Lovefilm free trial problems (merged threads)

pinkonion

niceguy wrote:

WARNING: Lovefilm/Sainsburys DVD promise an unlimited service, but if you return discs quickly (i.e. the next day or two after receiving them) your service will be downgraded. Various explanations are given for this, but the short of it is that they are not making enough money out of you.

I have been told that ALL of their customers can expect delays of up to FOUR days before another disc is even put in the post. This level of service is abysmal and amounts to bait and switch...misleading customers. Sack them!

Get onto trading standards and report it to them!

pinkonion

SavvySaver wrote:

Be warned about Love Film. I came home from work today to find a letter from a debt collection agency saying that I need to pay £159.91 within the next 7 days.

Are they seriously suggesting they continued your membership (especially if you didn't use it) for many months without payment - I don't think so!

Altarf

niceguy wrote:

WARNING: Lovefilm/Sainsburys DVD promise an unlimited service, but if you return discs quickly (i.e. the next day or two after receiving them) your service will be downgraded. Various explanations are given for this, but the short of it is that they are not making enough money out of you.

I have been told that ALL of their customers can expect delays of up to FOUR days before another disc is even put in the post. This level of service is abysmal and amounts to bait and switch...misleading customers. Sack them!

Not my experience. I have just ended a free trial and in 21 days I received and had booked back in 18 DVDs.

On only two DVDs did they book the DVD in later than day after posting (and obviously that could have been a delay in the post office).

With the dispatches, only 5 DVDs were not sent out the day they received the returns back, and they were sent out the following day.

All of the DVDs were received the day after dispatch.

Perfect, no; pretty damn good, yes. Whether this would continue outside the free trial period, I can't say.

What did concern me though was the dreadful state some of the DVDs were in. What do people do with them, play frisbee on gravel. I was really surprised that some of them played OK.

possom46

pinkonion wrote:

Get onto trading standards and report it to them!

Thanks pinkonion, have just reported them, hopefully more of us will do the same and get these problems sorted out.

Altarf

possom46 wrote:

Thanks pinkonion, have just reported them, hopefully more of us will do the same and get these problems sorted out.

Given that Lovefilm have a very clearly stated fair use policy, I very much doubt that trading standards will even attempt to do anything.

http://www.lovefilm.com/howitworks.php#faq10

"LOVEFiLM Fair Use Policy
We do our best to get the discs you have requested to you as quickly as possible. However, we do operate a fair use policy that aims to ensure a balanced experience for all our members. This means that in periods of excessive demand we may give priority to members who don't rent high numbers of discs from us. Therefore, members who rent the most discs from us might experience lower mailing priority. By allocating discs in this way we ensure a fair system for all LOVEFiLM members."

odowdchr

I did the "one at a time" free trial recently (over the first Bank Holiday). Managed 3 DVD's in a fortnight, watching and returning the next morning. Decided it was too slow, sent back the final DVD 3 days early and cancelled the trial on the website.
Checked my bank and they'd charged me £9.99 for a month. Decided i might as well use the service for a month as i'd paid for it....went to log back in....no account listed !!
I'm not saying they're thieves, but it seems that they're trying to grab money from everybody and damn the customer. And i'll tell everyone that from now on.

pinkonion

Altarf wrote:

Not my experience. I have just ended a free trial and in 21 days I received and had booked back in 18 DVDs.

What did concern me though was the dreadful state some of the DVDs were in. What do people do with them, play frisbee on gravel. I was really surprised that some of them played OK.

This is the sort of thing they're not likely to do during a free trial as you're much less likely to pay them any money!

I found the discs in a poor state too and told them that when I cancelled my free trial!

Moonbeam

In my case they haven't managed to take any money from me as I quoted them a card online that was about to go out of date. They say they will pass on the £14.99 to a debt collection agency though - is that likely for that small amount or am I about to damage by credit rating by refusing to pay up?

soolin

Moonbeam wrote:

In my case they haven't managed to take any money from me as I quoted them a card online that was about to go out of date. They say they will pass on the £14.99 to a debt collection agency though - is that likely for that small amount or am I about to damage by credit rating by refusing to pay up?

It appears from other threads that Lovefilm will persue for debt, so yes it will affect your credit rating.

If you do owe them £14.99 pay up, any adverse credit rating isn't worth it.

Soo

Moonbeam

That is so annoying - I cancelled the account in time and returned all the DVD's - it seems unfair that I have to pay up just because they say they haven't got a note of it all - I've even forwarded them a copy of the response I had from them (dated 19th June - the last date of the free trial) - surely this is simply blackmail!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: