(2)TIP- GET NEW RELEASES SOONER.
You can put movies in your QUEUE LONG BEFORE THEY ARE RELEASED. Keep them in your #1 spot and you’ll get your copy mailed the SAME DAY the DVD is released.

(3). My BB vs NF COMPARISON.
I’ve had both Netflix and BB for 2 years, and BB is routinely slower for me. Also, I feel like BB pulled a “bait & switch”. I started out with in-store exchanges as a free bonus, so I was ticked when I suddenly had to pay extra for it, even though I rarely used it.
I signed up for mail/download DVDs because I DIDN’T HAVE TIME to hang out at a video store, so BB’s store exchange program is not a deal breaker for me. (They’re always OUT of whatever I want anyway – whereas they’re RARELY delayed online. With NF, “long waits”, seem to come on time (or within a few days) anyway. (for me at least). I Haven’t had the same luck with BB’s “waits”.

Another NF TIP. I did discover that sometimes I have to search the name of a new release I want from NF. For some reason, they’re not always listed in their popular new releases, even though they DO HAVE the new DVD.

Bottom line. I PLAN TO DROP BB – In all fairness however, I need to point out that my BB return center in Sacramento is 100 mile away, and my NF center is only 20 miles (SanFrancisco). (Although I do get other letters from Sacto in a day). It’s possible the SACTO BB center is BUSY and UNDERSTAFFED — (and the SF NetFlix center isn’t.) So it may just be MY BB center that has delays, but I also had problems with BB’s customer service.

Anyway, that’s my personal experiences.
Hope it’s helpful to someone.
Shari

You forgot one Netflix benifit (they almost took this away a few months ago but got a lot of complaints). Netflix allows you to create different profiles or queues for each person. My husband and I have our our lists and I get 1 DVD from the top of mine, he gets 1 from the top of his. When he left town for a week I just reassigned so both of our DVD’s came from my queue.

Mindful for anyone on Netflix who wants to put their account on hold (up to 90 days) or downgrade your account it does not pro-rate to take place immediately. It will take place at the next billing cycle. I missed the end of the billing cycle by 1 DAY and ended up canceling the hold becauase it would not have taken effect till the end of the next month.

Of course if you want to upgrade, it takes place immediately, you are charged a pro-rated amount for the rest of that billing cycle and they ship you 1 more DVD right away.

@ubownman – I never experienced extended delays after downgrading, but then I never got my movies next day either! It is almost always 1 business day in between from when I ship it to when I get the next one. Maybe that was just a coincidence and something else has affected the rate of delivery at the same time you downgraded?

I decided to play around with the other plans to save some money, tried the 1-at-a-time and it proved to be so not worth the savings. The 2-at-a-time is really the best for my personal needs and the money.

I can only speculate this but it really seems like I am being treated like a second-class customer since I bumped my plan down. The movies now take 3 days both ways. I suspect it is NOT my post office as I am in the same address and all my other mail is fine.
I am going to give Blockbuster a try as their plans are so close in price. I’m not even sure at this point if it is worth me complaining to Netflix. It is a shame that they would do this do their loyal customers.

That is hilarious! Thanks for sharing!

Mindful-Money: Based on what I have heard, Netflix is probably the better choice for music DVDs. You can try their service for free with the Netflix Free Trial Coupon Code, or you can try blockbuster free as well – Blockbuster Total Access free trial. In both cases you can end your subscription without paying anything if the service doesn’t meet your needs. Just be sure to read the fine print, because these deals are constantly changing!

Also . . . not sure if its still true, but didnt Blockbuster used to ‘censor’ their selections offered? i know the in store rentals sure did. Anything that had the slightest hint of well, anything, it seemed . . . just wasnt available.

Discouraging.

I’ve never had problems with Netflix, other than one DVD that arrived broken. I went back and for 2005, 2006, 2007 i added up my monthly rates and divided it by the number of movies i had rented in those years . . . and the average cost worked out to be $1.67, $1.65 and $1.59. Not a bad deal at all.