Don’t use Love Film for your online DVD rentals October 2, 2007
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Artfully Deranged, The Film Industry , trackbackThe first month was great – too good, in fact – and there I was parading the virtues of online DVD rental and how perfect my supplier Love Film was. Oh dear, how wrong was I. Don’t let the ‘2 weeks free trial’ con you into thinking you’re getting a good deal!
I was with them for four months (actually five, but more on that later!) - using their £12.99 a month package which allows you to receive an unlimited amount of DVDs with two at home at any given time. For the final three months, I never once received a film I actually wanted.
At one point I received DVDs in the post, checked to see what they were, and sent them back immediately because I simply didn’t care to watch them. Part of the problem with renting films is that you have to watch them within a given time frame. Sometimes this can work out for the better, but the way online rental works - with your next DVDs sent out once you’ve returned your last ones - you only get your moneys worth if you power through around 4 films a week. Two things: 1) It’s hard to get through four films in a week when they aren’t ones you actually want; and 2) you are relying on Love Film to post out your DVDs promptly to beat Sunday’s lack of post.
Love Film pander to the needs of new customers leaving monthly subscribers out in the cold. For the first few weeks I received all the DVDs I wanted, promptly and in good condition. After my first month’s payment had been taken, I stopped receiving the films I wanted and only got films they force you to add to a wish list. Basically, if you don’t have twenty films on a list, they won’t send you a single film – or at least, I didn’t receive one when I struggled to list twenty. My problem with the list is that I only wanted brand new releases, perhaps two per week. I have a huge collection of DVDs at home, I wasn’t interested in catalogue titles. After a month, I’d run out of catalogue titles I wanted. When my list dwindled to less than the ‘recommended’ (actually read: necessary) twenty titles, nothing was sent out until I replenished the list, essentially, with films I didn’t want. I was left paying for a service I wasn’t getting.
Essentially, Love Film wants to be bigger than it can manage, at least at the present time, and I wouldn’t recommend using them as your online rental company. Their customer service is very poor, their inability to deliver on the customer’s need is even more damning, and they have a poor policy if you want to leave. I had to pay for another month of zero service because after ringing their customer service team (you have to phone them to cancel membership, you cannot do it online) I was told (a complete lie) that near the time of my next payment I could officially cancel my membership online. This was not the case. I called up on the day of my payment for the following month and because I had DVDs at home (they’d sent more out even though I’d notified them that I wanted to cancel my membership), I had to pay for another month. Terrible.
Rant Summary
Oh, the sacrifices we make for poor consumer services. Love Film’s enticing free trial is a waste of your time, your energy, and your money – don’t do it!
You won’t always get the DVDs you want, and their online system for telling you which titles may not be in stock/or there might be a long wait for, is flawed and most of time not working.
Their customer service is awful – don’t expect prompt email replies (or replies at all), don’t expect to receive the DVDs you think you should be getting (because they’ll send anything out after you’ve paid for your first month), and don’t expect it to be easy to cancel membership.
Comments»
I totally agree with you - I left LoveFilm a few months ago and would never go back. The worst customer service ever. Chloe x
Ouch
If you want to rent, I recommend Amazon for customer service and ease of use. Generally speaking, I get the title on top of my list unless it’s not available. Used them for a year and am very happy.
I am a very happy member of Lovefilm for about two years now.
I do however rent many older titles and american tv series that enable lovefilm to send me a variety of old and new. If you are interested in only new releases don’t bother with this type of rental service. Lovefilm have actually improved over the years, they use to send out tv series dvds not in order! They also apply ‘gentle’ pressure if you try to leave, although you can take a break from paying if you suspend your account while on holiday. The customer priority system does not work in my experience. They do have a huge range of dvds to choose from on the plus side.
I used LoveFIlm for 4 years (initially in their ScreenSelect guise), and was pretty happy with the service.
Online rental really is pretty useless if you actually want to watch a particular film on a particular night. So if thats what you’re after you’re better off sticking with shop based rental.
If, on the other hand you just want to catch up with films you’ve missed, watch old favourites, or revisit old TV series ‘as and when’, then it’s an extremely cheap way of doing it.
The problems listed above are common to all rental companies and unless you want to pay 2 or 3 times as much so that they can have vast stocks of every film, there’s not much to be done.
On the matter of leaving, the best method is to empty your queue a few days before your month expires and allow an extra day or so to get the last disks back. Then cancel online - provided you do it late in the evening when there are no CS staff around you can go through the entire process online.
In summary, LF are great if you have plenty of things you like to watch on an unplaned basis, but if you have a very restricted list of what you are prepared to watch at any particular time, forget it - the logistics of online DVD rental will never work for you unless you’re prepared to pay an absurdly high price.
You can cancel online after about 10pm at night, was trouble free when i did it at the end of August.
They were okay at first, but wouldn’t let me leave! bad customer service!
Signed on September 2006. Was not satisfied with service (never received top choices, got damaged discs, wrong discs in right envelope, etc. etc.). Decided to cancel service in early December, but am still being charged on my credit card. My emails are being ignored … just get automated responses saying my cancellation is “pending” because I still have a disc out on rental. This is a blatant lie … I returned the last disc I had on Dec. 7, and they acknowledged receiving an “empty envelope”. I KNOW the disc was in the envelope because I double checked before putting it in my local postbox. They are lying! In an effort to get out of this contract I have offered to pay for the alleged missing disc, or buy a new one and send it to them, but they do not respond at all to me offering this option to get shot of them! This is credit card fraud, I reckon … there is no phone number on the site to contact. I am going to have to close my credit card account at great inconvenience to myself in order to get shot of this company, or they will keep on charging me for a service I no longer want or use!! BE WARNED, ONCE THEY HAVE YOU, YOU CAN’T GET AWAY!!
Thanks for the info. Apparently this is usual practice for Lovefilm. They have the worst reviews of any by post DVD provider.
I`ve used Amazon`s DVD service for a year now and it`s faultless IMO. £9.99 for 6 films a month, they`ve always sent the films I ask for promptly and also offer a discount off DVD purchases. There`s been the odd DVD that`s been skipped but a tiny percentage. I couldn`t recommend it enough.
Out of interest, I took advantage of a free offer of a month’s trial with this company. Whilst completing the initial registration details I had to give my bank details so that if I continued after a month they could automatically debit my account with the following month’s fee of £9.99 (their minimum charge).
I ordered a dvd title and it arrived promptly. We watched it over Christmas and then decided not to continue with the free trial. Choices Video (there’s one near us) works better for us rather than a mail order company as we can go along and choose as the mood takes us .. rather than having to think a week or so in advance.
Earlier this year I phoned them to cancel on 2nd January (the direct debit was due on the 8th). I posted back by special delivery the dvd to ensure it arrived before the 8th.. as the lady on the phone advised. On the 9th they e-mailed me to say that the return had not been “processed” until the 9th January and so they had taken the £9.99 as my cancellation was after the 8th ……. and yet they had clearly received the dvd back on the 5th.
BE WARNED… A COSTLY FREE TRIAL FOR ME!!!
Mixed feelings about this. I agree with QPW in that, if you want one specific film on a specific night, cheap online rental will never satisfy! On the other hand, I’ve been using Love Film for the past few months and have watched a huge number of films over that time. Again, agreeing with QPW, I found they were excellent for mini-series (saw the whole of the West Wing Series 3 and Battlestar Galactica Series 1 in a fortnight) and older films and since this is what I’m interested in, I’ve had little cause for complaint. However, since last week they’ve suddenly gone rather quiet.
When - after my first free month’s trial - I threatened to cancel early last month, they offered to give me the next two months free, effectively giving me three free months’ rental. However, If you do want to cancel, I’d give at least ten days’ leeway as they are pretty harsh!
Interesting discussion. I’ve just recently rejoined LoveFilm after about 2 years away, and have no complaints at all.
However, I think that’s because it suits my needs perfectly. I have two lists set up - one for Xbox360 games and one for HD-DVD films - and I have 2 discs - one from each list - at any one time. This allows me to watch HD films without having to commit too much to one side of the battle, and to try games without spending £40 on something I’d get bored of in 2 weeks.
I did not sign up expecting to hire this week’s releases in the same way as I could walking in to Blockbuster on a Friday night. But in the same way, I wouldn’t expect to have access in BB to the massive catalogue available online.
LoveFilm works very well for me.
I had massive problems canceling, the didn’t honour my request and after I refused to pay because I had canceled (they of course had no record of it). They sent in a debt collector.
Basically, you will never get a new release, even if there is no indication on the website that a film is subject to a long or short (neither being defined) wait. Instead you have to put up with some random title from your rental list. This is made worse by your list being broken down into Low, Medium and High priority titles. The result is that you have no control whatsoever over what you receive.
Customer Service is extremely poor. Emails often go unanswered and if you do eventually get a reply they usually miss the point of your original email.
They claim to be Europe’s number one DVD rental site. Is Europe really that stupid? Avoid at all costs.
Fair comments but the whole idea that there’s a good way of canceling membership - that you can cancel online after 10pm, that you have to empty your queue a certain amount of days before your payment date - really only examples why this company are poor. None of this information is made available - at least clearly - and you’re left to work it out like Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code. Also, why would anyone sign up for a DVD rental company accepting the fact you can’t ever get brand new releases and that it only suits people who want older titles/TV/games etc. If they are out of stock, they should make you aware of this - they don’t! If they can’t supply new releases (because they give them all to new members on the free trial desperately attempting to snare them) then they should make this clear before you make your first payment.
Love Film was fine for a while but as time went on the cracks appeared, and as soon as you need to use their customer service, the walls fall down.
Recently received an email from them telling me: ‘’Congratulations, your account has been reactivated!'’ Commiserations more like! Anyway, of course, I hadn’t reactivated my account - in fact, I hadn’t been to the website since I left and why would I - yet the idiots that run the company had yet again messed up royally. They even left a code in the email to buy cheap DVDs off them. I ignored it but checked my account to see if they’d taken any money.
A few days later I received this email:
Dear Daniel,
Oops, we made a mistake. Recently, we sent you an email called “Congratulations – your discount DVD voucher is enclosed”. This was sent to you in error and, unless you have taken specific action to reactivate your LOVEFiLM account recently, does NOT mean that your account is now active.
We’re really really sorry this happened and are making every effort to make sure an error like this does not occur again – we hope you will forgive us.
Best Wishes
The LOVEFiLM.com Team
——————————————–
….even after leaving this company, they’re still haunting my dreams!
Add me to the list of people who have left LoveFilm.
Never got the films I wanted after the honeymoon period (funny how many others say the same) and the service became poor value when you take postage into account. Wouldn’t let me leave unless I phoned them and badgered me with emails and post after too.
Don’t bother.
Cheers for the comment Carlos, it means this article still has a lot of relevance.
Been with LoveFilm for over 2 years now and i have never had a single problem. They send out movies that are in your rental lists and nothing else. If you complain that you get movies you dont want why did you add it to the list in the first place? I have cancelled my account twice and rejoined and never had any problems. They are always happy to welcome you back. They even sent me a voucher for 3 months free rental! No complaints from me so far..
‘’If you complain that you get movies you dont want why did you add it to the list in the first place?'’
..Because without 20 titles in your rental list they won’t send anymore out until it is filled. Hence, adding films for the sake of it, and not always films you have an enthusiasm to see.
hi,i just joined up with this lot.i have received 1 dvd i added to my list of 12 and since i have received 3 dvds i have never even looked at never mind added to a list.whats that all about is there any way to stop them sending any old dvd.
regards
Another unsatisfied customer….lol! I think the way to stop them sending any old disc would be to increase your list from 12 to 20 or 25 I think. Of course, this means finding DVDs you don’t necessarily want - an obvious drawback with their system. Otherwise, cancel your membership by ringing them, then milk them for their free deals after that.
does anyone know the cancelling phone number?
If you’re struggling to find 20 titles to put on your rental list then it’s clear Love Film ain’t for you.
Similarly, if you only want 2 new release titles a week …. that’s very specific. I would stick to your local Blockbuster.
I’ve never had a problem with Love Film…..very happy with the service.
Of course, having a rental list of 3000 helps ensure I’m never without a film to watch.
Perhaps I need to get a life.
I have a problem! please help! I’m trying to cancell my account but I can’t I looked at the help page and they talk about a button that doesn’t exist! anyone know how I can cancel?
You have to ring up I think.
i have never had a problem with lovefilm
i get a DVD roughly a week,sometime 2 depending on how quick i get through the disks.
Sometimes get latest releases on the week of release eg no country for old men and rambo recently
There is a huge choice of back catalogue stuff and titles you simply cannot get offline such as JEFF MILLS - The Exhibitionist DVD, or for example i would never have gone to blockbusters for an obscure film such as aguire - wrath of god,it was for the latest releases.
A huge thumbs up for me. been with them for over a couple of years.
Tenner a month is simply great value
e nver s
Lovefilm are nothing less than fraudsters if they do not deliver what the customer requests having been offered it and he or she having paid for it. No ifs, buts or funny handshakes! Avoid this company they are cheats and liers. Now, Amazon - they knew how to do the job.
That is SOOO true — I was hugely disappointed when Love Film took over Amazon’s operation. At least with Amazon you knew when things were low availability, delayed, etc. - so you knew exactly when you were going to get what you ordered.
When I was on LoveFilm last summer, I regularly got ‘low priority’ items (only even *on* the list to make up my quota) sent to me rather than the ‘high priority’ discs I really wanted to see. And when I asked (by phone or e-mail) why that was happening, I never got an answer, just ‘we try to send things in our customers’ preference’, which clearly isn’t true.
I only hope they actually pay attention to comments such as these, and get better — though do they even have any competitors out there these days? If not, why should they bother?
I’ve been with ScreenSelect/LoveFilm for several years and I must say they’re fantastic.
I agree with the poster who said that this sort of service is not for the person who just wants new ‘blockbuster’ films. No online service could ever provide that.
My original plan was to join for six months, watch all the films Iactually wanted to watch, then leave. I’m still with then because I keep finding loads of stuff to add to my list.
Again, it’s ridiculous to add DVDs to your list that you don’t want to see. How many titles have they got altogether? 65000 or so? And you can’t find 20 good ones out of that lot?
On top of that: turn a round is always speedy, lost disks always sorted, and, again with the possible exception of videos released in the past week, the priority system works very well.
I’ve just finished my free trial early to upgrade my account because its going so well. I will wait to see if the service drops, but at the moment its great. I disagree you need to watch 4 films a week to make up for the price. That’s ridiculous. Dont know how much your local rental firm charges, but my blockbuster charges £3.75 per movie I think, plus petrol to get there and back, twice, means at £12.99 per month for the 2 DVD at home option is equivalent to 3 or 4 blockbuster movies per month. At the moment I get through about 12 from Lovefilm (3 per week say) so its a bargain.
The only issue is I am still waiting for my 1 high priority item, while I keep getting the low ones sent. But then it doesn’t really matter, I chose the low priority to watch at some time.
Both my wife and I used LoveFilm - one of us through the free trial and the other from when Amazon took over. First my wife decided to cancel and guess what - they claimed the last DVD she had, had never been received back at LF and so charged us an extra month while they messed us around. Eventually they admitted they had it. I’m just cancelling now and surprise surprise - they claim the DVD I sent back over a month ago has never arrived. Watch out, these guys are sharks - did Amazon realise what damage it does to their reputation when they handed over their reputation for good customer service to this lot?