Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Buy Blockbuster Online Membership
Reasons a Blockbuster Membership May Not Work for You
10. The automated online customer service is pointless. I recently sent an email requesting cancellation help, as I did not remember my sign in information and got a random response about resetting my password. Two days later, I got an email asking if they had answered my question. It would have been easier for all involved if I could just call. The contact phone number, however, it not readily available
9. Should you want to watch a particular move, right away, you still have to go the local blockbuster store. The discount coupons are nice, but if you are going to have an online membership why do you have to schlep out to the store?
8. I end up keeping most of the movies anyway. It just makes sense for me to purchase my movies and trade in the ones we decide not to keep. By renting them and then deciding to keep them, I end up paying full retail for the videos. I prefer to purchase from the Blockbuster store sale bin and trade in movies I do not like. I normally do not pay full retail for anything.
7. If I do not return the videos I got from the store in time, I end up "buying them". This defeats the purpose of having the online membership where I can return videos at my leisure. Free and half-priced rentals always seem to turn into full price purchases.
6. There are a limited number of videos I can have at one time. The more videos I want at once, the more I have to pay. Because my family likes to view videos repeatedly, I end up without new videos. My only option is to pay more to get more movies at one time. This can get very expensive.
5. The history movies, which I am most interested in for homeschooling purposes, are hardly history movies at all. Instead, they consist mostly of the history of show business. I was thinking more about the history of the world.
4. The categories do not necessarily make sense. For example, one of the categories is called blackspoitation. What exactly is blacksploitaiton, and if "I'm Gonna get you Sucka" fits into that category, why does "Soul Food", and "Stella Got her Groove back" also in that category?
3. Additional category issues include not distinguishing war fiction from non-fiction. Eventually, you just give up searching and get nothing. In addition, in movie names need to be in alphabetical order within each category.
2. They make it very hard to end the membership. Like EBay, you have search for the link with unsubscribe information. My guess is that if you cannot find it, you may give up planning to try again later. They can get an extra months fee, or two with this technique.
1. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a movie from amongst your own personal library, and get it into the mailbox? If you have trouble returning library books, like me, you will also have trouble remembering to put the movie in your mailbox. I believe blockbuster counts on this. The longer you take to return a movie, the fewer movies they have to send you for your membership fees.
Published by A. Hermitt
Andrea Hermitt is an artist by nature and an educator by necessity. As a homeschooling mom of 10 years, she stays current in all things educational, and cutting edge to help her homeschool her children, and... View profile
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9 Comments
Post a CommentWhen i mention Disc 2 instead of Disc 1, I am talking about a movie or series that may include 2 to 3 discs.
Its been awhile since this article was written, the online rental service is not done right, you receive disk 2 instead of disk 1 even when you lock your selections.
Wow, you seem to have a bigger problem than Blockbuster Online, namely, organization. It seems that the majority of your reasons you should not buy are really your own proclivities. I would think this should be condensed to 2 reasons you (general population) shouldn't buy Blockbuster Online and 6 reasons YOU (A. Hermitt) shouldn't buy Blockbuster Online. The only two valid complaints thay you outline are the horrible online customer service, which I completely agree with and the category issues (reasons 5,4 and 3) you've outlined (I haven't personally had any issues with this, but I'm sure your complaints are valid). As for the other 6 reasons, they are really your lack of understanding or wanting to understand what you signed up for.
Reason 9 states "what if I want to watch a movie right away", well you did sign up for a Mail Service, not online streaming (which they do offer now for additional cost), you have to understand going in that you won't get a movie today if you put
Im not impressed with this service either. Ive paid twice and have had 3 movies mailed to me.. two of which were wrong. The next movie never showed up... So I am online now to look for a phone number to call so i can cancel my account. My money is tight right now and I dont want to pay a monthly fee to get crappy service...I think Ill try Netflix...
Hey maybe I'm not such a moron after all!
I tried to reset my password, and while they swear they have sent it to me, it never ended up in my email box. I still cannot cancel, nor find a way to contact them to try and do so via phone. I feel ya on this one. I cannot even enjoy the time I have left subscribing, because no password (and they ain't telling) means no queue.
Anna has clearly not had to deal with their customer service -- after my experience I've come to believe they only hire one-legged yaks with a hearing impairment.
Bob is right, online membership is EASY its so EASY A MORON CAN DO IT. But I suppose that your dumber than a moron cause you cant even CANCEL YOUR MEMBERSHIP RIGHT!
You seriously are complaining about putting the movies in your mailbox? Should blockbuster send an employee to your house to collect the movies for you? Or would it be too much trouble for you to open the door? These are the stupidest reasons to not have a blockbuster online membership. Cancelling is the easiest it can be. There is a link that says "Cancel Subscription" in the "My Account" section. Would you rather it said "Click here to cancel, you complete Moron!" You're also complaining about "owning" the movies YOU DONT RETURN. Are you kidding? You expect them to let you keep a movie forever and not have to pay to own it? You get a MONTH to return it, if you can't do it by then, maybe you should forget the concept of RENTING all together.