Tesco DVD Rental

Tesco runs its DVD rental service through its partnership Lovefilm, the UK market leader accounting for over half of all online rentals. Though Tesco DVD rental is slightly cheaper and has the same engine, we believe Lovefilm's website is superior, and believe the customer service is that much better for a dedicated DVD rental site instead of a supermarket. We have heard fairly frequent complaints about poor customer service and slow delivery from Tesco's DVD rental service. For instance, in one case, a customer was charged the £13.97 rate and given the the £7.97 package service.

Unlike Lovefilm's own site, not much time and attention appears to be devoted to the Tesco site--even the old Indiana Jones picture on the front and their claimed title count haven't changed in over a year.

In their favour, Tesco does have a customer service phone line, open Monday-Friday 9am to 5:30 pm. There is also an email contact, and Tesco claims all queries will receive replies within 24 hours. One difference with Lovefilm is that Tesco does not list Lovefilm's adult films, which will be a plus for families who wish to let their kids run their DVD rental inventories. Our visitors have noted Tesco service seems to have slipped since the merger between Lovefilm and Screenselect in October 2006.

Nonetheless, we have bumped up Tesco's ratings based on reports and reviews suggesting subscribers are experiencing fewer problems, and also because of their continued low prices. In short, on balance we consider Tesco DVD rental the best of Lovefilm's many "powered-by sites" in terms of price and quality.

 

Prices: Tesco DVD rental does offer the cheapest one-disc DVD rental in the UK (ever since Sainsburys rival service which had matching prices shut down in late 2006). Tesco have one unlimited rentals disc at £8.97, two discs at £11.97, and three discs at £14.97. You can save even more off these already low prices by paying 3 months in advance (3 quid off), six months in advance (one month off) or a year in advance (two month's off). You can get a subscription including video game rentals for an additional one pound at the one disc level, two pounds at the two disc level, and three pounds at the three disc level.

They also have "Value" rental plans on capped discs per month basis, £3.97 for two disc total in a month, £5.97 for three discs total, and £7.47 for four discs total. They also have a two-week trial. You won't be able eligible for another free trial if you've already had one with any Lovefilm "powered-by" site.

 

Featured Tesco DVD Rental Customer Review

John from London, December 6, 2005

I have subscribed to Tesco's DVD Rental service (3 DVDs for £13.97) for about four months, and am reasonably happy. In that time, they miss-shipped a couple of DVD movies (e.g., two consecutive copies of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the non-extended version of Fellowship of the Ring). In each case, a call to their customer support number (under the Contact Us menu option on the left) got the next DVD shipped out. After the second miss-ship, I complained enough to Tesco that they credited me for half a month's DVD rental. We haven't had any problems since.

The DVD rental website is acceptably designed, with a number of pre-designed filters (e.g., All Time Classics, Top Tearjerkers). The most useful for those who like new releases is "At Cinema Now"; you can reserve DVD titles in advance of release. (Though of course you probably won't receive it until some time after release, as they gradually work through the backlog of reservations.)

My one minor complaint on Tesco's DVD rental service is - they make no attempt to filter or grade viewer reviews (like, for example, Amazon), so they are a hodge podge of thoughtful reviews, and nonsense like, "this movie was dum i didn't get it at all". Also, what about links to "real" film reviews, e.g., newspaper, websites?

Value: Design: Service:

 

Most Recent Tesco Customer Reviews

Karen from Peterborough, September 23, 2009

I cannot rate the service low enough to be honest. I applied for the 14 day FREE trial. For some reason I forgot all about it. Having just started internet banking I noticed that they have taken £13 + every month for the last 18months. When questioned they stated "royal mail advised my address didnt exist" (ive lived here ten years). They have agreed to reimburse a 12 month period so mt FREE trial has cost me £90!!!! HOW IS THAT FREE!!!!

Value: Design: Service:

 

John from Stockport, January 10, 2009

Superficially one of the cheapest deals but over three months I've had three two weekly episodes with no DVDs at all. Customer service is poor at best.

Slow turnaround and a long wait for new releases.

Back to Blockbuster!

Value: Design: Service:

 

John from Cumbria, September 19, 2008

The service during the free trial was amazing!

As soon as the free trial ended the service gradually started to get poorer and poorer.

I have contacted Customer Services on a number of occasions to express concerns about the service and they say that they are happy that the service falls within their Customer Service targets.

I am now looking to move to a new DVD rental provider.

Value: Design: Service:

 

Lisa from Norfolk, September 16, 2008

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! I SIGNED UP FOR A 90 DAY FREE TRIAL, MADE AN ERROR CLICKING WHICH MEMBERSHIP I WANTED, WHICH MEANT THAT MY FREE TRIAL HAD ENDED & THEY CHARGED ME STRAIGHT AWAY ( WITH NO WARNING) CUSTOMER SERVICE IS USELESS. I CAN'T BELIEVE TESCOS WOULD PUT THEIR NAME TO THIS SHAMBLES!

Value: Design: Service:

 

See all Tesco DVD Rental Reviews

 

1 disc unlimited: £8.97
2 discs unlimited: £11.97
3 discs unlimited: £14.97
2 discs total: £3.97
3 discs total: £5.97
4 discs total: £7.47

Free Trial: 14 days

Titles: 56,000+
Blu-ray: 1,700+
Game Rentals: yes
Adult Films: no
Phone Contact: yes

Contact:
0844 482 0254
Tesco DVD Rental Customer Services
FREEPOST RRCA-EHAC-ZZKX
LOVEFiLM UK Ltd
London
W3 6RU