Blockbuster Online Rentals

AVOID THIS SERVICE.

I was notified by by Movielink.com email that I qualified for a 30 day trial of the Blockbuster DVD rental service. I regularly rent streaming movies online. I prefer to download the rented movies and rewatch them at my leisure, as my time can often not stretch to an entire 90 minute span without interruption. I also like to watch favorite parts over or repeat scenes to hear and understand all the dialogue. I had tried Netflix before but there was a stall pattern in the delivery of DVD's that bulked movies in my mailbox when I didn't have time to watch them and went days without processing. I hoped Blockbuster was better.

 I reviewed the terms of the offer and it said that i could go into a Blockbuster store and turn in my hard DVD's received in the mail for live exchanges. But it may only be the case that this was a spin on remailing them back to Blockbuster. I never knew because I didn't get enough DVDs in one month to really hav time to go into a nearby store and exchange them. I got 4 total rentals for a sum of about 17-18 dollars. But the day before Christmas I received a holiday "card" from Blockbuster announcing they were raising their unlimited 3 at a time rental price to 19 dollars. Merry Christmas.

I like rented DVD's through the mail because I like a larger selection of European movies and foreign langauge films, But all the ones I wanted to rent were unavailable, low availability, or a very long wait. I had to report 2 DVD's lost in the mail, and after notifying Blockbuster they did not receive them after a week they "found" them. This is on top of very slow mail processing in comparison to Netflix.

 The one DVD set I did get mailed them in the wrong order, so i got the bonus features DVD of a 3 DVD set first, then the second part, then the first DVD. It was not the version i had wanted bit a 30 year old version of a miniseries on the BBC. A lot of the selections do not compare to Netflix in availability, sophitication, or range. I ended up deleted about 20 items out of my queue because they were unavailable or a very long wait. The mail service staggered in processing andling and delivery. Keeping track of what this company is doing is a chore.

I have one DVd due back but it has been so long since I got the thing in the mail I can't find the sleeve. I will probably be charged for that. That makes 4 movies rented at 17-18 dollars, with an upgrade in price during this time. Plus very few movies are in my quere, I've simply seen the best of what they have and need a more expanded and updated selection.  I will probably be chaged even after I try to cancel my membership, because I can only assume this type of slow processing is geared toward slurping customer revenue and stalling DVD turnover. But Blockbuster really was bad.

I had to notify them 2 DVD's didn;t make it back an then after a week after that they found them? Don't trust your credit card to whomever is working there.  It's less hassle to go online and find something on Youtube or Veoh. More current, smoother and faster access. But Blockbuster's online revenue suck will get you in the end.

It can take them up to a week to process these films into their system. AVOID THIS SERVICE. If you don't have time to go to the video store anyway, getting a service augmented with walk in exchanges doesn't add value.