DVD rental providers feedback

Former_MSE_Andrea

If you've read the DVD Wars: Slash The Cost Of Rental article, used online DVD rental providers and want to feedback on the quality and availability of films this is the place to do it.

Click reply to give your feedback.

clayts

Lovefilm

Since their acquisition of the much missed MovieChoices, Lovefilm do seem to have improved remarkably in the last few months - maybe the excellent customer service of their acquired company has rubbed off.

This is my third membership term with Lovefilm (I was actually with them in their previous guise of DVDs on Tap), and the turnaround times have improved markedly - putting Christmas post aside, you can post one back on a Monday, and expect to get a new one on a Wednesday.

They've also started shipping new selections out on a Saturday, a fairly recent innovation, as until recently it was a strictly Mon-Fri operation. In addition, selected titles now qualify for Fast Tracking (ie you're guaranteed despatch of your nominated item immediately), although this seems to be in its early stages at present with, unsurprisingly, none of the very popular movies available to rent on this option.

One word of advice - absolutely load up your queue. I have 75 in mine - believe me there is plenty to choose from, with their music DVDs in particular well worth exploring. Just don't expect to get Top 10 discs all the time - you won't.

No problems with scratched/cracked discs - just report it online, return it (marking the outside of the envelope in the relevant boxes), and they will send a replacement back out to you with no complaints.

Two gripes -
(1) The rather haphazard layout of the site which seems to be designed on some sort of fuzzy logic basis. Just a simple A-Z would be fine thanks !

(2) Those terrible, terrible envelopes they use - stiff card with Lovefilm all over them - Blockbusters use blue plastic ones which at least don't give the game away as to what's inside. In the three years I've been with them only one disc has gone missing, somewhat amazingly, and that was one posted by them to me. I wonder if they would have been as forgiving if it had been lost if I had posted one to them....can't say.

Summary
Anyway...keep that queue loaded up, and the service is very impressive - don't expect Top 10 films all the time, but as long as the films in the queue are ones you definitely want to see, you can never fail to be disappointed. 9/10

Toastie_Footwarmer

Hello! I know this is not the most obvious place to ask for advice on this situation but here goes...
We've rented from and since returned a video to our local spar. Paid for in full when it was rented out to us.
They are now claiming that we have not returned it and are continuing to allow debt to accrue on our account - HELP!!!!!
Any suggestions as to how we can get out of this mess, as we are lucky enough to have never been in debt and have no desire to be in debt, we are panicking alot about this, especially since our hands appear to be tied on this issue.
Has anybody been in a similar situation or happen to know what to do?
We have already spoken to the management of the Spar who told us "if we find the video we'll call you back and apologise". This is after they have apparently searched the whole shop for said DVD - HELP!

The_Wolfman

I took out the rental offer with tesco (3 months) just to get the points. started on 24th Nov and have yet to receive a DVD. I have nearly 30 films in my queue.

I'm waiting until I get the points voucher then gonna raise mary hell with them and get a refund and maybe more
:xmassign:

Country_Bumpkin_5

The_Wolfman wrote:

I took out the rental offer with tesco (3 months) just to get the points. started on 24th Nov and have yet to receive a DVD. I have nearly 30 films in my queue.

I'm waiting until I get the points voucher then gonna raise mary hell with them and get a refund and maybe more
:xmassign:

That's rubbish isn't it? :idea: Might stick to using my local library!

mirandamayhem

Amazon
I'm currently on their cheapest package, 3 dvd's in a month for £5.99
So far I've received 2 of my 3, the third due by 15th December. They're running slightly slow at the moment, taking over a week to get dvd's sent out, but in the past I've used them with no problem, and cancelling is easy.

drive007

I have had to complain three times regarding slow despatch of dvd`s. They have only bothered to respond once, and then gave a standard reply of saying sorry, offering no reason for cause of complaint, or reason for poor service.
Sometimes my account can say they have recieved back my returned dvd, and the "Awaiting despatch" has been showing for 4 days.
I keep over 20 dvd`s in my queing list, so this should be plenty for them to choose from.
In my opinion they are slow in despatching on purpose to avoid you watching too many dvd`s over the course of the month.
I have decided the only way forward, due to the lack of service, and appalling customer service, is to leave, and try another supplier.
My moneysaving advise is therefore dont waste it on Tesco DVD rental. use another supplier which will look after the customer, not in it to look after there profit margin only.

hot-ice

I went with one of these companies,as did two off my friends, the intro period was good and we got the films we wanted, but as soon as the intro is over the amount of dvd's we all recieved dropped off dramatically,also we NEVER got any of the latest films,i sent an email requesting when i would get the new releases but screen select never replied ,its all very well have cheap dvd rental but it works out expensive if they send you movies you haven't requested or you only recieve one a week. check out this website for peoples comments on these online rental companies
http://www.dvdrr.com/

i now pay a bit more at the local rental shop and choose the movies i want to watch and when i want to watch them

Celtica71

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

misskool

Have been on Lovefilm for a while, I'm on one of their old offers so I only pay £13.95 a month for unlimited 3. Their service has improved dramatically in the past 2 months, 2 out of my 3 DVDs are from my Top 10 list. I find that they are more inclined to send you your top choices if you stagger the returns of your DVDs. I used to send them all back at once and they retaliate by sending you stuff on the bottom of your list. It's easy to build up a list on Lovefilm (I always have about 70 items), although their recommendations are a bit weird.

A friend of mine is on the limited screen select one and she's had no problems with them, although there is a few days delay in sending out the next ones, but she only has 4 DVDs a month.

Another one is with Cinema Paradiso, who's the cheapest on the net (according to her) and they send you the films as you queue them. They have a smaller than the big providers selection but their films are mostly arty and hard to find stuff if you're into that kind of thing. Their customer service is great but they are a small company.

Hope this helps someone!

jimbob_3

i have tried a number of free trials, and the only bad experience i have had is with cinema paradiso. ( i have mentioned it elsewhere)

but basically they have no phone number or registered address and so are very hard to track down if anything goes wrong.

I am still after the £20.00 they stole from me in september because my dvds got lost in the post, even though i had proof of posting, and it just happened to be the ones i sent back once i cancelled my free trial.

i dont believe in coincidences and never before or since have any dvds gone missing with any other company... draw your own conclusions