Outnow DVD rental services

jamichi1

Just a word of warning to all those people who might be tempted to join outnow.co.uk.
I joined them on a semi-free trial basis (1 paid month for 3) in the end of April, and having previous experience with similar rental clubs I loaded my list with a mixture of old and new releases (to keep things going).
First negative surprise was that their back-catalog was extremely limited (when compared with their competitors) while only 50% of the new released titles were being added to their list, as soon as they were officially released.
Anyway, the second negative surprise that unlike lovefilm and blockbuster, it took them 2-3 days to register discs as "received" and a further 1-2 to send a new one out, so in reality I never received more than 2-3 discs per week. Royal Mail in our area is quite efficient, so I wouldn't blame them in this case.
Furthermore, dvds were also quite "jumpy" and needed a thorough cleaning before being played - something that again didn't happen with others.
Service has deteriorated further the last two weeks, so I contacted them via e-mail to complain (very politely) requesting a cancellation. Their response was quite inadequate ("sit down and enjoy our services" was the main message) so I decided to phone them.
When I attempted to reiterate what I wrote to them in my e-mail (again in a very calm and polite manner), the CS started shouting (!!!) at me, saying that "she read what I wanted to say (!!!)" and I did not have to repeat myself. When I told her that she didn't have to shout she said (amazingly) that "if she was shouting I would have understood that earlier (!!!)". Then I told her that I was lost for words - she responded back saying "that's good for a change".
She then went on saying that it was my fault (exact words) that I didn't receive enough movies as I have only new dvds in my list (by the way - when she was saying "new" she meant 2008 and January-May 2009 releases). When however, I pointed out that these are the only ones LEFT in my list as the old ones where sent to me and that if they could buy more copies of the new releases that were in high demand, I received no response.
After that she told me to go online and cancel my account and hanged up the phone (without goodbyes or anything).

So please do have my experience in mind when choosing DVD rental services - and if you have any suggestions as to whom I can complain for the customer service that I received or whether I can receive partial refund, do share it with me and others.

caroladams

Hi. I am glad to see I am not the only one who was spoken to rudely by their so called customer service, they were very rude and unhelpful and are obviously untrained, I have used many different dvd rental services and have never had a problem, beware as they will charge you £30 for lost discs, I have had to contact my credit card to stop them taking money, please do not use them, ther are many good ones out there, I too tried to find somewhere to complain to, no joy.

dreamypuma

I'm not sure if you have picked up on this, but Outnow.co.uk are just another brand from the My Movie Stream stable, the same as The Sun Movie Club.

Regular readers of this area of the forums, may be aware that My Movie Stream have a terrible reputation. None of what I have read surprises me.

There is quite a long thread about them on hear somewhere. I'll post a link as soon as I find it.

Edit:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=849577&highlight=mymoviestream

or

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=943051&highlight=mymoviestream

or

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=968253

gfowler

jamichi1 wrote: »

Just a word of warning to all those people who might be tempted to join outnow.co.uk.
Their response was quite inadequate ("sit down and enjoy our services" was the main message) so I decided to phone them.
When I attempted to reiterate what I wrote to them in my e-mail (again in a very calm and polite manner), the CS started shouting (!!!) at me, saying that "she read what I wanted to say (!!!)" and I did not have to repeat myself. When I told her that she didn't have to shout she said (amazingly) that "if she was shouting I would have understood that earlier (!!!)". Then I told her that I was lost for words - she responded back saying "that's good for a change".
She then went on saying that it was my fault (exact words) that I didn't receive enough movies as I have only new dvds in my list (by the way - when she was saying "new" she meant 2008 and January-May 2009 releases). When however, I pointed out that these are the only ones LEFT in my list as the old ones where sent to me and that if they could buy more copies of the new releases that were in high demand, I received no response.
After that she told me to go online and cancel my account and hanged up the phone (without goodbyes or anything).

I'm glad I'm not the only one having fun & games with OutNow, I phoned up Dec/Jan to cancel my subscription (as I also had a sub with LoveFilm), a lady in CS offered either 3-months paid then 3-months free, OR 6-months paid then 6-months free, I asked was this upfront and she said NO, I agreed straight away to the 12-month package (6-months free). For the last month or so I have been emailing asking when the FREE period was due to start and kept getting back Blank emails (??), so I decided to speak to CS by phone this morning, and I'm frankly appauled by the way I was spoken to by a guy in their CS.

He firstly said the package was NEVER available, when I asked to speak to the lady I originally spoke to, I was told she was no longer in the business, he more or less accused me of lying, when I asked did I called up to cancel in Dec/Jan? He answered YES. Why would I phone up to cancel, but stay on the same tariff??? He then said "why would an adult male such as yourself take 6-months to call" in a very sarcastic and very condersending tone (maybe cause I was offered a 6-months paid package???), to which I angryly replied "who the f**k do you think you are speaking to?". I must add it takes a lot to make me angry and he managed to! He then said a few things about me not being his friend (??) and all that, then said he didn't want to speak to me anymore, and to contact through email (maybe if you responded to peoples emails then we would!!). He then slammed the phone down.

I quickly cancelled my account and would recommend people say WELL CLEAR of this outfit. I've never received such poor service before, and the attitude from the guy in CS, I say no more.

I'm now looking at reclaiming some (or all) of my subscription paid. I've recommended quite a large number of people to OutNow, I'll now be advising them to quit and go with either LoveFilm or BlockBuster.

Rant other.

Gareth

gfowler

For some unknown reason the forum software won't allow me to edit an existing post.

Anyway, found an interesing review of OutNow @
choosedvdrental.co.uk/dvd-rental-review/outnow.asp

G.

Firefox1975

Yeah, cancel your membership

You dont; deserve anything back monetary wise though.

All that's happened is a member of staff has perhaps been rude to you on the phone. How do you put a figure on that? best you'll get is an apology.

Go somewhere else for your filme in future

Elaniel

The poster has stated was offered 6 months free if he paid 6 months. After the 6 months, he didn't get his 6 free. He's posting mainly about this (with the customer service experience on top.)

He is obviously owed something as he paid 6 months for something and they didn't hold up their end of the offer. I would say 1/2 the 6 months fee back.

skiTTish

We had trouble with them too ,they continued to take money but delivered no DVDs ,cancelled membership and they still took money!!!
Staff were absolutely crap and had a 'screw you' attitude

gfowler

Elaniel wrote: »

The poster has stated was offered 6 months free if he paid 6 months. After the 6 months, he didn't get his 6 free. He's posting mainly about this (with the customer service experience on top.)

He is obviously owed something as he paid 6 months for something and they didn't hold up their end of the offer. I would say 1/2 the 6 months fee back.

Thank you, you are right, its mainly due to being lied to, the attitude from CS was just the icing on the cake. I've had very poor CS from Sky but I'm still a customer as they do deal with your complaints!

I've dealt many times with BT, Sky, NTL, and BY FAR OutNow is the worst company when it comes to Customer Services. It seems like this company has systematic failures from the top-down.

My main point was to recommend to people NOT to use OutNow.

Thanks.

G.