So I was considering signing up for one of those online movie rental programs where they mail everything to you, but I wasn't sure whether I should go with Netflix or Blockbuster's plan.

Anyone have any advice or gripes with either company? Granted most people in Rolla probably procure their DVDs in other ways but I'm sure somebody knows something.

I believe Blockbuster is cheaper, and it had vastly better service and shipping times compared to Netflix

Looks like the prices are the same since last year BB raised their price to 17.99/month (same as netflix), however they do have a coupon for free in store movie rentals each week or so. That would be a nice bonus for me considering there's a blockbuster within walking distance of my apartment. I imagine I'll wind up going with them since I can just use the coupons while i wait for the movies in my queue to arrive.

Try to find out where the closest NetFlix and Blockbuster distribution centers are and you'll get a good idea on how well your service would be. I like NetFlix but that is only because I live in the same city as a distribution center.

Netflix: Bedford Park/Carol Stream/Chicago IL
Blockbuster: Chicago, IL

Considering I'm about 40 minutes drive from one of the larger hubs in the midwest I doubt I'll have much trouble with location centers. I guess mainly I'm looking for some anecdotal reviews. If I sign up I'll probably be in the "high rental" area where people that go with netflix seem to get fucked over and get their rentals "throttled down". No idea if Blockbuster has the same business practice but I'd imagine they would.

Considering the prices are the same and there's a blockbuster about 2 minutes from me (to use those once a week in store coupons) it seems like I'll wind up going with blockbuster.

you know i never noticed that ur sig was a quote from red dwarf... mainly bc i never noticed ur sig

Go with Blockbuster; vastly better service.

blockbuster is on its way out of business, and i have never cared for their service. but you get about the same deal, ive heard good and bad things about both services

Eh, looks like Blockbuster it is.

Yeah my avatar is The Cat from the "Backwards" episode just after he tries to take a reverse crap....

I have been using blockbuster for almost a year and I have loved it the whole time. The 2 free in-store rentals a month (or 1 free in-sotre rental a week) is a great deal especially if you want to to get a new release on tuesday or want to rent an $8+tax video game for free.

In Rolla the BB online service is often a whole two days slower than St. Louis. Which kindof sucks but from what I hear NetFlix is the exact same way, and have been expected of Throttling. Where they will get you your first few movies really fast but over time become slower on your turnaround. (My source for that is a Digg story discussion a while ago).

So if you haven't already decided to do it, I say go with BB.

I have netflix and they come from Kansas City, MO.

I got fed up with blockbuster online, I would have 7 things in my que such as a Anime series or TV show and they would be in order on my que such as disk 1....7. Three times Blockbuster would send my 1st, 3rd, 5th que instead of sending them in order. They would never be out of stock and when I would call or email them they would say it was because they shipped those first because they were closer to my location instead of going in the order of my que. Even saying that it was in stock, but they decided to ship them out of order.

So I'd end up having to wait a week before they'd get disk 1 and send disk 2.

At first I just had this written up as a simple mistake, but they did it to me 3 times in 9 months. Sometimes it wouldn't matter, but other times it would completely waste a week of rentals to fix their problem

I also had 2 lost DVD's
and 1 broken one on shipment.

It takes about a week turnaround to send them and get a new DVD back.


Just so everyone knows... if you cancel your blockbuster online service and say your switching to netflix they will send you an email after 15 mintues saying they'll only charge you 15.99 instead of 17.99 for 6 months.