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All I can say is I’m blown away! The in store exchange really kicks butt.

Before going with Blockbuster over Netflix, I’d check out this thread:

http://wesleytech.com/blockbuster-total-access-problems/

If they don’t resolve the issues with their service by the end of my billing period, I will be a Netflix customer again. I only switched because turning the movies in at the Blockbuster store was very appealing, but if you never get another movie, the point is moot.

Netflix is not flailing any time soon, and by showing this industry how to treat the customer, they changed the game. This is a Silicon Valley company that has extremely well done logistics and coding, not as easily copied as people are claiming, and much better suited for the digital future…

The new “Watch Now” service is an amazingly well done, and that shows us the continued innovation of this constantly doubted company will grant it continued success, in my opinion.

I received 1 movie today which I reported ‘not sent’ because they claim it was sent on the 21st, and today is the 27th. I tried to remove it from my queue (since I reported to resend), and it will not remove. The movie is defective, it gets about half way and quits playing (I have a very good disc cleaning kit). Lots of scratches and marks.

The movies are sent from the same city NetFlix sends movies to me from. NetFlix, with me putting the movies in my mailbox for pickup, receives and sends me movies quicker than me taking the Total Access movies directly to BB.

BlockBuster Total Access is TERRIBLE. It’s the same quality of service as going to a fast food restaurant now-a-days and ALWAYS having something wrong with your order.

Unfortunately, my exprience with Blockbuster Total Access has been a let down, compared to what it advertises, from day one. I signed up late morning on a Monday and didn’t get notice of my first 3 movies shipping out until Wed. which then arrived on Friday. I chalked it up to being a new user being setup in the system for the first time and watched my movies Friday night and took them back Saturday afternoon and got 3 free rentals. So far so good! BUT, that “immediate check-in” Blockbuster crows about is so not the case. Those movies didn’t even register as being returned until Tuesday night at around 11pm. My next movies shipped out the nex day and again arrived on Friday.

This situation has continually repeated itself, on average it has been taking Blockbuster almost 48hrs or more from the time I have a movie scanned back in at the store until it registers on my queue. Add to that the day it takes to get to me (movies ship from St. Louis to Memphis, about 5 hrs away) and the turnaround has just been snail paced. Now I will admit that the free rentals are nice and work towards balancing the number, but I mostly select harder to find older or obscure titles that are not in my local store, the free return rentals are nice to keep me up with the latest releases, but since they’re not my primary interest, their actual value to me is limited. What I really liked about the Blockbuster plan was their immediate return setup, but it seems to be a bunch of hot air.

Compare this to my netflix experience where on average, a movie I send back to them shows as returned the next morning! and movies they ship out get to me the next day! Granted, netflix has a warehouse in my town, but I still must say I am impressed. I usually rent alot per month and things will slow down on occassion, but for the most part the “throttling” has been minimal.

Now don’t get me wrong, Blockbuster’s service isn’t pad, per se. It just doesn’t live up to its own hype. The benefit of being able to return it to the store right now seems about nil in so far as speeding up getting movies from your queue. For me, it actually takes less time to mail it back to netflix. I also find Blockbuster’s interface online to be far less intuitive and useful in providing detail about what I’m requesting and when I’ll get it.

All in all, if you’re main interest is getting widely available and new release movies, Blockbuster might be the best choice because of the free in store rentals. But if hard to reach titles and quick turnaround essential, I’d stay away for now.

Ok so I had Netflix back in the day. For probably about 2 years. I dropped it when movies went from a 2 day turnaround to almost a week. Gave BB a try. I’ve had BB for, again, about 2 years.

Everything was fine until Total Access. I used to get movies in a decent enough amount of time but things have changed. At first I thought that this would be a great way to get more movies and get them faster. Alas, I too have been disappointed by this new program. I have noticed the same problems others are mentioning. It is taking days and days for movies to clear my que.

It has now been 4 days since I returned 3 movies to the store. Only 1 movie has been shipped out and that took 3 days for them to ship! Now why would this be when they were all returned at the same time? Also, it is still showing that I have all 3 movies out! How could I have even one of the movies if BB just sent me the next one? Wouldn’t I have to return 1 first?

Not only that but the 3 movies I returned over A WEEK BEFORE this last batch (on 2/4) are still showing on my que!! So I now have 6 movies showing on my que as not being returned. Now how could I still have the first 3 movies if BB sent me out the next 3? I would obviously have to return the first 3 to get the second 3. I mean come on!

The first 3 were on the que for 8 days AFTER I returned them to the store. The second 3, as I said, for 4 days. I had to use the “Report problem - I returned the movies” option online to remove them from my que. That was 2 days ago and they STILL haven’t sent my other 2 movies out! So now I have a que showing 1 shipped movie and there are 2 blank spots just sitting there. (update – since I started typing this they have now added that they are sending out a second movie)

I thought this Total Access would be a great way to get more movies but when it takes so many days for them to even register that they have been received, another day or two to ship and then another few days to receive them, what’s the point? I might as well just mail them back, it actually takes less time.

I THINK I MAY HAVE COME UP WITH A SOLUTION since I first started typing this. I have yet to try this but the logic seems sound and I encourage everyone who reads this that has had similar problems to try it. My plan is this – once I receive my movies in the mail I am going to (1) log on to my que (2) click the ‘Report Problem” link (3) check the option for “I have returned this movie” and (4) click “send my next movie”

I think that this will give me a day or two head start on the process seeing as how they send the next movie within a few days of you reporting this. In fact, because the arrival date is usually a day before you actually receive it, you could in theory report that it has been returned before you even receive it! The only thing I can see to come of this is that they may flag me for reporting so many DVDs being returned. However, since I will actually be returning them what can they really do? :-) I think if enough people start doing this someone will notice ‘wow, there are a lot of people reporting return issues’ and maybe, just maybe, this will move them to do something about the return bugs.

THANK YOU BLOCBUSER FOR THIS GREAT PROGRAM.

– Faisal Laljee

I was a Netflix subscriber and decided to give Blockbuster a try since I go there for my XBOX rentals anyway. Bye Netflix. You were ok, but BLOCKBUSTER is the BALLS!
Saw the commercial, and figured what all the fuss was about.
The new service is AWESOME! Great value and new sytem of trades fills my need for immediate gratification.
My advice for blockbuster is to push the gaming side some more.

THANK YOU BLOCKBUSTER!!!!! VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER + WILL TELL ALL FRIENDS!

I’ve seriously considered it myself since Total Access will virtually close down NetFlix once more people “discover” it like the other 700,000 new customers that did recently, over the next year the smart money would be on some calls for BBO and some puts for NF.

I was surprised the gentleman above is seeing a decrease in movies. Dec as gang busters for me and Jan is on track to be just slightly less or about the same. I’m guessing 48 - 50 for January.

Once Feb is here I’m dropping from the 4 out back to the 3 out plan as I have exhausted all the movies on my list and don’t have time to research a bunch more right now.

I personally feel NetFlix new attempt at VOD is a joke, kind of a hail Mary pass trying to deflect the Total Access juggernaut. Perhaps in 4 or 5 years NetFlix’s VOD might have potential as average Internet connection speeds increase and the DRM is broken, but by then the market will be flooded with competitors and Blockbuster has already announced it is entering the fray Q1 of 2007.

I have been using BB for the last 4 months, yes even before Total Access. Everything was great, I always had a movie, and did not have to worry about turn around times.

Come January, things started to change. I returned a movie to the store, and new movie from my queue was not mailed for several days (never happened before). At first I thought it was a glitch, and they were adjusting their system. Now I see that it is a policy. Now, I have to wait for 3-4 days for them to mail my movies after I return the old ones to the store every single time. They give priority to you until your trial period is up, and once you signed up they START THROTTLING. We will see the effect in the churn rate of Q1 07.

I encourage you to try it, it is good deal, but DON’T BE FOOLED, your experience with the paid service will be very very different.