flyingferret 0 #1 February 7, 2005 Well...I hate blockbuster and I have for some time. So this does not start out as a neutral post. I grew up with Hastings, where old videos were $0.49. I went through college with more or less the same, except I think they were $0.99. Then I get our of college move to the big city and hit blockbuster and their $4.99 2 1/2 day by noon rental bullshit. Well during all of this blockbuster is being sued for late fees and breach of rental agreement, blah, blah. I signed up for Netflix shortly after school, about 3 years ago I guess. And I love netflix! I have the 5 dvd plan, and about 50 in queue: drama, comedy, hard to find foreign stuff, etc. But sometimes, occasionally, especially when other people's taste is involved you want to get soemthing spontaneous, despite that fact that you have 5 different genres of Netflix at the moment. For this reason I still went to Blockbuster sometimes. And probably paid them as much as Netflix a month for many fewer movies. When I saw that this was unavoidable, I thought I would try a movie pass, it sounded good. I struggled with supporting blockbuster after all the stuff that I thought was bad service. But I realized I already was, and if they had finally started to get it right, I would try. Well, nothing has changed. The moviepass starts at $14.99 a month for unlimited rentals, then jumps to $24.99 a month after the first month. Not ridiculous, but still not worth supplementing my Netflix with. Additionally, and here is the real kicker, it is good only at the location you buy if from! WTF?! Most of us know you hit 3 blockbusters on a given night to find the movie you want. So, I decided again, forget blockbuster and watch the squirm (I am pretty sure they will eventually be hurting as they are now fighting for market share in the online market and trying to keep stores open). I was content to suck it up and just plan ahead with netflix....UNTIL last night.... I was shopping at Albertson's and registering my card for that coll little shop and scan thing, so I can ring everything up while I shop. When...during my signup, I just thought I would ask the lady about rental since they were right next to me. and low and behold! Albertons' rents new DVDs for $1.99 and old ones for $0.99! Now I don't know why this is not better advertised as they have blockbuster and even hollywood video beat by several dollars. Anyway, I was quite pleased. Next time I need a spontaneous rental...I will be getting it at Albertsons. And unless some unforeseen plague occurs, I will continue doing that while flipping the bird at the blockbuster across the parking lot. Just wanted to share.-- All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildblue 7 #2 February 7, 2005 I hated supporting blockbuster too... but their Netflix knock-off is actually pretty decent. Same selection as Netflix, only 14.99/month, and you get 2 free in-store rentals a month for those spontaneous times.it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bodyflight.Net 0 #3 February 7, 2005 I hear ya! I just swore off movie rentals for a while, what with paying the late fees for being an HOUR late, I figured I had invested enough to OWN a copy of the movie I rented. Since, I have decided that in most cases, I will just simply BUY the darn movie I know I want to see. I can resell it on ebay (if I really don't want it) for no loss and keep it AS LONG AS I WANT! Other than that.. I wait till it comes out on HBO or something. Thinking about NetFlix, good to know your satisfied with it, and that it does work for you. I live out in the middle of no-where so ontop of paying extra for late fees, add the 40 minute drive, & Netflix would certainly be a money saver! Good to know, thanks! Dawn Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #4 February 7, 2005 Same here sort of. I luckily have a Hastings in my town, although its a pain in the ass to get to. There's a blockbuster literally 500yds from my house, but I use Netflix simply because I'm tired of giving Blockbuster money. Yes, most of my opinion stems from their late fees, it also stems from them trying to charge stuff to the credit card I was forced to use to open the account. (Luckily I've had a BB account so long that I don't even have that CC anymore...hehe). So here I am with Netflix, its cool, its fun and easy to use, I'm going through an average of 5 movies a week. Morgan gets on and adds movies to the queue that she wants to see and we have a good time. Not only that, unlike Blockbuster, Netflix has a good selection. It has a lot of "oddball" films that are hard to find and it has all the old movies I like. I'm currently going through all my favorite 80's movies (and introducing them to Morgan). For instance, I watched Best of the Best a couple of days ago and now Taps is in queue. Try renting those at Blockbuster...HA!--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #5 February 7, 2005 We are a Netflix family. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyingferret 0 #6 February 7, 2005 Yeah, plus Netflix, just introduced "profiles" that allow various people in one household to add to the same queue. Have nto used it yet, but might be pretty cool. Additionally, Netflix, has a DC in Coppell, so I have a literal 2-day turn around on my queue most of the time.-- All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #7 February 7, 2005 Quoteso I have a literal 2-day turn around on my queue most of the time. Same here. 1 day there and 1 day back.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bch7773 0 #8 February 7, 2005 I have a buddy who does the netflix thing with a twist... he gets the DVDs in the mail, copies em, and sends them right back. and nobody really gets screwed by it. MB 3528, RB 1182 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyingferret 0 #9 February 7, 2005 No comment...other than it takes a lot of hard drive space for those ISO images.-- All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skycat 0 #10 February 7, 2005 QuoteI hear ya! I just swore off movie rentals for a while, what with paying the late fees for being an HOUR late, I figured I had invested enough to OWN a copy of the movie I rented. Since, I have decided that in most cases, I will just simply BUY the darn movie I know I want to see. I can resell it on ebay (if I really don't want it) for no loss and keep it AS LONG AS I WANT! Other than that.. I wait till it comes out on HBO or something. Thinking about NetFlix, good to know your satisfied with it, and that it does work for you. I live out in the middle of no-where so ontop of paying extra for late fees, add the 40 minute drive, & Netflix would certainly be a money saver! Good to know, thanks! Dawn We used to buy movies all the time for the same reason, since getting Netflix we only buy the ones we really want to keep. We have a library of about 100 DVDs so for us when people come over there already is a huge selection for them to choose from if they don't want to watch the netflix ones we have. Current stats 5 movies at a time - 140 in queueFly it like you stole it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #11 February 7, 2005 People used to get unlisted phone numbers because they didn't want telemarketers calling them. Then, they would go to Blockbuster and give them their unlisted phone number. Blockbuster would then sell the names and unlisted phone numbers to telemarketers. Wayne Huizenga made more money on marketing than video rentals. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyingferret 0 #12 February 7, 2005 Damn...140? Ang I felt like I would never catch up.... I am already at the point, where I watched trailers, save the ones I want to see in a text file, and then queue them up in batches-- All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunshine 2 #13 February 8, 2005 QuoteThen I get our of college move to the big city and hit blockbuster and their $4.99 2 1/2 day by noon rental bullshit. I guess not all blockbusters are the same then. My blockbuster is $2.99 per movie. Either 2 days for new release or 7 days for 30 days or later release. Plus the more you rent, the cheaper it gets. It's $5.49 for 2 movies, $7.99 for 3, $9.99 for 5. Plus mon-wed it's rent one get one free. I love blockbuster cause it's so cheap. ___________________________________________ meow I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACMESkydiver 0 #14 February 8, 2005 We are doing the Hollywood video $9.99/month unlimited MVP deal...we can't get new releases until they have been out a couple weeks, but we can get anything else we want, 3 movies at a time... But what is STILL killing us is the damn late fees. PS, after your first 3 months, then it goes to something like $19.99/month, and we'll be cancelling and not renting many movies for a while. ~Jaye Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
