Time 2 go back to netfli. BB just notified me that they are raising my fees to 24.99. I like the way the web site says unlimited online and in store for 17.99 but suddenly they devise this new plan. Goodbye BB. Funny BB (blockbuster) and BB (best buy) have something in common, they both stink.

Best Buy's Geek Squad really stinks. What are they doing repairing TV's? (it never was fixed) Best Buy is good for one thing. Cheap DVD-r's on sale.

I've had Netfix for almost a year now, no complaints, fast to replace unplayable discs which there were only two.

They rent HD-DVD and BD titles which is nice for the ones you want to see but would probably never buy.

I didint know Blockbuster was charging you for anything over five in store returns in a month. I hated Blockbuster the whole time I was a member.

I am not liking blockbuster at this moment, so netflix lowers its prices and blockbuster pulls this....

Due to changes in our subscription plan pricing, your current BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™ plan, Unlimited Online DVDs up to 3 at a time plus unlimited in-store exchanges each month for $17.99, will no longer be available at the current price.

You will be moved to our new plan that includes Unlimited Online DVDs 3 at a time plus up to 5 free* in-store exchanges for $17.99. This plan will not include an e-coupon for in-store DVD and/or game rentals. The new subscription plan and pricing will go into effect on your regular monthly billing date following August 31, 2007.†

In addition, exclusively for BLOCKBUSTER Total Access customers, we have introduced in-store movie rentals for $1.99* per movie should you need more than the in-store exchanges included in your plan.

I only rent from redbox :) it's the best.
www.redbox.com

You can't compete when you can exchange in store. it doesn't matter if netflix charged 10 dollars a month.

Can anyone tell me why being able to exchange in store would be a bad thing? Other then no block buster stores are around? I mean returning movies at the store, and walking out with another one off the shelf, I mean its pure genius and I agree competition is great! Gone are the days where a single movie costs you 4.25 and had to be returned the next day or face the 3 dollar late fee.

But you can compete when there are a lot of people who don't have a Blockbuster around, for example, my nearest blockbuster is 50 miles away.

And even when i lived in NYC and there was a blockbuster a short train ride away, it was STILL more convienient to do netflix than it was to get down to the store.

Sure, with Blockbuster you can just say "Hey, i want Movie X" and go down and pick it up, but that's really the only advantage of BB over NF IMHO.

"Other then no block buster stores are around?"

Well that's exactly it for most people. Blockbuster has been closing stores left and right. There use to be 5 stores in a 10 mile radius around where I live, now there's 3 and none closer than 5 miles out of my way of my typical driving habits. I know 5 miles isn't anything, but when its completely out of my way in a larger city, it tends to matter.

"Gone are the days where a single movie costs you 4.25"

Lucky me, where I live is a regional rental store (Family Video) where brand new releases are only $2.59 and its literally in walking distance of my house. Plus they have deals during the week where renting a new release gets you two free older movies. This is no lie, I just rented 7 movies last night for a grand total of $4.63!

BB is ruining the in-store return. They are limiting the number to five per month for their usual plan and charging two bucks for each in-store return after the alloted five.

They had a chance to bury Netflix but are shooting themselves in the foot.

Its not bad, but for me I just don't go through that many movies that I need to get another one instantly. If I have 3 nights in a row to watch, I'll have a new movie by the time the 4th night arrives.

And don't late fee's apply to movies taken from the store? Looking online at blockbuster.com, it states normal store policy applies to those movies.

Because my local Blockbuster never has the movies i want on the shelf, they are rude and it is inconvient compared to dropping it in my mailbox no matter how close it is. The selling point of Netflix to me is that i dont HAVE to go to a store.

Actually one can. I can rarely find new releases at the store and the movies or dvd's I'd really like to rent, the store doesn't carry and online it is either long long wait or available, but not available at that distribution point. Even when Netflix throttled rentals it wasn't quite as bad as Blockbuster has been this year. Netflix at least throttled maybe my first and second pick. but everything else shipped in the order they were in the queue. Not Blockbuster. Some dvd's are sent as much as 20-30 dvd's down the list. Even though most claim to be available to rent inside 1-30. I'd say such a drastic rate hike is a telling hint that all is not well at Blockbuster.

Haven't been to a family video store in years. And the one in Wausau WI let one smoke (I don't) and allowed pets right on in. I stopped because it was cash and check only

Not to mention netflix tends to have a much wider variety of movies. If there is a barely known title BB won't have bt chances are netflix does. I am going back to netflix.

speaking of rude, they insisted once that I never returned one of the in store dvd's once and I got decked the full price of that dvd. Where upon when I got mad, that looked it up and guess what, it was sitting on the shelf. I raised alot of hell about that one.

I got the email notification that I'm paying $16.99 for 4 DVDs out at a time. :)

Sweet! They reward loyal long time customers by grandfathering their old plans.

@terminalx

I agree 100%. Competition is what keeps the prices down. Now if AMD could only get back on track and 'force' that QX6850 down in price...

This is a good thing, I am curious if BB will react to this or not.

No matter what you think of BB if they weren't around their prices would never have gone down...

Competition is a good thing.

I hope both last a while as they both will be striving to do something more then they already are.

I keep seeing BB and think people are talking about Big Brother.. ha. Watching that show way too much. anyways..

I'm not so sure BlockBuster will respond quickly. Both companies are in a position financially where lowering prices any further could really start to affect their bottom lines. Neither companies financials are particularly strong.

Then again, I could be wrong and BB might see the potential gain is much more valuable than any losses they may incur..

I see BB and think of Best Buy. I loathe them but when you walk in with some knowledge and a handful of prices from thier competitors, you can get most anything close to 10 over cost.

I do it all the time, I got my Garmin Nuvi for close to half of what they were asking. Thankd god for internet stores that only want to make 30 bucks an item vs 50 points.

Silently?

I got a letter in the mail, AND an email.

There were also several news updates about it, and I thought I saw one of them right here on BetaNews.

So no, I wouldn't say it was "silent," or even quiet for that matter. They notified their customers and they sent out press releases.

Are you sure you're not thinking about the previous reduction from a couple of months ago? They made a big deal about that one since it was a move to match Blockbuster. I haven't seen any PR about this current move yet.

Okay, you know what? I'll admit it, I was wrong. :( Thanks for setting me straight!

I looked back and the email I got was in July when they did their price match. I thought it was longer ago (early July). I don't have the letter any more, but I know it arrived right about the same time as the email. It was supposed to go into effect with the next billing cycle, which for me was yesterday.

So, cool. Now a $24/yr savings. :)

Edited to add: According to Forbes, this is a trial being run by Netflix - only a small % of users are getting the price cut.

http://www.forbes.com/fe...07/08/16/ap4026677.html

Netflix Inc. is testing lower prices for some of its online DVD rental plans with some members, the company said on Thursday.

Netflix (nasdaq: NFLX - news - people ) is offering some members a $15.99 per month price for a plan that lets customers keep as many as three DVDs at a time without limiting how often they can mail them back for another disc. It is also testing a reduced cost of $12.99 for a similar plan that lets users keep two discs at a time with unlimited returns through the mail.

"Netflix is always testing prices. Some members, a small fraction of our total 6.7 million members, have been notified of a lower price on some of their plans. It is not across the board and it was not announced by the company. It is simply a price test," a company spokesman told The Associated Press.

"Netflix Inc. is testing lower prices for some of its online DVD rental plans with some members, the company said on Thursday."

Testing a price drop with current customers? That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard!!! What is there to test?!?!

Maybe to see if the drop is enough to keep them around? They can compare defection rates against thouse who don't have the lower price plan?

Haven't received my email yet. But this is good news.. for us subscribers anyway.

I haven't recieved an email yet, but i'll take $1 off /month, no sweat.

Got mine yesterday. Good news indeed.

"sorry, but after careful consideration we at NetFlix have decided that your membership is more profitable to us at its current rate of $16.99. Feel free to keep your current movie as long as you want as a token of our appreciation of your business." LOL!