Free £15 Boots voucher and Lovefilm DVD rental trial

codger

Wasn't going to come back to this thread until after the hols but (!)

Aaron: negotiating a way around Lovefilm is a Grand National exercise. Make too fast a turn and unseen fences suddenly rear up. Other DVD rental enterprises (notably, Amazon) seem to manage quite well with a simple, straightforward course. Why Lovefilm chooses to make its so circuitous and hazardous to wealth is something only it can explain. . .

Teakandy: glad all's OK. But what an unjustifiable shambles.


scroggy / insommnianne / mishkanorman: have a look at deanos posts on this thread, they've been consistently comprehensive & helpful. Bottom line: a 21-day trial offer is a 21-day trial offer. No ifs or buts. Tough luck on Lovefilm if it takes 5 days to process a cancellation. That it takes it a mere 5 seconds to register inadvertent subscription upgrades suggests it is more than capable of acting in a timely fashion. If it so wishes.

As to some of the issues raised in this thread and its sister threads in the MSE Freebies (no spend required) Board, viz, that:

1) contrary to its trial offer T&Cs, the company does not require credit / debit card information merely for the purposes of identity verification, rather it seeks that information for the purpose of pre-charging without the card holder's explicit consent;

2) also contrary to its trial offer T&Cs, the company does not abide by the schedule period it publicises but instead seeks to curtail any such period by five days, in consequence of which trial subscribers are not only charged one month's advance rental fees but are deprived of whatever voucher they may legitimately have expected;

3) contrary to the Advertising Standards Authority judgment that the company does not, and cannot, provide an "unlimited" supply of DVDs to all subscribers, Lovefilm nevertheless continues to advertise that it does;

4) contrary to the wording explicitly rendered in the T&Cs that cancellation is an on-line process when in fact (unless you've followed this and similar threads here) cancellation necessitates a potentially expensive call to an 0870number;

5) contrary to OFT good practice guidance, Lovefilm seeks not to refund a financial charge levied erroneously against a subscriber's credit or debit card but instead to retain the proceeds and merely offer an extension of the rental agreement. . .


Lovefilm is bound to have an answer.


That this may take the form of a chronicle of the number of subscribers whose leisure hours have been enhanced by Lovefilm's DVD rental service, as well as an apology for:

* 'temporary technical difficulties arising from unprecedented demand'; or:

* an expression of gratitude to everyone who has high-lighted failures and/or ambiguities and/or misinformation in email customer communications "which you can be assured will be addressed as a matter of urgency". . .

. . . is arguably more predictable than the date of receipt of an "allocated" but as yet unsent Lovefilm DVD to a subscriber awaiting an "unlimited" supply.

As to Lovefilm's interpretation of what is, and what is not, a valid Boots voucher code, hopefully no such interpretation will need to be forthcoming because everyone entitled to such voucher will receive it.

Having registered for the 21-day trial / £15 Boots voucher offer on November 29th 2006, and in certain knowledge that the voucher will be posted out not later than 30 days from that date, I'm certainly looking forward to receiving mine in the post by the second week of January, 2007.

Until then, Merry Christmas to all at Lovefilm. :santa2:

grenny

My God. I can't believe this company is STILL operating!

Regarding the Boots/Lovefilm voucher:
After weeks, I eventually got a reply from Boots. Here it is:
Subject: Re: Boots.com - Lovefilm/Boots DVD rental

Thank you for emailing us. If you need to contact us again, please quote your customer reference number 3701770

Dear Mr Leclerc
Thanks for your further email to us. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.
If you can send me your full address I will happily post you a Boots giftcard for the value of 15.00. If you would like to speak to me about this you can do so on 0845 609 0055.
Yours sincerely
Wendy Holmes

Boots Customer Care
PO Box 5300
Nottingham
NG90 1AA

Email: btc.cshelpdesk_team@boots.co.uk
Customer Care Tel: 08450 708090
Advantage Card Tel: 0845 124 4545
(local rate - calls may be recorded for training purposes)
Fax: 0115 959 5525
Minicom: 08450 70 80 91


We will see ay....?
Merry Xmas to all in the thread....(except danster)

Toxic_Bunni

I have some more LoveFilm codes if anyone wants one? PM me

codger

grenny: as usual, that's an IHP (Incredibly Helpful Post) from you. Was the username 'bulldog' taken when you joined MSE??? Because when you start biting, you sure don't let go!

Toxic: go on, make a fortune on eBay!

:xmassign:

anjanmulji

hi all,
signed up for love film. got my 1st dvd and returned back. called them up today to cancel my membership as travelling abroad. confirmed cancellation and will send an email also. Just want to find out if the boots voucher will come thru as no mention of it anywhere or is there any where I can ask for them or call up. Merry Christmas

AmyGroovy3

aargh ive just subscribed, can i cancel before 21 days and still recieve 6 free rentals?

sconny_2

Have to say I've found the trial fine - I clicked to cancel my account after about 18 days or so (and 5 or 6 DVDs by return of post often) today and you are then given an 0870 number to call. Annoying but it is Fri eve - after a 10 min wait (on 18185 rate of course!) I was offered a no hassle cancellation OR a further 90 days for just 9.99 total to be charged 22/3 + free to cancel before then so need only pay this one payment. They asked for feedback when I asked to cancel and I said I was happy with service (which I am) but didn't want to spend 9.99 a month on it. Then the above (excellent) offer was made which I have accepted.

Cheers
Sconny

slarge

I think questions do need to be asked as to why a Lovefilm promotion was recommended via this site. The web is awash with reports of the lack of customer service displayed by this company and its charging policy, which appears close to fraudulent. See for example http://www.dvdrr.com/reviews/LoveFilm.html

A modicum of checking would have revealed that there are currently big problems with Lovefilm and that it was far from a suitable candidate for an easy money promotion. And I think it is incumbent on Martin to hold his hands up if he ends up costing his readers money and carry out more thorough checks in future before companies with publicly unsatisfactory reputations are plugged. There is no way a free money promotion should a few weeks later be going into the rip off bin. And, in case anyone suspects my motives, I admire what this site does and all of Martin's efforts and it is a shame that a company of apparently dubious quality has slipped through the net.

frafferty

Lovefilm took money from my credit card BEFORE my free trial expired. All discs were sent back before the trial expired, I had a confirmation email to say that the account was closed but when I checked my credit card statement, Lovefilm took money from my card about a week before the trial expired! How can they take a payment part way through a free trial? I have contacted Lovefilm and they are worse than useless so I am now persuing it via my bank and hopefully they will be able to get my money back for me.

I would not touch Lovefilm with a bargepole and I very much doubt that I will get a £15 Boots voucher either. Disgaraceful.

codger

hi frafferty -- I don't actually think Martin can ever be held responsible for any deals / offers / opportunities publicised on MSE. If that was the case, he'd have to spend all his time checking out every single one of 'em, and have no time left to do anything else.

The best way, surely, to regard anything publicised on MSE is to treat it the same as a store's 'sale' advert in a local newspaper. You go in the shop, check out the goods, and buy if you so wish. Any problems arising are not the newspaper's fault.

Sorry you're having a rotten time with Lovefilm as, so it seems, many others have. But in all fairness, Martin has said he'll be looking at the situation again in January -- can't say fairer than that; he's under no obligation to do anything, so his "overview" is pretty generous, given everything else that must be stacking up on his plate. :beer: