I got a piece of spam today announcing blockbuster.com’s new service. Suspiciously excactly precisely like netflix. I guess Blockbuster finally noticed it’s customers were disappearing.
It’s $17.49. 50cents cheaper than netflix. They rent games too. I don’t think netflix does that. They even have a free 2 week trial, just like netflix. And (I guess to keep you visiting and supporting their stores) they provide you with two free movie coupons every month. Pretty cool bonus. I wonder if the coupons expire each month.
So, anybody sign up yet? Happy with it? How is their selection? How quick do they deliver? I know that netflix can deliver videos to me in 2 days here in Houston. I can put my DVD in the mail this morning and have the followup in my mailbox when I get home from work tomorrow. Sometimes it takes an extra day, and a rare obscure movie might have to be shipped from a different state, but usually it’s only 2 days. How does blockbuster stack up to that?
Yeah, I’ve been seeing them advertise that since this summer. Wal-Mart does it as well. I’ve been doing the Wal-Mart one (I know, I know) since September, since my brother got me a 3 month subscription for me for my birthday. It’s extremely fast service.
I’ve got it, but it’s obviously lower in your neck of the woods as this costs me $21.95.
Good: You can rent games, you don’t have to wait until something is mailed to you.
Bad: Only good at the store you bought the “Pass” in, you’re using Blockbuster which means that you might get stuck with pan 'n scan and you won’t have the option of seeing anything rated NC-17. Well, they do have some “unrated” stuff (Bad Santa), and possibly one or two NC-17 films might make it past the censors, but still…
I think you’re confusing this new service with the one they have had for years. They had a pass you could buy that would let you go to the store and rent a movie or 3 at a time. Return the movie and you could rent another one without paying, as long as the pass was good. Just like Netflix, but no waiting. And it cost more.
Cool! I didn’t know Wal-Mart had the service too! And they have a 30 day free trial! And it’s only 15.54. Nope, 17.36 for 3 movies at a time. Still cheaper though,but it doesn’t come with 2 free movies a month. And if you go with netflix or blockbuster you don’t support the “evil” momandpop killer Wal-Mart.
BUT THIS SERVICE IS NEW. IT IS TOTALLY LIKE NETFLIX, all done by mail and website.
I think you’re confusing this new service with the one they have had for years. They had a pass you could buy that would let you go to the store and rent a movie or 3 at a time. Return the movie and you could rent another one without paying, as long as the pass was good. Just like Netflix, but no waiting. And it cost more.
BUT THIS SERVICE IS NEW. IT IS TOTALLY LIKE NETFLIX, all done by mail and website.
I signed up. No problems so far. The DVDs are in good shape and I haven’t had a single one skip or stop playing, which is more than I can say for rentals at the local video store. I don’t have a one-day turnaround like you seem to (put a DVD in the mail Monday, have the replacement Tuesday? Wow!). Three days is the norm (Send Monday, receive replacement Thursday), and two days seems to happen fairly often. With up to three out at a time though, I’m rarely without at least one in hand.
I picked Blockbuster over Netflix simply because Blockbuster offered a free copy of Shrek 2. Since then though, I’ve been happy about the decision because in addition to the two free in-store rentals a month they’ve also sent out other coupons: two pre-viewed movies for $15, %20 off any retail purchase, etc.
I go with a Netflix clone up here, zip.ca, which has a comparable price of $24.95/mo for four movies out at one time. There’s a couple of video stores that are trying this service but I’m not really interested in switching. My main reason for these is not the mail return portion of the business – in fact that’s a pain in the ass since it takes a few days and you don’t always get the movie that’s at the top of your queue. what I love about them is the selection – it’s really not that hard for me to walk to get a copy of Spiderman 2 or something really popular. What I want are the obscure documentaries, foreign, classics and TV episodes that a regular video store wouldn’t and don’t neccesarily have. It was the same for the brief period of time when I was in the States and a Netflix member.
I didn’t read all the links above, but I think I read through the posts, so I think I’ve presenting NEW information here…
The mail video service at my local blockbuster here in Roswell, GA is way better than NetFlix as it is a combonation of both In Store and Mail service. IIRC you get the standard netFlix style of video rental by mail, plus you can come in to the video store for 2 or 3 free videos a month.
It sounds like a much better deal than NetFlix to me.
Blockbuster is a bit cheaper, but I won’t be leaving Netflix either. There is a distribution in Diamond Bar, which is just a few miles from me. I literally get my new movies the day after I mail my old movies. Two days at the very, very most.
