Movie Madness Rant

I've been with Blockbuster for the last eight years.  Back in the old days when I was single, living alone in a studio and broke watching movies was the highlight of my week.  Who am I kidding.  It was one of the highlights of my life.  Between in store exchanges and movies by mail I was watching a new movie almost every day and spending a lot less money then it would cost me to rent them individually.  I still remember the day I walked in and found that the supply of VHS tapes was very limited that the movie selections had dwindled.  I was forced to upgrade to a DVD player.

Mj and I both love to watch movies.  When I met him he had a Blockbuster online account too so he cancelled his and we kept mine.  It was fun to still have the option to rent movies the old school way by going to the actual store and picking it out.  We still had the mail movies and there were no due dates so it was all very convenient and cost effective. 



Over the last year the store nearest to my house finally shut down.  It was one of the last to go.  It's a sign of the times and I accepted it and as long as I could still get new release movies conveniently, and I was but apparently those days are over.  The service at Blockbuster pretty much sucks right now.  I've had House at the End of the Street at the top of my queue for months.  It's on Very Long Wait along with everything else we want to see so they keep sending me filler crap from the bottom of my queue.  Everything at the top is either very long wait, long wait or short wait so we're hardly getting any movies that we really want to see.  I don't want to buy it on demand or go to Red Box just so I can finally see the darn movie when I'm paying for a service that's supposed to send it to me.  The turnaround time on receiving movies is excellent; the problem is that I'm not getting the ones I want.

They have some on demand service for TV, tablets, computers or phone that I could look into.  Netflix may be a viable option.  I don't know how their wait list situation is but I think they are more expensive.  They are $7.99 per month with $2 extra per month if I want Blu Ray and that's only for 1 movie out at at a time per month.  I can't even find a price list for any other options.  We already have Netflix streaming but most of the movies are pretty old.  I don't want to do Red Box because I've been spoiled and haven't had a due date on rentals in years and I don't want to start now.  It just feels like a hassle to actually have to drive somewhere to pick it up and bring it back at a certain time.  I have a hard enough time just getting my mail movies out to my mailbox.  I definitely don't want to get movie channels because our cable bill is high enough and they show the same movies over and over.  We DVR what we want during the free weekends.  We could get rid of Blockbuster and just order movies On Demand but at $4.99 per movie Blockbuster is a much better bargain at $18 monthly for 3 movies out at a time unlimited.  When it works.  

I have no idea why Blockbuster won't increase their inventory so that they can meet customer demand.  That's the obvious solution right?  Unless they don't want to spend the money or just don't care.  When I tried to send them an e mail to complain I couldn't even get the darn thing to send.  I just kept getting a stupid circle going round and round saying submitting when that clearly wasn't happening.  So I can't get the movies I want OR complain about it? Sigh.  What's a movie loving girl to do?  Complain here on her blog that's what.  Maybe they will find this post and call me up to offer free service for life with preferential movie access to win back my love.  Not likely, but at least I get to vent.  So that is my rant for the day.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to rectify this problem I'm all ears.

May Update:  I contacted them on twitter a few days after this post was written.  They got  back to me right away which was nice.  They could not get me House at the End of the Street but did give me a one month credit on my account and I very much appreciated it.  However, the problem remains.  We are still only getting movies at the bottom of our list.  Last week my husband signed up for a Netflix free trial.  I put House at the End of the Street at the top and we got it immediately.  I could not get Blockbuster to send me that movie since it got released in January.  That's a long time to have wait for a movie.  Looks like we will be switching.  I don't know why, but I'm sad about it.  I've been with them for so long.  They were the first ones doing this movies in the mail thing so I don't understand why they can't figure this out.  If they can't increase movie availability to serve their customers better I won't be the only one leaving.


Bloglovin' // Twitter // Facebook // Instagram

6 comments

  1. I have never used BB but I totally see what you are saying - it doesn't make sense why they have not expanded their selection! You two sound a lot like John and me... we watch movies ALL the time! Anytime we are both home, we wear jammies and watch movies on my computer! Its the little things in life!

    ReplyDelete
  2. sorry to hear about your frsutration but I would also complain on my blog, because gosh darn it where else are you supposed to do it?! ; )
    I really can't help you though, we had a blockbuster by our old place, and that closed down. We then started netflix for a while, but hated the price increase when it happened. We then switched to redbox, but kept netflix for a few months until i couldn't justify the cost because we just don't watch movies that often. I will say that it IS a hassle to have to go to the store to pick it up and drop it off, especially because we rarely grocery shop at those stores. (come on whole foods! add a redbox!) I think Costco needs to start a dvd service, then we'll be happy : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do old school netflix, where they mail you the dvds, they come super quick, are always in stock and its cheap. I did the package where you get three dvds at a time. Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I say - you may have to just rent from DVR. 3 movies per month is comparable I think to your blockbuster situation. I know you may want more movies, but its no hassle to just click the button from the TV. and at least you get it for 24-48 hours in case you want to watch it again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You poor thing! I don't blame you for complaining on here! I would too, especially if my email wouldn't even send. That's ridiculous. We still have a Blockbuster store here, but we never go. I'm not really a movie person. I'm sorry you are frustrated, hopefully you will figure out something, sorry I am no help.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I liked Netflix when we had it, but now I just watch what's on tv or the hubby finds/rents movies for us to watch. I miss Blockbuster!

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments! Thanks for being part of my blog.