[quote name='hostyl1']Their original Total Access was actually very competitive with netflix. I chose TA *over* netflix because the instore exchanges and the 2 monthly free game/movie coupons made it more attractive for about the same price. Moreover, you could do an in store exchange and they would send your next by mail title even before you returned the in store rental (so if on a 1 DVD program you could in reality hold two DVDs; the in store rental subject to in store policies.
Where they went wrong was:
1) Lack of advertising relative to netflix
2) About the same time netflix was adding streaming, BB:TA was cutting features (mainly the coupons and reducing in store exchanges) and raising prices.
So "years ago" BBV *was* doing the right thing contrary to your assertion. It was subsequent to that that they 'lost their way'. This is more a return to form so to speak and we'll see how it goes. But without advertising, I dont see how it will help.[/QUOTE]
I remember this, BBV actually managed to get me away from Netflix, course at the time this was when I was still renting tons of DVD's and before Netflix Instant existed. Than they just started cutting the service and raising the prices, in the end I was only with them for like a month (plus, I have found the two times I have decided to actually pay for a month of BBV that the shipping times increased by upwards of 2 days once I was out of my trial; can't be entirely coincidence). Ultimately ended up back with Netflix. When Instant finally became substantial (it was pretty week for the first few months) I found myself having 1 DVD for months on end so when they offered a streaming only plan I went for it. There is so much on there and since the movie companies cut a deal that they'll only sell new DVD's to BBV rather than Netflix and Redbox for the first 30 days...
And to try and help alleviate some confusion, the BBV plan works like this: You get 1 disc at a time, whether game or movie. You can return your by mail rental in store for a free movie rental or a discounted game rental ($4.99 I believe, so $2 off). The in-store rental counts against your online queue though; so it's really like having a new rental instantly mailed to you. Once you return the in-store rental they will ship the next by mail rental to you. Hope that clears it up.
As some others and myself have noted though, it often took 2-3 days of "processing" before my next disc would ship and it took on average 2-3 days for the disc to arrive in my mailbox after that. Last time I did a free month it was 2 disc at a time and i only manged to get 4 disc the entire month (course I was doing games which do take longer, but I was also returning in store to speed up the process). I had one disc take over a week of "processing" before it finally shipped. The game's are a nice feature, but honestly, it's sort of a get what you pay for type of service in my opinion.
Also, something to consider. Netflix is raising their DVD plan prices because they are trying to get away from DVD's all together. Shipping cost make it significantly less profitable and clearly Netflix doesn't view it as worthwhile in the long term to keep up. (Plus, the more users they have only subscribing to instant gives them more bargaining leverage when working out digital distribution rights.) I only bring this up because if true, and FYI Gamefly has made the same statements about shipping cost seriously eating away at their profits, BBV will not be able to keep up these prices for very long.
