DVD Rental Article Discussion

KxMx

I was on the Unlimited 2 disc package at £13.27. Had an email today saying I was being upgraded to Unlimited 3 discs at no extra cost. Great but I watch alot of tv online so don't think 3 discs would suit me (even on a free upgrade). Did a google news search which led me to a tech page, where I learnt I could go back to 2 discs at £9.99 Which I have now done.

Now if only they would sort out the studio dispute date, it has dragged on far too long and i'm not impressed at having to pay to rent those titles elsewhere!

mailsoldier

I have been a satisfied member of LoveFilm for many years but recently their service has become absolutely appalling.

Faulty discs, duplicate titles sent, items not getting to them the next day when they should, or not getting to me the next day when they should, with no explanation - just the old, "blame the post office," excuse, which when it doesn't happen to any other letters first class I send which invariably arrive the following day, but happens frequently with Lovefilm, leads me to believe they are deliberately delaying certain accounts that they believe are returning DVD's too quickly.

This culminated this week in them telling me that they could not stock a mainstream title (an episode of Poirot actually - so not exactly rare), as it was not available for rental. I rented it instead from another source and asked them how I could have rented it elsewhere if it was not available for rental. They went quiet for a few days forcing me to chase them up twice with an email, which appeared to me they were desperately trying to think of an excuse as to why I could rent a title elsewhere that they had claimed was unavailable. They came back to me eventually, still claiming it was not available for rental and ignoring all the details I had provided of where I had rented, choosing not to explain why I could get it from them and not Lovefilm.

I'm a busy professional so have no time to get drawn in to further email correspondence with them over a title that their parent company has for sale on its marketplace for less than £3, but for a company who once claimed to offer every title available to rent in the UK, I expected my email to be responded to with one stating they were very sorry and they had ordered the title - job done.

What I did not expect from them was a series of prevarications and having several of emails ignored, which I something consider extremely unprofessional of any business and the height of rudeness, especially when directed towards a loyal customer like myself who according to my Lovefilm account has rented 591 titles with them over many years.

On that basis, my many years with Lovefilm, will shortly come to an end, as I prepare to switch to what I hope will be an honest and more customer friendly alternative.

mailsoldier

My experiences with Lovefilm are going from the sublime to the ridiculous.

My complaint outlined in my previous post two weeks ago has still not been answered and I am being continually lied to be their deceitful and unhelpful staff.

I chased this last week and received a reply from Adam in their customer services department, which contained the following paragraph:

"Firstly, I can see that I contacted you personally to advise you that
you'll be contacted next week regarding the matter. I did not guarantee you that you would receive a response by the close of business today, and kindly ask that you allow the relevant department adequate time to contact you."

Next week refers to this week just gone as the department they forwarded my complaint onto does not work weekends, so thank you Adam, for continuing what I have experienced to be Lovefilm's consistent policy of lying to their customers.

Furthermore, I have again had films that I have sent back to Lovefilm being received early in the morning, yet I have not received the replacements the next day as their marketing blurb indicates the customer expects. However you need to look closely, they claim to dispatch discs within 1 working day of receiving them.

Therefore if they receive a disc at 8am Monday, they don't have to despatch the next until 7:59am Tuesday.

People really need to look at that fact before they give deceptive organisations like this their money.

If we look at this in practice, discs are only dispatched Monday to Friday, so if you return them a disc on Friday, they receive it at 8am Monday, send you out the replacement within 1 working day at 7:59am Tuesday, you receieve it Wednesday, you watch it that very evening, return it on Thursday, they receive it 8am Friday, then send out the replacement within 1 working day at 7:59 am Monday, they are fulfilling their contract with you.

In other words unlimited rental becomes less than one rental a week, and is completely within the legal parameters they have set for themselves.

Sounds a bit different from unlimited rental doesn't it, and that is on the basis you are watching the DVD the very day you receive it and returning it the following day.

This does not take into account their claims not to have received the DVDs from you for a couple of days which has happened to me frequently, even though other items I've sent out first class in the same batch of post I have discovered have been received the next day.

It also does not take into account you have to have a minimum of ten items on a rental list and they pick for you what they have available, so if you want a new title you can (and I have been) be waiting months for it as they haven't bought in accordance with the demand.

People really need to think about how this company works in practice before they sign up for one of their free trials, which you need to provide payment details for - WHY? It wouldn't be that if you're a day late sending your trial discs back that they charge you for a month would it? YES IT WOULD! If it's free why do Lovefilm need payment details from you, yet another of their deceptive practices, as they know people forget to return them, and thus get billed for a month they do not want! I've lost track of the amount of people I know who this has happened to and thus their free trial has ended up costing them a month's rental - what must Lovefilm be raking in out of this scam?

You are simply better off renting title by title, getting what you want when you want it, than falling for the Lovefilm scams. Remember, if it looks too good to be true it probably is, and nothing in life is free, but unfortunately until people use their brains companies like Lovefilm will continue to rape the public.

tvmadman

My experience with Lovefilm is not great.Invariably they need two days to receive DVDs posted back by you (when Blockbuster,Outnow DVD,etc) all other companies get them the very next day and try to dispatch dvds that day itself.On top of it,Lovefilm allocates DVDs to you and marks them as 'Ready to dispatch' which basically means you are not getting any dvds sent that day but at the same time you cannot accuse them of doing nothing although it's now 3 days since you posted them back.Then the dvds are marked as dispatched the next day which means it reaches you on the 5th day!!!! Thereby they make sure that DVDs are sent to you only once a week! It is fine if you consider that for 14.99 you get 12 DVDs but unfair and unethical when the package is advertised as 'Unlimited' and makes a mockery of the public and their gullibility.On top of it getting hold of new DVDs is a bit of dream really and their constant argument is that they have over a million customers and its hard to please everyone.Which may be true or again looking at they way they conduct their business is debatable.In addition some major studios do not release new DVDs with lovefilm which means you cannot get them.Period.Regarding their 'watch as many films online' when you become a member is true only too a very small degree as only a small number of films come with your package.You certainly can pay an additional 2.99 and see additional films which they do not make very clear. Customer service at Lovefilm is one of the most rude you can imagine. Lastly Lovefilm was the rental company featured in BBC Watchdog as the company which charges your card out fo the blue even after cancelling your subscription.Google it.You cannot erase your account or your info once they have got hold of it.
All in all if you just happy to get some dvds,not too keen about new releases and just catching up on old films and ready to fork out for online viewing Lovefilm is not bad at all. If you are keen on getting hold of new releases Blockbuster is immensely better and you can get vouchers from them to get it personally form their shop if it is nearby and since they have some new movies which you can only rent with them.They are better in my opinion, not by a whole lot,and their customer services in my experience have been brilliant.For old dvds Outnow DVD rental had the bsst turnover time by far.
Anne

pjnoake

If you happy to pay up front, you can get 1 year subscription to tesco dvd (2 per month) for £45.59 which works out at £3.80 per month

TrueFlower

I was with Lovefilm for roughly 2 years. I just quit them as I don't think their offers are worth it anymore - especially with their selection priority option. It's rather annoying!

b1505

Lovefilm are a bit of a con....I cancelled my account with them as I was moving to university and wouldn't need it. I received a "come back" gift card stating 3 months for the price of 1 yet when I tried to use the code on it it said it wasn't valid. I contacted Lovefilm who told me that these codes don't exist...and when I queried why I got it sent to me from them they chose to ignore my email.

sjwajw

This thread has been quiet. I found it becos I joined LF recently and I was finding that films I sent back on Monday were being received on Tuesday but my next films never arrive till Thursday or Friday. I thought there was something amiss!! So am looking to see what is going on. YES THEY ARE DEFINITELY NOT SENDING FILMS OUT BY RETURN. THEY ARE LIMITING US TO ONE TURNROUND A WEEK.
Saying that I am quite happy since my nearest rental shop is 10 mls away and there is no parking there anyway, so I save a fortune in diesel.