Netflix or Blockbuster?

adamada

adamada

CAGiversary!
Ok, me & my roommates are going in on some type of unlimited DVD rental. Everyone that I've talked to has loved Netflix. But Blockbuster is cheaper and I could also get 2 in store DVD or GAME rentals.... the two free game rentals is attractive. And I've heard that you can turn in defective DVDs in-store for a faster replacement.
But I've also heard that Blockbuster has slightly slower shipping. Thoughts?
 
$14.99 + taxes for Blockbuster
$17.99 + taxes for Netflix
$17.36 + taxes for WalMart

all of these prices are for 3 rentals out at a time.

I've also noticed that Amazon has entered the UK market... nothing here in the states though.
 
I've been a netflix member for over 4 years, and it's great, they have pretty much any movie I've ever wanted to see...

I live about 20 miles from one of the netflix shipping centers so I get my DVDs in about a day. Which makes Netflix actually the cheaper choice for me because of the amount of dvds i can get per month. So that could be another factor to take into consideration.
 
i have tried both netflix and blockbuster and hands down netflix is much better than blockbuster. netflix took about a day to send my dvds while BB took about 2-3 days to ship to me
 
I tried Blockbuster and the turn time was horrible, 2-3 days to get a movie back. I've been using Netflix and I always get my movies back in 1 day. Plus I threatened to quit netflix and I have been paying $14.99 + tax for the last 3 months.
 
Blockbuster is cheaper and I live close to a fulfillment center so it really all depends on how close you are to the place that will be shipping you DVDS.
 
[quote name='H-Town Info']netflix took about a day to send my dvds while BB took about 2-3 days to ship to me[/quote]

Netflix took about a day to send my dvds when I first signed up, but over a period of months, their service slowed down until it finally took roughly a week to get a new DVD back after I mailed them the old one. This was also about the same time they jacked their rates up to over $20 a month, and that's when we cancelled our subscription.
 
Anyone have an idea of where all their fulfillment centers are? This could be helpful for potential customers. I would like to know how close they both are to New York.
 
I tried both. Netflix used to be super fast (1day), then they slowed down (3days) after a period of time. I don't know if this is true, but I heard they puposely slow down shipping if you order too many movies in a month therefore getting more for your money than they are. It's happened to a lot of people. I used to love them. They had any movie I could imagine! I really like documentaries, foriegn films and independent films so they pulled through on all my needs there.

Then I tried Blockbuster not because I wanted to, but because I was trying to get one of those free DS's (didn't work btw :mad: ). When I signed up for the trial, I couldn't help but admit in some ways Blockbuster was better than Netflix. They had faster times than Netflix did, they were cheaper, AND I got the two free in-store movie/game rentals free a month! Besides that, they give you coupons every month too. The two I got for the month were a buy two used for 15 (had to be 9.99 or under). That one wasn't so great. But the second one I got was 20% off new or used movie or game. That was cool. Besides that, I used to think they lacked in movie selection compared to Netflix but honestly I haven't found a movie that Netflix carried that Blockbuster didn't. I know Netflix must have more, but unless you're into the really out there stuff, I don't think you'd be unhappy with Blockbuster's selection. All and all, I used to be a Netflix fangirl, but now I've been converted. I love Blockbuster!

Oh yes, and the time it takes to get to your house DOES depend on how close you are to one of their wherehouses. One way to find out where they are is to just sign up for a trial for both and on the return envelope it'll tell you where it's going.
 
For Netflix the distribution centers are:
Austin, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Bedford Park, IL
Birmingham, AL/Duluth, GA L
Carol Stream/Chicago, IL
Chattanooga, TN
Cleveland, OH
Columbia, SC
Coppell, TX
Daytona, FL
Denver, CO
Flushing, NY
Fresno/Bakersfield, CA
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Gaithersburg, MD
Greensboro, NC
Hartford/Worcester, MA
Honolulu, HI
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN/Bowling Green, KY/Louisville, KY/Dayton, OH
Kansas City, MO
Lakeland/Tampa/Ft. Myers, FL
Lansing, MI
Las Vegas, NV
Manchester, NH
Minneapolis, MN
New Brunswick/Newark, NJ
Oklahoma City, OK
Orlando, FL
Paducah, KY
Phoenix, AZ
Pittsburgh, PA
Richmond, VA
Rochester, NY
Salem, OR
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Ana, CA
Southeastern/Philadelphia, PA
St. Louis, MO
Stamford, CT
Tacoma, WA
West Sacramento, CA


and for Blockbuster:
Original 10
---------------
Charlotte, NC
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Lansing, MI
Miami, FL
Minneapolis, MN
Flushing, NY
Sacramento, CA
Santa Ana, CA
Seattle, WA

13 New locations
-----------------
TX, Houston
MA, Worcester
MD, Gaithersburg
PA, Philadelphia
GA, Atlanta
NJ, Edison
IL, Chicago
MO, St. Louis
CT, Stamford
CA, San Jose
FL, Tampa
OH, Cleveland
AZ, Phoenix


So for me, its a wash in that respect. the closest center for both is Chicago for me.
 
i think the 2 instore rentals a month and the lower monthly fee make blockbuster the winner...i've done both flix service did slow down after their free trial...i kept blockbuster until i got tivo and XBL, now i don't watch too many movies.
 
As was already said, probably the most important factor is which one has a closer shipping center to you. Also, though, not all center's are necessarily equal: some centers may serve more customers and wind up being overloaded and slow, or some centers may simply be inefficiently managed. For that reason, even though both services are about equal overall, there's really no universally good answer for anyone.

Probably the best advice is to try both services for a month and see which one is faster at shipping. If you're happy with speed of the lower-priced Blockbuster service, go with that, but if the Netflix services is faster for you, it may be worth the extra couple of bucks.
 
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