My views on a few rental companies.

[Jaamy]

Hi.

Nice site, lots of info so i'd like to add a bit

I have been trying out a few of the free trials offered by these companies and here's what i thought!

Blockbuster

2 week trial. Paid for 1 month extra at £13.99

Good Points

Very fast turnaround. Always sent out another title the same day as they received one back from me.

Good website. Easy to get around and nicely laid out. Vitually every title has a picture of cover.

2 disc sets are classed as ONE rental.

They work on Saturday's!

Bad Points

Rarely got anything from top 10, sometimes even top 20! Had the same title at number 1 in my list for the entire 6 weeks i was with them.

Poor condition of discs. Almost all were scratched and covered in finger prints. 5 titles refused to play as they looked as though a tiger had rented them before me. One even had what looked like a blob of jam on it!

Tesco DVD rental

2 week free trial. Now cancelled.

Good Points

Most titles sent were in top 5 of my list.

Good condition discs. Hardly any scratches or fingerprints. All played fine.

Bad Points

2disc titles are classed as TWO rentals. Although you can specify just the main disc if you want.

Erratic turnaround. Sometimes they would send another title as soon as they received one from me and other times it would take days.

Poor website. Badly laid out and most titles don't have display case picture shown.

They don't seem to work on Saturdays.

Sainsbury's DVD rental

One month free trial. Currently on week 3.

Good Points

Pretty quick turnaround. Only 1 title so far not sent same day as receiving one back from me. It was sent the following day

All titles sent so far are in my top10.

Good condition discs

Bad Points

Again 2disc titles as classed as two rentals!

Lots of titles on website don't have display case picture.

Constantly having to update my preferences on website to receive email on titles sent.

They don't seem to work on Saturdays.

WHSmith DVD rental

One month free trial. Currently on week 2.

Good points

Good turnaround.

Good condition discs.

Most titles sent so far have been from my top10. One was number 11.

Bad Points

Website virtually the same as Sainsburys (both Lovefilm) so same problems.

2disc titles classed as two rentals.

They don't seem to work on Saturdays.


So there you have it. Hope it's some use to anyone thinking about any of these 4 companies.

What i will mention though is i have received around 50 discs in total from the 4 companies and not ONE has been lost in post, gone missing etc so far!

Cheers!

[KrazyKel]

So far i have tried
Blockbuster
ScreenSelect
and WHSmith (LoveFilm)

i started with blockbuster and found that good but i was just using some of the trials, then had screenselect which i found was really good and was getting very fast turnaround and most of the time i had dvds from the top 10 of my list but over the last few months it has gone downhill and not getting the dvds i wanted.
then moved to lovefilm - WHSmith one and that was really good to start with but latley they havent been as good - waiting several days for them to send my next rentals after they had already recieved them

not sure what to try next.... im going to cancel lovefilm at the end of this month

[Jaamy]

UPDATE.

Both WHSmith and Sainsbury's turnaround have gone downhill abit.

Sent last crop back Friday, which were shown recieved Monday. No new orders preocessed since.

They are both Lovefilm and i've read a few posts about their 'fair play' policy so maybe i'm being 'slowed down' abit.

On my last week free trial with Sainsbury's and have a week and a half left with WHSmith.

[cassiopaya_r]

jaamy, how can you have 2 free trials that are both powered by lovefilm (and at the same time too it appears) ?

[Slider]

If there are subtle differences in the address, then it is possible. Just dont get caught else they will charge you.