January 17, 2005

Video Rentals

     After all my ranting and complaining about Blockbuster Video over the years, they have finally come around and slowly made some progress on customer service. For one, no more late fees! They still have their stupid day and a half rentals with due dates, but now you can keep them a few days later free of charge. Nice. Make sure you read the fine print on that though. You can't keep them forever.
     But what I'm liking most recently, is their on-line rental system. You get to make a list of all the movies you want to see. Then, they send you the first three movies on your list. Keep them as long as you like (hours, or months). Then for each one you send back to them in the prepaid envelope, they send the next one(s) on your list. Plus, every month you receive 2 coupons for a free movie or video game rental in the store (including new releases). All of this for only $15 ($2 cheaper than netflix - a similar service). The coupons alone almost equal the $15. What a deal.
     One of the cool things about this service, is that besides the library of over 30,000 titles (and growing) they also have TV series on DVD (Seinfeld, Chapelle, 24, Curb, Sopranos, Ali G, etc.). You can rent an entire season at one time, and not feel pressured to watch it all in one weeknd.
     The one and only minor drawback I have found so far is that games are not included in this deal. But I can use the in-store coupons for games as well as movies, so it's a minor detail.



Update:
(1)After using the service for about a week and a half now, I've found it's incredibly fast and easy. I can't say enough about it. Within 2 days, I already had the first 2 movies and the 3rd came shortly after. I also already returned 2 of them last thursday and the next two arrived the following Monday! Fantastic service! - (1/24/05)
(2)It's been a month now, and I've rented about 12 movies and a couple games from the store with the free coupons. Talk about getting your money's worth! I've seen about 7 new releases and a handful of old movies that I've always wanted to see but didn't wanna pay the five bucks at the store for. Once again, DO THIS! - (2/6/05)


Relevant Links
Blockbuster.com
End of late fees!
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