Renting Movies......

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My dad uses Amazon.co.uk.

You get 4 sent a months for something like £8. Only had one problem, and that was when we rented Dodge Ball and it kept skipping cause it was scratched to buggery.
 
Yeah - Screenselect's discs go back to them in a better condition than when they arrive with us, as I often clean all the crap and scratches off them just so we can watch them.
 
I have both Netflix and Gamefly. I love them both, although it can become a waste if you find yourself getting busy with other things. When that happens though my wife just downgrades our plan to match our free time.

Netflix has a warehouse about 35 miles from my house so I sometimes get my movies two days after sending them in. That is convenient.


Gamefly has started a thing about six months ago where for being a memeber more than six months I get a 10% disvcount on all purchases and a $5 coupon every three months. The coupons can be saved up and multiples used. I love the Keep It feature where if I rent a game and decide I want to own it I just pay the purchase price, minus my discount, and then they ship me the case and booklet. Memebers also pay no shipping. Between saved up coupons and my discount I bought X-Men: Legends for $.20 a while back.

All in all I would say the online rental services are more convenient and enjoyable than the stores and I save money in the long run because in teh winter when I have more free time I am getting another movie in practically every night and a new game about once a week. I wonder what my postal carrier thinks of me.
 
Famine
Yeah - Screenselect's discs go back to them in a better condition than when they arrive with us, as I often clean all the crap and scratches off them just so we can watch them.
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We now, um, back them up incase we have an accident ourselves....
 
ExigeExcel
We now, um, back them up incase we have an accident ourselves....
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I can neither confirm nor deny similar activities on my part.
 
FastEddie12
I wonder if video rental stores are suffering now, because you can buy DVDs and download films so easily?
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My local Blockbuster seems as busy as ever, but with the competition from the one's you mentioned, plus online rental service like Netflix, it must have hit them pretty good.
 
ExigeExcel
We now, um, back them up incase we have an accident ourselves....
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This sounds extremely familiar, but I can't remember why.
 
We tend to use the On Demand function from our cable provider. And I rake through the bargain bins as well. But we don't have/make time to watch movies very much any more.
 
Uh, the bargain bins. I’ve found some real good stuff in those over the past year or two. 👍

Today we rented three movies from Blockbuster for $5, which I thought was pretty good (I only just joined, and Video Ezy used to charge way more than that 👎).
 
Blake
Uh, the bargain bins. I’ve found some real good stuff in those over the past year or two. 👍
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Yeah, I have found a few movies that I was never willing to pay $12-$20 for but $3-$5 is definitely a good price for them.
 
FoolKiller
Yeah, I have found a few movies that I was never willing to pay $12-$20 for but $3-$5 is definitely a good price for them.
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Nothing like that feeling, when you see one of your favorite movie in there for $4.99 ..................... but you paid $10 - 15 for it.
 
I've been trying out the Blockbuster Online on a one month free trial. Although I wasn't too impressed with their service, I renewed today. :D

2 issues I had with them were:

1) They don't honor the priority order in your "Queue". Out of the list I had going, they were sending me movies from all over the list. How about just sending me the top DVDs that are available?

2) Timed shipments. First week, naturally( :sly: ), I checked out as many DVDs as I can. After couple of shipments, they started sending me only one movie at a time. They'd receive like two DVDs from me on the same day(which they show at the website), but will only ship 1 movie the next day. I heard that Netflix doesn't like their members checking out too many DVDs either, though I don't know if they actually do something about it, like Blockbuster Online does.

Reason why I ended up joining after the trial:

I was actually going to quit. As I clicked on the "cancel" button, they offered to sweeten the pot. :D Original deal of $17.99 for 3 DVDs at the time(unlimited) and 1 free in-store rental every week was really a good deal I thought. Then they offered the same deal for $15.99/month(good for 6 months). I know it's just 2 bucks, but I started analyzing the deal again, and I just couldn't pass it up.

Overall, selection at Blockbuster Online's pretty decent. I got to rent some movies that I would otherwise never been able to find locally(like Robocop 2. I don't know if that was a good thing, but anyway). For the smokin' deal that they are offering right now, I would recommend giving them a try.
 
a6m5
I heard that Netflix doesn't like their members checking out too many DVDs either, though I don't know if they actually do something about it, like Blockbuster Online does.
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I am renting four at a time right now. They have plans that go up to 8 at a time, unlimited per month. You can do more than you can possibly watch, you just have to pay for it.

Their plans range from 1 at a time, two per month to the 8 at a time, unlimited per month. I have yet to see an actual complaint from them about me renting too many at one time. In fact, over the weekend I sent three back at once and got three in the mail yesterday. I've done all four before, but usually the postal system gets them separated and they get them on different days. I do occasionally get the wonderful all four at once thing though.
 
I usually rent video games. I am not too big on movies.

The rental place here also have pre-viewed video games next to the pre-viewed movies, and I will occasionally purchase a pre-viewed video game.
 
I don't think they send out a complaint, but I have read a news article that they purposely "delay" a few shipments if someone is ordering too many in a short amount of time.

I don't know if they have changed their policy since this practice was exposed to the public. I'll see if I can get a link to the article.
 
dougiemeats
I don't think they send out a complaint, but I have read a news article that they purposely "delay" a few shipments if someone is ordering too many in a short amount of time.

I don't know if they have changed their policy since this practice was exposed to the public. I'll see if I can get a link to the article.
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That would be cool. And FoolKiller, I knew it wasn't postal service, because Blockbuster was at least honest enough to show only one movie being shipped at a time. It kind of annoys me, because as far as I'm concerned, if they are going to advertise "unlimited", that's what they should deliver. By shipping limited number of movies at a time, they are failing to give me what I paid for, which is 3 DVDs at a time.
 
dougiemeats
Frequent Netflix renters sent to back of the line

Besides this, I have heard nothing but good things about Netflix.
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Thanks for that!

I found quotes like: "I wouldn't have a problem with it if they didn't advertise `unlimited rentals,'" Villanueva said. "The fact is that they go out of their way to make sure you don't go over whatever secret limit they have set up for your account." or "Netflix isn't well within its rights to throttle users," complained a customer identified as "annoyed" in a posting on the site. "They say unlimited rentals. They are liars." and
"My own personal experience has not been bad," he said, "but (the throttling) is certainly annoying when it happens."

They sound like me. :lol:
 
I have Netlflix and it's probably the third greatest thing in the universe. The third being that feeling you experience when you put on a pair of warm, just-taken-out-of-the-dryer boxers in the cold of winter. And everyone knows what the second greatest is.

I've never heard of this throttling system, but I do believe I've rented more than 9 movies in a month before.
 
I've tried Netflix on their 2 week trial before. I was pretty impressed. Everything just went perfect.

I don't know how many of you actually read the article presented by dougie, but I forgot that it costs Netflix 78 cents(just for the postage) just to send a movie to us(includes return postage).
 
dougiemeats
Frequent Netflix renters sent to back of the line

Besides this, I have heard nothing but good things about Netflix.
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Well, I just read over the terms of use and they never give details to the process but just say that it can happen.

Since I am on a four DVD plan I wonder if they are more lenient with my maximum number. I also almost never am renting a movie with a wait so if it is just a case of prioritizing who gets the discs first I am probably not affected. However, if they hold back on me just to slow me down then it is a pretty jerky thing to do. Just give me a maximum limit.

Due to mailing times it would be physically impossible for me to get more than 28 DVDs in a month, and since most most people have other things to do than just sit and watch movies all day every day a 20 per month lmit would probably be reasonable.

It's tempting to put a bunch of junk movies at the top of my list and just send them back the day I get them in to see how many I can actually get in a month.
 
Klostrophobic
And everyone knows what the second greatest is.
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The 10.30am coffee. Mmm - feel the caffeine infuse your veins...
 
Have you guys tried them yet?

r203wq6.gif


http://www.redbox.com/index.aspx

They have kiosks in your local grocery stores and McDonald's. It's $1 a night, no late fees. When the charge reaches $25, you own the DVD and the charge to your credit card stops.

Pros: I've used them three times now, and they are pretty handy. One cool feature to me was the ability to reserve your DVD online, then go pick it up at the location you've chosen. You can return the DVDs at any redbox kiosks. Pricing is nice, too.

Cons: There are two of them. 1) Speed. Machines are extremely slow at despensing rentals, or accepting returns. You could also get stuck behind slow people, resulting in few minutes worth of wait. 2) Selection. Limited by the size of the machine, naturally, selection of the films aren't great.

Overall, I'm happy with them. I was in love with Blockbuster(and their Online), but I haven't been back there in weeks, so that says it all. :)
 
a6m5
Have you guys tried them yet?

r203wq6.gif


http://www.redbox.com/index.aspx

They have kiosks in your local grocery stores and McDonald's. It's $1 a night, no late fees. When the charge reaches $25, you own the DVD and the charge to your credit card stops.
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I've seen them but haven't tried them. There is also another one in a blue machine at one of my local grocery stores. When they first put it in the woman was standing there trying to talk to people about it.

Netflix works best for me because I can watch the movie when I get the time and not pay more.
 
V1P3R
I do occasional "extended" rentals but that's about it. xD
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What is a "extended rental", and when did you start signing the new scion in your posts?

:p
FoolKiller
Netflix works best for me because I can watch the movie when I get the time and not pay more.
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Service like the Netflix is the best, if you can get your money's worth out of them. 👍 I recently quit Blockbuster Online, so I won't be needing that type of service for a while(watched like million DVDs). :D
 

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