As long time readers know, I have been a Netflix subscriber for over three years. And during that time, I have been a very satisfied customer. Their selection of DVD’s is outstanding and their customer service has been exemplary.
I have watched their prices go from $19.95 per month to $21.95, to the current price of $17.99 per month. Recently, Blockbuster came out with the same kind of program for the price of $14.99 per month. As I wrote here in one of my blogs, I decided to stay with Netflix because I was so pleased with their overall service.
But after some consideration, I decided to try Blockbuster for two weeks because it was free for that time and I wanted to write a blog comparing the two services. What follows here is my head-to-head comparison of the two video rental mail services. I think you will find at the end of my review that the choice of which company is better is an easy one to make.
Basics – How the System Works
First of all, video rental services such as Netflix and Blockbuster that use the US Postal Service to transport your video selections, only rent DVD’s. Neither company (nor any others that I am aware of) rent videotapes. So, you must have a DVD player. As DVD players have become so inexpensive, videotapes are starting to fade away into the sunset anyway.
Second, you need to be connected to the Internet as all of your video selections are done online. Since you are reading this blog via the Net, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.
Third, your monthly fees are paid for automatically each month via credit card. For $14.99 a month with Blockbuster and $17.99 at Netflix, you get to have three DVD’s out at any one time. For a higher monthly fee, you can have more DVD’s out at any one time.
The first thing you do after signing up for the service online is to create a “Queue” of the films you want to rent. You keep this queue updated continuously as new DVD’s come out or as you hear about films or TV shows that you want to see. You just add them to your queue in order of preference that you want to see them.
After viewing a DVD and sending it back, the rental company will then take the next film at the top of your queue and automatically ship it off to you (if it is available). You can change the order of your queue at anytime and add and remove selections at will. I currently have 70 films in my queue at Netflix. My Blockbuster queue, which is now cancelled, had over 20 films listed.
As already mentioned, US Mail handles all shipping. Both companies us unique envelopes that allow you to mail back the DVD in the same envelope that it came in. All postage is part of your monthly fee so no additional postage is required. Both companies make it as easy as possible to get the movies back to them.
One thing that both companies encourage you to do is to rate the movies you have seen to help out other customers and to make yourself aware that you have already seen this film. I have found the latter to be very helpful, especially when dealing with DVD’s of TV shows that are released slowly over a few years. A long running show such as Midsomer Murders releases about 6 new episodes every six months, and having the previous episodes marked with my ratings tells me at a glance which ones I have seen so I won’t “double rent” one.
In the next installment, I will start comparing the two services head-to-head.
No comments:
Post a Comment