What DVD postal rental do you recommend?

W

witchymand

Registered User
Messages
85
I was thinking of signing up to renting DVD's by post, can anyone recommend any particular place?
Thanks
 
I use busybeedvd.com, so far it's been great, although you rarely get the DVDs in the top 4 or 5 of your wishlist (ie you have to submit a list of 10 DVDs you want to rent, in order of when you want them) - not a big deal so far, but if I don't get them in the next two or three batches I'll probably switch to Screenclick.
 
You might want to search this forum for some not so positive feedback on screenclick before you make the decision to join them - there were some unhappy campers out there!
 
I have been using moviestar.ie without complaint for the last 6 months or so.
 
I've used both screenclick (pricey but good service) and busybee (bloody awful!).

Screenclick I always got discs in my top 3 and all were good quality.

Switched to Busybee as they were cheaper and I got lower on my list, scratched disks - they have lousy customer service and took a direct debit payment after I cancelled my membership.

I wouldn't recommend BB to anyone!
 

In defence of BusyBee I've found their customer service to be excellent so far, and they always post out DVDs really quickly, ie if they get back my DVD today I'll get the new one tomorrow. For those reasons I'll be reluctant to leave them, but I'm beginning to tire of never getting my top 3 or 4 choices (including a 3 year old film they clearly haven't got, despite listing it, which I've been waiting for for a month). I'm posting back another DVD tomorrow and if I don't get something from my top 3 I'm going to move elsewhere. Only trouble is two friends of mine are with Screenclick and they say they're just as bad!
 

I use Screenclick and find them ok. I usually get something in my top 3 or so but I usually order a title a few weeks after it is brand new so that I am more likely to get it. (Same deal with "in person" renting from Xtravision - the newest titles are the hardest to keep in stock.)
 
Over on www.pigsback.com at the moment you can get [broken link removed] of Screenclick's 'silver' package (and earn 200 PiggyPoints for doing so).

Just don't forget to cancel before the end of the month if you don't want to remain signed up and be debited €19.99/month...
 
I've tried a couple of these services and found that the postal service is too slow to make the service worthwhile.

All these services are modelled on Netflix in the US. Over there, you'd get a DVD every couple of days if you timed it right. It was more like one a week here (if you were lucky) when I tried a couple of years ago. Maybe things have improved since then.
 

Yeah, the abysmal service provided by the post office is making these companies something of a non-runner. It has often taken five or six working days for DVDs to arrive despite being Dublin-to-Dublin post. Some look suspiciously mangled when they do finally appear.

This is something I've heard from a few others availing of the service too.
 

5 - 6 days sounds unlikely - must be an exception rather than the rule.

I myself usually get a 4 day turnaround. If I post one or two DVDs back on Monday or Tuesday, I pretty much always have new ones by Friday.
 
MonsieurBond said:
5 - 6 days sounds unlikely - must be an exception rather than the rule.

I myself usually get a 4 day turnaround. If I post one or two DVDs back on Monday or Tuesday, I pretty much always have new ones by Friday.
Click to expand...

I'd say it varies alot depending on the post office. Despite dropping the DVDs into the GPO every Monday morning for the past four weeks we've never once managed to receive new ones by Friday!
 
Have finally given up on BusyBee after, yet again, failing to get any of my top five or six choices in the post (it used to be my top two or three, but it's getting worse each time). The service was actually great, as mentioned above, DVDs arrived really quickly, but it's no damn good if their collection is that small.

So, acted on the very lovely Dr Moriarty's www.pigsback.com tip (), signed up for the Screenclick deal and within two days got two DVDs I'd been waiting for BusyBee to deliver for the past six weeks.

But - and it's a big one - BusyBee's '1 DVD at a time' price is €9.95-a-month, Screenclick's is €14.99 (unless I'm reading both their offers incorrectly) - that's a fair old difference, especially if you have a month where you only get to watch a couple of DVDs. Beginning to wonder if it would just be more sensible to go to the local DVD store........but - and it's an even bigger one - I usually return them late. Oh, decisions, decisions.

On the postal issue - I'm having no problems on that front, everything arriving speedily. At most it takes two days for them to get the returned DVD, at most it takes two days for the new one to arrive, but usually it's one day for both.
 
room305 said:
I'd say it varies alot depending on the post office. Despite dropping the DVDs into the GPO every Monday morning for the past four weeks we've never once managed to receive new ones by Friday!
Click to expand...

Perhaps. I post them in a city centre postbox and also get the DVDs delivered to work which is also city centre...
 
As mentioned above I decided to cancel my BusyBee account. Posted back the last DVD and emailed them about it. No skin off my hooter, but was surprised to get this reply from them:

"I have cancelled your account. It will be fully closed when we receive our discs back."

And that was it! Wouldn't you imagine, in a competitive market, that they might ask why you were cancelling the account and/or if there was anything they could do to improve their service, etc?
 
Posted my dvd back to screen click 7 days ago, still no sign of it arriving. I presume it is just a slow delivery, after hearing the statistics on postal times in ireland.
How come the british have much more ambitious delivery times for a much larger system? Its not as if a dublin to dublin delivery of a printed envelope has a major logistical problem associated with it.
My grandfather used work for P&T in the 40s and 50s. Apparently magazine companies used supply free copies to the post offices to stop postal subscriptions going missing back then!
 
Last edited:
I used screenclick for a while. Lots of scratched DVD's, and I didn't get what I wanted for ages. In the end I decided I can wait for it on TV, or for it to pop into the bargain bin for pretty much the same as the rental cost.
 
rte movie club, which seems to be a front for screenclick, have a free 2 week trial at the moment.
 
I'm using Moviestar.ie and I think they are quite good. I'm on the one at the time package, which in reality means one a week since we normally watch it at the weekend. Suits us fine. THe price is 13.99 per month, which works out at 3.50 per dvd. Includes postal delivery and return.

What I like about Moviestar is that we get to see more unusual films we can't find in the local videostore. Old films, foreign films. I have a long list of films I want to see and it's always exciting to see each week it's going to be. Obviously I wouldnt put films on the list that I dont want to see. I have never received any unplayable dvds. Mind you, I havent got my number one film yet!

We have seen some really excellent films and some less interesting films, but hey, our experience of films is increasing.

I normally return the film on a Monday to a city centre post box. By Tuesday they have recevied the film, and you can see online which film they have sent out next. I get it by Wednesday.

I originally had it delivered to our home address at the outskirts of Dublin, but it took way too long, because of the postal services. It is now delivered to my work address, which is city centre.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register