Netflix vs. Blockbuster – Why is Netflix winning?

good comments. the fact that Netflix streams unlimited titles was mentioned in the article – but really should have been emphasized: “Blockbuster’s pay-per-title version isn’t nearly as competitive as Netflix’s unlimited streaming at no extra charge”

To your #2 point, if the 24 hour expiration is for real then clearly blockbuster has no idea what they are doing.

Netflix allows streaming at no extra cost for old movies and with a low resolution. The 3.99$ at Blockbuster are for new releases in high resolution. Compare that to comcast: you pay 4.99$ per movie for 24hours.

Your all morons! Blockbuster will be the only store/mail order service releasing Warner, Sony, and other new releases first. Netflix thought it was a good Idea to delay them a month. F^%&ing stupid. Not only that they don’t charge extra for Blu-rays. They just started releasing Video games into the mix at no additional cost. Netflix is annoying. I have both and much more prefer watching my Warner Brother movies and Fox movies without having to wait a month. Come on people pull your heads from your ASS!

I have tried both in the last month with 3 dvds at a time option, and Netflix takes about two days so they receive my movie and 2 days so I receive my movie which I did not enjoy since, I would get around 3 DVDs a week. Yes movies on demand is a good thing but still limited library but good. On blockbuster I returned my blurays at the store since they don’t have an extra cost for blurays, the same day I received them “I watched them the same day” and got my next other blurays in 2 days. very fast watched a total of 6 movies that week blockbuster also gave me the advantage of 5 exchanges in store per month which I found very useful on a Friday night since shipping movies on a weekend is not a good idea including new releases and video games! Not month old releases. Overall netflix was the one with the idea and blockbuster has made it better by adding blurays and video games “no extra fee” and faster processing if you have a blockbuster store around you. ppl try blockbuster and you will surely enjoy and feel like you gotten you moneys worth.

For us, there’s no benefit of going with Blockbuster. If we want to watch a new release we go to RedBox (a block away) and pay $1, not $3.99. We love the options of videos that can be watched free on Netflix. Lately we’ve watched a lot of TV series (Arrested Development, Roswell, The Office). If the better half and I don’t agree on a movie choice we can actually stream two movies at a time on Netflix. Netflix is cheaper, and we don’t watch enough movies to make the two-day delay (one day to the warehouse, one day back) in receiving a new DVD a problem. For those of you that need to watch a new release everyday I can see the benefit of Blockbuster. Blockbuster also offers games, which I’m surprised Netflix hasn’t tried. There must not be any money in renting games.

I’ve had Netflix for about a year now. I was very happy with them and the process each time I got a movie, watched it and returned it. It was great while it lasted.

If you ever have to talk to customer service, they sound like robots. They always tell you the same thing. I was told to stagger my DVD returns so I can “have more chances at getting this dvd I wanted.” I was told that I am doing everything correctly. I was told they don’t have any control over moving me up in the queue. I mention this because each person said the same thing like reading from a script.

I am looking for Modern Family Disc 1. I was able to get the other 3 discs but I have been waiting since the disc released on Netflix. Now I have a DVR full of Season 2 and 3 other discs I am not wanting to watch yet till I get the first disc.

After numerous calls, I admit I was frustrated and wanted to look at other options. Then I saw a blockbuster ad. I went to their website to find out they offered somewhat of the same as Netflix. I just signed up for the 2 week trial and I am very curious to find out how this all works out. What appeals to me is the fact you can get game rentals through the mail. I also have access to the movies quicker than Netflix.

I was never the streaming movies person. I did sign up for Netflix because they offered the option through the Wii. However, the quality was not to my liking and I never streamed a movie from the Wii. I never watched one online either. I might have if I were still single but she won’t watch the computer screen for a movie.

To me, blockbuster stands out in the lime light. The fact I can go to a store location and swap out a disc is a neat concept for me because as I was looking the queue was a long wait time for a single movie but my nearest store had copies that were available. I don’t mind driving to go pick up a movie I am really interested in.

Netflix also just increased their rates to match Blockbuster. Netflix holds over the fact that they have streaming videos. Since that doesn’t apply to us, what good does that do me? I am able to get game rentals at the same rate of Netflix. I’m sold.

We’ll see what happens. I put Netflix on hold. I might just end up canceling them if Blockbuster works out better.

I don’t play video games, so I don’t care that Blockbuster offers them. My review is based solely on movie and TV show rentals.

I don’t do a lot of streaming, so none of my review addresses the streaming comparisons other have made, though from what I’ve read, Netflix does that one much better too.

Netflix does everything better. There isn’t a single thing Blockbuster offers that I like better than Netflix, and almost everything side by side Netflix does better.

-Blockbuster costs more. For the same plan, Blockbuster charges more. That’s a negative right off the bat. Why pay more when you can pay less? And, by the way, get less IMO.

-As near as I can tell, Blockbuster only ships/receives M-F, whereas Netflix ships/receives M-Sat. When I return a movie on Thursday, one on Friday, and one on Saturday to Netflix, I get a new one on Saturday, on Monday, and on Tuesday. Without fail. When I return one on Thursday, one on Friday, and one on Saturday with Blockbuster, I may or may not get a replacement on Saturday, and after that I get an email on Monday saying they’ve just received all the dvds I sent the end of the last week, and they are shipping out replacements. This time (today is Monday), they sent me an email saying they received the one I returned on Friday, and the two I returned on Saturday, but the one I returned on Friday was logged in last (so I think it sits on the bottom of the pile while they process all the ones just received), and they still haven’t sent out a replacement. So the one I sent back last Friday I won’t get a replacement for until Wednesday. That’s crazy.

-Their turnaround just seems to be slower by nature. With Netflix, I ALWAYS had a 2 day turnaround. With Blockbuster, it’s inconsistent, the movies are processed through their center later in the day than Netflix, whether or not they mail out a replacement that day or the next seems to be on their whim, and their movies sometimes show up the next day, but sometimes 2 days later, or longer. Netflix is farther away from me, but the movies ALWAYS arrive the next day after they ship them to me, or after I send them back.

-When a movie doesn’t arrive as scheduled with Netflix (which hardly ever happens), they are quick to send a replacement. They don’t care if you end up with 2 copies; you just send them both back. With Blockbuster, not only do you have to wait freaking 3 days to let them know the movie didn’t arrive, but you have to wait 3 days after the day they expected you to receive it, which is *2 DAYS* after they ship it. So even though it should be here on Wednesday, they are giving it until Thursday. If it hasn’t arrived by Thursday, you have to wait 3 days, but that is Sunday, so they don’t send a replacement until Monday, and you won’t get it until at least Tuesday – nearly a whole week later than you should have. With Netflix, you would have already received, watched, and returned the replacement in that amount of time. When the very first shipment they sent me of 3 dvds only yielded 2 dvds in my mailbox, I tried to file a report. It wouldn’t let me. I waited until the next day, and when it didn’t arrive, I tried to file a report. It wouldn’t let me, so I called and manually talked to someone. I was told to wait 3 more days. I said no, that I live only an hour from their processing center, that it should’ve been there the day before, and it absolutely should be there that day. I really wanted that movie first, and asked them again to please send a replacement. They agreed to send me a replacement as a courtesy, but then they didn’t. When it still hadn’t arrived the next week, I called and asked again. They agreed to send a replacement and they finally did. It was a good week after I initially ordered it before I received it.

-The return sleeves for Blockbuster are specific to the title, whereas with Netflix you can return any movie in any sleeve, or even two movies in one sleeve. So you don’t have to worry about keeping track of the return sleeve, and if you lose one, you can send two movies back in one envelope. That is so much more convenient than making sure to keep the title-specific return envelope with the movie at all times. I’m not that organized.

-And this is a really small thing (And I’ll grant that it probably applies to both Netflix and Blockbuster, but I never really noticed it much with Netflix because a)I love my Netflix and want to keep it, so I have several hundred titles in my queue, and therefore never get harassed about it, and also b)Because it wasn’t something Netflix did to me just minutes after opening my account, like Blockbuster did) but it is highly irritating:
EVERY time, including the very first day I opened the account, and had only had it for a few minutes, when I call Blockbuster, the conversation ends with the sales rep chastising me for not having enough movies in my queue. I have deliberately only maintained a certain number of titles in my Blockbuster account, because I’m only using it on a trial basis, but if this is information they feel they must impart to you every time, why not just include it in the message you listen to when you’re on hold waiting to talk to a rep? Then you know it’s a message for everyone, not specific to you, and it doesn’t waste your time because you hear it while you wait. But when I’m ready to hang up, and then I get to sit there and listen to them tell me I need to have more movies in my queue so my service is not interrupted, it annoys me. If they are really concerned about whether or not my service is interrupted, they should be open on Saturday, and process movies faster.

-I have no idea what this is about, but when I tried to go in and change my Blockbuster plan to not include the unlimited store exchange (even though I plan to cancel on the last day of the 4 week plan. Just in case something goes wrong, and they end up charging me anyway, I don’t want to be charged $34.99 when nearly half of that is something I don’t even use.) it wouldn’t let me change it because it kept saying they were unable to process my credit card on file. WTH? First of all, what does processing my credit card have to do with changing my plan? I’m not paying to change it. And secondly, why would they have trouble processing my credit card? The card is valid, and the same card I use for every other online purchase. I even transferred a few bucks into it just in case they were doing that $1.00 feeler to make sure the account was real. But that didn’t help. So now I have to call and talk to someone, which I don’t want to do, because then I get to listen to them chastising me for only having 4 movies in my queue right now…

The things you would think would be better about Blockbuster:
-They have videos sometimes sooner than Netflix. Big deal. I can wait.
-They have B&M locations you can trade your videos in. I like this in theory (except for me personally, the reason I started using Netflix over Redbox in the first place was because I live so far from town), but you can’t return in the mail the videos you get from the store. So if you’re making a trip into town, and instead of dropping your returns in the mail, you take them into the store to get new ones, you then have to bring them back to the store again for exchanges. Which defeats the whole purpose of doing this thing by mail in the first place. and if you want to go back to mail (which stops when you start using the store), you have to go back to the store with your videos, drop them off, not check out new ones, and then wait a few days for your replacements to arrive in the mail. I signed up for a free 4 week plan, and it was for the unlimited store exchange plan, which they otherwise charge nearly double for than they do their regular 3 dvds out at a time plan. I am here to say (IMO) it’s barely worth anything, let alone twice as much as their mail plan.

I am grateful I got 4 free weeks of movie rentals. That rocks no matter what, and I’m not complaining; I am just saying what I don’t like about it, and why I will not stay after the trial is over. I love and will remain loyal to Netflix because it’s a better service at a better price. Period.

they have so many rules and regulations they are completely forgetting about one thing — the customer is always right! that is rule one in retail!

brie please let us know what happens when you try to cancel! – mark

I HAVE ROKU BOX AND A 2WIRE FOR INTERNET AND A VIZIO TV-WHY CAN’T GET BLOCKBUSTER TO SHOW MOVIES. SO FAR NO ONE AT BLOCKBUSTER CAN SOLVE THIS. SARAH BYNUM

I just switched from Blockbuster to Netflix. It was a terrible decision. I’m switching back to Blockbuster immediately. Netflix has absolutely no new, good movies. If you look at the Netflix Top 100 rentals, only 5 of them are available for streaming. If you go to new arrivals, Shutter Island shows up, that came out on Blockbuster in June of 2010. How is a movie a year 1/2 old a new arrival? The fact that I can’t watch the movie Inception with streaming is ridiculous. And if I add dvds to my plan, I still can’t get the new movies that Blockbuster does. There is no competition between the two companies. Blockbuster is way better than Netflix. The only leg up Netflix has is the instant streaming; however, none of the movies available for instant streaming are any good or new.