Netflix vs. Blockbuster Online

[Craig Crumpton]

Spinning off from the Netflix Friends thread (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?p=2166547), I'm curious to hear from any Blockbuster Online subscribers -- positives and negatives. My brother is a BO user on the 2-movie plan and says he likes it because they get a free rental coupon every week.

I don't really see that as a geunine advantage over Netflix because you still have to go through the hassle of driving to a Blockbuster location and trying to find a movie you want to rent. It costs you gas to get there too (nothing's ever truly free). And I've no doubts that Blockbuster only offers a free rental coupon banking that customers will still make some sort of purchase while renting a movie--whether it's renting an additional movie (which usually happens if you have kids with you) or buying snacks/drinks (which also happens if you have kids with you).

I don't see any other difference between BO and Netflix otherwise, because the pricing plans appear identical.

So, you Blockbuster users out there--what say ye?

And to you Netflix members--would you switch to BO just because they offer 52 free rentals per year?

[Duke]

I don't belong to either plan, but I highly doubt I'll ever join Blockbuster Online. Not only have they screwed my mom in the past (charging her late fees when we return movies early), but the vast majority of the DVDs I'd rent are anime, which Blockbuster has very little of.

[Craig Crumpton]

I don't belong to either plan, but I highly doubt I'll ever join Blockbuster Online. Not only have they screwed my mom in the past (charging her late fees when we return movies early), but the vast majority of the DVDs I'd rent are anime, which Blockbuster has very little of.Renting from Blockbuster was always a hassle for me anyway. If you went on the weekend, they were always out of new releases, and it seems like it takes 30 minutes and longer to find something you hadn't seen before and actually wanted to rent. And I always hated trying to beat the return deadline.

One time, I had a rental fall behind the dresser and didn't even realize it was lost for some 4-5 months. Blockbuster never called or sent a reminder that it was overdue, and it cost me a ghastly amount of money to pay the late fee when I finally returned it because they charged it as a new rental every time it rolled over. I was so glad they got sued and lost, but I wish the judge had made them pay cash to those involved in the class action lawsuit and not let them off so easy just giving them a free rental every week. I sure as heck lost money on their old policy, and no amount of "free rentals" could ever offset that cost.

And I always hated that so many of their employees were incompetent when it came to checking in returned movies. We averaged getting at least one call every couple months from the local Blockbuster for a while saying a movie hadn't been returned when I had physically handed it back to an employee. And that kinda thing can *really* get you in trouble if you're renting "R" rated movies behind your parents back.

Don't even get me started on Hollywood Video. I used to work for two of their stores and afterwards I vowed I would never enter one of their stores ever again because of they way I was treated by management.

You really should consider Netflix though -- they have a fairly large inventory of anime titles and series, and it seems like they add new ones fairly regularly. My wife and I save $20-30 a month with Netflix over what we used to pay at Blockbuster. And with Netflix, you have a running list of DVDs you *want* to see--you'll never have to waste time again trying to remember what you have and haven't seen.

It also has saved me a lot over what I used to spend buying DVD box sets. If it's a movie/TV series I probably won't watch more than once, but I want to see the bonus materials, I can just rent the bonus disc.

I'll shut up now, since I'm starting to sound like an TV commercial.

[Noukon]

Netflix's selection is what makes them the clear winner. I tried Blockbuster for a short trial period, and that was my only nitpick.

[Duke]

Don't even get me started on Hollywood Video. I used to work for two of their stores and afterwards I vowed I would never enter one of their stores ever again because of they way I was treated by management.
Actually, the worst problem I had with Hollywood video was that they forgot to take off those lock things once. I realized it right after I left the store, though. The selection still sucks (what brick and mortar rental place doesn't?), but I've had few problems with Hollywood.

You really should consider Netflix though -- they have a fairly large inventory of anime titles and series, and it seems like they add new ones fairly regularly. My wife and I save $20-30 a month with Netflix over what we used to pay at Blockbuster. And with Netflix, you have a running list of DVDs you *want* to see--you'll never have to waste time again trying to remember what you have and haven't seen.
I had a month's free of Netflix once and it was heaven. Problem is, I can't afford Netflix right now.

[Moto Pete]

blockbuster.com is what i use. I Like it i get 3 dvds every 3-4 days, where with Netflix it took a week to get some( Back in 2000) it may be faster now

but i also get a free rental every week at my blockbuster store so thats a bonus

[Mynd Hed]

In my experience the major breaking point between the two services is which one has a warehouse closer to you. That'll make a huge impact on turnaround times, affecting whether you really get your money's worth.

Whether you use Netflix or Blockbuster, it's also important to make sure your outgoing mail is secure. Those bright red Netflix envelopes make a tempting target for thieves. My apartment complex doesn't have an outgoing mailbox with a lock, just an open basket in the office. I never really thought about it, because there's an office employee present in there at all times, but I got a LOT of "lost" returned movies to Netflix.
Finally after I'd had to report about six movies "lost" in a row, they temporarily suspended my account. I called up their customer service and they restored my account right away, and the person I spoke to advised me to try dropping my outgoing mail in a different place to see if that would make a difference. Fortunately, there's a blue U.S. Postal Service mailbox right outside my work, so I've been dropping my Netflix returns in there ever since, and I never had another problem. Just goes to show that you can't be too careful-- I can't prove anything, but it's pretty obvious to me that somebody working in the office at my apartment complex is less than honest and has been jacking people's Netflix envelopes.
Fortunately the folks at Netflix were very understanding and took care of everything very professionally.

And to you Netflix members--would you switch to BO just because they offer 52 free rentals per year?

Although ultimately it's probably a better deal in my case, I've had too many poor experiences with Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores in the past to really trust them. Also switching would just be such a hassle since I've already got my Netflix accounts and queues all set up just the way I like them.

I've heard bad things about Blockbuster Online's availability of certain obscure titles, especially anime, but I've never really heard any specifics, just general complaints.

[EinBebop]

All of my movies from Blockbuster had a 4-6 day turnaround time, as opposed to the 2-day average I get from Netflix.

I live in the central valley of California, and all of my movies came from Fresno (1.5 hours) or Santa Ana (2.5 hours) away. And my return envelopes usually have Bakersfield on them, so apparently they do some processing here. Compare to Blockbuster, where everything came from and went to Las Vegas, about five hours away.

No distribution center in Southern California? Come on!!!

[Craig Crumpton]

Problem is, I can't afford Netflix right now.And yet you rent a "vast majority" of anime titles? ;) Do the math, dude. I bet you'd save yourself some money subscribing to Netflix sometime in the near future.

I've rented Anime DVDs from a few of those Comics/Collectibles/Anime shops in the past, and more than half of their inventory was usually crappy VHS (and some bootlegs too). And yet they still charged $3-4 for 5-7 day rentals.

I've had few problems with Hollywood.If you only knew how crappy they treat their employees--then again, it could've just been the area I worked in, but both store mgrs and the regional mgr I worked for were jerks and liars. I have a long laundry list of offenses from they way they treated me, and it started with my being promised that upon hire I would be trained for assistant mgr. 9 months later, I still hadn't gotten a raise or even a slight promotion. And then I finally found out that asst mgrs started at $7.50 an hour...barely better than I was making as a shift mgr. My boss failed to mention this to me, of course.

And then the regional mgr went and hired a 17 year old girl over me as an assistant (who had only been with the company 6 months), "because she had better comp sales" than I did. My 8 years of experience in retail obviously didn't mean squat.

What finally tore it for me was when the store was broken into early one morning, hours before I was scheduled to open and was still asleep in bed. And yet my mgr fingered me as a #1 suspect even though I had not one but TWO rock-solid alibis. A detective interrogated me for over an hour, and I kept telling him it was a waste of time because: 1) I had two people who could confirm my whereabouts at the time of the break-in; and 2) why would I go to all the stupid effort to break through the ceiling of the store to steal 20-30 DVDs when I had a key to the front door, the store alarm code, and knew the number to the safe?

The detective replied that he was "just doing his job." What a crock.

And my mgr used to wonder aloud why she had such a high employee turnaround. I wanted to say, "Maybe because you pay them like crap, and then work them like dogs."

[Duke]

And yet you rent a "vast majority" of anime titles? ;) Do the math, dude. I bet you'd save yourself some money subscribing to Netflix sometime in the near future.
I haven't rented anything in almost a year. Most of my purchases are for stuff I'm going to get anyway, like Gundam, Case Closed, or Pokémon.

[Moto Pete]

And yet you rent a "vast majority" of anime titles? ;) Do the math, dude. I bet you'd save yourself some money subscribing to Netflix sometime in the near future.

I've rented Anime DVDs from a few of those Comics/Collectibles/Anime shops in the past, and more than half of their inventory was usually crappy VHS (and some bootlegs too). And yet they still charged $3-4 for 5-7 day rentals.

If you only knew how crappy they treat their employees--then again, it could've just been the area I worked in, but both store mgrs and the regional mgr I worked for were jerks and liars. I have a long laundry list of offenses from they way they treated me, and it started with my being promised that upon hire I would be trained for assistant mgr. 9 months later, I still hadn't gotten a raise or even a slight promotion. And then I finally found out that asst mgrs started at $7.50 an hour...barely better than I was making as a shift mgr. My boss failed to mention this to me, of course.

And then the regional mgr went and hired a 17 year old girl over me as an assistant (who had only been with the company 6 months), "because she had better comp sales" than I did. My 8 years of experience in retail obviously didn't mean squat.

What finally tore it for me was when the store was broken into early one morning, hours before I was scheduled to open and was still asleep in bed. And yet my mgr fingered me as a #1 suspect even though I had not one but TWO rock-solid alibis. A detective interrogated me for over an hour, and I kept telling him it was a waste of time because: 1) I had two people who could confirm my whereabouts at the time of the break-in; and 2) why would I go to all the stupid effort to break through the ceiling of the store to steal 20-30 DVDs when I had a key to the front door, the store alarm code, and knew the number to the safe?

The detective replied that he was "just doing his job." What a crock.

And my mgr used to wonder aloud why she had such a high employee turnaround. I wanted to say, "Maybe because you pay them like crap, and then work them like dogs."


sounds all to familier in retail

[Craig Crumpton]

In my experience the major breaking point between the two services is which one has a warehouse closer to you.I figured that out too, and have since been dropping mine off directly at the US Post Office which is within 5 minutes of the local Netflix shipping address. And it's really convenient that that particular post office is only a couple miles from where I work.

[PRdude]

I figured that out too, and have since been dropping mine off directly at the US Post Office which is within 5 minutes of the local Netflix shipping address. And it's really convenient that that particular post office is only a couple miles from where I work.

There's a Netflix shipping facility in the city where I used to live, so I know what you mean. I don't live there anymore, but I'm still close enough that I can drop a Netflix DVD in the mailbox in front of my building, they'll get it the day after, and I'll get another selection the day after that.

[veemonjosh]

My family tried a trial offer for both about a year ago. I think the only reason we've stuck with Blockbuster is because of the free game rental coupons (Though, I think their game selection is below average and mostly only seems to be good for X-Box gamers (Which I'm not part of)).