Blockbuster - Can't live with it, can't live without it.

[AWP82]

DISCLAIMER: If any of you reading this work at blockbuster, please don't take this rant personally. I'm not bashing the employees or ALL blockbusters. I'm talking about the one I go to in MY neighborhood. So please don't come at me with angry replies saying I'm generalizing or I'm a spoiled asshole and customers like me make you sick and blah blah blah blah. It's NOT like that, okay? I'm just venting for the sake of venting. That said...

Blockbuster gets on my nerves. Almost every time I go there, I walk out feeling disappointed.

First off, they RARELY have what I'm looking for whether it's popular or not. All I can really count on are new releases. But any time I think of an older movie (on the floor) I should rent, they rarely have it. It's either always checked out, stolen, or they don't carry it. Literally, any movie I think of and write down, I look around and can't find it. Even popular movies like Basic Instinct, Dogma, Boyz In The Hood, Psycho, and even Seven. I tried to rent Seven today and they only had it for sale (not for rent). I mean, come on...it's fucking SEVEN. They should have at least seven copies of that laying around. Nevermind the obscure stuff. I'm out of luck with those so I won't even name any. The point is I rarely find what I'm looking for, and whenever I do, it's usually by accident when I'm lucky. I can't just make a list of movies to rent and find them unless they're new releases.

Speaking of new releases, I hate it when they don't order enough copies to put on the wall. Whenever there's a particular new release I want, people either hog them all before I get one (and keep them FOR-FUCKING-EVER) or there's so few copies of a high-demand movie that it takes forever to finally get one. We all know new movies come out on tuesday. I tried to rent Hard Candy when it came out and I went to blockbuster at 2 in the afternoon to beat the rush hour crowd, and guess what...they were ALL gone. Fucking 2pm on a tuesday! Did EVERYONE in my nieghborhood take a day off work just to rent new movies? Same thing happened with Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, and that took up a whole column on the wall. They were all gone before evening rush hour. Where do all these jobless movie hogs come from? Out of thin air? And did I mention people keep stuff FOREVER? I remember trying to rent Serenity, Mindhunters, Kinsey, and Unleashed when they came out. Not only were there not enough copies, but it took me over a month to finally get my hands on each one. That's ridiculous. If a movie is in such high demand, wouldn't you want to have more copies available? Some movies I even have to blind buy just to see them because I never find them at any rental store. I've seen Seven before but not in a while, so I wanted a fix, but I guess I'll have to buy it now.

Oh yeah, and one more thing about older movies (called favorites). Literally EVERY damn section was out of order. The movies are supposed to in alphabetical order, but they were literally scattered EVERYWHERE! I found "B's" mixed in with "C's", "F's" mixed in with "H's", "L's" mixed in "S's"....all sorts of movies in the wrong place. You'd have to go there to see what I mean. I hate when they're all unorganized like that! Anyway...

(Brace yourselves...this last paragraph might be confusing, so if it is, skip down to where I say "bottom line" and you'll get the gist of it.)

Lastly (and this is no one's fault...I'm just venting), when I got to the checkout counter today, I was supposed to get a free rental on this visit (I have a gold card). I did, but not the kind I expected. I had one favorite and one new release. I figured I'd get the new release free as my "5th rental of the month" and get the favorite free with a coupon I had (which only works for favorites). But the free 5th rental went towards the favorite so I couldn't use the coupon, and ended up having to pay for the new release since any type of free rental automatically goes towards the "lesser value" movie. I hate that shit. Normally, it's a free favorite with any PAID rental, but I couldn't get the new release free like I wanted to. I was broke so I didn't want to pay for anything. So he cancelled that transaction, and I decided to just get the favorite with the coupon and get the free new release next time. Bottom line, I wanted two free movies but could only get one (the favorite). FUCKITY FUCK FUCK! I FEEL CHEATED, GODDAMN IT!!! There, I vented. :p

That concludes my rant.

PS. If you still don't get what I'm talking about in that last paragraph, don't ask.

PPS. Of all the movies I mentioned in this rant, I don't care which ones you thought sucked. The point is I hate not getting what I want (yeah, I'm a spoiled jackass...sue me). So no clever remarks, please.

PPPS. Then again, I can't stop you from saying whatever you want to say, so go ahead and say what you want if you can't resist. I'll live.

PPPPS. About the "jobless movie hogs" comment I made, I'm sure one of you will come back at me with the fact that I'm sometimes not at work during the afternoon. That's because my job is temping for a temp agency, so that affords me some extra free time sometimes. I'm not unemployed, so don't call me a hypocrite. If you do, I'll start crying.

[powersauce]

This is exactly why I use Netflix now. They always have what I'm in the mood for especially when it comes to TV shows. I also have nothing against employees there since my best friend from another forum I'm on (film-talk.com) works there.

[AWP82]

Originally posted by powersauce
This is exactly why I use Netflix now. They always have what I'm in the mood for especially when it comes to TV shows. I also have nothing against employees there since my best friend from another forum I'm on (film-talk.com) works there.

See, therein lies one of my mental problems. I'm too lazy to try Netflix, so basically, I've brought all this crap on myself. :D Plus, I've heard horror stories about Netflix sucking, so I'm paranoid.

By the way, I just want to reiterate that I, as well, have nothing against the employees personally. I used to work at blockbuster myself, so I know the job has its pros and cons, and not everything is the employees' faults. The main problem is I just have bad luck. Period.

[therealjohng]

Originally posted by AWP82
Plus, I've heard horror stories about Netflix sucking, so I'm paranoid.


I've had Netflix for 7 months and have had not one problem.



*Knocks on wood*

[jackson13]

The only thing that bothers me about Blockbuster anymore is the smugness of the employees that work there. I went in the other day to ask if they rented Guitar Hero 1 or 2 (I got 2 for Christmas, but dont get it until that day). When I asked the lady, she turned and gave a look to the manager guy standing beside her, and then they both chuckled and she said, with a laugh 'We dont rent that game'. Fine. Just tell me you dont rent it. Dont be a smug little bastard and waive off my question like its something ridiculous. I realize that renting that game would be a hassle basically because of the Guitar controller that comes with it, but for fucks sake, its the most popular game in the country right now, so its not like my question was way outta left field. Besides, they have like 6 fucking copies of some stupid Spongebob game just sitting on the shelf, is that really neccesary? Get 1 or 2 copies of every game, no matter what it is, and dont be a smiling jackass when someone asks for one.


And again adressing the smugness, for fucks sake, they work at BLOCKBUSTER, what do they have to be so smug about?

[AWP82]

Originally posted by therealjohng
I've had Netflix for 7 months and have had not one problem.



*Knocks on wood*

OK, maybe I'll consider it. Hopefully, you're not a rare exception. :)

[powersauce]

I've actually had these Netflix problems:

damaged DVDs - one was broken and taped
wrong discs - This is a problem when renting tv shows.
those returned that haven't been reported as returned

Thankfully, you can report your complaint and fix it. It's worked for me.

[The FamilyJulas]

I can relate with your problem with the minimal selection. I have been looking for Network for almost a year and still have not found it. I've never been screwed over with money or had an asshole clerk, which hopefully it will stay that way.

I just wish that Blockbuster was bigger.

[ParileseMonster]

I only hate that you had to be so careful with your rant in the event that you could have offended others. This world needs a good dusting of Pamprin all over it, in the food, the water etc.

I hate BlockBuster
I go to Hollywood
If I did not have a house full of movies, I would do Netflix, my buddy does it and he likes it.

[powersauce]

Originally posted by ParileseMonster
I only hate that you had to be so careful with your rant in the event that you could have offended others. This world needs a good dusting of Pamprin all over it, in the food, the water etc.

I hate BlockBuster
I go to Hollywood
If I did not have a house full of movies, I would do Netflix, my buddy does it and he likes it.

I go to Hollywood as well when it comes to retail. I love their deals where you buy 2 movies for $15 or something like that. I hate how Blockbuster will only accept credit card instead of debit card ID for registering.:mad: This ticks me off even more since Blockbuster is a block or two NW of me while Hollywood's closest location is 4 or 5 blocks south of me...and one block south of the closest theater (Edwards Ontario Mountain Village 14) to me.

[AWP82]

Originally posted by ParileseMonster
I only hate that you had to be so careful with your rant in the event that you could have offended others. This world needs a good dusting of Pamprin all over it, in the food, the water etc.

Good observation. You have no idea how justified my paranoia is. Long story short, you're right about the pamprin. Let's just hope I covered everything. :D

[AaronisMe]

It sucks that we have to now rent all the Weinstein Co. movies from Blockbuster or buy them. Like: Factory Girl, Kill Shot, Rogue, Grindhouse, Sin City 2, etc.

NetFlix is the best. Great selection, fair prices, and they fix errors. Though I am unpatient, so the 4 day turn around time of sending in the movie and getting a new one, feels long to me.

Blockbuster is okay if you just wanna see mainstream fare. Hollywood has better deals and more selection.

[BorderEevilIII]

ohhhhhhh yessss when I USED to have a membership with ol Blockbuster
It was CHAOTIC when I used to stalk the front counter for anything good coming in cuz that one movie I wanted to see and all 50+ copies of them are checked out .....
Weekends were thee worst on renting cuz everything good was OUT!
Or when I asked if "Donnie Darko" was goin to be stock and I get the oh no were NOT gonna have it and yet a week later it is sitting on the shelf......... H-E-L-L-O ?!?!?
THe only good thing was the coupons that I shamelessly used A LOT but when that ol card expired I just mooooooved onto greener pastures and
tried out NetFlix :D
Been On Board w/ them since September '05 and pretty happy w/ my unilimted 4 at a time plan........
They do throttle now and then but the convience is sooooooooooooooo AWESOME!

[Criminal Rock]

Originally posted by jackson13
And again adressing the smugness, for fucks sake, they work at BLOCKBUSTER, what do they have to be so smug about?

watch Clerks...

[Criminal Rock]

The only notable in-store difference between Hollywood and Blockbuster are the size in inventory (which varies from store to store, and in most cases, blockbuster has the edge)... and promotions for both used DVD’s and rental copies (which also varies from store to store, whereas Hollywood tends to have the edge, but not by much).

Our biggest improvement over Hollywood is that you can now bring your sealed online envelopes into the store and swap them out for any rental copy, old or new... totally free.

And because we’re going more towards online programs, Blockbuster will soon have a big enough inventory to compete with Netflix in the near future. So you guys won’t have to deal with us snotty employee’s too much longer. ;)

all you haters beware... 6 movies out at a time for only $17.99 a month is a must get.

[jaw2929]

It's shit like this that has me blind-buying a lot of the movies I've been wanting to see, and ending up 98% satisfied everytime anyhow.... I don't like renting, the idea of giving a movie back after watching it is just weird to me now... And because I have a collection obsession of sorts, it's nice to know that the movie I just watched is now MINE! :p

[AWP82]

Originally posted by Trail_Blazer
It's shit like this that has me blind-buying a lot of the movies I've been wanting to see, and ending up 98% satisfied everytime anyhow.... I don't like renting, the idea of giving a movie back after watching it is just weird to me now... And because I have a collection obsession of sorts, it's nice to know that the movie I just watched is now MINE! :p

What, no F bombs this time?

J/K. ;)

[Brando @$$ Fat]

I don't know if this is it all the Blockbusters, or just all the ones I've been in, but I absolutely HATE how they have their registers right next to the door, so it looks really suspicious every time you walk out without renting anything. One time a Blockbuster employee asked me to freeze and asked me why I wasn't renting anything....eventually accusing me of shoplifting; as if it's essential I have to get something every fucking time I'm in there.

[AWP82]

Originally posted by Brando @$$ Fat
I don't know if this is it all the Blockbusters, or just all the ones I've been in, but I absolutely HATE how they have their registers right next to the door, so it looks really suspicious every time you walk out without renting anything. One time a Blockbuster employee asked me to freeze and asked me why I wasn't renting anything....eventually accusing me of shoplifting; as if it's essential I have to get something every fucking time I'm in there.

Do they ever ask for your bags when you walk in (if/when you have any)? That's happened to me before.

[Criminal Rock]

Originally posted by Brando @$$ Fat
I don't know if this is it all the Blockbusters, or just all the ones I've been in, but I absolutely HATE how they have their registers right next to the door, so it looks really suspicious every time you walk out without renting anything. One time a Blockbuster employee asked me to freeze and asked me why I wasn't renting anything....eventually accusing me of shoplifting; as if it's essential I have to get something every fucking time I'm in there.

Well, what you did is textbook thievery (if you stole something, that is)... but still, telling you to freeze is just silly.

[Saruman]

I'm one of these guys that gets the movie at 10am to rent the stuff you want. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[jaw2929]

Originally posted by AWP82
What, no F bombs this time?

J/K. ;)

Awwww shit..........! :D

[BorderEevilIII]

Originally posted by Brando @$$ Fat
I absolutely HATE how they have their registers right next to the door, so it looks really suspicious every time you walk out without renting anything. One time a Blockbuster employee asked me to freeze and asked me why I wasn't renting anything....




This reminds me one time LONG TIME AGO........

Not finding anything of interest and as I was exiting thru their metal dectectors a guy behind the counter cheerfully asked if I found everything ok and silly me I said no.....
He responded back with a frown...... :D

[LordSimen]

I've had no problem with Blockbuster...

I don't really care for Netflix that much because I like renting like 6 movies a night and spending all night watching them.

[Lindsey]

Originally posted by AWP82
Do they ever ask for your bags when you walk in (if/when you have any)? That's happened to me before.

That's because we'e required to take your bags... And I'm speaking for Hollywood not Blockbuster. A lot of people get offended though... :cool:

Originally posted by AWP82
Speaking of new releases, I hate it when they don't order enough copies to put on the wall.

Okay, last thing... Corporate sends out a limited number of copies. We usually never get enough of the big titles. Last week we got twice as many Little Man's then we did Cars... but that could just be Disney. And again, I'm speaking for Hollywood not Blockbuster.

[inglourious basterd]

Originally posted by AWP82
[B]. All I can really count on are new releases. But any time I think of an older movie (on the floor) I should rent, they rarely have it. It's either always checked out, stolen, or they don't carry it. ]

The thing is that 95% of business is with the new releases (not an actual statistic, but close). I wish that my local stores had great collections of classics as well. But I see why they fail to invest in getting classics on DVD that they certainly had on VHS at one point.

Originally posted by jackson13
And again adressing the smugness, for fucks sake, they work at BLOCKBUSTER, what do they have to be so smug about? [.QUOTE]

I never would have laughed at you when I worked at Hwood Video back in the day. But I'd imagine that something about the way you asked about Guitar Hero was probably funny. Maybe you just caught them offguard. Clerks definitely is the best example of this.

[QUOTE]And because we’re going more towards online programs, Blockbuster will soon have a big enough inventory to compete with Netflix in the near future. So you guys won’t have to deal with us snotty employee’s too much longer.

all you haters beware... 6 movies out at a time for only $17.99 a month is a must get.

This definitely looked like an interesting program for people that are disgruntled with small library selections. The only thing that I dislike about online rentals is that you may be in the mood to get something like Seven and you may end up with a sappy chick flick on the bottom of your queue

I absolutely HATE how they have their registers right next to the door, so it looks really suspicious every time you walk out without renting anything. One time a Blockbuster employee asked me to freeze and asked me why I wasn't renting anything....

Out of curiosity, how long were you in the store? If you were the type of customer that was there for a while and you were looking at a lot of things, then I could see why they may have suspected you of something.

Its interesting -- when I worked at Hollywood Video as a student, I saw that new releases were being stolen by the handful. It was so bad that, eventually, our manager decided to keep all new releases in the front.




Disclaimer: I'm not a current employee of any video store company and I haven't taken any posts offensively. I'm just offering an alternative perspective.

[ZenDude]

Originally posted by Saruman
I'm one of these guys that gets the movie at 10am to rent the stuff you want. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I hear ya! When I used to rent at the hell hole, I worked only about 2 miles from a BBV and every Tuesday, I'd leave the office at 10am, get to BBV, snatch all new releases of what I wanted, head to Duncan Donuts get a coffee and go back to work. Now I save money on rentals and gas by using Netflix, but those were the good ol days - knowing I snatched a new movie and people getting home from work would have nothing, I am cruel :D

[AWP82]

Originally posted by Lindsey
That's because we'e required to take your bags... And I'm speaking for Hollywood not Blockbuster. A lot of people get offended though... :cool:

It's all good. I don't get offended. Stores gotta do what they gotta do. Besides, I had to stop a guy we thought was stealing one time when I worked at blockbuster. He walked in with a backpack and started "casing" the aisles and picking up/putting back movies very "carefully." It's hard to explain, but he was acting suspicious (body language and all), and my boss pointed him out to me. She told me to watch him while she went to the back room and watched him on the camera. She also told me to check his bags when he leaves. I guess he noticed us noticing him and started putting everything back, and started heading towards the exit. I checked his bag when he got to the door, and he looked really offended. :D Not the "I'm being stereotyped" offended, but the "I'm guilty and you almost caught me" offended. His bag was empty though, and after he left, my boss came back out and we just kinda laughed about it.

Okay, last thing... Corporate sends out a limited number of copies. We usually never get enough of the big titles. Last week we got twice as many Little Man's then we did Cars... but that could just be Disney. And again, I'm speaking for Hollywood not Blockbuster.

Yeah, I keep forgetting it's usually a corporate decision, not the store itself's fault. I'm sure it's true for blockbuster too. I should know since I've worked there. :o

[AWP82]

Originally posted by Saruman
I'm one of these guys that gets the movie at 10am to rent the stuff you want. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Originally posted by ZenDude
I hear ya! When I used to rent at the hell hole, I worked only about 2 miles from a BBV and every Tuesday, I'd leave the office at 10am, get to BBV, snatch all new releases of what I wanted, head to Duncan Donuts get a coffee and go back to work. Now I save money on rentals and gas by using Netflix, but those were the good ol days - knowing I snatched a new movie and people getting home from work would have nothing, I am cruel :D

*Draws two handguns out of his trenchcoat, cocks them, and starts blasting you guys....Matrix style*

;)

[slasherfan]

Originally posted by AWP82


Same thing happened with Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, and that took up a whole column on the wall. They were all gone before evening rush hour

This makes me laugh because we got in 32 Copies of Fast And The Furious Tokyo Drift and the first weekend only about 15 went out and after that it hasn't really gone out.

[Brando @$$ Fat]

Originally posted by Tai Mai Jew
Well, what you did is textbook thievery (if you stole something, that is)... but still, telling you to freeze is just silly.

What? No, I didn't steal anything....

[Tayzlor]

You could have signed up for Netflix in the time used up for typing your grievances.

[AWP82]

Originally posted by Tayzlor
You could have signed up for Netflix in the time used up for typing your grievances.

What's wrong with typing my grievances? I hadn't even thought of Netflix at the time. Shoot me.

[mutesaint]

I used to rent at blockbuster for about 10 years until I finally saw the light of netflix. What actually pisses me off now is blockbuster hammering the internet renting crowd. I know thats its a great business move and in no way is anything wrong, but it just rubs me the wrong way. It just ssems like they are stealing the idea. Try netflix though. It is addicting.

[AWP82]

I plan on trying it soon but haven't gotten around to it yet. Plus, I'm somewhat brand-loyal (i.e. blockbuster). Abusive relationships are hard break out of when you have low self-esteem.

[ILuvNachos]

I worked at Blockbuster for a year... It was the best job I had. The hours sucked, but the coworkers and the customers were cool.

Blockbuster has an on-line rental service. The advantage is that you get a coupon for one in store rental a week, so it is possible to get the new movie right away. The on-line service took a long time to get new movies to you. (I did hear on a radio program that if you have just one move in your queue, they have to send that one to you, so that is how to get the new movies right away??? Anybody verify that?)

While I worked at the store, yes, we had the regular customers that came in at 10am on Tuesday (waiting outside for us to open).

Blockbuster's stock is also $5.23 today. That is not good. I don't know if the Blockbuster can evolve into a totally on-line rental service. while I was working there, the company was trying to increase traffic with more sale items. Like PS2 and Xbox. There were many problems with that. Like a new movie would be 24.99 but you could go to Best Buy and get it for 16.99.

I don't know what the mean topic of this was, but that is my opinion on the matter... Thanks for listening.

[sirdizzy]

I feel your pain and I probably understand what was going on better than anyone else here

I worked as an Assistant Store Manager for a Blockbuster for 3 years

Where you are renting is probably a franchise store and they got hit the hardest by the end of late fees because they don't have any of the corporate backing to help them out

a little side note

We were a franchise and we were really popular and busy and did a lot of money but the Franchiser owned 8 stores and 4 of them were tanking, so in the beginning of my work there we had a lot of movies and there was no problems. But as the four stores that were tanking began to hurt us we started doing a few things to make up for some revenue. The first is what is called a zero rent pull, this is where you sell any movie out of the favorites section that has rented only once or no times in the last year. This really thins out the favorites section trust me.

Then they did away with late fees, this was the worst idea ever because now people don't have to be responsible, I can't began to tell you how many people knew they had a weeks grace period and kept that movie for that extra week not because they needed to but because they could. Now this really puts a crunch on new release because while they are suppose to be 2 day rentals you can keep them up to 9 days with no penalty and many customers do.

We had the largest percentage of active customers on the movie pass in the entire west coast too (at one time %25 of our customers were movie pass customers). So what would happen is they would litteraly line up and wait for us to open on Tuesday, when we opened their almost always was a line of 50 people waiting to rent the new releases. Heck our new releases were all gone by 11am most normal days. Then the problem was since they were on the movie pass they would keep the movies until the following tuesday and exchange them for that weeks releases. This meant 1/5 of our new releases we got were unrentable the first week.

Now as the company struggled they started to cut back on our copy depth (the number of copies we got) which made the problem even worse until we lost our distributor. Now this is where it got really bad, we were without a distributor for 2 months because they owed to much money to VPD, so on Tuesday mornings we would go to WalMart and and clean them out and then have to prep them real fast to rent. Trust me this wasn't a good situation, eventually we got a higher priced distributor who on average charged an extra $2 per dvd, which means even less copy depth and less titles.

Then they changed their Previously Viewed strategy to the coprorate strategy where the price we sell prp was aged based. Meaning anything older than 9 months sold for $4.99 (oh this was great for my dvd collection but whoa to the renter who wanted a popular older movie). So that meant if you rented a favorite for $2.99 it would tell you on your receipt you could keep the movie for just an extra $2.00. That racked our favorites section as you could basically buy any movie we rented for $5, try and beat that price at walmart or best buy.

It all collapsed in March and they went out of business.

Now that may explain a few of the questions you had why they didn't have Seven and other popular older movies and how it wouldn't be prudent to carry seven copies of it.


As far as the favorites issue you had, heres a tip if the cashier is an idiot make them ring the items up seperatly. Have him ring up your new release first and use you rewards credit on that one. Then have him ring up your favorites and use your coupon on that one. Had you gotten me, you would have walked out with both movies for free even if you had given them to me at the same time.

[sirdizzy]

Originally posted by ILuvNachos


Blockbuster has an on-line rental service. The advantage is that you get a coupon for one in store rental a week, so it is possible to get the new movie right away. The on-line service took a long time to get new movies to you. (I did hear on a radio program that if you have just one move in your queue, they have to send that one to you, so that is how to get the new movies right away??? Anybody verify that?)


Oh so not true, not true in the least bit and the reason I canceled by blockbuster online account.

I was trying to finish the AFI 100 list and I got to the point where all I had was 3 movies to go, so I put them on the top of my queue so I could finish the list. Well they kept sending me items that were like 7 or 8 on my queue, so frustrated I removed everything but those 3 movies from my queue. And nothing came for a week, so I emailed them and was told that to keep movies coming constantly on the same day they recieved my old movie that i should have at least 30 movies in my queue. I emailed them again and told them if I did that I never got what I wanted and they emailed me again and gave me the same exact answer. So I emailed them again and this time I answered the question how they were going to answer it and told them I didn't want that answer and they emailed me again with the same answer. So I emailed them again and called them every dirty name I could think of and told them if they emailed the same answer back to me again they could shove their service staaight up their assholes, they emailed me back with the same damn answer.

I paid for my last month and I had 3 movies in my queue for 3 weeks of that last month and never received one single movie in that three week span.

[sirdizzy]

oh for east coasters I just have one thing to say

redbox nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah



Oh my god I feel bad for non west coasters who don't have redboxes (they are in mcdonalds and smiths out here, we have 4 of them in my town alone and have had them for 2 years now)

they are $1 rentals for 1 night and they are never out of movies, I always rent my new releases there because I can rent one from a mcdonalds right by where I work and return it to the one by my house, god bless the redbox

[AWP82]

Actually, we east coasters DO have redboxes. I live in Maryland. There's a redbox at the grocery store right up the street from me. I've never used one though. I need more than one day to watch the movies I rent. Sometimes I don't get around to that right away.

[Scarface98.9]

I work at Blockbuster, and about the disorganized nature of the dvds, I can vouch that it's mostly not the employees fault, mine anyways. A lot of people pick up a movie, examine, then put it wherever else they feel like. I can see some of the flaws with Blockbuster behind the scenes, ie my manager not knowing a thing about scheduling, but I've enjoyed it so far

[sirdizzy]

Originally posted by AWP82
Actually, we east coasters DO have redboxes. I live in Maryland. There's a redbox at the grocery store right up the street from me. I've never used one though. I need more than one day to watch the movies I rent. Sometimes I don't get around to that right away.

then why rent them, rent them when your ready to watch them, its silly to rent something and let is sit around for a week before you watch it, why are you renting it then

[AWP82]

Originally posted by Scarface98.9
I work at Blockbuster, and about the disorganized nature of the dvds, I can vouch that it's mostly not the employees fault, mine anyways. A lot of people pick up a movie, examine, then put it wherever else they feel like. I can see some of the flaws with Blockbuster behind the scenes, ie my manager not knowing a thing about scheduling, but I've enjoyed it so far

Yeah, you're right. I don't know why I forgot to mention the rowdy customers who don't put shit back where they found it (especially kids). That contributes to it the most.

[AWP82]

Originally posted by sirdizzy
then why rent them, rent them when your ready to watch them, its silly to rent something and let is sit around for a week before you watch it, why are you renting it then

I don't wait THAT long to watch them. I just need more than one day. I don't think that's unreasonable.

[Criminal Rock]

Originally posted by sirdizzy
Oh so not true, not true in the least bit and the reason I canceled by blockbuster online account.

I was trying to finish the AFI 100 list and I got to the point where all I had was 3 movies to go, so I put them on the top of my queue so I could finish the list. Well they kept sending me items that were like 7 or 8 on my queue, so frustrated I removed everything but those 3 movies from my queue. And nothing came for a week, so I emailed them and was told that to keep movies coming constantly on the same day they recieved my old movie that i should have at least 30 movies in my queue. I emailed them again and told them if I did that I never got what I wanted and they emailed me again and gave me the same exact answer. So I emailed them again and this time I answered the question how they were going to answer it and told them I didn't want that answer and they emailed me again with the same answer. So I emailed them again and called them every dirty name I could think of and told them if they emailed the same answer back to me again they could shove their service staaight up their assholes, they emailed me back with the same damn answer.

I paid for my last month and I had 3 movies in my queue for 3 weeks of that last month and never received one single movie in that three week span.

Well, not to sound like a dick... but you’re not the only person who did, or is currently doing, the whole “watch the top 100 afi list” thing. I did it too (as did a few friends of mine). And the same thing happened to me, I might add. The only difference is, I understand there are thousands of people with the exact same idea, and it only makes sense to believe that blockbuster just didn’t have enough copies to meet their demands. It’s just what happens.

I never had a problem with their customer service like that, though. That shit’d` get me too.

[sirdizzy]

Originally posted by Tai Mai Jew
Well, not to sound like a dick... but you’re not the only person who did, or is currently doing, the whole “watch the top 100 afi list” thing. I did it too (as did a few friends of mine). And the same thing happened to me, I might add. The only difference is, I understand there are thousands of people with the exact same idea, and it only makes sense to believe that blockbuster just didn’t have enough copies to meet their demands. It’s just what happens.

I never had a problem with their customer service like that, though. That shit’d` get me too.

Regardless if everyone else had that idea, I still never got any of those three movies in a three week span and they always said they were available. So tell me how when they say the movie is available (I wanted to rent M but that always said it had a long wait so I never did) yet I can still never get them to send me the movie that they aren't basically just lying to me. There online program right now is terrible in comparison to netflix.

I tried netflix but they throttle to much, the first 2-3 months I got movies the next day, then it slowed to every couple of days, then it slowed to once a week, then it slowed to almost two weeks. Netflix has been sued several times over there throttling issue and I just hate it, so now I am renting at redbox and hollywood.


And I did finish the AFI 100, I rented the last 3 at Hollywood where the movies are always in. And if your going to finish the list you are going to have to find a copy of the Jazz Singer on VHS because they have yet to release it to dvd.

[mutesaint]

Wow, SirDizzy, you have shit for luck. I have never been "throttled" on Netflix. I don't think I've ever really been burned by them. Hell, once I had 4 movies at the top that had "long wait" on them(I always put the long waits at the top so its a surprise when I get them) and all four showed up at the same time right after I put them at the top.

[Criminal Rock]

Originally posted by sirdizzy
Regardless if everyone else had that idea, I still never got any of those three movies in a three week span and they always said they were available. So tell me how when they say the movie is available (I wanted to rent M but that always said it had a long wait so I never did) yet I can still never get them to send me the movie that they aren't basically just lying to me. There online program right now is terrible in comparison to netflix.

I tried netflix but they throttle to much, the first 2-3 months I got movies the next day, then it slowed to every couple of days, then it slowed to once a week, then it slowed to almost two weeks. Netflix has been sued several times over there throttling issue and I just hate it, so now I am renting at redbox and hollywood.


And I did finish the AFI 100, I rented the last 3 at Hollywood where the movies are always in. And if your going to finish the list you are going to have to find a copy of the Jazz Singer on VHS because they have yet to release it to dvd.

As mute-saint said, you apparently just have bad luck, or “shit for luck” with blockbuster (and netflix), as he so simply put it... and besides your apparent grudge against the company, the bottom line is, everything’s the same... honestly. The service you get depends on where you live. This applies to all, and that’s really the only dissimilarity between each online service (of course, I’m excluding all the benefits each system offers, but that’s beside the point)

Where you live, I guess redbox is the way to go, though I can’t say I’ve tried it.

Where I live, blockbuster ships their movies fast. I usually receive the top two in my queue the next day with no problems. And these aren’t your typical movies either, most are rare, obscure films.

The same thing applies to Hollywood and Blockbuster stores...

As for Netflix, they have great selection, and a moderately deep inventory... but they tend to be consistently inconsistent when it comes to delivery. So, I stopped that a long time ago.

[sirdizzy]

well I have been thinking of going back to either netflix or blockbuster just haven't decided which yet. You really can't beat the service if you like to rent movies

They did add a shipping centers in Salt Lake City for both Netflix and Blockbuster and that should speed things up quite a bit. Before they shipped out of Vegas and you would think it would be pretty fast as I am only an hour and half north of Vegas but the problem is they have to ship it to salt lake where it sits for a day or two and they ship down to us. The bloody trucks for them drive through our town but they have to be processed in Salt Lake so it takes forever. But coming from Salt Lake should shave a two or three days off minimum.

[slasherfan]

I just found out today that Warner has charged an absalute fortune for Rental copies of Superman Returns so we didn't get to many copeis (16).