So I cancelled Netflix today.

[darkshadow0001]

I saw on another forum that Netflix was raising their prices and decided to cancel their service. I was wondering... is Blockbuster's rental service any better?

I was a member of Netflix since 2004 but I decided to cancel today because I can't afford the $3 increase. I was on the 3-at-a-time plan because I had several people in my household wanting movies and I'm not going to pay more for the same service, without any additional things you could do. We barely used the "Watch Instantly" feature anyway, and I see that with Blockbuster's 3-at-a-time plan you can rent games as well, which I think would be worth the $19.99/month. Not sure though, because I think I need to find a better job since mine likes to act irradicately.

So has anyone here used Blockbuster? The last time I rented them was back in '03 or something before I joined Netflix, I stopped because they were starting to charge me late fees for movies I never turned in late, but I'm assuming their online service is different

[Python Trek]

I used to have both Blockbuster and Netflix, and here's what I found:

1. Blockbuster is better for new releases, because the studios have special arrangements with them, and they exclude Netflix from those arrangements.

2. Netflix is more user-friendly. It has a better search feature, it's easier to play around with your queue, and so forth.

3. Netflix is probably still cheaper, even with the price increase.

4. Neiflix is faster. Blockbuster has a terrible turnaround time. You have to wait twice as long to get a new movie.

5. Netflix has the "watch instantly" feature---BB doesn't.

Bottom line---BB sucks, and Netflix rocks. I cancelled BB a while back, and I put 'Flix on hold, so I didn't know about the price increase, until just now.

[Alidar Jarok]

If you plan to use a subscription-based movie rental, why did you cancel Netflix before determining if blockbuster is better? Why not have found out this information first?

[darkshadow0001]

Yeah but I'm not happy with the price increase with no new real features. $3/month extra and even the higher plans are rediculously higher then that. I only watched movies instantly like one or two times a month anyway, only because I don't think the quality is all that good, maybe I'll just get movies at the library anyway... they are onlike 50 cents a disc anyway...

[darkshadow0001]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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If you plan to use a subscription-based movie rental, why did you cancel Netflix before determining if blockbuster is better? Why not have found out this information first?

Because I can't afford the price increase. I work at a part-time job and if they get slow they call off people and there goes a day of pay. I've had a difficult time trying to find a better job and while this job has been steady, them calling me off happens a number of times and during slow season we only get 15-20 hours at most.

I only stayed with Netflix before because of like most people said, no late fees... but I don't see paying another $3 a month for the same features as before.

[Christopher]

Couldn't you just dial back to a lower service tier than 3-at-a-time? Half a loaf is better than none, surely.

I'm on the unlimited one-at-a-time plan, and that's going up $1 per month, which isn't that bad. However, I'm annoyed that the only cheaper option I've been offered is unlimited instant viewing but no DVD rentals. I don't have the bandwidth for instant viewing to be practical, so I wish they'd offered me the reverse: a cheaper plan that's all DVD rentals and no instant viewing.

[Starbreaker]

Blockbuster has an extremely slow turnaround time.

[Tora Ziyal]

Christopher wrote:

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Couldn't you just dial back to a lower service tier than 3-at-a-time? Half a loaf is better than none, surely.

I'm on the unlimited one-at-a-time plan, and that's going up $1 per month, which isn't that bad. However, I'm annoyed that the only cheaper option I've been offered is unlimited instant viewing but no DVD rentals. I don't have the bandwidth for instant viewing to be practical, so I wish they'd offered me the reverse: a cheaper plan that's all DVD rentals and no instant viewing.

I'm on unlimited one-at-a-time, too, so I obviously agree w/ your suggestion. A lower/cheaper plan is much better than none. I love Netflix.

[RoJoHen]

Indeed. I have the 1-disc plan, and I'm perfectly happy with it, especially with all the stuff I watch instantly.

[Chaos Descending]

Good luck with Blockbuster. I dropped them because they didn't even give me the courtesy of notifying me when they increased prices. The new increased charges just showed up on the next bill. It wasn't just me, either. Five other people I know had the same thing happen. Two switched to Netflix right away (we all called Blockbuster to express our dissatisfaction before canceling). The other three held on until Blockbuster stealthily jacked their rates AGAIN. Those people are now with Netflix as well.

[darkshadow0001]

Christopher wrote:

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Couldn't you just dial back to a lower service tier than 3-at-a-time? Half a loaf is better than none, surely.

I'm on the unlimited one-at-a-time plan, and that's going up $1 per month, which isn't that bad. However, I'm annoyed that the only cheaper option I've been offered is unlimited instant viewing but no DVD rentals. I don't have the bandwidth for instant viewing to be practical, so I wish they'd offered me the reverse: a cheaper plan that's all DVD rentals and no instant viewing.

I did that during the summer time but I didn't like that either because 80% of the time Netflix sends a bad disc or one that's cracked. And it took them a week or more to replace it. Also in the 3-at-a-time plan, they would send the discs to me out of order from which I requested even though none of the discs said "long wait" or "short wait". I called and complained about this a number of times, they would correct it but then a few weeks later it'd be the same thing. I just didn't see paying more for a service that can't send out good quality discs, plus not even send them in the order I asked for.

Believe me when I joined in '04 I never had this problem... they were great back then! It's like been the past year or so that it's been like this. Most of the discs are so scratched up when I receive them after a time they become unplayable that I have to clean them. I just didn't like to have to do that

[RoJoHen]

darkshadow0001 wrote:

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I did that during the summer time but I didn't like that either because 80% of the time Netflix sends a bad disc or one that's cracked. And it took them a week or more to replace it. Also in the 3-at-a-time plan, they would send the discs to me out of order from which I requested even though none of the discs said "long wait" or "short wait". I called and complained about this a number of times, they would correct it but then a few weeks later it'd be the same thing. I just didn't see paying more for a service that can't send out good quality discs, plus not even send them in the order I asked for.

That's sounds very strange. Maybe your local distributor sucks, because I've never known anybody to have such problems with Netflix. The one issue I ever had was when I was unable to connect to my Instant Queue. I called their customer service line, and the problem was fixed within 5 minutes.

[darkshadow0001]

RoJoHen wrote:

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That's sounds very strange. Maybe your local distributor sucks, because I've never known anybody to have such problems with Netflix. The one issue I ever had was when I was unable to connect to my Instant Queue. I called their customer service line, and the problem was fixed within 5 minutes.

I think that is the problem. Because a few years back I remember enjoying Netflix without any problems... who knows, if I see that they are worth joining again in the future, I may come back.

To the one who suggested for me to downgrade... why should I? Why should I have to pay more or less to get the same features? It doesn't make since to me. I also have the bandwidth issue.. even though Comcast has a 250 Gig bandwidth, watching a lot of movies through instant viewing can caugh that up quickly.

I wonder how much money they are going to lose over this price increase... alot of people are probably not going to be happy...

[Starbreaker]

Over $1-3 more for nearly limitless entertainment? Not many.

[Alidar Jarok]

On the margin, they'll lose some customers, but they'll probably offset that and make money with the increased price. Netflix's customers are generally people who can afford to pay that amount.

Anyway, if you're happy not having any subscription service, it makes sense to drop them. But if you were relying on Blockbuster being a viable alternative, you needed to have done the research first. I'm not aware of anyone who is satisfied with them.

BTW, I fit into that category on the margin, although I dropped it because I didn't have consistent free time to watch movies. I still think the price is more than reasonable if you're able to take advantage of it.