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Why is Blockbuster at Home "very long wait" on so many movies?

7K views 53 replies 24 participants last post by  TheSpider 
#1 ·
This service seemed to work for me for a while. But then over the last few months there were more and more long wait and very long wait discs. Then this last month, my top 15 discs were all very long wait. Is there some short term buying problem or is my account messed up somehow or is this just some Dish belt tightening?

I turned BB at Home off for a while to look around. I went to turn on my old Netflix account, but I need to get streaming first to get Blu Ray rentals. I like the streaming, but I guess I have most of that on my Amazon Prime account anyhow. For the discs, Netflix has all except 1 ready to roll on Blu Ray (the 15 that were out of BB)

With the summer movies comming out, we have talked about how certain movies would be great on out big screeen theater, so just skip it. Right, but we haven't been getting though what's been out all winter!

I've been looking around for the best blend. The best bet woudl be if Dish got this service back working reasonably. I'm looking for 2-3 Blu Rays a month.

With all this streaming, and top notch OTA in Michigan, I'm not sure how long the Dish will stick around.

Any thoughts.
 
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#28 ·
chriscpmtmp said:
and lack of opaqueness of management. On the plus is the even with the lack of opaqueness
To paraphrase The Princess Bride, I don't think that word means what you think it means. I think what you were trying to say is a "lack of transparency". Unless of course you were trying to say Dish's management is indeed transparent, then in which case "lack of opaqueness" actually does work even if rather unconventually.
 
#29 ·
Yea, that was backwards. The opaqueness is bad, which is a lack of transparancy. S&P used the opaqueness term.

tsmacro said:
To paraphrase The Princess Bride, I don't think that word means what you think it means. I think what you were trying to say is a "lack of transparency". Unless of course you were trying to say Dish's management is indeed transparent, then in which case "lack of opaqueness" actually does work even if rather unconventually.
 
#30 ·
BqWUDUDj said:
I've recently gotten "We have shipped the next Blockbuster disc" e-mails within 24 hours of putting my previous dic in the mail. That's excellent. For instance, I returned a disc to the post office on Saturday afternoon and this morning (Monday) I found an e-mail from Dish.

Did Dish start doing something with the post office -- perhaps they paid for tracking of each disc envelope so they are notified nightly what discs are in the mail at the moment? Regardless, this is one improvement of the service.
I have seen this happening as well-though it seems that how, or where I mail something back, affects the turn around, i.e., I dropped a disc to return, at my supermarket's mail slot, and got the "shipping next disc" email the next day. Dropping the disc into my own mailbox, or a public box, may result in 6 to 8 days before I get that same email.

Though I typically watch films from several sources, I would hate to see BB go away, as it has been so convenient to take note of a film (old, new, or as yet unreleased), that we might want to see, put it in my queue, and forget about it until it arrives one day.

As I have said before, elsewhere, it helps a lot if one has many films one wants to see (and not all brand new/out this week) placed in the queue. You are less likely to get a "long wait" notice.
 
#32 ·
inazsully said:
They don't even have a catagory for 3D movies. I asked them why and they said "I have no idea".
I would say that they probably do not purchase 3-D copies, they cost extra and I doubt there would be high demand. I would settle for blu-ray copies of movies that I know are available on blu-ray, they can't even seem to manage that.
 
#33 ·
inazsully said:
They don't even have a catagory for 3D movies. I asked them why and they said "I have no idea".
I searched 3D and came up with lots of titles but very few clearly labeled 3D movies......even the Hugo's and Avatar's are not offered in the 3D format....BB is clearly not a leading movie rental provider, mail order rentals anyway.
 
#35 ·
Up till a few months ago BB was working out great for me. Today I get discs from Netflix (after the studio imposed wait) before I get them from BB. It's very likely that I cancel BB soon.
 
#37 ·
The other day I received a "survey" in regard to my "Happiness" with Blockbuster @Home disc service, probably from the message I sent at the beginning of the year and never heard back. It looks as though their system thinks I had a reply to "survey". No. So I took this opportunity to voice my "concern".

I basically outlined what has been said here including that fact that many of us think they will be going away soon. Below is the reply I got. Funny their longevity was not addressed. And what is described for the way newer releases are handled is completely opposite to what I experienced and said so when I wrote.

Thank you for contacting Blockbuster at Home.

I understand that you are waiting for the titles in your queue to be shipped. Let me check your account and assist you with your concern.

Our product is a shared service, much like any video store or movie library, and is designed to give our customers access to high quality entertainment at a fair price point by serving a large set of subscribers. The high demand we typically encounter for newer releases means that it may take us several weeks to satisfy the request of every customer, despite the large quantity of titles we periodically add to our inventory.

The availability indicator gives an estimated amount of time before we should be able to ship your title. It is dependent upon many factors including the number of copies we have, the popularity of the title, and your Queue preference. Many factors determine availability status. Availability is based on inventory throughout all distribution centers. As titles are checked in throughout the day, the status may also change accordingly.

Your issue is very important to us and is a priority. The management is fully aware of the availability issue and we are now on the process of acquiring more copies of these titles. Rest assured that you'll see the improvement on our title availability at the soonest possible time.

In order to take the best advantage of our service, I would encourage you to add as many of our 100,000+ title selection to your queue as possible. This will allow us to keep a constant flow of titles between our network of distribution centers and your home.

If there is anything else we may assist you with, please let us know.
 
#39 ·
The problem with disc in the mail is that many of these movies are simply not available on instant streaming. So in the mail or local rental is the only option. I really like the BB disc in the mail combined with the extra movie channels on E*. It's a good deal. Really, I think that disc in the mail has many years left due to the limited availability of streaming.

Our local blockbuster recently closed and it was the craziest thing. A few months ago they cleaned up the store, stuck new "enter" and "exit" labels on the doors, installed new signage, and then they closed. Maybe the marketing stuff was a last ditch effort to get up to some minimum sales level required to stay open? How many local blockbuster stores are left?

Maybe E* could buy Redbox??????
 
#40 ·
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of movies released in 3D. Why BB only stocks a few is a reason only they know. My last trwo included Green Lantern and Fright night. Both were very good. I can't imagine why they don't stock more titles. If you buy a new TV today in the mid price range or higher it will most likely be 3D. Since more and more customers buy new TV's every day it seems logical to assume that those folks might like to see what a 3D movie looks like without having to pay $30-$40 to buy a new release. I believe the new Star Trek and the new Iron Man movies in thjeaters now are also available in 3D. Red Box does not stock 3D movies either so maybe BB is missing an untapped source of new business. Hey, it's only profits.
 
#41 ·
Blockbuster went out of business... Dish bought them to get access to their customers and to their streaming content agreements... Another round of store closings has been happening in recent months... That surely answers the question of why there hasn't been investment to buy 3D or any movies in quantity for the rental business lately.

I am actually kind of surprised that Dish has kept the rental part of the business alive this long.
 
#43 ·
This seems reasonable, except that Dishnetwork added teh DVD rental as a bundled service witheh extra channels. So they enticed people to joind, then let us down. I tried redbox, but it seems primitive to make extra trips to return a free rental disc I didn't have time to watch so I woudl not get charged more.

Stewart Vernon said:
Blockbuster went out of business... Dish bought them to get access to their customers and to their streaming content agreements... Another round of store closings has been happening in recent months... That surely answers the question of why there hasn't been investment to buy 3D or any movies in quantity for the rental business lately.

I am actually kind of surprised that Dish has kept the rental part of the business alive this long.
 
#44 ·
chriscpmtmp said:
This seems reasonable, except that Dishnetwork added teh DVD rental as a bundled service witheh extra channels. So they enticed people to joind, then let us down. I tried redbox, but it seems primitive to make extra trips to return a free rental disc I didn't have time to watch so I woudl not get charged more.
It depends on how far you lived from a Redbox kiosk. Like for me I have 2 that are around 6 minutes away. Something neat Redbox did is team with Verizon to offer a streaming service where you can get points to use for a free kiosk rental. Last I checked though, their streaming selection wasn't that good.
 
#45 ·
Stewart Vernon said:
Blockbuster went out of business... Dish bought them to get access to their customers and to their streaming content agreements... Another round of store closings has been happening in recent months... That surely answers the question of why there hasn't been investment to buy 3D or any movies in quantity for the rental business lately.

I am actually kind of surprised that Dish has kept the rental part of the business alive this long.
That's a cold answer Stewart but an apt indication of Dish's true concern for the good old customer. We were baited plain and simple. Promise us this nice package program then water it down to the point of irrelevence.
 
#46 ·
inazsully said:
That's a cold answer Stewart but an apt indication of Dish's true concern for the good old customer. We were baited plain and simple. Promise us this nice package program then water it down to the point of irrelevence.
Yeah... It reads colder than I meant it... I didn't mean to be cold to Dish customers... it was more just a reality-accepting thing that I never expected Blockbuster to still be here this long. I suggested some good ways to keep them around when the buyout first happened... but I never got the impression that Dish had a goal of keeping Blockbuster going.
 
#47 ·
I suppose. I look at an extra trip, even if its 6 minutes each way, as extra overhead. Extra trips, like interest, are a drain on life, so I try to avoid them. This seems to be the only reasonable option for me though.

Volatility said:
It depends on how far you lived from a Redbox kiosk. Like for me I have 2 that are around 6 minutes away. Something neat Redbox did is team with Verizon to offer a streaming service where you can get points to use for a free kiosk rental. Last I checked though, their streaking selection wasn't that good.
 
#48 ·
chriscpmtmp said:
I suppose. I look at an extra trip, even if its 6 minutes each way, as extra overhead. Extra trips, like interest, are a drain on life, so I try to avoid them. This seems to be the only reasonable option for me though.
True. I myself do not use Blockbuster at Home or Netflix or any kind of DVD by mail service as once you are past the new customer stage they throttle you on queue on some titles. Basically that is why it has very long wait. New customers have first dibs. Nothing wrong with that though, makes sense. One thing about Blockbuster at home I liked when I had it though is the video game option which is like Gamefly. That was a plus.
 
#49 ·
I had this plan a few years ago and don't expect to get the new movies until 3 months later. Called customer service many times and transfer to an oversea department in the Phillipines who told me the new movies is based on priority. Right now, I trust Redbox. Even the remaining Blockbuster stores only get 5-10 copies per movie and never you walk in the store, you ill ind he new release titles.
 
#50 ·
I am not very concerned about BB stocking 3D movies for the mail service. That's a very small, niche market at this point. Look at ESPN closing down its 3D network. BB needs to add more DVDs and more BluRay and skip 3D. When 3D starts to get some market share, then BB could look to add 3D titles.

Thanks,
 
#51 ·
lee635 said:
I am not very concerned about BB stocking 3D movies for the mail service. That's a very small, niche market at this point. Look at ESPN closing down its 3D network. BB needs to add more DVDs and more BluRay and skip 3D. When 3D starts to get some market share, then BB could look to add 3D titles.

Thanks,
I could not disagree more. If it's a nitch market that's because BB doesn't even have a 3D catagory to look in. The only way to watch 3D on your 3D TV (Every mid-priced and up TV sold today is a 3D TV) is via blu-ray 3D movies. There are hundreds of 3D movies out there right now and more being added every week. The only available avenue to watch one is to buy it (very expensice @ over $35 retail on most). Most 3DTV owners certainly at least want to try it and see if they like it. My wife and I love watching well made 3D movies (Avatar, Life of Pi, Ice Age, Shrek, Jurassic Park, Brave) on our TV. As do all of our friends and neighbors. So many of the big release movies coming out (Lone Ranger etc) are available in 3D. With tens of thousands of 3D TV's being sold this year alone how can BB not think there is a market. Especially considering we will probably never see 3D on broadcast TV which makes blu-ray 3D the only game in town for anything 3D. Want to increase membership, offer something the other guys don't offer. 3D. Do it first and do it BIG. No "Very High Demand" or "High Demand". Big stock ='s Big Happy Customers. All those new 3D TV's = new members. Of course that's assuming Dish really wants new members. That's quite debatable.
 
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