Comments on: Netflix vs Blockbuster

By: Penny

Penny — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:30:53 +0000

NETFLIX! I don’t know if anyone remembers several years ago when Blockbuster had the class action suit for charging late fees that weren’t legit but they got me for around 30$. I never got to benefit from the settlement. So not long after that we had Netflix and loved it! Then we went years with no movies by mail. Four months ago we decided to rent movies by mail again and went with BB ( I have no idea why but I figured they learned from their wrong doing). I cancelled last month because we just don’t have time to watch movies. We had a month from the cancellation date to return our last movie. Which we returned within 2 weeks. As soon as the month was up they charge me for not returning this movie. ARRR! Are you kidding me? I emailed them to tell them I returned the movie and they needed to refund these fraudulent charges, was told they would contact me in one business day. Have not heard from them. Go with Netflix which from my experience is an honest company.

By: Jared Conley

Jared Conley — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:51:25 +0000

It Really Comes Down to Just One Thing:

And that’s whether or not you like the convenience of in store returns. BB has made it very easy for in store renters to try out the occasional online rental. Netflix edges them out in most online rental areas (except the throttling of new releases), but can’t compete with the physical locations of BB. I’ve used both and am a current Netflix user, but finding myself at Redbox a couple times per month when I really want to see a movie.

Found another good overview here:

http://www.joefission.com/2008/02/movie-rental-death-match-blockbuster-online-vs-netflix/

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:59:46 +0000

I’ve had both. netflix wins by a LONG shot. I’ve had netflix for 3 years without ANY problems. They have EVERYTHING I want in stock. Blockbuster used to make me wait a long time for stuff to come out of stock. And I’m a “lazy man” too! Hence why I see little point of returning the movies to BBV stores. The whole point is never having to leave your home to watch movies. I haven’t been to a BBV store in over 3 years and I’m happy for it.

Oh well, in a few years digital downloads will be the huge thing anywyas lol.

By: gatorhntr

gatorhntr — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:07:36 +0000

37Dean, So well put. I am cancelling my membership to blockbuster before next billing cycle, This is why for me. Actual #’s in day’s (( 151 )) days block buster total movie’s (( 87 )) now Netflix (( 72 )) day’s (( 56 )) movie’s.. If I add right, Had I had Netflix from day 1, @ 151 day’s my total movies would be around 115 and not 87… Blockbuster hold’s both Incoming and Outgoing movies to slow down your rental’s. NetFlix all the way

By: dean

dean — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:32:26 +0000

I’ve had netflix for some years now and have no complaints. Usually, if I drop a dvd in the mail today, they report that they’ve received it the next day and sent out my next selection, which usually arrives the following day. In other words, the turn around time has typically been 2 days.

I recently signed up for blockbuster online, thinking that the flexability of instore returns, exchange for dvds in the store, etc, would be conveniant. I’m really glad I didn’t cancel my netflix subscription. For some reason it takes 2 to 3 days for blockbuster to receive my dvds by mail (as opposed to one day for netflix), and another two days to send out my next selection. Even when I drop the dvd off at the store, while the system records that I’ve returned the movie, they still don’t send the next one out for a day or two.

Whatever cost savings there might be for blockbuster, it isn’t worth it. I’ll be sticking with netflix.

By: Flaime

Flaime — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:59:16 +0000

So, did you notice that last week, Netflix announced unlimited streaming for users of the 2 largest plans?

BTW, I have used Netflix for 4 years now and never had a problem with it. It always had the best selection and reasonable service for my needs. I should probably cancel it as I haven’t used it as much over the last 4 or 5 months, but I like being able to keep the movies until I’m ready to watch them.

By: Hpythought

Hpythought — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:06:33 +0000

NetFlix user for many years and never been happier. I just got an email from them that now, under my $17/month 3 movies at a time plan I have unlimited downloading of movies to the computer instead of 17 hours/month.

By: Wicho

Wicho — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:36:10 +0000

I had blockbuster for 5 years and it was great I used to pay 17.99 for 3 movies at a time and unlimited a month and unlimted in-store exchanges, but recently blockbuster raised my price to 19.99 and only limits me to 5 in-store a month. It felt like taking a toy back from a kid so I lost interest and now I only spend about 2-9 dollars a month using red box at my local Walgreens but i am looking into getting Netflix because of their unlimited online streaming they just announced.

By: RateLadder

RateLadder — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:36:13 +0000

Did you see Netflix eliminated download limits?
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9849736-7.html?tag=nefd.top

By: Will

Will — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:43:56 +0000

BlockBuster is the WalMart of video stores… they may have a whole lot of stuff but they always leave you feeling dirty. With their annoying, ever-changing pricing schedules, and even more annoying employees, they need to be downsized. NetFlix has a much better business model, and combined with RedBox for new, instant rentals, it’s the way to go. Plus you can get free, legal rentals from RedBox every Monday. Check it out at Reforming Stupidity.

http://www.reformingstupidity.com/2008/01/damn_you_redbox.html

By: Adfecto

Adfecto — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:52:41 +0000

I’ve been a satisfied customer of Netflix for several years. I tried Blockbuster but unfortunately my home is a 15-20 minute drive from the nearest store. The second strike against Blockbuster was that it took 2 days for DVDs mailed from my house to reach their warehouse and 2 days for a new shipment to arrive at our house, whereas it was only 1 day in each direction from Netflix. This is I’m sure due to a quark in their respective distribution networks, but it sealed the deal for me. I can’t really use the streaming feature from Netflix right now because my “high speed internet” isn’t exactly very high speed (only 768k downstream by 512k upstream) because again I live ever so slightly off the beaten path. In the next year I have been promised that my neighborhood will be completely built out for 10 Mbps cable internet so that will fix the problem. Anyway, good post and man $5/rental is nuts!

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:52:49 +0000

I’m happy to see that you chose Netflix. I’ve had a subscription for about 2 1/2 years and have never had any complaints with their service. On the other hand, even though Blockbuster’s mail service might be great, I absolutely HATE their store, so I’m not inclined to join their mail program and give them any of my money.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:41:51 +0000

NETFLIX!! Even our large metro-wide library system cannot compete with Netflix’s selection. We use a combo of library and Netflix 3-at-a-time but if I had to give up one, it would NOT be Netflix. There a distribution center somewhere in my metro area because if I ship on Monday, I have a new disc in my mailbox on Wednesday. So far (one year subscribers) we’ve received one broken disc, one bad (unplayable) disc, and one wrong disc.

I consider Blockbuster to be the Walmart of movie rentals. I abhor their corporate practices and am grateful that their service isn’t a better offer than Netflix because I hate moral dilemmas. ;-)

By: Think Ryuko

Think Ryuko — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:07:25 +0000

When they started, Blockbuster Online was atrocious (I tried them, too). The selection was crap, and they started the price way too low (several price adjustments in the first year). Now, however, their service has improved significantly. I used Netflix for over 3 years, and have only positives. But we switched to Blockbuster Online when we moved last year, since there’s a Blockbuster just down the road. For just a little bit less (It’s now actually $19.99 for 3-at-a-time, the same price I was paying for Netflix in ‘06), we’re getting all that extra stuff. The free-in-store-rental (movie or game!) coupon every month is great b/c regular game rentals are about $7+. Also, the online game-renting services are too pricey for me, since I don’t play that often.
Sad to say, like others, the biggest problem I’ve had is that Blockbuster Online’s in-store exchange means that I have seen almost every movie they have that interests me. My queue went from having about 16-20 movies at a time, to having maybe 2-3 with a dozen or so of the “in-theatres” or not-yet-hit-theatres movies in the “saved” section. I’ve actually started turning to more foreign films.
Overall, I think Netflix has a bigger selection (especially of foreign/special interest/anime), but it’s not a huge difference. Fact is, though, these two services are the only ones online that actually have a *decent* selection. Most only have new releases and a few classics.
Sad to say, I’ve actually got 3 movies sitting on my entertainment stand right now. I might actually scale down to a 2-at-a-time plan…

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:36:18 +0000

There’s another option out there that is totally free, has a ton of movies (new and old) to offer, and is usually just as convenient as a blockbuster, it’s called the library. Seems to me that the price of $0 beats a price of $15 every time.

By: Early Retirement Extreme

Early Retirement Extreme — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:09:16 +0000

We had netflix for a while because of their huge selection. Compared to Blockbuster, netflix seems to cater more to the eclectic crowd. We cancelled the subscription again after a few months because there is apparently not enough movies/shows made on the planet to watch three of them a week for a few months without running out of choices ;P

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:32:29 +0000

I’ve been with Netflix for about 2 years. At one point it was taking quite a while to get the movies so I did a trial with Blockbuster. I wasn’t happy with their selection so I didn’t continue with them. Recently Netflix has really improved their mailing time, and we almost always have a 2 day turnaround which is excellent. They are hands down the best.

By: Living Off Dividends

Living Off Dividends — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:49:11 +0000

I’ve never used netflix.
i’ll have to check it out once I get back to the US.I bought several pirated dvds
from thailand. at $2 each, they were a lot cheaper than blockbuster!!!!
damn, I should’ve bought more.

By: JvW

JvW — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:31:47 +0000

I love Netflix, we’ve used it off and on for years. One of my favorite features is that you can cancel your subscription for a time and they save your queue. We’ve done this before in the summer when we spend more time outside and then picked up the movie watching again in the fall.

If I used Redbox I would forget to return the movies, guaranteed, and pay late fees out the wazoo.

By: Fiscal Musings

Fiscal Musings — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:49:14 +0000

I use Redbox all the time. And I've only paid the dollar once or twice. I've written about how you can save the dollar every time, but you should check out Inside Redbox to get the promo codes.