News

**MSE Lawrence** · 18-12-2007, 12:38 PM

This is a special poll & discussion as part of the

Cheapest DVD Rental

article, to rate

Lovefilm's DVD rental service

Please add feedback on your experience, range of films and how prompt the service is

Just answer the poll or click reply

xxdiddiexx · 18-12-2007, 1:05 PM

Were great when they were screenselect, but I gave up on them when they merged and became Love Film

Films regularly turned up late, and while ScreenSelect would always send a series in order, LoveFilm NEVER would. So you end up with series 3 DVD's before you have even watched Series 1 or 2.Waste of time...

They have tried me to go back with them soooooooooo many times, but I have stood my ground. It's just not worth the aggravation.

snakeonline · 19-12-2007, 12:03 PM

They send some great stuff in the post to win you back - got a christmas card with my name on in the style of a film premiere and some vouchers to give to mates.

Wouldn't mind but already a member! All that stuff goes to my parents house and gets passed on.

I think the postal strikes made the service a bit slow in october but seems to be back up to speed now. I've got Fast Food Nation and The Prestige to watch at home but holding onto them for Christmas when get sick of the rubbish on TV.

KxMx · 19-12-2007, 2:01 PM

I am very happy with Lovefilm, have been with them since August 2006.
Turn-around times are very good. Their policy on dispatch is they aim for same day when you return a dvd, or if not end of next working day. Twice I have had to wait longer (once during the postal strike) so I complained and had a total of a week free added to my account.
It's no good moaning about poor service, and then doing nothing!
Customer services are easy to contact via e-mail(use an address or fill out on-line form), and have always got back to me within 24 hours.
The range of films is excellent. There can be quite a wait at times for popular new releases.
Rental lists are split into High(send as soon as available), Medium (send when generally ready) and Low(I don't mind when you send) priority.
You can now have multiple lists, like a list for you and a list for partner. As I only have one list I can't comment further.
With regards to series, I always make sure not to have more than one season of a show on my list at any one time (eg Star Trek DS9, I wait until all of Season 1 has been sent before I add season 2 to my rental list.), and I always have recieved them in order.
I have been sent half-a-dozen free 3 month trial vouchers for friends & family to try.

lindsaygalaxy · 19-12-2007, 3:23 PM

Been good with resending out new ones, but have also had bad results with series dvds, sending them in the wrong order.

thebuff1 · 04-01-2008, 9:06 PM

Been with lovefilm for a couple of years.
When joined originally left after a while as felt never got the films that I really wanted and got fed up with loads of emails saying I needed to keep a list of at least 10 films in my list but they continued to beg for my business and I gave in and went back when they offered different levels of membership.
Left to myself, I was pants at watching the films on time and wasted at least 1 film a month.
Now mini me runs the list and we regularly get in our 2 per month.The listings have vastly imporved since they offer the level of priority for you to choose.
I pay 4.99 for this and feel the films are turned around very quickly. I have only had to claim for 1 missing film as the second no show was due to the poor post in our area and it arrived eventually.
I would say that my only moan would be that new releases are slow to be added to the list and it is likely that they would take a while to come out but as I'm no film buff and happy to see a film but did drag my feet over ordering a series as felt that it may not come in correct order.
Really like the fact that you can take a 'holiday' from them if you want a break.

jammiev · 04-01-2008, 10:35 PM

the problem with lovefilm is they make you create a list of at least ten dvd's and then send them out in any order, so you can wait about 1 month beforte you get the dvd you want.
if you just put say 2 in your list then none will be sent!
bit annoying, otherwise very good service.

jamie

willowisp · 05-01-2008, 2:21 AM

I had read mixed reports on Lovefilm, so decided the only way was to try it for myself....

It was a nightmare from start to finish

They didnt confirm the account had been set up so i had no idea they had activated the account. The dvds kept coming i kept sending them back with email after email to stop sending them out. I couldnt sign in to the account in the first place...it took 3 weeks for them to FINALLY cancel my account, AFTER taking the first payment, which i finally flipped and threatened legal action if they didnt refund me.

The dvds they sent were low on my list so the ones i REALLY wanted to see never came and i always seemed to get the 'special effects' 2nd disc of a set...drove me insane. It took 3-4 days for the next dvd to arrive (a crappy one again)

I eventually got it all cancelled. OH cancelled his too, cant deal with a company whos customer service was this bad, and have gone to Blockbusters. have been brilliant so far, so will stick with these.

My advice to potential account holders.....?

Try it by all means, but expect alot of frustration and emails that dont answer your question and are standardised replies...

Quite frankly AVOID AT ALL COSTS IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR SANITY!!!!

uktyler · 05-01-2008, 9:31 AM

I signed up, put over 20 movies in my list, not all new releases. I waited over two weeks, nothing sent to me. None of my emails were answered. I tried to cancel, at first online, but got a message telling me I had to call customer service. Over 20 minutes on an 0870 number before I spoke to anyone, and then I was told I would be billed for the service, even though they never sent me a thing.
Finnaly managed to cancel, but they still keep sending me spam, both email and postal, even though I have repeatedly asked them not to. The Boots voucher on offer when I signed up never arrived.
Awful service, would never use them again, in fact its put me off DVD's by post completely.

mcsquared · 05-01-2008, 2:05 PM

I agree with some of the other posts, when they were screen select they were very good but since changing to love film the standard of service has dropped dramatically

elainec · 05-01-2008, 2:14 PM

I did the free 2 week trial as rent a couple of movies a month off virgin. was not impressed at all, took about 4 days to get first film then sent it back and never received second film. when i phoned up to cancel day before trial ran out they had still not recived the film back, 5 days after i sent it!
got it cancelled ok after having to gve a million reasons to some pushy person!

vicks276 · 05-01-2008, 4:43 PM

I think Lovefilm are fantastic!! I got a 3-month free trial through the post from them and i've been using it to try Wii games before I buy them. Saved me quite a bit of cash over christmas as I desperately wanted Trauma Centre and Cooking Mama, but after playing them I am glad I didn't buy them!!

twoforone · 09-01-2008, 2:55 PM

A post above mentions two things.
(a) the monthly rental £4.99 for two films per month.
If anyone is on this Tariff it is too much. I have been forking out £4.99 per month for two rentals for months but only discovered that it is £3.99 currently. If you go to the Membership Options on the MY ACCOUNT you can see the various subscription packages. I was astonished when I saw that by 'changing' my own package I would go onto the £3.99 one. I phone Customer Services - 0870 2401637 - and asked if they informed their customers when a subscription deal is changed and was told that this occurred only when and if the cost went up !! So if you want to save a quid per month and are on the two rentals package just change it. I don't know if the other packages have changed but worth checking !
and
(b) the fact that you can take a 'holiday' from them if you want a break.
The deal is that you can have 4 weeks during one year. So the year starts from when you had your first holiday. If like me you have 4 weeks holiday plus another four weeks, the cap is not totally helpful. The alternative is to elect to 'suspend' the account for a longer period. But that does not make much sense for a two rentals a month person because the cost of that is more than actually renting. In other words, £4 per month.

joon79 · 10-01-2008, 11:40 AM

I've used Lovefilm for over two years and I cannot fault the service - its quick turnaround and has been consistent the whole time!

fmhm · 10-01-2008, 4:30 PM

hmmm.. should you be admitting that in public? what with copyright and all.

We're on our second free trial (3 month ones). This time round the service is MUCH better. We get the next dvd back on the second day after posting the previous.

colinstevens · 10-01-2008, 5:55 PM

I Signed up last week with the 90 day trial - and have already had four disks! Took 3 days for turnaround (posted on Monday new disks came on Wednesday). Disks look scratched but play perfectly...... so far!

caz182 · 10-01-2008, 8:59 PM

My only complaint is that I have never once had any new releases sent to me. I end up going into blockbuster and renting it after 2-3 weeks waiting. Maybe they send them to the paying customer first instead of those on the free trials? I used Amazon before and they were good at sending new releases.

ystalyfera · 11-01-2008, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmhm

hmmm.. should you be admitting that in public? what with copyright and all.

We're on our second free trial (3 month ones). This time round the service is MUCH better. We get the next dvd back on the second day after posting the previous.

Mmmm thought that myself

ystalyfera · 11-01-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grb55

I am on my 4th month free, before your 90days are up phone them up to cancel, then activate your account 3 days later, i am now getting 6 months totaly free , here is the code , the only thing you have to do is set up another e-mail adress and a number different in your post code, you still get them ok, code for 90 days lfzz98778. enjoy. i am.

how many movies can you get at a time or aloud in the month say?

catstar · 06-02-2008, 11:47 AM

I just tried the 2 week trial thru Quidco. What ive found is

Good selection although the priorities you put make no difference to what you receive. Havent received any of my top priority and none of mine were blockbuster type films.

Sometimes it seems to take a few days for the films you sent back to be registered as received and then it shows that they have sent you out films but it then takes a few days to arrive.

I saw written somewhere that once you cancel you have 7 days to return the dvds, this was a mistake on my part somehow, i cant find where i saw that so when i cancelled she said no thats not the case, they cant cancel til they have received all the dvds.

Indian callcentre at the cancellation dept tough robots. I said I wanted to cancel she said there are two film that have been allocated to you. They havent been sent out yet but by the time i would have received them and sent them back there is no way i would have been within my 14 days. I asked her not to send them out and she said they cant stop them they will go out today so i kicked up a fuss as that isnt reasonable so she eventually moved my date forward so I hope they arrive in enough time to send them back.

Website is good and clear and offer thru Quidco is great. Just make sure you cancel in time and return all dvds in time.

In 14 days trial i have had 5 films and I have watched and returned same or next day.