A good bargain for the money
Written: Feb 17 '05
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I'm a former Netflix user who defected to Blockbuster's online rental service in late 2004. As usual, because I lack imagination mainly, here is my list of pros and cons.
PROS:
-Ease: As with Netflix, Blockbuster's website allows customers to search for movies at their convenience. Users maintain a queue of the movies they want to receive and Blockbuster sends them to you when they become available. Adding movies to the queue is simple and straightforward.
-Price: I got somewhat annoyed with Netflix a few months back when they bumped up their monthly fee to $21.99 for 3 DVDs out at one time. I was, thus, very pleased at Blockbuster's monthly price: only $14.99 for 3 DVDs out at a time. (Netflix later reduced their monthly 3 DVD rate to $17.99) $3 a month may not seem like a lot, but why spend more when you don't have to?
-In-store coupons: This is nice. Blockbuster offers its online customers 2 coupons a month for a free movie (or video game) rental at one of its stores. These coupons are good for new release as well, as I was pleasantly surprised to discover. Netflix, since it has no bricks and mortar stores, doesn't offer any coupons.
-Selection of New Releases: I sense that Blockbuster maintains a fairly deep selection (i.e. multiple copies) of movies that were released within the last 10 years or so. This would make sense since most customers would probably go for the newer fare. I only rent new releases occasionally, but when I do, I've never had to wait long -- 2 days at most. In contrast, when I go for older movies (say from the 1960s), I sometimes end up waiting 4 or 5 days for Blockbuster to send it to me.
-24/7 processing: Blockbuster's shiipping/receiving warehouses appear to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (I haven't witnessed this personally, but thats what they claimed in an email to me once). Netflix, in contrast, only ships/receives DVDs during normal business hours. You would think that this means that Blockbuster would ship movies out quicker, but hat hasn't been the case as far as I can tell. Typically, Blockbuster receives one of my DVDs on one day (say Monday) and won't ship the next DVD out until Tuesday. Of course, Blockbuster may process your returns 24/7, but they are still limited by how often the Postal Service picks up the DVDs for delivery.
-DVD Quality: The DVDs I've gotten from Blockbuster have signs of use (scratches, etc), but they are somewhat better on the whole than the ones I've gotten from Netflix. I've had more than one Netflix DVD arrive so scratched that they were unplayable. One Netflix DVD arrived in two pieces.
CONS:
-DVD Selection: In my experience, Blockbuster's DVD selection are heavy on new movies and considerably lighter on the older ones. Since Blockbuster charges a flat monthly rate for its program, the customer pays for the extra time they spend waiting for a DVD to become available.
-Average Turnaround Time: Blockbuster's turnaround time (between which they receive a DVD and mail out the next one) could be better, especially if their warehouses operate 24/7. In the last 2 months, I've experienced several instances where 3 or 4 days elapse between the time a DVD is received and the next one sent.
-Customer Service: I prefer Netflix's customer service to Blockbuster's by far. Blockbuster's customer services reps (and website FAQs) seem more adept at handling the most elementary (or commonplace) situations. Mention anything even remotely complicated and you won't get a reply for several days.
CONCLUSION
Given all the CONS, I'd still recommend Blockbuster's service over Netflix. Blockbuster and Netflix offer virtually identical products, but Netflix charges $3 more a month. That plus Blockbuster offers those coupons each month for 2 free in-store rentals.
ASIDE:
This is just my opinion, but I have a feeling that Blockbuster may be losing money on its online rental business. Blockbuster and Netflix have fairly similar infrastructure requirements (maintaining warehouses, internet sites, etc). Netflix is barely breaking even now (if that) at $17.99 a month so I'm somewhat skeptical that Blockbuster can break even at $14.99 a month, especially since Blockbuster also has to support it's massive network of bricks-and-mortar stores. (Oh, and lets not forget that Blockbuster recently did away with late fees...)
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? 3 DVDs for $14.99/month
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Epinions.com ID:
meribona
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Member: Andy Chen
Location: San Jose, CA
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
In law school
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