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Author Topic: What do you know about Netflix?
Tater
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I just saw a commercial for Netflix, and thought I would check it out online.
Netflix
Apparently I can rent an unlimited number of movies for $17.99 plus tax. No late fees, no shipping and handling fees, and about 30,000 movies to choose from.
According to the website I can get a 2 week free trial, no strings attached, and cancel quickly and easily at the end of the free trial period if I want to.

See, my family rents a lot of movies, my brother in particular. And he pays about $20 in late fees EVERY movie he rents. (because he is irresponsible and lazy..but yea, whatever..) and he rents one about every week.

So this deal sounds too good to be true! If it works as well as it says it does, it could save my family a lot of money, and we could see more (and better) movies.

Does anyone use this and know if it's as good as it claims?

[ December 30, 2004, 05:59 PM: Message edited by: Tater ]

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mr_porteiro_head
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I use it.

I love it.

I like it because I can use it to watch DVDs that you can't get at a normal video store. If it weren't for netflix, I'd have to either buy the DVDs or illigetimately download them.

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Derrell
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I've used it and liked it. You send the movies back and they send you the next movie you have in your queue. It's a good deal for those who don't remember to return movies ontime. If you lose one, they charge you for it.

All in all, it's a pretty good deal.

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Boon
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There's more than one service. Blockbuster and Walmart are both cheaper, and both also have free trials.

http://funwavs.com/movie_rentals.html

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Tater
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Ahh, thank you, thank you. How long does it take for you to receive your movies? It says MAYBE 1-3, but for a deal like this, I think I could wait.

Blockbuster is where we currently rent from. (and where my brother pays the outrageous late fees to.. $13 yesterday. Ugh)

Anyone tried Blockbusters yet?

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Tater
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and, how much are taxes do ya reckon?
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Boon
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oooo..and on Blockbuster's, you also get 2 coupons for free movie or game rentals from the storefront each month.

Okay, I'm sold. Sign me up.

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Tater
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Hahah.
Okay, I have one more question.
If I'm a little scared of using credit cards online, is there anyway I can be billed at the store? On my blockbuster account?
and not have to give out credit card numbers online?

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Boon
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Not that I can find. But it is a secure website. I'm signing up as we (speak).
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solo
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Blockbuster will no longer have late fees in the new year.

link

Just so you know.

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solo
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They do force you to buy the movie (minus the rental fee) if it is not back within a week though. Even after that you do have 30 days to return it for a credit. Still, at least your brother would own the movie for the extra $20 in late charges.
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Tater
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Wow. Thanks, didn't know that.

Yea.. hmm, so someone help me figure this out. Which would cost us less in the long run, $15 a month for.. as many movies as we need (i suppose) or a movie a week for however much they cost individually?

I know! Why don't I ask the brother what he thinks! (It's his money most of the time, after all.)

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Da_Goat
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What condition are Netflix discs usually in?
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Icarus
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I don't use it because I simply don't watch enough movies at home for it to be worth it. When I want to watch a movie, most of the time, I watch it on pay-per-view. When that's not possible, I rent at the local non-Blockbuster place, but I only do that as a last resort, because I too return things late and end up paying exhorbitant fees. I return them late not because I forget to return them, but because it takes me a while to get around to watching them, I just don't watch a lot of TV.

Rather than spend a guaranteed $20 a month or so on Netflix, I would sooner get premium cable channels, which I don't currently receive, which I'm pretty sure would cost less. Of course, I would have less choice in what I watch, but I'm sure I could find stuff I wanted to watch that way.

What doesn't work for me is paying so much money regardless of how much or how little I watch. I understand that for people who rent a lot of movies a month, it's worthwhile, but it's hard for me to imagine watching that many movies a month.

In any case, on the occasions I want to watch something, I'm pretty impulsive. I can't imagine placing something on my queue and waiting for it.

And a final note: Down with Blockbuster!

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Tater
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But, but, Blockbuster sells candy and snacks! (at ridiculous prizes)

The cable is already 60 something dollars because we get the internet through the cable.
I think we're getting ripped off. *shrug*
We had the movie channels, perhaps illegally, but we had them taken out.
Guess that was a mistake.

[ December 30, 2004, 07:03 PM: Message edited by: Tater ]

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ctm
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Da_goat-- Netflix discs are usually in good shape, in the last 2 years I've had 2 at most that were bad-- you can order a replacement for a bad one online and it comes in a day or two, usually.

ctm

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Chris Bridges
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I had Netflix for awhile. I really liked it, got to see a lot of movies but where it really helped was TV shows on DVD. No way was I paying what some of the DVDs cost when I knew I'd prolly watch 'em once, but getting them through Netflix worked just fine.

Quit Netflix to try out Blockbuster's local in-store all-you-can-rent deal, where you can take as many as you like throughout the month, 3 at a time. Oddly enough this didn't work as well as mailing them back to Netflix. I check my mail every day, but it was a pain to remember to go to Blockbuster.

So I quit that this month and signed up for Blockbuster's online deal to see if it's any better (aside from being cheaper) than Netflix. Just got the first disc today, in fact. We'll see.

Never had a problem with any disc I got from Netflix, and I got old movies, new release movies, what-have-you. All worked.

Icarus - I tend to throw movies into my queue whenever I hear about them or someone tells me I really should see one. It adds a random aspect to my viewing since they arrive in the order they're available, and then in the order I weighted them, but unless I pay attention I can easily be suprised by what shows up.

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Goody Scrivener
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Love love love love Netflix!!!

I get my movies usually in 3 days from dropping one in the mail to go back (1 day to get there, 1 day for them to process the return and subsequent shipment, 1 day back to me). I've only had one disc ever that was damaged. Almost as soon as a DVD release date is announced I can add the movie to queue. Oh, and even though there's a distribution center in my imediate area, I pay no taxes at all.

Yes I've heard that Blockbuster and Walmart are less expensive, but I've also been told by subscribers to those services that they have fewer movies available, especially older movies, and fewer copies of new releases, so it takes longer for movies you want to become available.

edit: Yep, I do the TV series on DVD as well. =)
second edit: I probably average 15-18 discs a month. I get em in, watch em once (for the most part) and ship em right back. There have been a few I've held onto for longer, but not many.

[ December 30, 2004, 10:17 PM: Message edited by: Goody Scrivener ]

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rivka
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I finally got myself a DVD player (haven't set it up yet), so I've been meaning to try Netflix. Thanks to this thread, I just signed up to try the Blockbuster service. If I like it, I'll keep it. If not, I might try Netflix.

Thanks, y'all! [Smile]

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Icarus
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quote:
Thanks to this thread, I just signed up to try the Blockbuster service.
Grrr . . .
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rivka
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*laugh* Ok, Ic, why do you hate Blockbuster so much? I confess, I signed up because it's cheaper than Netflix. And I absolutely refuse to support WalMart.
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Chris Bridges
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Actually I'm not terribly happy with Blockbuster, if only because they bought out the only decent competitor and absorbed it, which is why you can stand in the parking lot of one Blockbuster in Orange City and see the other one down the street. The old place had a much more varied selection, too.

But they're pretty much the only game in town, and the only one that rents games. Unless I plan to buy my son all the games he wants, I'll stick with the rentals.

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Icarus
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I'd sooner support WalMart. Same types of reasons, with regard to smaller video chains.

Also, Blockbuster is nasty and dishonest. They were the first chain to charge a penalty if you did not rewind your VHS tapes. They claimed to have three evening rentals, but they were really two evening rentals. If you got a three evening rental today, Thursday, it was due back Saturday. To me, that's two evenings. Then they did away with that--sort of. Now a three evening rental that you take out today is due Sunday--at noon. If you can't get it there by noon, you get nailed. Also, were they the chain that would charge you late fees by the entire rental period instead of by the day, or was that Hollywood? What I mean is, if you were a day late--or simply turned it in after 12 noon on the due date [Grumble] with a five-day rental, you would get charged for five additional days. Turn it in one minute to four days late, same charge: a lot. This new scheme doesn't sound so cool to me either. Blockbuster was the first company I encountered that would actually charge stuff other than lost videos to your credit card in absentia. Other video places I dealt with would let you wait to resolve late fees until the next time you rented. Blockbuster will just charge your card without telling you, or send your bill (for $5 even!) to a collection agency if you block them.

It doesn't matter to me if they have dropped all of these nasty schemes from their policies. The fact that they have done these things shows me a tendency to be just as nasty and corporate as the market will bear--and the only reason the market will bear it is because of Lackluster's larger selection and brand recognition. But lots of other places are starting to match Lackluster Video for selection, and I, for one, will not let them have another dollar of mine ever, no matter what.

If you live or have lived in South Florida. you have other reasons to hate any ventures owned or started by Wayne Huizenga. We've also had bad experiences with Waste Management, which came to town amid great fanfare. We would recycle our plastic and paper, it would be good for the economy, and we wouldn't have to pay WM a cent to do it, because they would get paid for the plastic and paper they would sell back to manufacturers. Except that after a couple of years, they said that they needed funding because they actually weren't turning a profit, and so we all started paying for their service from our property taxes. Which is fine, right, because at least we're being environmentally responsible, right? Well, no, because every time the load got too big (which, the Herald documented, was basically every week) they would throw away what they couldn't handle. We were freaking paying them to help us recycle, and they were throwing half of the plastic and paper in the garbage!

And we won't even talk about the Marlins. [Wink]

I'm sorry, but if you boycott Wal-Mart, then I encourage you to boycott Lackluster, and Huizenga in general, too.

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WheatPuppet
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A friend of mine used to get Anime through netflix. This was four years ago, and it seemed to work great for him.
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rivka
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I boycott Walmart for how they treat their employees and manufacturers, not their customer policies. But I will think about it during the trial period, and do more research.
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Icarus
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Walmart also drives local businesses under. That's another common objection to them.
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Tater
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Netflix seems to have more support from here.
But I'm still faced with the issue of giving out credit card numbers.
It's a huge issue, actually. If there's one reason I don't try it, it will be that. But I think it's just too good of a deal to turn down.
So I'm hoping to find away at Blockbuster to avoid the credit card deal.
If Netflix had a store, I would go there and try to avoid the credit card thing. [Dont Know]

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rivka
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*nod* And I agree with that objection to them -- but it's actually not the main issue I have with them. Nor is it true in every case. Some towns have been economically benefited by Walmart coming to town.
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Tater
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But Walmart price matches. I've went in there before and LIED about a deal I found, and they just gave it to me. Because they're lazy? No! Because I'm the customer and they wanted to satisfy me. (Atleast that's what I tell myself.)
My local walmart people are very friendly. Especially the night manager. What a guy. I sit next to him at all the local football games. Good times, good times.

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Goody Scrivener
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Tater I understand your concern re: credit cards online. Let me just say that I've now been a Netflix customer for a couple months short of three years and have NEVER had a problem with strange charges on my card.
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xnera
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Netflix now takes bank drafts as well as credit cards. But that has the same issue in that you have to feel okay with giving your financial info out online. I've done this for years and never had a problem.

I have not tried the Blockbuster service, so I cannot comment on it. I thought about signing up for it to get points at this website I was playing with, but didn't want to forget about canceling it and paying for two rental services at once, especially since I couldn't afford it.

I've been in Netflix on and off for about a year and a half. I absolutely love it. My reason for joining was because I couldn't find Farscape at my local Blockbuster, and I really really really wanted to watch it. Netflix had it. [Big Grin] I'm unsure if Blockbuster was doing their online service at the time. I do recall checking out Blockbuster's service shortly after I heard about it, and finding that they just didn't have some of the things I wanted, and Netflix did.

DVDs are normally in fine shape. I did get one that became unplayable partway through, and once I accidentally got the wrong DVD, but both times they sent a replacement out as soon as I reported the issue.

I normally get discs from them the day before they predict the disc will arrive. [Smile] Lately I've been timing the mailing for fun. Discs normally get returned to them in less than 24 hours. [Eek!] This is likely because the distribution center is a mere six miles from my house, so it just needs to travel across town to get there. Most discs take 1-2 days to arrive, unless it's a rare item that needs to be sent from another distribution center, in which case it takes 2-5 days.

I really like the convenience of the service. I didn't rent very many movies before joining Netflix, because I would have to go to the store, which I was often too tired to do. And they never had what I was looking for, and even if they did, I then had to remember to return it. It was such a hassle. Now I can browse for DVDs anytime I want. I currently have nearly 150 items in my queue, and I love bumping things up or down depending on my mood. [Smile] And I find I'm much quicker to watch and return items when I can simply drop them in the nearest mailbox, which lately has been from work. I often watch discs the day I get them, and drop them in the mail late at night or first thing the next day.

Netflix offers RSS feeds of your queue (and other pages). I syndicated mine on LiveJournal, so when I see a post from the feed appear on my LiveJournal Friends List, I know that Netflix has received the disc I sent back and is ready to ship the next. [Big Grin]

Finally, I believe someone upthread asked about tax? I don't pay tax on my Netflix subscription, but that may vary by state. I live in IL.

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Synesthesia
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I like netflix. Love it in fact.
The blockbuster one is not as good. For one thing, they mislabeled an opera DVD. Their service was slower too. With Netflix I could mail it out an get it the day after I sent it. Netflix also has a very good selection.
I want to get it again, but I must wait and rent from the local video store that did not hire me.

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the_Somalian
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Blockbuster is evil and nasty. I know so because I work at one.Yea, the "no late fees" policy is being balanced out by increases in prices. At my store in Northern VA a DVD rents for five bucks now, and older movies fifty cents less, regardless of if it's a dvd or not.
.

In my opinion to take the best advantage programs similar to netflix, it's best to have a list of movies you want to see prepaired. You must also have a considerable amount of free time so that having those DVDs sit on your coffee table doesn't make you regret why you signed up for the program, but rather makes you glad! So must think ahead. Do you have time to be watching all those movies?

If you only rent the occasional movie look out for coupons and stick to Blockbuster.

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Tater
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Well, it says "applicable taxes." I don't know where the nearest distribution center is, so I don't know how far it will have to travel, so I don't know about taxes. If it will add a truckload everytime, then it would be a problem. If it wouldn't, then it wouldn't I guess.

It's not added charged from Netflix on the credit card I'm worried about, I'm worried about giving out information on the internet for all hackers and such to see.
If you know me, (which none of you do..) you know I have serious trust issues with things like this. I guess I don't have the "best" protection, so if it's up to me, it would probably be very easy for someone to swipe me credit card information.
It's just too risky unless i can be ABSOLUTELY certain it's safe. :/

Call me crazy.

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Da_Goat
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quote:
My local walmart people are very friendly.
Of course they are. If they were at all ornery, their hearts would collapse. [Wink]
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Godric
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Icarus gave a good rundown of reasons to not patronize Blockbuster. I've got a few more:

They don't carry (or haven't in the past) certain films (such as Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of the Christ) and they have actually had films edited to be "family friendly."

Now, I'm all for restricting young children from viewing extremely violent or sexual films, but I'm also rigidly against censorship of art.

Apparently they're trying to buy Hollywood Video (the second largest video chain) which, were it not for Netflix and other such online services would make them a virtual monopoly (although, in ways, I suppose they already are).

And finally, I work at a mom & pop video store that I'm becoming manager of in January. I want to keep this job.

I use Netflix to see classic, foreign and independent films that just can't be rented anywhere else. Another great service that carries really hard to find stuff, including a fantastic anime selection, is GreenCine .

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mr_porteiro_head
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I did the trial version of Blockbuster.

I cancelled it at the end of the month, because they just weren't able to get me what I wanted in time. There were 6 discs I really wanted to watch that month, and they only managed to get me one.

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quidscribis
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We don't rent DVDs. Ever. Although if we wanted to, it would cost us about $1.50 for a week, regardless of how new it is.

We buy instead. For about $2 to $2.25. Per DVD. [Big Grin]

Granted, they're all pirates. Some are camera copies. Some are awards judging issues. Some are pre-special effects straight from the studio issues. Some are duplicates of DVDs from Canada or the US.

And they're all for the same low low price. [Big Grin]

Did I mention that we can get DVDs here just days after they premiere in North America? [Dont Know]

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Da_Goat
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quote:
They don't carry (or haven't in the past) certain films (such as Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of the Christ) and they have actually had films edited to be "family friendly."
Such as? Just for my curiosity's sake.
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Godric
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I suppose they might not have had the films edited themselves, but do order edited versions of films as per this article...
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Katarain
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I hate Blockbuster's late fees. I would always get slammed with high ones--I'm very forgetful. But, it was the best place around here to rent videos. So, when the movie pass came out, we got it. And we rented somewhere around 30-40 movies in one month. We got the 2 movies at a time deal, for 24.99.

They gave us NO hassle at all to cancel, and a few months later, we signed up again for the special 14.99 for the first month deal. They knew we had the program before, but they still gave us the first month special price. We didn't rent as many movies this time, but we definitely got our money's worth many times over.

Then, we cancelled that, and decided to get another one a little later at the other blockbuster in town, hoping to have a different variety of older movies. We have that one now. They also gave us the 14.99 price, but hey, we TOLD them we had it before at another store. So, their problem. I am confident we're getting our money's worth this time, but we don't rent nearly as often. Eventually, with unlimited rentals, finding new things to watch is harder and harder.

So, maybe next time we'll try netflix, in order to get more obscure titles. My husband loves horror movies--and we've pretty much ran through both store's selections.

I search EVERYWHERE for Tiny Toon's How I Spent my Vacation, so maybe netflix has it. I absolutely adore that movie. My husband ordered it as a surprise for me from an online site (amazon or walmart--something like that) for my birthday last year, but they kept on changing the arrival date, moving it back months at a time. We finally cancelled it, figuring they were just waiting until they got more orders for the movie to call for making or ordering some more. SNEAKY!

When I get money again, I'll probably buy it from E-Bay. [Smile]

Anyway, that's my experience with Blockbuster. I am NOT impressed with their doing away with late fees. Charging you for the entire movie after a mere week is insane--especially for weekly rentals. They're not doing away with late fees, they're simply increasing and postponing them.

So, if you go with blockbuster, do the movie pass. Renting movies for regular price is silly, since after about 3 movies and their late fees, you would have paid for the entire pass.

My only problem with the mail programs, is that when I want to watch a movie, I want to watch it NOW. I don't want to wait for it to arrive.

Edit to add: Also, can you watch 8 or more movies in one day with netflix or another mail system? Nope. But we can take a day and drive to blockbuster several times easily.

-Katarain

[ December 31, 2004, 12:01 PM: Message edited by: Katarain ]

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Goody Scrivener
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quote:
I search EVERYWHERE for Tiny Toon's How I Spent my Vacation, so maybe netflix has it. I absolutely adore that movie.
Sorry, Kat, but Netflix doesn't show this movie in their system yet.
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Godric
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Kat:

quote:
Edit to add: Also, can you watch 8 or more movies in one day with netflix or another mail system? Nope. But we can take a day and drive to blockbuster several times easily.
Actually, you can choose to have 3, 5 or 8 movies out at one time. Of course, it's more expensive, but if you watch that many at a time, I guess it would be worth it...

[ December 31, 2004, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Godric ]

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TomDavidson
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"Granted, they're all pirates. Some are camera copies. Some are awards judging issues. Some are pre-special effects straight from the studio issues. Some are duplicates of DVDs from Canada or the US."

Remind me some day to tell you about how I got this one car really, really cheaply by buying it from this guy who'd lost the keys and didn't have the title and had only just finished putting the steering column back on.

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rivka
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No longer a Blockbuster Online member.

I was not particularly impressed with their customer service (which took care of my issues but never returned my emails to say they had), the number of damaged disks I received (I think it was 3 out of 18, plus another that was only scratched enough to effect 5 minutes), and how long turnaround was (although that may well be partly/primarily the P.O.'s fault).

Netflix's site says it will be back up in 3 hours. Fie on THAT. DVD Avenue has no free trial period. >_< I'm gonna try Walmart's service, aren't I? *goes to see if they have Season 3 of SG1*

[ February 24, 2005, 02:31 AM: Message edited by: rivka ]

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rivka
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They do. And their trial period is 30 days.

That means this month is free, but I have to remember to cancel before the month is up. *makes note*

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KarlEd
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I love Netflix. I've used it for about 3-4 years.

My co-worker just tried the Blockbuster mail service that is similar to Netflix. He hates it. He said they can take up to 9 days to get a DVD to him. Netflix averages a 3-4 day turnaround from the time I mail an old one to the time I get the new one, but I don't think it's ever taken more than 5 days. I rarely have a movie in my queue that is "on hold" and even if my top movie does have a wait, they go ahead and send the next one anyway.

Netflix also has a really good Anime and foriegn film selection. And I've been watching a lot of premium cable-only shows like Soprano's, Six Feet Under, and Dead Like Me on DVD rather than subscribe to the premium channel.

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IdemosthenesI
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Tater,

Have you kept up on recent web security technology? Honestly, as long as you stick with large online retailers like BestBuy.com, Amazon.com, netflix, and other recognizable businesses, your credit card information is pretty much safe. THe security technology these companies use is hard core, and hackers usually look for easier targets. Even if the unthinkable were to happen and your info would be stolen, most credit card companies now have a zero liability policy, where you aren't responsible for unauthorized charges. Really, you are more likely to have your credit card numbers stolen by a clerk in a retail store or your wallet stolen and credit cards used that way than you are to have your online info stolen from netflix. I say go for it!

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rivka
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Karl, I think location makes a big difference. My dad enjoyed Netflix while here, but had problem after problem with them in NYC.

While I was not entirely happy with Blockbuster, MOST movies they sent me arrived 1-3 days after they sent them. But then, I'm quite close to the warehouse address I mailed them back to -- I expect that helps. [Dont Know]

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ketchupqueen
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I love Netflix so much. Even thought they don't have Due South. [Frown] And it's cool to have Jatraqueros/as on my friends list! [Big Grin]
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