Blockbuster vs Netflix Blu-ray Online Rental Experience
My Experience with Blockbuster and Netflix Blu-ray Online Rental Services
by Kimberly (AK, United States)
I admit I was a bit skeptical when my husband suggested we switch over to Blu-ray. But I let him handle it, and I have to say I’ve been really impressed. The resolution, the sound, the features – watching a movie can be intense! The only hitch was figuring out where to get our Blu-ray rentals. We had been with Netflix for DVD rental already, so we started by trying them.
At first, there was sometimes a “very long wait” for Blu-ray movies. We weren’t watching a lot of movies, so we knew it was just that Netflix didn’t have enough copies of the movies we wanted on Blu-ray.
What we had to do was put both regular DVDs and Blu-ray titles in our queue. Of the Blu-ray movies in our queue, more than half of them said there was a wait. So Netflix would ship the next available DVD on the list instead.
Then we started to have some problems with Netflix because the turn around times got pretty bad. We sometimes had to wait for two to three days after they received a movie we were returning before they would ship out a new one. Then there was another two days for us to receive it, so it was a long turn around time. My husband complained to Netflix but they never had a good reason that things were so slow.
Around the time that the Netflix service had become poor, we moved across town near the Blockbuster store. Under their plan, customers can return movies through the mail or to the store. We had heard that Blockbuster had a decent selection of Blu-ray titles and figured it was a good time to give them a try. We have definitely been happy with the results.
Blockbuster Online has a good selection of Blu-ray movies and more scheduled for release. The Blu-ray online movie rental works exactly the same as regular online DVD rental. We order them online, and they arrive within one or two days. We can have up to three movies out at a time. They pay all the shipping, for the movie to come out to us and for the return.
Through the Blockbuster Online exchange program we can get a couple movies a month from the store when we bring in a rental to return. This is included in the price we pay. We don’t take advantage of this feature very often but I imagine it would be very good for someone new to Blu-rays who has not seen all the Hollywood films on it already.
The option to return rentals to the Blockbuster store has been invaluable. My husband passes by the store on his way to work so it is quick and easy. The store registers our return when he gives it to them so we don’t have to wait for the distribution center to receive it. Then, Blockbuster sends the next Blu-ray movie in our queue and we save two days from not having to ship the return.
A couple of our friends still use Netflix and recently told me that Netflix now bills a surcharge for customers who rent Blu-ray titles. That made us feel even better about our choice to use Blockbuster Online, because they charge everyone the same rate, which is the fair way to do business.
Overall, I would recommend Blockbuster Online over Netflix. It is possible that Netflix has worked out whatever issues it was having with service, but Blockbuster Online has given us consistently reliable service, a more than competitive selection of Blu-ray titles, and all at an affordable price.
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Name: Dan Mangini
E-mail: Private
Date posted: February 09, 2009 - 02:29 pm
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