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Netflix vs. Blockbuster online.. (1 Viewer)

Dick

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I am so goddamned sick of this perversion of capitalism - there was a time when the co-existence of at least several competing interests was a good thing - it kept the prices reasonable and insured that bad companies would fall by the wayside while those providing honest value to the custumer would flourish. This mega-corporation mentality is eventually going to create monopolies in various services and products and we're all going to be scratching our heads and wondering what happened (careful - this is occurring right now in ownership of radio and media outlets, to say nothing of Wal Mart). Netflix has better customer service, and the fact is, I'll bet that 95% of all Netflix customers get more rentals per month than Blockbuster or Wal Mart can offer due to the number of warehouses and their longevity (read: experience) in the business. I hate seeing Netflix having to lower their rates to something below a prifit line in order to compete with companies who, as earlier pointed out, can fall back on other product or services and who obviously plan to simply wipe out the competition and monopolize the market. Think you'll be getting three DVD's out per month for fifteen bucks after that happens? We need to search our consciences and determine if saving a couple of bucks just so that BB can suck another small company into its grossly oversized one with wa-y-y too much influence is a good thing in the long run. But, then, our government has for many years been trying to steer us well away from thinking about the long run. We seem to be complying. (Boys and girls, can you spell, "L-e-m-m-i-n-g-s...?)
 

Michael Napier

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I would like to know how the three services treat the extra features disc that comes with a lot of movies. I know that Wal-Mart does not send the bonus disc at all. I e-mailed Blockbuster and their response, while a bit vague, sounded like they offer the bonus disc as a separate rental. I signed up for the service today and I don't see any way to rent the bonus disc.

I also had e-mailed Netflix about the bonus disc and their response, too, was vague. I have not gotten a response to my request for clarification.

Thanks for any input.
 

Citizen87645

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Netflix gives you the option of adding it as a separate rental in the queue. A link to the bonus material disc is located in a box to the right, which also contains info like genre, format, etc. In search results the link to the bonus disc is at the bottom of the movie description.

Very simple and straigtforward. I was on Blockbuster briefly so can't recall how it handled it.
 

Jonathan Carter

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This is one of the problems that Netflix has created. They have set up a system where people can just pay for the lowest level of unlimited rental service and kill them with rentals. While it's well within the bounds of the system they set up, they lose $$ hand over fist because of it. They could adopt a "total disc per month" pricing scheme instead of their current "discs out at once" scheme to ease this financial loss and still stay competetive if the wanted to.

I love Netflix and loath BB and Walmart, but what they are doing is part of the free market economy, whether or not you like it and just because someone opts for a cheaper solution that works for them doesn't make them a lemming or whatever else you want to call them.
 

KathyS

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Hi everyone = )

I just found this forum and it was interesting to read about the whole Netflix vs. Blockbuster issue.

I rent alot of movies so for me, I want a fast turn around. I was on the Netflix 8 at a time plan until I heard about the new Blockbuster rates. I changed my plan to 3 at a time and signed up for Blockbusters 3 at a time plan that also includes the 2 in store rentals a month. Not bad for $15.00 a month. Although Blockbuster is slower, I do think it is very worth it for many people. Afterall, renting 3 movies at a video store alone would be $15.00.

I plan to keep both Netflix and Blockbuster and continue utilizing the 3 at a time plan for both. I plan to use one for my "grown-up" movies and the other for movies appropriate for my 2 kids.

Last but not least, so far I have found that movies at Blockbuster, for now anyway, are more readily available then Netflix.
 

SteveK

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Michael - I've only been a BB member for about 2 weeks now, so I'm not certain how they usually handle multi-disk rentals. If I remember correctly, the few times I've ordered multi-disc sets, BB prompts you that the title is more than one disc and asks if you wish to add the second disc. It seems to work this way even for titles where the main feature is spread across more than one disc. I don't believe it indicates the type of content that is on the second disc, it just indicates that the disc is part of a set.

I'm thinking I may use my in-store coupons for some of the multi-disc sets, rather than using two or more selections to receive all the discs.

Steve K.
 

Travis Olson

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Right now I have a Netflix account and a Blockbuster account. I just started Blockbuster and they screwed up my first shipment, one of the discs was open and it was the wrong one. I notified them today and the sent out a replacement the same day without waiting for me to send back the one they originally sent. I thought that was nice.

The reason I started Blockbuster is because Netflix has been so slow the past 3 months that I'm lucky to get 3 movies a week. The price wasn't really an issue if they provide quality service, but if they can't do that I'll take my business elsewhere.

When I was queuing up my movies at Blockbuster I was surprised to find a much larger selection then Netflix. I rent a lot of science documentaries and Netflix's selection wasn't too spectacular. They have the basic stuff but Blockbuster seems to have a lot more. One that comes to mind off hand is COSMOS.

It's too bad that there isn't a Blockbuster store around here, the 2 free rentals would be nice.

I think I'll be sticking with Blockbuster. Mainly because of the selection.
 

Daniel Bell

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Apr 16, 2004
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I heard that Blockbuster just bought Netflix. Is this true? I couldn't find any news on it. But I heard it from a Blockbuster Assistant Store Manager. If this is true it looks like Blockbuster strongarmed Netflix into selling with Blockbuster's low $14.99 that Netflix could not match.
 

Citizen87645

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Ummm...that would be a huge story (well, huge for that industry) so I REALLY doubt it. Netflix just posted its Q4 2004 earnings and it made more money than anticipated, despite the pricing war.


Wow, imagine that! Misinformation from a Blockbuster employee! :)
 

Daniel Bell

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Well, they get instore news before it actually goes down.
And the story does make sense considering they bought out Hollywood Video and lowered their online rental to $14.99 to kill Netflix or scare them into selling. Just wondering if anyone else had heard this.
 

GlennH

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I'm interested to see what the rumored entry of Amazon.com into this market would bring.
 

Grant H

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SOOO, Blockbuster tried to acquire Hollywood, and now it looks like Movie Gallery will probably get it.

Sweet. Blockbuster's competition is bulking up.
 

EricSchulz

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Amazon.co.uk has rentals online, but the deal is no where NEAR as good as any of the US offers.
 

todbnla

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I just went back to Netflix after a few years, I was dropping $24 or more at my local BB at times so the $17.99 is great, my movies come from Baton Rouge, LA. I signed up on SUNDAY online and had my first 3 movies in my mailbox on Tuesday, again I will repeat, I singed on Sunday...mind you. wow :emoji_thumbsup:
 

TonyD

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some people have come with some really bizarre reasons for justifying not using bbv, netflix, etc.
 

Grant H

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Has anyone else had the problem with Blockbuster Online that often when you ship DVD's back (to the same place mind you), they confirm receipt of ONE title right away (for example, I shipped two back Saturday, and this morning got email confirmation Monday that they had received one of them), and then, they wait several days to acknowledge the other title that HAD to have gotten there at the same time?

This has happened to me several times now in my brief history with them.

If they really do the "post office scan" thing, do you think they only bother to scan one of them. One day service is pretty good for the postal system, bud I'd expect that normally going from central PA to Philly, but this last time I had to ship my titles to Massachusetts.

It seems more likely to me that they deliberately slow-down the process. Last week when I shipped two together, I went to the "DVD issues" area of the website after 3 days to tell them I'd returned the second disc. They'd acknowledged the first disc right away. They took it out of "shipped" right after that, but it still took another day to ship my next disc.

On the bright side, they not only acknowledged return of one of my two returned discs, but shipped my next title too. Sometimes it's been a day later before they do that.
 

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