Latest Lovefilm excuse

[stricko]

My service from Lovefilm has gone backwards rapidly over the last few weeks. I'm on the 3 disk unlimited deal, but have only 1 disk sent since the middle of last week. I've talked to them, and emailed, and to be fair they have suspended my account payments until the problem is sorted, but I don't like the latest message I've just received from them.

"We are currently experiencing delays in receiving stock orders from
our suppliers and hope to have this resolved within the next week"

If I was being cynical, I would say this sounds like someone has not been paying their bills.

[etccarmageddon]

[Jiltz]

So it appears that they might also have a "Slow Turnaround" with paying their suppliers.

Hmmm.....

[WWW]

Sorry this is a bit long, but I feel like getting this off my chest! I'd been with Lovefilm since they were DVDSONTAP and had been really impressed until this new Fair Use / Play policy was introduced. I reluctantly cancelled this month as I just didn't think it was good value any more.

I was on the 3 disc package and since May I was lucky to get 3 discs a week when previously there'd be a same day turnaround, so I could get 6 discs a week. I wasn't on a mission to get my hands on as many DVDs as I could, but sometimes it's nice to watch a few in a week. I would have given them 5 stars...until they decided to limit the "unlimited" tariff. The whole fair use thing just doesn't add up - how is one customer able to rent more discs than another if they prevent you from having more than 3 a week!

I really like their website and the customer service used to be really good. When I noticed the slow turnaround I started emailing to find out what was happening, and if I could do anything to speed it up (maybe I had too many new films at the top of the list - that kind of thing). I felt disappointed by the response I got, previously emails from customer service were personalised, but they started to just copy & paste from the Terms and Conditions. I complained repeatedly and they eventually ran out of excuses, blamed the suppliers and offer me 2 weeks free. I still cancelled as it's painful to check the queue only to see that they've received your discs but not sending out a new one straight away.

When I phoned to cancel (blaming the Fair Play Policy) I mentioned that I'd read lots of other people saying the same thing on various internet forums. They dismissed this by saying that anyone can start a forum, and it's only a minority of people complaining who post rather than thousands of satisfied customers. Maybe, but when all the complainers are saying the same thing it proved to me that I wasn't alone!

I only hope that they reconsider this Fair Play nonsense or admit they can't offer an unlimited service for the prices they charge. I would consider paying more for a truly unlimited tariff, but Lovefilm would have to convince me they've changed before I would try them again!

I'm trying out a few other companies and it seems good so far, but I still prefer the Lovefilm website design to what I've seen elsewhere, what a shame they can't deliver like they used to.

Phew! Now I can move on with my life!

[Jiltz]

[discoballs]

Just got this e-mail today. Seems UNLIMITED is not really what it says. Will be cancelling when my current subscription expires.



Thank you for writing to us at LOVEFiLM.

We always do our best to get our customers the next discs they want as
soon as possible. In fact, 75% of what we ship each day is to
customers whose previous rentals arrived earlier that day.

However, we do operate a Fair Use Policy that aims to ensure a balanced
experience for all our members. This means that we give priority to
members who don't rent high numbers of discs from us. Therefore, members
who rent the most discs from us might experience lower mailing priority.
By allocating discs in this way we ensure a fair system for all
members.

The Fair Use Policy is in our Terms and Conditions and available for
you to read simply by clicking on the Terms and Conditions link at the
bottom of the home page.

Your next rentals will be sent on October 14, 2005.

Please feel free to contact us, in case of any further queries.

Yours Sincerely,

Luke Reynolds
LOVEFiLM Customer Services

[discoballs]

Just found this in the part where you invite someone (as if I would)


Just wanted to let you know about a great service called LOVEFiLM. You can rent as many DVDs as you like, keep them as long as you like and there are never any late fees.

No mention of fair use policy

[Jiltz]

[newbie1001]

Love films advertise on radio that when they receive a disk back they immediately send out another, a case of false advertising if there was 1 too be had

[waldopepper]

I'm no longer with them but I at least try to help others who might sign-up to LoveFilm.

I got so pissed off at their use of the term 'unlimited DVD rental' in their adverts to lure new customers in, that I complained to Trading Standards and a couple of other government run watchdogs. It seems as though they are actually (and unbelievably) on solid legal ground. Their terms and conditions state that service is limited to stock availability and this covers their asses. All emails and adverts mention the website, and if a link to the terms and conditions is displayed there then you have been given the opportunity to see them - it's up to you to read them yourself.

This still is deceptive to me - and I like to rib them about it every now then and again by phoning them and asking the service is unlimited, or limited.

Maybe you guys want to join me in phoning their customer support with the same question until they can't ignore the volume of calls about this complaint.

[waldopepper]

Looks like customers in the US did take matters into their own hands to protest against a similar 'fair-play' service:

http://cdn.netflix.com/us/corporate/settlement/summary_notice.pdf

[Marty73]