NetFlix Forced To Drop Prices
There is a major war going on, and the main one isn’t even the HD format wars. No sir, it’s the online/mail dvd rental business wars with the main combatants being NetFlix and Blockbuster. For a long time NetFlix was really dominating… but a couple of things have happened that have made a fight out of it.
First of all came the revelation that NetFlix was “throttling” it’s costumers. In other words, those who used the service the most were purposefully being pushed down in the waiting que for movies. This ticked a lot of heavy users off. Then Blockbuster introduced some wonderful ideas by letting people return their movies at the store if they wanted to, and getting additional free rentals if they do. I’m no Blockbuster supporter, but that move was genius.
This year so far NetFlix stock has dropped by 24% and they’re feeling lthe pinch not only from Blockbuster, but also the developing downloading services. in response, they have just recently announced that they are dropping their prices in an attempt to fight back. IMDB reports:
it is reducing the price of its two most popular subscription plans by $1.00 per month — $16.99 for the plan allowing customers to keep up to three DVDs at a time and $8.99 for the plan allowing them to keep one.
Nothing serves costumers better than a good old fashioned price war! Let’s hope Blockbuster is now forced to respond by offering something new as well.
1. Matt Kjesbo replies at 24th July 2007, 12:52 pm :
Ahhh…now I get why full stories were taken off of the main pages. Ads.
Personally, I was always on the verge of joining Netflix but Blockbuster actually got me over the hump with there service. It’s been about 6 months and I love it.
When I still worked a Best Buy HQ they had a partnership with Netflix (I think they own a piece of it). But this partnership only allow Netflix to sell more membership. They now need a partner who can offers something extra to the consumer.
2. Reed replies at 24th July 2007, 12:57 pm :
I can’t shake the feeling that Blockbuster ripped Netflix off. Plus, they still have a ton of Pan&Scan DVDs floating around their system because for years that’s all they would stock. I don’t like being throttled, but nothing gets me crazier than a DVD that only shows me half the movie.
3. John replies at 24th July 2007, 1:01 pm :
You know, Blockbuster has come a long way over the past few years. They dropped late fees (meaning those 2 day rentals are more like 9 day rentals), they offer the in-store exchange, and have a very fast turnaround time for delivering new DVDs to customers mail boxes. My one fear of all this is that Blockbuster will eventually win and then go back it’s tyrannical business practices.
4. Alex replies at 24th July 2007, 1:14 pm :
Blockbuster started the no late fee, but they got sued because if you didn’t return the movie they would just charge you for the price of the movie. Can’t stand Blockbuster. Because of their shady practices and because they wouldn’t carry unrated or NC-17 films is why I refuse to use them. I have never had a problem with Netflix so I’m sticking with them.
5. scoville replies at 24th July 2007, 1:36 pm :
I have thought about switching to Blockbuster, but after a good friend of mine did that and had all sorts of problems that he never had with Netflix, he switched back.
He told me that the in-store return was nice, but he had to use it all the time (when it wasn’t convenient) because they kept shipping him the wrong movies.
The media also forgets to mention Netflix’s own online streaming service, which works extremely well. That is enough for me to counter blockbuster’s in store rental without having to drive anywhere.
I’m happy with Netflix right now, even if it does cost more.
6. John replies at 24th July 2007, 2:23 pm :
Sure you don’t have to drive anywhere, you’re just stuck sitting in front of your computer for 2+ hours in order to watch a movie. Which isn’t fun, entertaining or relaxing in the slightest.
As for the whole “no late fees” suit, yeah, they certainly mucked that one up. Now they just remind you about the “seven day grace period.”
7. scoville replies at 24th July 2007, 3:25 pm :
“Sure you don’t have to drive anywhere, you’re just stuck sitting in front of your computer for 2+ hours in order to watch a movie. Which isn’t fun, entertaining or relaxing in the slightest.” -John
That really depends on your setup.
Some people have large monitors, nice speakers and comfortable seating setup to watch things on their computer.
Some people,(like me)can hook their laptop (or media center pc) up to their regular system and watch it in the same way they would watch a dvd.
8. Andy replies at 24th July 2007, 3:27 pm :
I stopped using Blockbuster a long time ago. We didn’t rent movies often. I went in one day feeling like seeing some movies and picked out a few. I got up to the counter and was informed that my account had been closed due to inactivity.
What was the length of time you could go without renting a movie before you were inactive? 90 days. 3 months.
What a joke. If they can’t spare a few bytes of disk storage to hold my account info they must not really want my business.
I dropped the movies on the counter, walked out and have never looked back.
I did stop using Netflix for a while because it seemed like I could never get the new movies. I decided to try them again a couple years ago and my account was still on their system waiting to be reactivated. Take that Blockbuster!
I haven’t had nearly the problems I had in the past with getting new releases. In fact I got Astronaut Farmer last week on it’s release day. Premonition is on it’s way after being on “Short Wait” for a few days.
As for John’s comment about sitting in front of your computer for a couple hours, it’s not that hard to hook your PC to most televisions these days. I have a computer in my home theater hooked to my front projection system. We can play games, surf the net and if we desire we can stream Netflix movies.
9. Jenny replies at 24th July 2007, 3:45 pm :
I have been content with Blockbuster. I’ve had it for about a year now and haven’t run into any problems, I got a wrong movie once, and for a month or so they kept sending me 3 movies instead of the two movies my plan provides for. I really didn’t mind.
10. Chisox replies at 24th July 2007, 4:48 pm :
I’m sad to hear that Netflix stocks have fallen so drastically. It’s very surprising because that rank as one of the highest in customer satisfaction. I hope they can rebound. As for blockbuster they can got fuck themselves. I have never been mistreated by a company as I was with blockbuster. If I want movies on the fly I’ll just go to Hollywood Videos.
It’s only a matter of time before blockbuster fuck their current customer over.
11. Drew replies at 24th July 2007, 5:05 pm :
Been a HEAVY Blockbuster user for 3 years. No problems, speedy delivery and the free rentals thing at the store kicks ass.
In response to a couple of comments above:
Have yet to come across Pan/Scan only titles. I think everything is widescreen now (except for some of the really older, obscure movies which is the only way they were ever released by the studio).
I’ve gotten plenty of NR movies from BB.
Every company has one or two horror stories out there and I’m sure BB is no different. But I’ve honestly never had an issue.
Overall, BB and NFlix are basically the same. Only difference is you get double the number of movies from BB for the same price (if you live near a store).
12. Joe replies at 24th July 2007, 5:47 pm :
ENTER YOUR COMMENTS HERE. Make sure you fill out the box below this one before submitting your comment
Well, I enjoy Netflix. However, I do see the convenience of going to a Blockbuster store. Like today…Netflix site has been down for almost 24hours, I sent in 3-movies hoping to change my queue before they send out new ones…no chance…curses!
13. Jose replies at 24th July 2007, 7:36 pm :
PEOPLE, Stick to your guns & stick to the original. I’ve been a long time customer of netflix and absolutely loathe assblister… I mean blockbuster. Netflix has alwasy been on time & fixed if any problems I had. Cockblis….I mean blockbuster has nothing but pan & scan dvds.
A very small library compared to the vast selection Netlfix has. I really hope netflix comes through with this fight. It carries all the nitche films (most-99%) that any true movie buff searches for. Blockbuster is the micheal bay of movie rental companies. All flash no substance. Their employees are all “Chuds” too.
14. Jarek replies at 24th July 2007, 9:25 pm :
I live at the Blockbuster stores around here (they know me by name).
Blockbuster does NOT have all pan and scan dvds around here, most of the films they stock are widescreen.
Blockbuster DOES stock Unrated films, but I have never seen NC-17 there.
My friend has Netflix and likes them, however if you go to http://www.complaints.com, they have loads of customer complaints explaining how impossible it is to cancel their accounts with them. I haven’t read Blockbuster’s complaints yet, so they could be worse or not. I don’t know. I’m going to research that tonight.
Personally, I’d go with Blockbuster because of the in-store thing and I hate Netflix’s attitude toward cancelled accounts. That could change though after I read Blockbuster’s complaints.
15. Jarekq replies at 24th July 2007, 9:36 pm :
Blockbuster has complaints, most notably about incompetent customer service and slow shipment. Hm. Maybe I will go with Netflix and just use Blockbuster as normal.
16. Meiran replies at 24th July 2007, 10:37 pm :
I’ve been a Netflix customer because of a free trial I tried and decided not to cancel. Back in 2001. Before I owned a DVD player.
No, really, I rented their DVDs and went to a friend’s place to watch them and didn’t give up the service because it was worth it to me. I got a DVD player BECAUSE of Netflix.
As for everybody’s complaints about throttling: it only happens with new releases and popular films! I’m so tired of everybody going on and on about it. I don’t rent new releases from Netflix, I rent them from Redbox (www.redbox.com) because it’s easier and cheaper. Be a saavy shopper.
I rent tv shows I didn’t have time to watch, or ones from the years when I couldn’t afford cable. I rent older movies I haven’t seen yet because I wasn’t born when they came out (Logan’s Run is next on my list), I rent anime to see if it’s any good.
That’s part of what really draws me to Netflix, it saved my bank account. It used to be, if you wanted to watch new anime you had to buy it. Now it’s all on Netflix, just waiting for me to rent it. Blockbuster’s selection could be just as good, I wouldn’t know personally, but I’ve heard it isn’t.
*shakes head* I guess everybody should go with what works for them, I guess they’re really about the same. But there’s no way I would trade 6 years of excellent customer service just to return things to the store. I don’t LIKE going to the video store, that’s why I got Netflix in the first place. There’s also some bad blood between me and Blockbuster, but that was before any of this happened.
I hate that there’s a “war.” Why can’t there be room for two services? It seems like there’d be enough customers for it.
17. John in Seattle replies at 24th July 2007, 11:52 pm :
I personally will never become a customer of Blockbuster. For me they are the Walmart of the Home Video Market. And my main problem with them is their imposing their “family values” on what they will or will not …
Hopefully this price change - and the additional Netflix Download service will help them stay viable.
18. Hobbit1978 replies at 25th July 2007, 7:37 am :
I have never used the subscription service of either Netflix or Blockbuster and I don’t plan on using them in the future. I don’t rent enough movies to make it worth my while. However, here’s a conversation I have with whomever is checking out my purchases everytime I go to my local Blockbuster:
Counter Person: Did you find everything ok?
Me: Yeah, thanks.
Counter Person: Can I have your card?
Me: Sure.
Counter Person: Oh…I see you’re not part of our Total Access plan.
Me: Nope.
Counter Person: Have you heard about it yet.
Me: Yeah, last time I was in here and you told me about it.
Counter Person: Well, did you go online and check out the benefits?
Me: No, I’m not interested in it.
Counter Person: Well, I don’t know why you wouldn’t be, it’s so great!
Me: Yeah, I don’t rent enough to make it worth the price per month.
Counter Person: I see you in here all the time! It would really save you money.
Me: No, it wouldn’t.
Counter Person: Yes, it would. I mean you’re spending at least 9.99 on these two movies right here and if you come in again at least once more this month and rent the same amount the plan would pay for itself! It’s a great deal and you’d REALLY save.
Me: Thanks but no.
Counter Person: Are you sure?!
Me: I’d just like to get my movie and go home. Plus, it’s Saturday night and the line is really long and you’re wasting my time. Just check me out and let me go home and watch this thing.
Counter Person: Well ok, but I’ll put this slip of paper in your box in case you want to go online later and check out the GREAT benefits you can have by joining our Total Access plan. Ok?
Me: WHATEVER!!! JUST CHECK ME OUT!!
Counter Person: Ok, well that will be 9.99. Oh, you’ve got a free rental coupon that you received by e-mail and you’re a gold member? *sigh* Crap! Well, this one is on the non-new release list anyways so you owe me $2.99.
Me: (Smiling) Thanks! See ya’ next month!
I hate Blockbuster for their high-pressure sales tactics now and it just holds the line up everytime they have to go through that sales pitch with each and every customer! Where are the days when the high school kid behind the counter would chat with me about his favorite director and suggest good movies that I, a loyal customer, would enjoy?! *sigh*
I miss thosed days.