pricing for everyone.

smart exec: shouldn't we grandfather in old accounts to keep customers happy and not look idiots who couldn't plan out 1 year into the future?

top exec: no, because we're losing money. let's also add lots of options, i'm sure customers like choosing from 11 different plans that fall under 3 sets of rules just to watch a movie.

smart exec: let's at least make the limited exchanges an even 2x multiple of the plan. so 2-at-a-time get 4 exchanges, 3-at-a-time get 6 exchanges

top exec: no, i don't like even numbers. 3 and 5 make more sense.


------------------

imo there should only be 2 types of plans:
1) by mail
2) unlimited total access for $3-4 more

I wonder how many BB customers are jumping ship after these price increases. I suspect that a lot of their lower paying members will be going.

For me, if I wanted to keep unlimited in-store returns, it was basically a 70% increase ($9.99 to $16.99) on the one-at-a-time plan PLUS I would lose the monthly coupon. So that's like paying $7 more an getting $8 less value (used the coupon for game rental). So for those in my shoes, that's way out of line for a price increase.

I'm going with a $4.99 NetFlix plan just to get a few HD-DVD rentals each month (had already started doing this) and rent my SD rentals for a $1 locally. Besides the price increase, the loss of the game rental coupon and the major lack of available HD-DVD stock online did BB in for me.

I liked TotalAccess, but now I hope NetFlix wins the battle after this stunt.

Does Netflix have a better HD/BD selection? I have 23 HD/BD in my BB queue and all are on some kind of wait. So, I get the 24th movie...non HD.

You'll find titles with waits as well at NetFlix, but I find they a lot of times they ship anyway regardless of the wait. Either way, they're much better IMO than BB when it comes to HD-DVDs.

There are some titles that aren't even available in HD-DVD on BB website. When "The Departed" first came out on HD-DVD, it wasn't even available thru BB. I got it on the day of release thru NetFlix.

Personally I'd rather have both of them around. I'd hate to see what the pricing plans would be like if there was only 1.

I have always added the upcoming releases to my que before they were out, and I almost never have a wait. This is just my personal experience with Netflix.

Can you still return TWO envelopes at once for two in-store rentals? I Thought they changed it to one at a time, but I totally forget....I have two envelopes at home, as one movie was a few days late.

I have 4 i'll be returning tomorrow for 4 new releases so yes you can. I got a second email stating that I needed to pick a plan before my next renewal date so I guess they are giving a one month grace period.

Bob

I get the occasional slowdown with BB and Netflix. I mailed back the DVDs on Thursday, BB received one on Friday, and the other two on Saturday. Netflix received all three on Monday and shipped out all three the same day.

I don't rent HD/BD, but I noticed that BB added this statement to their FAQs topic "Why haven't my movies shipped?": "On occasion, if your top selections are not available at a center near you, and you have fewer than 30 "Available" movies in Queue, a shipment may be skipped."

Since I had only 14 selections in my queue with 12 marked as "Available" they've managed to "skip" one of my 3-at-time "unlimited" mailings. I removed the "Short Wait" selections and added 18 "Available" selections to my queue this morning and by this afternoon they finally got around to shipping my third one.

BB continues to change their rules to accommodate their poorly run/incompetently staffed distribution centers. Netflix has better distribution centers and more available selections. BB ships whatever available selection they can find at their local distribution center with absolutely no regard to your queue order. I suspect that it's probably too much work for them to search for available selections at other distribution centers. Netflix sticks to your queue order and doesn't hesitate to ship from other distribution centers.

I don't know if it is related by I'm coming up on my renewal time now and my account has seemed to have come to a halt. I turned a couple of DVDs into the store over the weekend and usually when I do that the new ones ship out Mon. but nothing happened. I turned another one in today and while it says it has been turned in, nothing is being sent out for now. I still haven't re-subscribed because I wanted to see what happens, but I guess now I know. Anyone else seeing something similar?