Blockbuster Mail-In - Blu-ray Forum

Bdogg · 01-14-2009, 03:54 PM

Hello everyone,

Has anyone else that is doing Blockbuster Mail-in noticed that the shipping and processing has gotten slower? I used to get my movies within a day or two of turning them in at the store, and recently it is taking 3 or 4 days... Anyone else???

EQ3282 · 01-14-2009, 05:10 PM

This isn't new news, and many posts are around about this.

Netflix and BB Online don't hide this at all. Its part of their business model. The heavier users who turnaround the DVD/BDs quicker will see slower ship times, as to make sure they are not overshooting their margins via the cost of shipping. For example, if you have a $15/month plan, and, hypothetically, it costs them a dollar to ship each movie to you. The rate at which you watch and mail them back would mean you could receive 18 films in any given month if they ship them as fast as they can. That means on your account they're taking a $3 monthly loss. That's doesn't work for them. So, they slow your out shipments to knock you down to, at the quickest, only receiving 13 per month. $2 gain for them.

neos_peace · 01-14-2009, 05:13 PM

i could see that it everyone did that but not everyone did. Companyies just get lazy and want tmore bang for the buck earned, which isn't a bad thing but still. the customer is always right has diff disappeared from companies mind set I think.

Bdogg · 01-14-2009, 05:21 PM

Odd part is, my service was great till Mid Dec... then just slowed down...

Basshead · 01-18-2009, 02:37 AM

It's the blockbuster employees being lazy. We had/have the same problem. We pitched a fit and they were good about it for a little while. When we swap out in store, I always notice quite a large stack of DVD's waiting to be mailed out. Just so you know, just because we return the movies in store, doesn't mean new disc immediately get mailed out. They are basically mailing them for us and the process is as if we mailed ourselves.

jas4yf · 01-18-2009, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basshead

. Just so you know, just because we return the movies in store, doesn't mean new disc immediately get mailed out. They are basically mailing them for us and the process is as if we mailed ourselves.

I don't think it works like that. I've definitely gotten confirmation on a new movie shipping out before getting confirmation that they've received my old movie when I returned them in store.

connect42 · 01-18-2009, 03:34 AM

No, I haven't noticed any slow down. Of course, it may be because I keep each disc a few days before returning it. Many people with slow service are going through discs like crazy.

And no, the process doesn't work like that. When I return a mailer to the store I usually get notification that my next Blu has shipped within a few hours.

ObiTrentKenobi · 01-18-2009, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basshead

It's the blockbuster employees being lazy. We had/have the same problem. We pitched a fit and they were good about it for a little while. When we swap out in store, I always notice quite a large stack of DVD's waiting to be mailed out. Just so you know, just because we return the movies in store, doesn't mean new disc immediately get mailed out. They are basically mailing them for us and the process is as if we mailed ourselves.

Actually, No. When you return it to the store, the computers tell the next movies to be shipped out. When you mail it yourself, it takes the time until the movie arrives back at the warehouse until they're shipped out.

ObiTrentKenobi · 01-18-2009, 05:43 PM

I gave up on the netflix/blockbuster mail-ins.

Netflix took FOREVER to ship out my movies. i ended up getting only about 4 movies a month!

Blockbuster was better than netflix, but they changed the plans and pricing in the middle of my service. I was getting 3 movies mailed to me about 5 times a month (15 movies in mail), and 15 movies in store (30 movies a month) and at the time they only charged me 24.99/month. that was the unlimited through the mail and unlimited store exchanges. i could even get games in the store instead of a movie if i wanted to.

then...

they changed my plan to 34.99 a month (without any notice until 4 weeks later when i got the bill). i cancelled them just for the no-notice change of 10$ more per month!

though, the mailing was super fast.

VHS4Ever · 02-03-2009, 04:01 AM

I just signed up for Blockbuster online 1 movie at a time for first month for $4.49. Not good to here. But for $4 I not complaining. Plus I get a free rental for a game or movie.

saljr · 02-09-2009, 04:04 PM

15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-Com...-14279875.html

Blockbuster. (BBI; about 60,000 employees; stock down 57%). The video-rental chain has burned cash while trying to figure out how to maximize fees without alienating customers. Its operating income has started to improve just as consumers are cutting back, even on movies. Video stores in general are under pressure as they compete with cable and Internet operators offering the same titles. A key test of Blockbuster's viability will come when two credit lines expire in August. One possible outcome, according to Valueline, is that investors take the company private and then go public again when market conditions are better.

supersickie · 02-09-2009, 05:49 PM

Hey all! Came over here just to ask a similar question, but really more than anything I was just concerned about the overall satisfaction with Netflix/Blockbuster. I've tried both and have been left dissatisfied to say the least. Slow shipping, long waits, etc.

Am I missing something or are the early adopters of BD still receiving poor service from Netflix/Blockbuster Online? Thanks in advance!

awre · 02-09-2009, 06:09 PM

I have written a number of emails to Blockbuster complaining of the slow processing. They write back with the standard and same old reply: "Put more movies in your Q". Well currently I have about 27 in my Q and all are marked as "long wait" or "short wait" and only one is maked as "available". This has a happened in the past 45 - 60 days -- prior to that I was getting films on a regular and acceptable basis.

This past month (I am the 2 movies at one time plan at $16.99/month) I think I only received 3 movies from my list. Previously I was getting about 2/week - 10 days.

When I complain they send me a free coupon for the local Blockbuster store and this helps, but there service and responsiveness has really gone into the crapper lately. I am thinking of leaving them but will give them a couple of more weeks to see if they get their act together. If not, then I guess I go to Netflix.

TauRus · 02-09-2009, 06:49 PM

Guys, I am not sure what's the difference, but I observed the opposite. It used to be that it took ages to get a Blu-ray. Now that they obviously got a ton more discs, shipping is really fast. I typically am getting the discs a couple of days after I added them to the queue.
Having said that, I am thinking of dropping my subscription, but for a different reason: within last year they hiked the monthly price three times already and on top of that I lost my game rental coupons (used to have 2 free game rental coupons per month on top of the unlimited in-store exchange).

Beta Man · 02-09-2009, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EQ3282

This isn't new news, and many posts are around about this.

Netflix and BB Online don't hide this at all. Its part of their business model. The heavier users who turnaround the DVD/BDs quicker will see slower ship times, as to make sure they are not overshooting their margins via the cost of shipping. For example, if you have a $15/month plan, and, hypothetically, it costs them a dollar to ship each movie to you. The rate at which you watch and mail them back would mean you could receive 18 films in any given month if they ship them as fast as they can. That means on your account they're taking a $3 monthly loss. That's doesn't work for them. So, they slow your out shipments to knock you down to, at the quickest, only receiving 13 per month. $2 gain for them.

This would make sense, but I recently SWITCHED from Netflix (which was great) to Blockbuster, because we wanted the option to exchange movies at our local store.....

Even during the "Free Trial" period, and now that it's over, the shipping/receiving time is TERRIBLE.... My wife complains about it, and she's the one who usually complains that I get too many movies!

For those saying Netflix is the same way, I disagree, but your experience may be different..... Netflix didn't always send me the first movie in my queue, but they didn't RECEIVE a movie I sent back, and then NOT SEND out another one from my queue that OR THE NEXT day.... and Blockbuster has done that repeatedly........

With Netflix, if I sent a movie on Saturday, they'd check it in on Monday, AND send out my next title THAT DAY......

With Blockbuster, movies I send back Friday get Checked in Monday, and new ones are sent out Tuesday..... THAT is ridiculously slow turn-around if you ask me!!!!!

I'm going to give them a couple more months, then I'm going back to Netflix.

Beta Man · 02-16-2009, 09:09 PM

O.K.

Sorry to bring up this old thread..... but here's my latest Blockbuster Online experience.....

I added "Band of Brothers" to my queue....

They all show as "Available" so I move it to #1

I send out the two movies I had (I'm on the 2 at a time plan) ON THE SAME DAY.

One Day I get Band Of Brothers Disc #1

TWO DAYS LATER I get Band of Brothers Disc #3 !!!!!!!!!

Where in the hell is #2???? SOOOOO I took #1 (after my wife and I watched it) to the local blockbuster and got Disc #2 as part of my three-in-store freebies per month......

NOW... since I dropped off #1, it automatically releases the next one in my queue right.......... NOPE.... 2 days later I see my queue shows A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MOVIE SHIPPED.... haven't gotten it yet, but they didn't send me Band of Brothers #4, #5, or #6 So I'm going to use my next two "Freebies" and pick up #4, and #5 (if they don't ship one by then) and pay the few bucks to get #6 when the time comes.......

I was so pissed off the day I got #3 in the mail instead of #2 because my wife and I had just watched the first episode, so when the mail came, we said "Great.... let's start watching these right away after our kid goes to sleep, and we'll see if we can't get three episodes in"

So sure enough we watch the 2nd episode on the first disc, tear open the one from the mail, and find out I have to run over to blockbuster to exchange the 1st one to get the 2nd disc!!!!!

EITHER WAY.... to make an already too long story short....... We're planning on switching back to Netflix at the end of the month...... Blockbuster enticed me with the "Free in store" thing... which is nice, but the shipping times suck compared to Netflix.

Driver_King · 02-16-2009, 10:09 PM

There are a couple tricks to Blockbuster:

After you're ready (or if you're impatient), go to report issue and select "I returned the DVD, but it has not cleared my Queue yet" and press send next movie. It works if you are impatient like me.

Also, when you move stuff around the Queue, make sure you press the Update Queue button once you're done. Even if the website "refreshes", that doesn't mean it is updated on the Blockbuster server.

jkwest · 02-16-2009, 10:44 PM

try to return movies on Sunday and keep New releases at the top...they typically will ship you the new releases a day early..i.e Monday instead of Tuesday..

I like BlockBuster...pissed that they keep upping their fees while at the same time cutting service...but, they are still better than Netflix, IMO...

shelley · 02-20-2009, 03:22 PM

see this link: http://www.hackingblockbuster.com/20...exchanges.html

BB is testing a new program that will soon be rolled out everywhere:
"The final change is that Blockbuster is now counting the in-store exchange as one of the plan DVDs, and won't ship the next movie in a customer's queue until they return the in-store exchange."

I noticed BB stopped shipping new discs the day after I exchanged one in the store. To get around this, I reported the discs as already returned, but they might close this loophole.

02-16-2009, 09:09 PM	#16
Beta Man Moderator Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Juuuuuuuust A Bit Outside.... Home Theater Gallery:4 Blu-ray collection:268 Blu-ray reviews: 18 Trading Score:25	Bumping With Additional Grievances! O.K. Sorry to bring up this old thread..... but here's my latest Blockbuster Online experience..... I added "Band of Brothers" to my queue.... They all show as "Available" so I move it to #1 I send out the two movies I had (I'm on the 2 at a time plan) ON THE SAME DAY. One Day I get Band Of Brothers Disc #1 TWO DAYS LATER I get Band of Brothers Disc #3 !!!!!!!!! Where in the hell is #2???? SOOOOO I took #1 (after my wife and I watched it) to the local blockbuster and got Disc #2 as part of my three-in-store freebies per month...... NOW... since I dropped off #1, it automatically releases the next one in my queue right.......... NOPE.... 2 days later I see my queue shows A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MOVIE SHIPPED.... haven't gotten it yet, but they didn't send me Band of Brothers #4, #5, or #6 So I'm going to use my next two "Freebies" and pick up #4, and #5 (if they don't ship one by then) and pay the few bucks to get #6 when the time comes....... I was so pissed off the day I got #3 in the mail instead of #2 because my wife and I had just watched the first episode, so when the mail came, we said "Great.... let's start watching these right away after our kid goes to sleep, and we'll see if we can't get three episodes in" So sure enough we watch the 2nd episode on the first disc, tear open the one from the mail, and find out I have to run over to blockbuster to exchange the 1st one to get the 2nd disc!!!!! EITHER WAY.... to make an already too long story short....... We're planning on switching back to Netflix at the end of the month...... Blockbuster enticed me with the "Free in store" thing... which is nice, but the shipping times suck compared to Netflix.

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01-14-2009, 03:54 PM	#1
Bdogg Active Member Member since:Mar 2008 Home Theater Gallery:4 Blu-ray collection:183 DVD collection:7 Trading Score:9	Blockbuster Mail-In Hello everyone, Has anyone else that is doing Blockbuster Mail-in noticed that the shipping and processing has gotten slower? I used to get my movies within a day or two of turning them in at the store, and recently it is taking 3 or 4 days... Anyone else???

01-14-2009, 05:10 PM	#2
EQ3282 Senior Member Member since:May 2008 Blu-ray collection:32 Blu-ray reviews:1	This isn't new news, and many posts are around about this. Netflix and BB Online don't hide this at all. Its part of their business model. The heavier users who turnaround the DVD/BDs quicker will see slower ship times, as to make sure they are not overshooting their margins via the cost of shipping. For example, if you have a $15/month plan, and, hypothetically, it costs them a dollar to ship each movie to you. The rate at which you watch and mail them back would mean you could receive 18 films in any given month if they ship them as fast as they can. That means on your account they're taking a $3 monthly loss. That's doesn't work for them. So, they slow your out shipments to knock you down to, at the quickest, only receiving 13 per month. $2 gain for them.

01-14-2009, 05:13 PM	#3
neos_peace Special Member Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Shamokin Dam, Pa Home Theater Gallery:14 Blu-ray collection:279 Trading Score:1	i could see that it everyone did that but not everyone did. Companyies just get lazy and want tmore bang for the buck earned, which isn't a bad thing but still. the customer is always right has diff disappeared from companies mind set I think.

01-14-2009, 05:21 PM	#4
Bdogg Active Member Member since:Mar 2008 Home Theater Gallery:4 Blu-ray collection:183 DVD collection:7 Trading Score:9	Odd part is, my service was great till Mid Dec... then just slowed down...

01-18-2009, 02:37 AM	#5
Basshead Member Member since:Apr 2008 Location:Northern San Diego	It's the blockbuster employees being lazy. We had/have the same problem. We pitched a fit and they were good about it for a little while. When we swap out in store, I always notice quite a large stack of DVD's waiting to be mailed out. Just so you know, just because we return the movies in store, doesn't mean new disc immediately get mailed out. They are basically mailing them for us and the process is as if we mailed ourselves.

01-18-2009, 03:34 AM	#7
connect42 Expert Member Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Columbus, Georgia Home Theater Gallery:22 Blu-ray collection:103 Trading Score:19	No, I haven't noticed any slow down. Of course, it may be because I keep each disc a few days before returning it. Many people with slow service are going through discs like crazy. And no, the process doesn't work like that. When I return a mailer to the store I usually get notification that my next Blu has shipped within a few hours.

01-18-2009, 05:43 PM	#9
ObiTrentKenobi Special Member Top contributor Member since:Sep 2008 Location:United States of Love 4K collection:14 Blu-ray collection:205 DVD collection:155 Digital collection:155 Blu-ray reviews: 1	I gave up on the netflix/blockbuster mail-ins. Netflix took FOREVER to ship out my movies. i ended up getting only about 4 movies a month! Blockbuster was better than netflix, but they changed the plans and pricing in the middle of my service. I was getting 3 movies mailed to me about 5 times a month (15 movies in mail), and 15 movies in store (30 movies a month) and at the time they only charged me 24.99/month. that was the unlimited through the mail and unlimited store exchanges. i could even get games in the store instead of a movie if i wanted to. then... they changed my plan to 34.99 a month (without any notice until 4 weeks later when i got the bill). i cancelled them just for the no-notice change of 10$ more per month! though, the mailing was super fast.

02-03-2009, 04:01 AM	#10
VHS4Ever Senior Member Member since:Sep 2008 Blu-ray collection:224 Blu-ray reviews:61 Trading Score:16	I just signed up for Blockbuster online 1 movie at a time for first month for $4.49. Not good to here. But for $4 I not complaining. Plus I get a free rental for a game or movie.

02-09-2009, 04:04 PM	#11
saljr Active Member Member since:Nov 2006 Location:Stockton,California	15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-Com...-14279875.html Blockbuster. (BBI; about 60,000 employees; stock down 57%). The video-rental chain has burned cash while trying to figure out how to maximize fees without alienating customers. Its operating income has started to improve just as consumers are cutting back, even on movies. Video stores in general are under pressure as they compete with cable and Internet operators offering the same titles. A key test of Blockbuster's viability will come when two credit lines expire in August. One possible outcome, according to Valueline, is that investors take the company private and then go public again when market conditions are better.

02-09-2009, 05:49 PM	#12
supersickie Active Member Member since:May 2008 4K collection:16 Blu-ray collection:531 Digital collection:125 iTunes collection:95 Prime collection:3 Blu-ray reviews:1	Hey all! Came over here just to ask a similar question, but really more than anything I was just concerned about the overall satisfaction with Netflix/Blockbuster. I've tried both and have been left dissatisfied to say the least. Slow shipping, long waits, etc. Am I missing something or are the early adopters of BD still receiving poor service from Netflix/Blockbuster Online? Thanks in advance!

02-09-2009, 06:09 PM	#13
awre Member Member since:Jan 2008	I have written a number of emails to Blockbuster complaining of the slow processing. They write back with the standard and same old reply: "Put more movies in your Q". Well currently I have about 27 in my Q and all are marked as "long wait" or "short wait" and only one is maked as "available". This has a happened in the past 45 - 60 days -- prior to that I was getting films on a regular and acceptable basis. This past month (I am the 2 movies at one time plan at $16.99/month) I think I only received 3 movies from my list. Previously I was getting about 2/week - 10 days. When I complain they send me a free coupon for the local Blockbuster store and this helps, but there service and responsiveness has really gone into the crapper lately. I am thinking of leaving them but will give them a couple of more weeks to see if they get their act together. If not, then I guess I go to Netflix.

02-09-2009, 06:49 PM	#14
TauRus Active Member Member since:Dec 2006 Location:Chicago NW burbs	Guys, I am not sure what's the difference, but I observed the opposite. It used to be that it took ages to get a Blu-ray. Now that they obviously got a ton more discs, shipping is really fast. I typically am getting the discs a couple of days after I added them to the queue. Having said that, I am thinking of dropping my subscription, but for a different reason: within last year they hiked the monthly price three times already and on top of that I lost my game rental coupons (used to have 2 free game rental coupons per month on top of the unlimited in-store exchange).

02-16-2009, 10:09 PM	#17
Driver_King Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Tampa Bay, Florida Home Theater Gallery:96 Blu-ray collection:28 Trading Score:10	There are a couple tricks to Blockbuster: After you're ready (or if you're impatient), go to report issue and select "I returned the DVD, but it has not cleared my Queue yet" and press send next movie. It works if you are impatient like me. Also, when you move stuff around the Queue, make sure you press the Update Queue button once you're done. Even if the website "refreshes", that doesn't mean it is updated on the Blockbuster server.

02-16-2009, 10:44 PM	#18
jkwest Off-Topic King Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Northern California PSN Id: jkwest5 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:20	try to return movies on Sunday and keep New releases at the top...they typically will ship you the new releases a day early..i.e Monday instead of Tuesday.. I like BlockBuster...pissed that they keep upping their fees while at the same time cutting service...but, they are still better than Netflix, IMO...

02-20-2009, 03:22 PM	#19
shelley Junior Member Member since:Sep 2007 Blu-ray collection:60	see this link: http://www.hackingblockbuster.com/20...exchanges.html BB is testing a new program that will soon be rolled out everywhere: "The final change is that Blockbuster is now counting the in-store exchange as one of the plan DVDs, and won't ship the next movie in a customer's queue until they return the in-store exchange." I noticed BB stopped shipping new discs the day after I exchanged one in the store. To get around this, I reported the discs as already returned, but they might close this loophole.

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