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Anyone renting from Blockbuster thru the mail? Are you happy or sad?

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:50:29 GMT, skip <skip[@nospam.com> wrote:

>Anyone renting from Blockbuster thru the mail? Are you happy or sad?
I'm generally happy with Blockbuster On-Line. Not quite as fast as
Netflix but their selection is pretty good. Some titles that Netflix
doesn't have. The 1 free rental per week coupon for the store is what
keeps me a subscriber for now.

"skip" <skip[@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns982082A10B79Bsky@207.115.17.102...
> Anyone renting from Blockbuster thru the mail? Are you happy or sad?

Actually, I have rented from Blockbuster for almost a year via year long
gift subscription.

If you want to know the truth, there wasn't anything that got me more
aggravated then renting from them; their shipping service was good....now
for the issues.

I used BB so I could watch TV series that I have not seen while I was
working, like The Sopranos, 24, and some BBC productions that consist of
multiple disks. I can't begin to tell you how many times my queue got mucked
up by their computer system resulting in multiple disks out of order and
some not being sent at all. I first tried the approach of ordering the set
in a block which is recommended. This resulted in a disk or two of a series
being sent out of order or being ignored altogether. I can understand #2
being switched with #3, but sending Disk2 season one instead of Season 1
disk 2, just drove me insane.

Then, I tried ordering a series one at at time with movies stuck in between;
that was a bit more effective, but there were certain disks that would never
arrive. I could only receive one of the disks for a BBC series, and it was
the final in the series no less, by totally emptying my queue. That prompts
multiple emails from BB telling you how you should fill up your queue.

The last straw was this week...I watched every disk available of "24",
that's 6-7 disks per season for 4 seasons and I can't get the final disk!

They are pretty good about responding to email, but perpetually were telling
me how to order disks in a set-like I was a first grader. When I called
customer service, they were always friendly and so was I. They just never
could fix my issues. I just wrote them and told them they will be pleased to
know I won't be sending them emails anymore that made them "listen" to me
whine about the service I paid for but can't receive. I am simply not going
to renew with them, ever again. The other thing is, if the movie in your
queue is "available", one of the reps old me that doesn't necessarily mean
there is a copy for me...Huh!

Actually writing this post made my day. The bottom line is BB is a royal
PITA.

D.

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 06:51:56 -0400, "Dot Nettie"
<> wrote:

> The bottom line is BB is a royal PITA.

It's always been that way. The people who run it do not care about
customer satisfaction. Netflix, warts and all, is a helluva lot better
than BB is ever going to be.

For example, they will not send discs out of sequence if you order the
set. They will reach down below the last one and grab a disc from that
group.

However, if you are a high volume user of NF, you may have to
subscribe for a month and then unsubscribe for a month, otherwise they
might "throttle" you. It's based on usage statistics, so if you have a
month with no activity, your statistics will look like you are a
typical user and they won't throttle you.

I talked in person to a customer service representative about this
matter of throttling heavy users and she told me it is written policy
to throttle new releases. They give them to slower users first. She
suggested that I slow down so I can get priority on new releases, but
I told her that would cost me money. Then it dawned on me that I could
accomplish the same thing by unsubscribing for a while and save all
that money. She did not like that.


--

"One must realize that the world is a network of real and virtual
combat zones where the stakes are high, struggle is the primary
mode of being and only total victory is acceptable.
-- Sun Tzu, "The Art Of War"

> I talked in person to a customer service representative about this
> matter of throttling heavy users and she told me it is written policy
> to throttle new releases. They give them to slower users first. She
> suggested that I slow down so I can get priority on new releases, but
> I told her that would cost me money. Then it dawned on me that I could
> accomplish the same thing by unsubscribing for a while and save all
> that money. She did not like that.


Bob

How does N/Flix throttle? I haven't heard that term before. I was going to
go to N/Flix when I have to cancel BB next month. I am not a particularly
heavy user, but much of what I order are series.

I have read about Intelliflix. The opinion of them seems pretty good, except
the website isn't as pretty and there are no movie trailers and no phone
support. Do you know anything about them, or has anyone here used them?
Their fees are a bit less, their plans seem more flexible and if you bail
out on a long term subscription, you can get $ back less one month fee
charge. Thanks for your input.

D.

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 11:19:41 -0400, "Dot Nettie"
<> wrote:

>How does N/Flix throttle?

It delays the orderly flow of discs, either by not acknowledging
receipt of returned discs on time or by taking longer to send you a
disc.

>I haven't heard that term before.

It's all over these DVD forums for as long as I can remember.

>I was going to
>go to N/Flix when I have to cancel BB next month. I am not a particularly
>heavy user, but much of what I order are series.

If you are not a heavy user, then it is unlikely you will be
throttled. And if you order the entire series at one time, NF will
send the discs in order. Just be sure to have alternatives for them to
send in case there is a delay.

>I have read about Intelliflix. The opinion of them seems pretty good, except
>the website isn't as pretty and there are no movie trailers and no phone
>support. Do you know anything about them, or has anyone here used them?
>Their fees are a bit less, their plans seem more flexible and if you bail
>out on a long term subscription, you can get $ back less one month fee
>charge. Thanks for your input.

Netflix is the best of the lot, warts and all. All you have to
remember is that if you are a heavy user, then you have to unsubscribe
for a month after having used them for a month. One month on, one
month off.

You might also want to investigate bit torrents on <alt.bittorrent>.
Almost every popular TV series in available. But you need to burn your
own data DVDs and your player must be able to read AVI XviD format.
Otherwise you have to convert and that takes a lot of computer time.




--

Rope, Tree, Journalist - some assembly required.

"Bob" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 11:19:41 -0400, "Dot Nettie"
> <> wrote:
>
> Netflix is the best of the lot, warts and all. All you have to
> remember is that if you are a heavy user, then you have to unsubscribe
> for a month after having used them for a month. One month on, one
> month off.
>


Thanks for the info. I never did have occasion to come to this usenet group,
nor did I ever need to evaluate the services provided by a vendor before
now. My subscription was gift. BB in the beginning at least was
satisfactory, but no longer.

I appreciate your input..now I can sit back and wait to get throttled.

Diane P.

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:51:27 GMT, (Bob) wrote:

>On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 11:19:41 -0400, "Dot Nettie"
><> wrote:
>
>>How does N/Flix throttle?
>
>It delays the orderly flow of discs, either by not acknowledging
>receipt of returned discs on time or by taking longer to send you a
>disc.
>
>>I haven't heard that term before.
>
>It's all over these DVD forums for as long as I can remember.
>
>>I was going to
>>go to N/Flix when I have to cancel BB next month. I am not a particularly
>>heavy user, but much of what I order are series.
>
>If you are not a heavy user, then it is unlikely you will be
>throttled. And if you order the entire series at one time, NF will
>send the discs in order. Just be sure to have alternatives for them to
>send in case there is a delay.
>
>>I have read about Intelliflix. The opinion of them seems pretty good, except
>>the website isn't as pretty and there are no movie trailers and no phone
>>support. Do you know anything about them, or has anyone here used them?
>>Their fees are a bit less, their plans seem more flexible and if you bail
>>out on a long term subscription, you can get $ back less one month fee
>>charge. Thanks for your input.
>
>Netflix is the best of the lot, warts and all. All you have to
>remember is that if you are a heavy user, then you have to unsubscribe
>for a month after having used them for a month. One month on, one
>month off.

Exactly how do you do this with Netflix? Cancel just before the
billing date? Is the cancellation immediate? Do you empty the queue?
Or can you retain the queue until you re-subscribe? Thanks


>You might also want to investigate bit torrents on <alt.bittorrent>.
>Almost every popular TV series in available. But you need to burn your
>own data DVDs and your player must be able to read AVI XviD format.
>Otherwise you have to convert and that takes a lot of computer time.

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:57:47 -0400, "Dot Nettie"
<> wrote:

>now I can sit back and wait to get throttled.

You won't get throttled if you are a moderate user.


--

Rope, Tree, Journalist - some assembly required.

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:07:44 GMT, Phisherman <> wrote:

>>Netflix is the best of the lot, warts and all. All you have to
>>remember is that if you are a heavy user, then you have to unsubscribe
>>for a month after having used them for a month. One month on, one
>>month off.

>Exactly how do you do this with Netflix? Cancel just before the
>billing date? Is the cancellation immediate? Do you empty the queue?
>Or can you retain the queue until you re-subscribe? Thanks

Check with "your account" to get the billing date for the next month's
worth of rentals, and cancel late in the afternoon of the day before.
Let them send out the last day's discs before you cancel.

They state that the cancellation is indeed immediate. The queue does
not have to be emptied. In fact, they keep it for you so when you
resubscribe you pick up where you left off.


--

Rope, Tree, Journalist - some assembly required.