Blockbuster

 

Dunk, August 30, 2007

We've been with BB for approx 6 months. We've talked of moving onto another company for some time.The past half dozen or so DvD's have been problematic in that they've either jammed,skipped or wont play. We've gone with it on occasions when its jumped or jammed. I've complained a handful of times by phone and commented at the bottom of the DvD envelope (a facility there)that the discs are scratched. They've refunded my money, however its the Dvd I wanted, not the money. Tonight we recieved 'Letters from Iwo Jima'. Its so badly scratched it looks like an ice rink for ants. With trepedition I attempted to play it on 3 yes thats right, 3 Dvd's in our home. It wouldn't play on either. I ask myself 'What was the bloody point in sending it to me'. It'll be in the morning post and has a note saying that we're leaving and our subcription will be cancelled in the morning.

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Yasemin, August 17, 2007

They were perfect on my trial period.

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Gary from Nottingham, August 15, 2007

I have now been with Blockbuster since December 2006. They are still sending me top titles on a regular basis, have just received top 3. The turnaround is excellent with new films very often being sent the day after I have returned films. Well worth a try and in my opinion the best company I have tried.

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kerry from blackburn, August 7, 2007

this company just gets worse and worse, can go a week without them sending out any dvd's wouldn't mind but have almost 300 on my list-im sure they could find one to send me-custermer service is naff too

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Alan from Hull, July 1, 2007

Excellent service so far, much better than I expected to be honest. They actually got me new(ish) releases Superman Returns, Miss Potter, Casino Royale, Eragon, etc. which were top of my list, all within the first couple weeks. Compared to my local blockbusters, this is great value. They don't come in the precise order, but I'd expect that as it's a library-like system, and I didn't have a hard time coming up with 30 films for my queue from the word go. I mean, they is a couple days turnaround when I send things back to when I get them, but that's a day each way minimum to Royal Mail mostly--anyway, I'll give them four stars on service for that, otherwise excellent.

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Jon from Cheshire, June 27, 2007

I had exactly the same experience as Ian (see 19 June 2007 entry). First it went well, top titles sent out and good turnaround, really good, but then it started to fall downhill rapidly. E-mails were repeatedly sent but not responded to, to such an extent that I requested a head office address and the chief executives details, to which I did receive a response to advise there was no point, as it would only be directed back to the same person to resolve. I cannot abide a company that has the title customer service, when it is such a breach of the description! The turnaround times really went downhill to such an extent that I was not prepared to pay for an appalling service any longer.

The only defence to Blockbuster, and other dvd companies, is that none of them can provide a decent level of turnaround for your money. If your a high level user, you will notice a poor service.

If you are an occasional user and want random movies, try moviemine who I never had any problems with, unfortunately they do not stock enough dvds for me, which was my only gripe. Otherwise until someone with a full understanding of customer service comes along, we are stuck with the 'top?' two!

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Ian, June 19, 2007

I must agree with other reviews on the Blockbuster service. At the beginning we would regularly receive our top 3 choices but after a couple of months we started to just receive random picks - most of which would come from the bottom of our range. I've tried putting our favourites at the bottom but that doesn't work either. The Customer Service is practically non-existent and never replied back to at least a dozen emails we've sent. By far the worst, however, is that if you put a series on they don't bother to send them in the right order. We received Desperate Housewives series 2 in the following order: disc 3, disc 5, disc 1, disc 2, disc 4 - get the picture. Bloody atrocious.
LoveFilm aren't any better as far as the top titles are concerned - but at least they send series' in the right order.

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Jeremy from London June 12, 2007

Excellent service all around, I'm very pleased with Blockbuster after being fed up with the problems with Lovefilm last fall when they merged. Blockbuster are much quicker off the mark with new releases and I've gotten significantly more discs than I did under the other guys. Hats off to an excellent service.

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Martin from Luton, June 6, 2007

At the begining the service was amazing. I went for the 3 titles package and had a constent stream of top titles coming through my door. Forward on 2 months and you don't get any of your top 10 titles. As an example Peep Show 3 is still at number 2 in my list and has been since October 2006 (it's June 2007). Borat was there from the day of release and placed at my number 1 spot. Still no sign (I've actually bought it but I'm just waiting to see if they can hit the year mark for non delivery of a top title). I've been waiting for about a week for a dvd to be delivered however apparently I've not got a title on my list in stock, despite having 50 on my list. The end result is customer service staff that don't give a damn when you complain (the lady I spoke to called Lynn just kept saying over and over again that I was having a good service) followed by reciept of crap titles you only put onto your list to fill it out as if you didn't you'd never get a film through. I'm cancelling my subscripton and going back to Lovefilm. They weren't the greatest but at least I got some pretty good titles now and again.

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Carol, May 8, 2007

Blockbusters service in general is excellent, quick turn around. Swapped to Love film as they do PS2 games aswell, which for us as a family is more value for money.All I do say is if you ever want or need to cancel, be careful as doing it online via your account never actually gets activated before your next billing date, so they then charge your card again.It took them six weeks and several emails to actually ackowledge I wanted to cancel my account, and this only happened because my card had been replaced so they couldnt charge my original card registered.Just be aware.

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Keith from Milton Keynes, April 20, 2006

After CD wow was taken over by LoveFilm I thought there level of service declined noticably and afetr much complaining to them I switched to Block Buster who I find to be much better. They have a very wide range of titles which - as I like to watch a wide range of films I find very good.

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Jeremy, April 17, 2007

Switched from Tesco after their service went downhill last fall, and have been very impressed with Blockbuster since. Great selection, and I agree they seem to have more new releases I was expecting service to drop off after the free trial, but theres been none of that. Definitely reccomend.

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Allan from Aberdeen, April 2, 2007

Everything was going great with my Blockbuster membership until my card expired. As I forgot to update the details as I had not logged onto my account for a while, I got several near threatening e-mails and in the end, due what I would call unfair hassle given it was a simple mistake, I cancelled the account. They seriously need an attitude change instead of getting moody when your card expires!

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Joe from Rainham, March 26, 2007

I was impressed with Blockbuster's service throughout my free trial as I seemed to receive everything in my top ten, but once the trial was up, I started to receive more and more old titles rather than new releases.

I have sometimes had to wait 3 weeks or more to receive a new release, which is far too long and I have ended up going into a local store and getting them myself. The employees there tell me it is common practice for the stores to receive as many copies of new releases as they need whereas the online customers are made to wait.

As Steve from Devon said, initially this probably wasn't a problem but it is getting worse and with more and more customers signing up and a failure to bring in more copies of new releases, the waiting time is only going to increase.

In the last 2 months I have received 3 DVD's that were faulty, which isn't too bad but I have also sent upwards of 15 emails asking why nothing has been sent, even old movies, for 3/4 days at a time. Of those 15 emails, only 2 were answered and even then I had to wait a week for a response.

The site is great with some helpful features and overall the service is pretty good, BUT, if they do not sort out the stock issue on new releases, customers will turn back to visiting stores as 3 weeks+ is far too long to wait, especially when your friends are talking about films they saw a month ago and your still waiting for a copy :-(

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Tom from South Yorkshire , March 17, 2007

This is the best dvd rental site by far ,they have the best selection of dvds and are very reliable.Its a pity they dont rent console games though but i still would reccemend these to anyone.

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Steve from Devon, March 12, 2007

Have been with Blockbuster for one year now and was really impressed with the speed of service. However, over the last few months this has really deteriorated.

Old films are sent out in preference to new releases (presumably due to demand on the new releases), but even with a mixture of new and old titles on my list it is sometimes several days, or even a week, before they have sent me anything.

I'm sure the reason for this is due to increased number of people using the service because it was excellent. However, Blockbuster will need to increase its stock if it is to keep pace with demand. The recent decrease in performance has certainly made me consider going elsewhere, which is a shame because I have been extremely satisfied until the last few months.

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Steve from Shrewsbury, March 9, 2007

Turnaround is good always receive DVD's on time. My big issue is the fact that the more you receive the less chance of you getting your most wanted dvd's off your list..... ie New releases, haven't received a new release for 3 weeks now really annoying!

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Cortex, March 1, 2007

I've been a Blockbuster member for 5 months now. This used to be really good, but has recently, over the past two months, fallen away, with absolutely none of my top 15 or so movies being delivered. It seems if you have both new releases and older movies on your list now, you will get only the older ones. If it doesen't improve within the next month, I'm off.

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Lisa from East London, February 18, 2007

I've had an excellent service from Blockbuster, much better than LoveFilm since I switched a couple months back after that company went downhill following the ScreenSelect merger. I really have been surprised at the greater availability of new releases, a pleasant surprise from what I've been used to. Don't get me wrong, I don't get what I want each time (thus 4 stars instead of five for service), but I'm still quite happy with them.

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Richard from Aberdeen, February 14, 2007

Should be good value for money when it works and the website is neatly laid out with plenty of search features and so on. However I originally contacted them to comment on the number of discs I was receiving scratched beyond use (around 1 in 3). 2-3 months passed after which I started receiving 3 dvds in one return envelope. As I was paying for 3 films at any time I felt this was out of line with my subscription (should be able to return any one at any time, not just one at a time or all three at once). Once again I contacted them regarding this and the scratches situation (which had not improved). Again, no word from them. I chose after this to end my subscription and not renew my payment details. After I'd returned my final DVDs and the subscription should've been no more they finally got in touch with me. To tell me my account was in arrears...

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Kerry from Blackburn , February 13, 2007

i have to say i am getting very disappointed with there service, i never receive anything from the top of my list and I can go days without them sending me anything even though I have almost 200 titles on my list, and as for customer service HAHA what customer service??? absolutely rubbush and would not recommend them to anyone

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Paul from Durham, February 6, 2007

By far the best site for new releases, though I found Blockbuster customer service slow and their titles are not as varied as Lovefilm. However in DVD rental they rank just slightly behind Lovefilm as the best online rental company.

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Alan from Rossendale, February 1, 2007

I am an ex-Lovefilm customer and they don't deliver at all. Rubbish service and late deliveries and lots of excuses why the service is rubbish. Blockbusters does deliver and lives up to its advertisements. Well done Blockbuster, I can see why you're the number one rental company in the UK.

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Customer, January 29, 2006

I have been with Blockbuster for some time now, and they used to be good (good because I had some titles on my list for nearly 6 months and never have not received them) with excellent turnaround , but lately (since about 2 months) the turnaround has dropped seriously. Together with the fact that I have a list of about 20 titles that seem now to almost all be unallocatable, I have decided to cancel the service.

I do hope they'll pick up the service and value for money again.

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Devonne from London, January 26, 2007

I recently cancelled my Blockbuster subscription due to not receiving films that i wanted to see. I initial had over 100 titles in my list. Blockbuster at first sent me things in my top 10 but over time, i started receiving films at the back end of my list. When i complained, i was told, if i reduced my list it would improve my chances of receiving films higher up in my listing. So i reduced my list to 30 and the service got worse. I had a 3 disc subscription but i was literally being sent one disc at a time and still from the back end of my listing. If i got a new release five months after the release date, i would have done good.

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Kieran from Kingston, January 18, 2007

Like everyone else who appears to have been on this site, I was with Love film (odeon direct), but left because they literally were the worst company I've ever dealt with (I won't start my rant again, please see my comments on odeon's section if you want to know the true horror!).

Blockbuster have been like a breath of fresh air... really! Deliveries have been fast, they have not lost 1 disc, unlike odeon, they keep you informed, you get what you ask for!

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David from Glasgow, January 12, 2006

Like John I switched to Blockbuster after being a member with Lovefilm (who I dropped like a hot stone), and have been equally impressed. I posted DVD's back on Tuesday, they were received on Wednesday and my next lot (always from my Top 5 I hasten to add) arrived today (Thursday). In addition the DVD's I have received so far have been in A1 condition, which is more than can be said for the cracked and scratched ones I was used to getting from Lovefilm. Have only given customer service 3 stars because I haven't had any reason to contact them yet. Hope they maintain this excellent level of service.

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Mark, January 2, 2007

I jumped ship from LoveFilm a couple months back. Found this site and went for the number two pick Blockbuster, and I've been very impressed. DVDs come fast through the letterbox. I don't know about getting new films quick, there's usually a wait, but I do get them and am not complaining. It is refreshing to get bonus discs as an extra rental, for me this is what sets DVDs apart from just something on Sky, seeing all the extras, making of documentaries, etc., well, at least for a good film I like such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and such. Getting back to Blockbuster, good choice and I'm happy I signed up.

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John from East London, November 24, 2006

Agree with Michael, this is a good all round service. Switched to Blockbuster after service with Screenselect/Lovefilm went downhill after their merger, and have been impressed. Mailing turnarounds are quick and the site layout is good. Little more to say about them really, does what it says on the tin.

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Michael from Cambridge, November 2, 2006

I've been pretty happy with Blockbuster, a good service all around. Their service has broadly improved over the past year or so, and the improvements to the website design were certainly welcome. Pity they ditched the Saturday mailings though, that really set them apart. They also don't offer video game rentals. Not perfect, but definitely a good company to subscribe to.

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Jim from Milton Keynes, July 29, 2006

I've tried Lovefilm, but have stuck Blockbuster as they offer a better online dvd rental service, in my humble opinion. Their mailings are quicker, and I do notice they get several more discs through the letterbox in a given month: wish I'd kept track, but I'd say I average on 15 a month with lovefilm, closer to 20 with Blockbuster, which is impressive in my book, especially if you do the maths per disc and compare to the high street.

It's true that they won't always have your top choices, especially new releases, but that's online dvds rental for you: everybody has that problem. Don't know that Blockbuster are much better at it than Lovefilm, but I do know that they get me more dvds, which tilts the balance for me.

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Bob from Surrey, July 2, 2006

Blockbuster has an excellent all-around service, great selection, quick turnaround. I like how they count two disc sets as one unlike Lovefilm.

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Fatmarco, April 26, 2006

My first complaint would be the turnaround times as I say Ive been a member just over a week and although I returned some titles last friday they have still not been updated (today is Wednesday), and further more the titles they have sent are not even high up my list which is what most reviews seem to be applauding them for.

But the biggest criticsm I have against them is their refusal to take any sort of accountability, but instead blame royal mail.

I also sent back titles on Monday and they still have "not been received" and furthermore when sending these titles back to Blockbuster I have also sent titles back to MyMovieStream which strangely enough turned up the next day.

And it's not just one way either with Blockbuster the post seems to enter some sort of Bermuda Triangle in their region where it also seems to take 3 days for a letter posted from them to arrive.

I cancelled my membership last year due to poor service and if this is their standard during a free trial (which we all know they give priority service to) I will not be a paying customer again

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Highroyds, April 24, 2006

Well after 3 - 4 months with Blockbuster I have found that they have improved their service as I was a customer of theirs before a few years ago but had to stop due to the postal service (DVD's going missing). But since I've renewed my subscription I've seen DVD's come and go like never before. I send 3 DVD's back one day then get another 3 DVD's within 2 days which is just excellent.

But in the last few weeks its gone down hill. I have around 25 DVD's on my list, I will admit they are the top wanted one's ie: Harry Potter, Narnia & Doom

But some aren't top rated ie: Golf DVD's (I've seen around 7 of these last month)

But none of my top 20 DVD's have been sent out, so I contacted BB via email but got no reply, so contacted them again via email but selected a different subject description. But because I still got no reply I decided to phone them up but that took a while to find the telephone number. Which then took around 5 - 10 minutes to get through as their Automatic Mail box was *FULL* (wonder why). I got through in the end and was told that the DVD's that were on my list were the ones other customers were after and some customers add the titles even before they are released in the cinema so its a first come first served, does this included the Golf ones too?? So now I'm stuck with just watching 1 DVD instead of 3 DVD's which I subscribed to, I would love to know if I'm going to get a part refund. Then after 3 days from the phone call I got a Email from BB explaing why the DVD's hadnt been sent out, they are still with other customers. But their web site does state that they are always ordering more copies of DVD's to keep up with demand. lol They must only have 1 DVD.

I just hope BlockBuster improves next month. The votes below would of been Value 5 if they had enough DVD's in stock & some places are cheaper than BB, Design 5 if they're site worked fully as their search engine doesnt always work & Service 5 if their customer service was better.

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Whipsaw, March 9, 2006

Having tried several companies over the past year or so, I like Blockbuster best, slightly better than Screenselect, far better than Lovefilm. The site design went through a big change last year, no more of that idiot blonde guy sitting on the couch in their header. You can search on just about anything anything through their search filters.

Most importantly, they send lots of DVDs, I've certainly not seen any evidence of throttling as with Lovefilm. Also, even though their claimed title count is lower than Screenselect/Lovefilm, remember they don't count bonus discs as separate rents like the others do, so you actually get better value for money.

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John from Milton Keynes, Feburary 3, 2006

Great DVD rental service, gets you new releases quick, and turnaround is very fast, those Saturday mailings make a difference. But if you do have a problem, expect to wait, as they're slow responding to emails. Still, most people shouldn't have many problems, so I'd highly recommend them.

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Jean from Newmarket, January 28, 2006

I've tried Screenselect, LoveFilm, Tesco, MyMovieStream and Blockbuster who were my first and current provider. I started with Blockbuster for 6 months and was very happy but I kept seeing DVD review sites (like this one but without the opportunity to comment) that said that Blockbuster wasn't very good. Thinking I was missing something I tried out all of those above for a couple of months each. What a waste of time and effort (except for the fact I got several free rentals). None of them come close on the things that matter to me which really are service and value. If I had to rank them all I would say Blockbuster first then MyMovieStream,followed by LoveFilm, Screenselect and finally Tesco. In fact I got so annoyed with Tesco and the fact that they refused to deal with my complaints themselves but sent them to Screenselect that I have even stopped using them for my shopping. With Blockbuster you seem to get the DVDs back within a couple of days, there is no problem getting hold of new titles (there's no chance with Screenselect) and they seem to have a decent stock of everything. In fact there are only 2 titles in my list that have been there for more than 6 weeks. I've had to contact them twice. Once a disc didn't turn up and once one came with a big crack through it. I phoned them both times using the number on their e mails and spoke to a pleasant lady who answered my call without delay. She sent me a replacement for the missing title straight away and told me how to record lost discs myself in the future and with the broken disk she talked me through sending it back and apologised profusely. She couldn't have done any more. The only reason that I don't give them 5 stars for everything is that the web-site is a bit awkward when you add titles to your list as you have to an extra click on a confirmation page which slows you down a bit. Otherwise I think they're brilliant.

II hope that helps people when they are choosing and I can definitely say that as a veteran of these services that you have to give Blockbuster a try - they are excellent (and a lot better than my local Blockbuster store I have to admit).

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Simon from Kent, January 24, 2005

Blocbusters like so many of them started well,the fastest turnaround times of any weve tried so far - i could almost have forgiven them the horrible clunky website -that as well as being user unfriendly ,you need to log back in every 5 minutes while using it.
but as usual after a few weeks the service deteriorated, the turnaround times became slower and more and more inconsistant- which is for us the most important issue.
they also hardly ever reply to emails and when they do - they fob you off and dont answer the questions you ask.
after a while they start sending you stuff from way down your list - from the wrong series let alone the right episodes and we are not talking about new releases here these are old discs not heavily in demand that should be relatively easy to provide which brings me to my last point they dont clean the discs they are often dirty - and they are not repaired unless reported broken by a customer which can be very frustrating when you rent a disc that doesnt work. and while the service remains a bit better than some others ie tescos - it still leaves much to be desired and we will be trying a different one

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Rob from Yorkshire, January 18, 2005

ISince Xmas the service from Blockbuster has been nothing short of abysmal. I have had 4 DVDs from them in 3 weeks, that is on an unlimited DVD rental subscription and with over 20+ titles in my queue all the time. I have emailed their customer service department numerous times and I have not had a single response. Its a real shame because prior to xmas I couldnt fault their service and now it is pants! I will be cancelling at the end of this month and trying another company.

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Steve from Milton Keynes, January 16, 2005

II have signed up recently and found it to be an excellent service. They have the titles I want and I always get new discs quickly after I have returned one. I tried some of the other sites and never got the films I wanted. I would recommend the site to anyone.

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Toni from London, January 15, 2005

II free trial tarted down your rental list to Blocky, but will be staying with them. They really are quicker than ScreenSelect/LoveFilm/Amazon, probably cause they do mail on Saturdays. Its a simple system as well to choose and order your DVDs. Definitely thumbs up!

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James from Scotland, January 14, 2005

II've was with Blockbuster since it's launch until now, I've just cancelled. The service does go up and down mostly down once they starting taking your money, I had over 200 titles on my list and after 8 days they still hadn't assigned any titles to me. Since being a member I had sent over 50 emails using their online form and received confirmation of them arriving and probably only got replies to 5 if that, I've sent numerous letters to their head office complaining about the quality of their service and customer support and surprise surprise they have never even replied to 1 of them. Trust me when I say save yourself a lot of hassle and wasting your money on a company that just wants your money and not provide a service for that money. Your best beat is to use ScreenSelect or Love Film who both provide an excellent service and customer support is fantastic with no long times without any titles. Blockbuster also have a lot of titles on their list which I doubt they even own to rent as I've had a number of titles on my list since their launch and never received them, think somehow that could be illegal as false advertising but ain't worth the hassle taking it up with them as they don't care about any of their customer just like taking the money and the P***S.

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Darren, January 13, 2005

ive been with blockbuster for 8 months on the £14.99 package the trial started of fine getting 3 DVDs in a week the it got worst one DVD a week so i canceled plus it might be good value but i rather go to there shop an get what i wont also had problems with DVDs like i had roots got disc 1 ok got disc 2 ok put disc 2 was disc 3 sent it back an told them no problem then they sent disc 2 out again an still got disc 3 same with damaged discs so when i got a damaged disc i marked it an told them what the damage was they said they replaced it but didnt as it had the same mark on it so be aware.

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Steve from Birmingham, 19 December, 2005

I have recently cancelled my Blockbuster subscription after being with them for about 6 months. Their DVD rental service is very erratic. I subscribed to a five DVD rental package for £22.99 per month which is quite good value, if they send you out the discs. You will find with Blockbuster that if you subscribe to a 3 DVD package on average you will only get 1 or 2 DVDs at a time. For the 5 disc package you will only get a maximum of up to 3 DVDs at a time. There are always delays with the turnaround of the discs. I have five open slots on my account and by late afternoon I called them to find out why no further DVDs had been allocated for delivery. They told me that all of my choices were not available. At the time I had 142 DVD's on my list!!!!

This was the deciding factor that made me cancel my subscription. Don't ever bother sending Blockbuster an email. They never reply. The staff are rude. I have had staff huffing down the phone at me while I am trying to explain the problems I am having. The manager is a complete waste of time. I told one member of staff that the service was appalling and I was considering cancelling my rental service. I asked to speak to the manager. She put me on hold and came back to me. Her response was - "I have spoken to the manager and she thinks you have received a good service. If you want to cancel then we will leave that up to you to decide." I have also sent a letter of complaint to the Blockbuster head office two weeks ago. I have not yet received a reply from that either. During your free rental trial you will receive all the DVD rentals you request from the top of your list. As soon as they take your money you will find that this changes dramatically. The best thing you can do is take up the free trail with them then cancel your membership. It will save you a lot of hassle in the long run.

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Tracy from Stratford-upon-Avon, December 14, 2005

ihave been with blockbusters for a year now and they really do go up and down. at the moment i have had 1 film sent out in the past week, but i am charged for the unlimited DVD rental service. they tell me to add more DVDs to my list i have 52!! on .now some films i have had on my list for the year i dont think they have these DVDs in stock to rent. i think they have to buy them on demand if there`s not much demand then they dont bother.

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Aub from Wallsend, November 26, 2005

Rarely received priority choices, Complained that rate of forwarding discs was poor. Have since cancelled when I didn't receive any discs after "5" days, apart from automated replies to my complaints have had no contact from them. If you hace a Zero on customer service thats what they would have got from me. Stay clear!

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Jan from Essex. November 29, 2005

I really can't find any faults. After 4 months as a member I am getting most films from my top 5, really good at new releases compared to LoveFilm and Screenselect who I gave up on and fast and polite customer service. makes such a differnce being able to speak to a human on a phone. they below the main two away in my experience.

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Mr T. November 26, 2005

Very, very, VERY bad. Have recieved 4 DVDs so far (after 3
weeks!) and 3 of them have been faulty, 1 was almost snapped in half.
Would not reccoment to anyone, I am cancelling now and going to either screen select or love film.

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Sarah from Hull, November 22, 2005

On the whole I find Blockbuster quite good. I have been with them for almost a year now, its very rare to get a film from the top of my list but as I have over 200 films in total on my list, all of which I want to see at some point this doesn't actually bother me. I find the website informative and easy to use, I have yet to search for a film and not find it. Of all the films I have rented there has only ever been one which has been scratched to the point of not being able to watch it - all others have been fine.

The only gripe I have is that if you send back more than one DVD at a time, only one seems to be credited back in then you have to report a "lost in post" some days later. This has happened to me twice in the last month and I will eventually move to another DVD company if it continues because otherwise I am just not getting my money's worth.

On the whole though, a good service with plenty of choice.

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Dave from Manchester, November 14, 2005

Tried the free trial, impressed with the speed that DVDs are sent out - quicker than Screenselect overall - but I'm aware that others say this drops off once you pay. Good selection of DVDs. I wouldn't join mainly because I've had a few DVDs with scratches, one so much so that it wouldn't play on my DVD player or computer.

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Dave from Staffordshire, November 7, 2005

Good choice of films on website, unlike others I find the film selection engine fine and if you are a member of a DVD site you'll probably know what you are looking for and after etc.

Alot of the films come scratched and dirty and need a thorough clean (but you only remember this and discover the blocky pixelation mid-way through the titles which is very annoying....)

Customer service is ABYSMAL. Never reply to emails. No films from top of list have had ones at the top for 8months and not even new titles. Matrix Reloaded? A James Bond?Impossible to get somehow. V poor.

If you post two back on same day they only credit one onto web page and you have to report it as lost in post and other gremlins.

Must be better DVD ones than Blockbuster, I was attracted by the TV ad's and high street reputation... but sorry BB you have serverely disappointed.

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Tom, September 11, 2005

I have two problems with Blockbuster;

Firstly, the site design is poor and does not provide me with ideas when I am feeling a little uninspired. I often found myself looking to other sites to see what to add to my list.

Secondly, getting films that I want, when I want is something I expected when I joined up. However, this has not been the case as I have found myself waiting a long time for titles at the top of my list - bizarrely, Harry Potter's first film, whilst always at the top of my list, took 4 months before it arrived. This problem, however, seems to be symptomatic of all the rental firms, and so I can't mark Blockbuster down for it especially.

As far as customer service goes, I have recently had a very good experience with them. My direct debit stopped working from my account, and so they stopped sending me CDs. I sent them some angry emails (from up on my high horse) before I realised that I had changed my card number and not told them. When I sheepishly went back to them with my new details, they said that as I had only received approx 3 DVDs in that month due to the disruption they would give me a refund for that month.

Blockbuster have also added an option to recieve DVDs in order of their series, a feature which has been noticebly lacking before now.

I have recenlty tried love film, basically on the strength of the site and, athough still not receiving DVDs from the top of my list, I find myself reading articles and watching films I would not otherwise based on them.

So all in all I don't think blockbuster is that bad at all - a little more effort put into their website and I would reccomend them.

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Gill, September 7, 2005

I have been with Blockbuster for about 6 months and have just upgraded to the 5 disc package - I am housebound by illness. I have found the service to be fantastic since I upgraded - in the last month I have received mostly discs from my top 3 which includes new films - Million Dollar Baby, Hotel Rwanda, The Machinist, Manchurian Candidate, Maria Full Of Grace, Assassination of Richard Nixon. One incorrect disc was sent, but I rang up the customer service line and it was sorted out straight away and a new disc sent out that day. I have never received a dirty or broken disc. Turn around time is fantastic - same day 95% of the time, and they will dispatch on Saturday. I think they are the best service by a fair margin, and I have tried quite a lot of the rest!

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Marie from Bolton, September 6, 2005

Well seen as bad language isn't allowed I can only say I'm severely disappointed with blockbuster. To begin with (last year) the service was very good with fast delivery. However over the last 6 months I could'nt ignore their uselessness any longer here are my top 5 gripes:

1. if you send 2 DVDs back on the same day they only appear receive one thus leaving you one DVD down 2. about 1/3 of all DVDs received are badly scratched and sometimes even cracked and unplayable - probably as about 6 months ago they changed from plastic to card cases 3. the other 2/3 of all DVDs are dirty - really dirty and need cleaning before they will play 4. the titles at the top of my list have been there for months - numerical ranking means nothing!
5. all complaints fall on deaf ears - they really don't care!

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Kelly from South Wales, September 5, 2005

I had a free trial with Blockbusters and canceled it in the required time and for some reason the charges were taken out of my bank account I e mailed my query 4 times in 3 weeks and still no reply. Although customer services is rubbish DVD's were sent out quickly but on another bad note I didnt get any of my films from anywhere near the top of my list.

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Bazwaldo from Redcar, September 4, 2005

Have been with blocky on and off for over a year and at present they are performing admirably with same day turnaround of disks.They appear to have upped their stock as a large proportion of my list seem to be available whereas 2 months ago nothing was available and i had to keep adding to my list just to try to get something sent.Customer service still slow to respond to emails though.

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Lasitha from Wembley, August 31, 2005

Excellent service. Normally they turn around DVDs on the same day.

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Victor from Chiswick, August 30, 2005

I have been with them for more than a year - superb service - quick replies to emails - no problems at all. I would recommend them to all.

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Paolaspierre, August 26, 2005

I have been with them for almost a year now. Initially they were excellent, until I realised that because of some sort of glitch they had been charging me TWICE every month for about 4 months! After a few telephone conversations and a letter with copies of all of my bank's statements, I got my money back. After that it was ok.

Until recently that is - I don't seem to get my top choices anymore. They no longer reply to emails, so I rang them and they were polite but hopeless. However since my phone call I have been sent some new titles, although I'm doubting I'll ever see Meet The Fockers by now.

As far as lost DVDs, Blockbuster have always been very good. I reported lost DVDs a couple of times and as soon as the 4 days have expired (or 5, can't remember), they have always sent a replacement. On two occasions the original DVD turned up in the end, so I just sent it back.

In conclusion, they have got worse recently as far as top titles, but after doing hours of research on the web, I get the impression that they are all pretty rubbish now so I'm reluctant to change. At least Blockbuster send the DVDs out very quickly, I have no complaints whatsoever about their turnarou

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Robert from Glasgow, August 18, 2005

Was a member of Blockbusters for 6 months until they raised their prices.

Delivery was average, however the big problem was that they never sent the films from your list,(my list had over 60 titles) they continually sent me emails to use their auto-selection tool.

This is O.K. if you don't care what you watch though it does start to become a real pain in the ass.

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Lee, August 15, 2005

I recieved a quality service in the time i was with Blockbuster. Very quick to dispatch. Not alwys my 1st choice though. Very good range of films.

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Stephen from Motherwell, August 13, 2005

I have been with BB for 9 months and haven't found them to be too bad, I really like their system where you put your DVDs in order you want them sent althought you very rarely get any in your top 20 and you can do a first to last to make sure you get series in the correct order(Been waiting for Band of brothers since I joined along with another few titles) The turn around from posting a DVD back is usually 2-3 days for your next one, The one major problem I found is when a DVD goes missing you have to wait 4 days if its coming to you or 10 if your sending it back before you can report it(recently send 2 DVDs back, waited the 10 days when they never recieved it but could only report 1 DVD as missing as their system says I can only submit 1 lost in post every 30 days, ???)but this is the first problem I've had since I joined so will give them a chance to fix this problem.

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Bob, August 3, 2005

Hi, I would just like to take 5 mins of your time to explain a few facts about online rentals and their companies since allot of you seem to be missing these points.

I have worked in this business before for about 2 years and have watched the whole thing grow from start to present.

Firstly the claims by screen select and lovefilm to have over 35,000 title, while not strictly false, are misleading. They do not have 35,000 seperate titles that you can choose from. They make this number by counting allot of extras discs full of nothing but special features as seperate titles and also any title that is a 2 disc edition is split to become 2 seperate titles on their systems, they also have a number of titles they count on their site which are either unavailable on region 2 discs or that they do not have at all but they still put them on their site and count them in their title totals.I'm sure there is an element of this behaviour with all online DVD rental companies however the big 2 seem to be the big offenders of this type of misleading behaviour.

Customers also need to be aware that it makes little difference if a company has 50,000 titles to boast if they only have 10 copies of each one! Now it is true that none of the companies covered here divulge how much stock they actually have but common sense would suggest that BB would have. This is because of their standing store base, they already buy huge amounts of every title to fill their stores and already have longstanding relationships with distributors and studios. I don't know this to be fact but i would presume that this would enable them to easily buy more of each film than thei competitors, which should make them the best company for availability and turnaround times.

Also in Blockbuster's defence they do have a customer service phone number that can be obtained from their automated emails. This also tends to be a much more reliable way of getting your queries answered as emailing BB customer service can often seem fruitless. In contrast screenselect and lovefilm do seem to have a more efficient customer service set-up than BB.

This final point is in the defence of all 3 of the big online players and one for all those online customers who seem to expect the online service to be just like a store. Simply it is not nor was ever intended to be. Why do you think a company such as BB do not have online the 'not here get it free next time' deal that they do in stores?, because they are not the same!

All the online services are aimed at 2 main demographics, the movie buff who has a wide ranged film intrest who wants lots of DVDs each month to watch but is not too bothered which ones from their list they get as they know they will like them all, or the family where they are happy to recieve a selection of different titles of old and new each week as there will be something to suit somebody in each order.

For those of you who joined any of these companies expecting to get all the new releases the day or week they come out on any sort of regular basis should prepare to be dissapointed and frustrated. My advice, if this is you, is stop being so lazy and go to a highstreet store!!

I hope this has helped enlighten you to online rentals!

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Melinda from Oxford, July 31, 2005

Just finished a free trial with them, not bad. I did notice they shipped on Saturdays, which does make a difference, and even though they didn't get my highest ranked films that often, their turnaround was pretty quick. However, their interface is a bit clunky compared with my fave so far (Screenselect), so not the one to settle on, for me anyway. So many other sites to try...

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Simon from Wakefield, July 27, 2005

Althogh not an amazing company, I feel that it has been seriously underrated.  Ironically, I found this site because I was looking for an alternative.

For starters, it DOES have a phone number, but it's at the bottom of their emails, not on the site.  For me, this is a big plus point, especially as it has been slammed for not having one.

The reason I came here is because of their slow turnaround time, and by that I mean that it's not immediate - I think that you should be able to send DVDs off and once they get to them,  the next lot should be in the post the same day.  Most took a day more than that, sometimes two... but I had the odd one take as long as 5 days.  In contrast, I have found all other companies to be the same or longer.

Secondly, all the other companies that I have tried have counted double disc DVDs as two separate rentals (some excuse about their deal with the postal service); Blockbuster have counted them as one rental, which says to me that they are the best value of the ones that I have tried.

Design was generally great and easy to use, and they have a great range of movies - not just 'blockbusters', arf arf!

I have had 2 discs in total that have been scratched in the last 2 months or so that I have been with them, so that's not too bad.

The customer support with all of the companies I have found more or less the same - Blockbuster are not amazing and at times are quite useless, but no more than the others.  I think that they are the best of a bad bunch, and seeing them this low on the list I think is wrong.

The one thing that I really grumble about is that my top titles on the list hardly ever came, but that said all the movies on the list were ones that I wanted to watch, weren't they?

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Matt from Edinburgh, July 7, 2005

Very rarely recieve any DVDs from the top of your list. Keep getting told by email that they 'can't send you anything from your list' even although you have 20/30 titles on it and even although they have been on your list for a couple of months.  They NEVER respond to emails sent to them.  

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Jonathan from Leigh-on-Sea, July 5, 2005

I initially went with Blockbuster because I felt they of all people would have no stock problems. However I've been with them for a few months now and things have gone from being "perfect" to appalling. I haven't had a film from my top 10 for more than 3 months and for the last 4 weeks they've only managed to supply 1-2 discs a week on the unlimited 3 disc package desite having around 50 films in my list (47 at present).

Their site is pretty dull and I do miss the customer reviews of other sites as I find these are generally more informative than the official site film blurb. Customer services are also worth a mention as these seem to be non existant when you need them. Overall I have been frustrated with Blockbuster and am looking for a change (but NOT Screenselect!). Fingers crossed for third time lucky....

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Lorraine from Cornwall, June 22, 2005

Have been with Blockbuster for just over a year.  To start with it was really good and they usually sent new releases out fairly quickly.  Now we haven't had a new release for months.  Definitely time to change.

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Paul from Ipswich, June 22, 2005

Good rental service, no damaged discs, very fast turnaround, always had 3 DVDs at a time, slightly lag the latest titles though, my top DVDs only just trickled through but a MASSIVE selection, great for rare films, reccomend but ironically not for "blockbuster films" ha!ha!

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Boyd from Beds, June 20, 2005

I've been with Blockbuster about 9 months now. At first it was great, i found the website easy to navigate, I was receiving films from somewhere near the top of my list and the turnaround was fast.

I am now, however, totally frustrated with their inability to provide movies from the top of my list and now that they have announced a price increase will be looking elsewhere.

I must say have had very few problems with damaged or dirty discs.

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Colin from Gravesend, June 12, 2005

I have been with Blockbusters for about 5 months now and have a few problems, but none as bad as everyone seems to have had. Yes i have had the odd dirty disc and the odd scatched one but what can you exspect, not evey one looks after dics as well as some off us do. Why because they are belong to a big company.I have noproblems with turn around  average 6 DVDs a week which is only about 63per disc. So on the whole iI feel that i am getting value for my money.

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Aly from Peterborough, June 10, 2005

I have been with BB for 9 months at first it was an excellent service but over the last few months it has gone downhill dramatically. I have about 25 films I am waiting to see and for the last few weeks it has been telling me that none of them are available and they are not all latest blockbuster.

With the prices going up I am off, part of me thinks they want to lose a few customers as they cannot cope with the current levels hence why you cannot get any films you actually want to watch.

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Matt, May 26, 2005

The first-to-last feature doesn't seem to work properly.
I had various TV shows listed with first-to-last ticked on them.  They never sent any.  I started trialing another rental service and was receiving the shows from them, so I removed the first-to-last selections on Blockbuster - They started sending the TV shows as soon as I removed it - IN ORDER!

Its a pain to rate titles you've already rented, and there doesn't seem to be a previously rented list.

Plus point - if you've got a big list they're fast.  I've got 300+ titles in my list and I always receive new discs four days after sending back my previous titles.

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Ian  from Herts, May 22, 2005

Been running with Blockbuster for about 3 months now and have had no reponses to emails, and now they aren't sending me disks even though I have many on my list. Their recommendation, go pay per rent!! Will be ending my subscription as a result. Many disks turning up unplayable due to scratches. Only one picking error.

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Ant  from Southampton, May 19, 2005

I have previously been with postaDVD and I found Blockbuster to be marginally better.  I have been with them for about 8 months now. I have had about 50 DVDs from them and although many are dirty I have had only 1 faulty disc and one lost in post.  Both times the customer service was fine for me.  I think turnaround could be a little quicker sometimes although normally it is ok.  Worst thing is not getting items from the top of your list but this has been better for me than with postaDVD.

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Pete from Beds , May 11, 2005

I've had a couple of unrecognised discs, plenty of scratched ones and about 90% have been filthy, so its been a bit of a lottery. I did get an email from their customer support apologising for a faulty disc, but I still had this one. Turns out the mail was meant for someone else!...  Time to try someone else now...

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Deb from Dorset , May 10, 2005

I've been with them for 6 weeks, I've had one lost in post, everytime i send them back they email me the next day to say they can't choose a film on my list please add more even though I had 30 on there, then when they did it was on the list I had before they sent the email, I had one of the top titles in that time so I spose I was lucky. cancelled now gonna try another.

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Grainne from Essex , May 5, 2005

I've been with Blockbuster now for five months, and after I recieved the email saying the prices were going up, I felt this was the last straw, after getting damaged discs, wrong discs and never, ever once getting a top 3 film I'm off to new pastures...

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Maynard from Cambridge, May 3, 2005

I was expecting a far more superior service than I received from this well known and respected high street store. I would say that 60%+ of the discs were scratched and unplayable. They would only send titles low down on my list so I didn't get to see the real blockbusters for a month or more, when I reduced my view list it would then take days to receive a disc. There was zero notification of new releases despite choosing that option. I Emailed twice to ask for an explanation to give them the benefit of the doubt but they did not bother to reply. VERY DISAPPOINTED!!

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Sharon from London, April 26 , 2005

I'm really disappointed with Blockbuster, because of their good high street reputation I thought they would be good also for DVD postal service but they aren't!  Although their website is easy to use, they're really slow at sending out your movies.  Also I've been with them for 4 months now and never get any of my top film choices--I'm now going to cancel my membership and join elsewhere!

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Justin from London, April 25, 2005

In my month free trial, even though turnaround times were good, I didn't receive one of the TV series discs on my list. I didn't take it up with them but was left with the feeling that they won't send TV show discs. If they do do - they obviously don't have enough. Screenselect and Lovefilm have both been good with TV show discs - epecially Lovefilm.

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Pete from Leics, April 13, 2005

Had better results with these than with Screenselect for a while now, although I agree with others regarding customer service and site design.  One of the few things in their favour is they work weekends, so turnaround for me is better than Screenselect, and £1 a month cheaper.
Gonna try some others tho' now.

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Nik from Leeds , April 3, 2005

I Was with Blockbuster for 2 months and was very dissapointed with their lack of customer service. I never got any of my top 3 films on my list. I e-mailed the company 4 times about this matter and I never got a reply; because of this I cancelled my membership.

Design: 1, Value: 5, Service: 1

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Dom from Huddersfield, March 17, 2005

Very slow turnaround, they receive it on one day and don't send it out to the next giving a standard 4 day wait for your DVDs. Other companies do it in 3 days, mailing it on the same day they receive it..
Also, a lot of the DVDs I recieve have faults with them.

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Di, March 25, 2005

They may be cheap but l've have about 20 films from them & they are mostly scractched & dirty. They dont respond to complaints either.

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Ed from Cambridgeshire, March 22, 2005

I finally resolved my longrunning problem (see previous review) trying to cancel my free trial after four weeks and as many unanswered emails. They simply don't answer the cutomer service emails, and the only way to find their phone number is to follow the link after you submit a complaint email, and it's buried on one of the following pages. When I finally talked to an operator, she claimed her system was down. But I will give her credit, when she called back she did end my subscription and credit me the month's fee I'd been paid, as I hadn't had any discs during that period.

I'd warn anyone considering Blockbuster that they'll face horrible customer service...

Design: 6, Value: 5, Service: 1

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Terry from Ipswich, March 7, 2005

I'd been with Blockbuster four months before deciding to shop around, so please let me take this opportunity to vent...

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE DON'T REPLY TO THEIR EMAILS. This was really annoying when I wanted to cancel and the screen kept hanging up and preventing me. I highly suggest anyone having problems call the Customer Service number, which only seems to appear on the screen after you send your complaint email--searched high and low and couldn't find it by browsing alone.

I repeatedly got lower-ranked discs, and what's with the clunky site? I'll give credit where it's due, Blockbuster are fairly quick, but I tried Screenselect and am currently trialling Lovefilm--these are much better companies. Sad thing is, lots of poor sods will go with Blockbuster based on their high street reputation and never see how a good rental-by-post company works...

Design: 6, Value: 7, Service: 3

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Marty from London, March 5, 2005

I've trialed most of the DVD companies and BlockBuster were an average company. Plain website.  There turn around was okay most of the time and you'll find that you won't get your top choices too often. Use the free trial then go elsewhere..

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Ed from Cambridgeshire, February 25, 2005

You guys are way too generous with Blockbuster, sure, the site looks good and the prices may be cheap, but the real value is bad. Most of the discs they sent in my free trial were not my top three choices, one was also scratched. They email you when they receive your returned disc in the mail, but often they don't send out the replacement until the next day ... what's with that? In another case they claimed they'd received a disc I still had at home instead of the one I'd sent-all these problems in one month!

Worse, I'm having major problems trying to cancel my free trial-they claimed I had to have all my discs back to them to "cancel the package" before I could deregister. This contradicts their actual terms and conditions (yes, I actually read them) which claim you get three days to mail back DVDs after cancelling, so I'm set to start complaining in a big way ... will post again with the results when I get this resolved.

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