Fri 21 Dec 2007
Awhile ago I signed up for Blockbuster.com. At 21 or so dollars a month for three movies out at a time and the ability to return them for movies at the store up the road it just fit my lifestyle. Even when they alerted me that they were changing the plan where they restricted it to 5 in store exchanges or I could pay $4 extra dollars a month for the same unlimited service I was getting I felt it was still a fair deal. The key there was they notified me and gave me the option to pay my current level or opt-in to pay extra.
This time however they have alerted me that they are raising the price by $10 (a whopping 40% or so increase) a month which goes into effect automatically in my next billing cycle. I now hold a service that was once competitive with Netflix but now seems to keep increasing in costs every couple of months or so. What is really interesting is the pricing on their website doesn’t seem that bad (though they have gotten rid of the unlimited exchange option). I have to wonder if that is an unmarked introductory price.
I can appreciate that the program may have been an ill conceived marketing ploy that has been losing Blockbuster a lot of money but then I would have been happy to move to a more restricted plan had this happen just once and they canceled the unlimited plan then (I did move to the higher cost plan the first time). The fact that they did it a second time just has me looking over my shoulder for the next increase. So the value is gone and I will be leaving Blockbuster.com at the end of this billing cycle. Perhaps I’ll start up with Netflix again or just get outside more. I did just join a gym after all.
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December 21st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Maybe Redbox.com is an option. Is quite convenient, if you are near to a red box.
December 21st, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Strangely enough, J5 netflix actually reduced their prices by like a dollar or two.
Since Netflix the idea of going to any video store to drop off a rental based on a time line seems lame. I’ve kept movies around for a month before I bother to return them.
December 21st, 2007 at 7:29 pm
The nice thing about BB was that I got the netflix model of keeping my mailed DVD as long as I wanted but if I wanted to get a new DVD and didn’t want to wait for the mail I could just drop off the return envelope at a BB and get a normal rental to watch while I waited for them to mail me from my queue. I had a movie every night if I wanted instead of watching TV. Netflix has download now though so it is an option but I really am leaning to just using the money for my monthly gym membership - they have TV’s on each of the machines
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
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January 5th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
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January 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I work for my local blockbuster store and have the online membership with unlimited in-store exchanges. I have worked at this store, as a little part-time job, for about 4 months. Previous to my employment with them I had Netflix for several years. However, being at the store a couple days a week and being a movie junkie, there was always something I wanted to rent. so, the online plan made alot of sense and I dropped Netflix and switched to Blockbuster.
I TOO WAS SHOCKED TO SEE THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRICE INCREASE!!!! I sat down and did a little math though….and I encourage others to do the same. When you rent in-store, there should be a balance on the bottom of your receipt telling you how many online exchanges you’ve had so far this month. I had just 8 in-store exchanges, which means I also had 8 movies through the mail that I watched. So, in reality, for $34.99 I got 16 movies that would’ve cost $76.48 had I just paid to rent them at the store. That’s still a savings of $41.49!!! That’s really NOT a bad deal. It all depends on the plan you sign up for and how much you take advantage of it!
I AM thinking of dropping the unlimited-exchanges as the price hike still has me a litle shocked…but, we’ll see!
January 19th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
The math assumes someone would watch all those movies if they didn’t have an unlimited account. I certainly would not but being that I could, at no extra cost, I supplanted my TV viewing with movies. I pretty much went though my most wanted films so the rest of my queue were stuff I had a mild interest in (I did find a few gems this way) or recently released movies. I most likely would have stayed though if Block Buster was just honest and did their homework and only raised prices once. But they decided to raise them, figure out it wasn’t enough to keep profitable and then raise them again. The first raise they handled correctly and honestly but the second raise was buried in filler material saying how great their service was. To be honest the service was good but not compelling enough to live in fear of future price hikes.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Please terminate my membership with blockbuster at the end of my billing time which I believe will be March 2oth, 2008. I have tried to contact customer service and the number is not valid Thank you
Ed Conroy
February 28th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Edwin, you do know my web site has no affiliation to Blockbuster? You need to cancel your account at Blockbuster.com. I’ve removed your phone number from your comment.