laist.com— A blogger tried out both services and describes why Blockbuster Total Access was inferior to Netflix's online rental service.
Jan 24, 2007View in Crawl 4
If you watch 12 movies a week, you must be a serious sloth. May I suggest taking a moment to go visit a physician to have your physical health evaluated?
I have to tell you I love the fact I can run to the store and swap movies. That totally works for me. Specailly on those days that I am inpatient and can't wait for my selection. My biggest complaint on Blockbuster is the fact the site sucks. They redid it and it still sucks. The new release section is nothing compared to Netflix where at a glance, and I mean a small glance you can see what is new.
I used netflix for about 3 years but when blockbuster started the total access thing, i tried it. After the first week, i cancelled netflix. I feel like i'm getting twice the number of movies for the same price. HOWEVER: i don't know how long blockbuster can keep this up. Their stores must be showing a steep decline in profits since so many people are now getting free rentals.
I have not used BB online, but I have used (and dropped) Netflix. I live in Seattle, and it was taking 5+ days for our movies to arrive - that is, a 7+ day turnaround from mailing one movie to receiving the next. Netflix would regularly be 3-4 days between "movie received" and "movie shipped" on our account summary. The movie would then show up 2-3 days later. Our local Netflix distributor is in Tacoma, the next city south, and shipping should only take a day. I can't speak to why it was happening, but we complained to Netflix, and they denied holding shipments back or delaying sending our movies. When nothing changed after several complaints, we spoke with our money, cancelled our account, and now rent from our local video store (which isn't a BB, either.) It's not as convenient, but I don't feel like I'm getting jerked around, either. Just my experiences, for what they're worth.From the mixed responses to this article, we might give BB online a try, especially with the new promotion.
Ok here is a good one.. How about getting a bill from a creditor in the mail for 40 bucks from Blockbuster? No late fees? Bulls**t this store is trying to come after me because I had some movies out for about two weeks. Also I have not received any notice of this at all and this store turned me over like I went and spent credit on this and am not paying my bills. The manager said he could not take it off and was very unprofessional. Customer service? yeah right I usually go to another store but on this day I went to a different one and this is what I get. I am not too surprised since one time when I was really young and did not have credit they asked me for my car title. I am Netflix all of the way and have been for a few months, they seem great and I will not have to worry about late fees or false advertisinfg etc..
Blockbuster has just reduced the benefits to current "Total Access" members and called it "wider range of subscription plans" . This really pissed me off because I do a lot of cost benefit analysis and do not like being the victim of bait and switch tactics. The reason my wife and I chose Blockbuster is because of the locations (which is the ONLY competitive advantage they have over netflix; most of the competitive advantages go to netfix as outlined in this article). When I confronted them about the change I received the following, this is an actual piece of the canned response at blockbuster:"Like all retail businesses, we must periodically review our products and services structure. In introducing a wider range of subscription plans, we considered a number of factors related to online memberships including in-store activity on a given account. We’re giving our most frequent renters like yourself the option of either continuing with limited in-store exchanges at a the same price point or moving to a new plan if you'd like to continue your unlimited exchanges and agree to a higher price point. Unfortunately, eCoupons are no longer available."Are you @#$%%#$%$ kidding me? This is a battle between Netflix and Blockbuster. Blockbuster has just made a huge mistake by arrogantly underestimating its consumers and trying to appease Wall Street. What they do not see is that in the end they will loose any subscriber base with an IQ above 60.
netflix offers streaming video. so, even if net flix holds your movie for a day or two to keep you from watching a million movies in one month, it's still a good value because you can stream as many as you want. blockbuster doesn't do that.
I don't want to wait for the mail or go to the store to rent anything. I simply want to pay $X a month to stream any movie/show I want. Unfortunately, due to bandwidth or whatever, not all shows are available yet. However, I'm employed so it's not like I don't have things to do besides watch movies. And if you're really that bored, go volunteer somewhere and make yourself useful!
branyersJan 25, 2007
If you watch 12 movies a week, you must be a serious sloth. May I suggest taking a moment to go visit a physician to have your physical health evaluated?
claudiagcJan 25, 2007
I have to tell you I love the fact I can run to the store and swap movies. That totally works for me. Specailly on those days that I am inpatient and can't wait for my selection. My biggest complaint on Blockbuster is the fact the site sucks. They redid it and it still sucks. The new release section is nothing compared to Netflix where at a glance, and I mean a small glance you can see what is new.
sjbdallasJan 26, 2007
I used netflix for about 3 years but when blockbuster started the total access thing, i tried it. After the first week, i cancelled netflix. I feel like i'm getting twice the number of movies for the same price. HOWEVER: i don't know how long blockbuster can keep this up. Their stores must be showing a steep decline in profits since so many people are now getting free rentals.
kaleaJan 27, 2007
I have not used BB online, but I have used (and dropped) Netflix. I live in Seattle, and it was taking 5+ days for our movies to arrive - that is, a 7+ day turnaround from mailing one movie to receiving the next. Netflix would regularly be 3-4 days between "movie received" and "movie shipped" on our account summary. The movie would then show up 2-3 days later. Our local Netflix distributor is in Tacoma, the next city south, and shipping should only take a day. I can't speak to why it was happening, but we complained to Netflix, and they denied holding shipments back or delaying sending our movies. When nothing changed after several complaints, we spoke with our money, cancelled our account, and now rent from our local video store (which isn't a BB, either.) It's not as convenient, but I don't feel like I'm getting jerked around, either. Just my experiences, for what they're worth.From the mixed responses to this article, we might give BB online a try, especially with the new promotion.
keely131Feb 6, 2007
Ok here is a good one.. How about getting a bill from a creditor in the mail for 40 bucks from Blockbuster? No late fees? Bulls**t this store is trying to come after me because I had some movies out for about two weeks. Also I have not received any notice of this at all and this store turned me over like I went and spent credit on this and am not paying my bills. The manager said he could not take it off and was very unprofessional. Customer service? yeah right I usually go to another store but on this day I went to a different one and this is what I get. I am not too surprised since one time when I was really young and did not have credit they asked me for my car title. I am Netflix all of the way and have been for a few months, they seem great and I will not have to worry about late fees or false advertisinfg etc..
glenncohenSep 23, 2007
Block buster just used negative consent to raise their rates AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!Blockbuster sucks!!!!!!
glenncohenSep 23, 2007
Blockbuster has just reduced the benefits to current "Total Access" members and called it "wider range of subscription plans" . This really pissed me off because I do a lot of cost benefit analysis and do not like being the victim of bait and switch tactics. The reason my wife and I chose Blockbuster is because of the locations (which is the ONLY competitive advantage they have over netflix; most of the competitive advantages go to netfix as outlined in this article). When I confronted them about the change I received the following, this is an actual piece of the canned response at blockbuster:"Like all retail businesses, we must periodically review our products and services structure. In introducing a wider range of subscription plans, we considered a number of factors related to online memberships including in-store activity on a given account. We’re giving our most frequent renters like yourself the option of either continuing with limited in-store exchanges at a the same price point or moving to a new plan if you'd like to continue your unlimited exchanges and agree to a higher price point. Unfortunately, eCoupons are no longer available."Are you @#$%%#$%$ kidding me? This is a battle between Netflix and Blockbuster. Blockbuster has just made a huge mistake by arrogantly underestimating its consumers and trying to appease Wall Street. What they do not see is that in the end they will loose any subscriber base with an IQ above 60.
macfan09Feb 23, 2009
netflix offers streaming video. so, even if net flix holds your movie for a day or two to keep you from watching a million movies in one month, it's still a good value because you can stream as many as you want. blockbuster doesn't do that.
macfan09Feb 23, 2009
I don't want to wait for the mail or go to the store to rent anything. I simply want to pay $X a month to stream any movie/show I want. Unfortunately, due to bandwidth or whatever, not all shows are available yet. However, I'm employed so it's not like I don't have things to do besides watch movies. And if you're really that bored, go volunteer somewhere and make yourself useful!