Screenselect Merges with LOVEFiLM
Screenselect, the DVD rental service I was using, has finally merged completely with LOVEFiLM, under the latter brand. I was very happy with Screenselect, so it will be interesting to see if this changes anything, for better or for worse. I was using LOVEFiLM up to about a year ago. I left because they used throttling, but denied it when asked and blamed delays on the Royal Mail instead. I hope I don’t begin to experience this again, because I’m going to struggle to find another rental service with such a wide range of film I tend to like (including the more ‘arty’ stuff). Time will tell.
If my experience is anything to go by, it’s a case of “Come back Screenselect, all is forgiven”. I logged on the other day to see that my current titles allocated were “Randon Hearts” and “Firewall”. The first problem is that I’d already watched and returned “Random Hearts” so heaven knows why it didn’t come off my selection. The second is that “Firewall” has now been removed from my selection, and digging deeper they seem to think I returned it the same day they shipped it out. Given that the part of the Screenselect to Lovefilm change they slipped into the small print was a price increase, I’m not remotely impressed by the new service. I don’t want to hear their bleating about their new website and how much demand they’re having. I want discs to watch!
Matt
12 Oct 06 at 20:10:55
Well, I hope they get it sorted: sounds like database merge problems to me. My price doesn’t seem to have changed though: still on £14.99. Which package are you on?
Andrew Ferrier
13 Oct 06 at 09:10:54
I’m on the three-discs unlimited. In the email of 28 August they said it was going up by a quid a month. Perhaps they’ve changed their minds about that.
Matt
13 Oct 06 at 18:10:22
Perhaps – it still says £14.99 on their website. I might have missed that email though. I’ll wait and see…
andrewferrier
13 Oct 06 at 19:10:43
Just had an email from Lovefilm apologising for technical gremlins. They’ve given me two free days as compensation, so assuming everything goes back to normal now, I’m happy again.
Matt
15 Oct 06 at 16:10:58
Hmm, interesting, I didn’t see that myself: was it specifically for you?
andrewferrier
15 Oct 06 at 17:10:00
Andrew,
Firstly, let me reassure you about selection – we carry the combined stock from both companies warehouses in the new operation so you’ll actually have a wider selection of films, especially with some titles that were hard to find on DVD.
Matt – if your discs are going straight back to the warehouse, do a quick check for me and update your name and address. We has a problem with a small amount of accounts when they were using downloads, where the address was wiped. This might explain this particular issue.
Also – just for background – I was involved in the process of migrating everyone to the new platform and it was very hard work and incredibly complicated. To try and move several hundred thousand people onto a new system, preserve their rent lists and ensure all data was in good shape was probably the hardest project I’ve worked on. The good news is that some of the performance issues people experienced have been eliminated.
Keep the feedback coming – we want a dialogue with customers to continually improve the service. The fact that I go around looking for forum mentions and try to resolve these issues underlines my personal and the companys commitment to being in the loop.
mad_dog
21 Oct 06 at 15:10:29
mad_dog,
Thanks for the comments. It’s not the selection I have an issue with, though – I think the selection of LOVEFiLM and Screenselect was fine in my experience, so I’m sure the combination will be too. Initial impressions of coming back to LOVEFiLM aren’t too bad, just so long as I don’t end up back with the throttling/making up excuses problem. That’ll drive me away fast.
I’m sure that the merger was hard – although as a customer I’m not really bothered, as someone who works in software I can imagine how hard it is to merge your datasets. Kudos for having done it as well as you can. And bonus points for scanning blogs for customer feedback, although maybe a point or two dropped for pointing that out yourself
Keep the current level of service up.
andrewferrier
22 Oct 06 at 00:10:45
[...] Well, it looks like writing about customer service can have an effect. About two months back I wrote about how 82ASK had disappointed me – they found my prose, replied, and made it all OK. Now, another recent posting about the LOVEFiLM/Screenselect merger has elicited a comment from the LOVEFiLM team. They haven’t entirely addressed my concerns, but their proactive approach is encouraging, and might tip the balance in favour of hanging on, if and when problems do occur. [...]
Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Proactive Customer Service
22 Oct 06 at 01:10:51
Just a quick one to say that I really don’t think much to the new Lovefilm site.
I have been a member of Screenselect for a couple of years and had absolutely no problem with the merge and change of product to Lovefilm. I am very concerned however about the new website which I find very confusing and unusable.
When I go to the site I have to really work at finding where on earth I need to go to complete the most simple of tasks!
I agree with Matt – Come back Screenselect – all really is forgiven!!! Sob!
Lorna
24 Oct 06 at 08:10:04
Hi mad_dog,
Today is Thursday 26th October. I last received two DVDs from LoveFilm on 20/10/06. “A History of Violence” and “Fight Club”. I’ve returned them both. Since Monday 23rd my account has been showing that “A History of Violence” has not been returned and that my other title ( I’ve foolishly paid for two DVDs at a time for a YEAR ) is “Awaiting allocation”.
I’ve phoned ‘Head Office” in the UK and they told me to phone India, I phoned India and they tell me that it will be sorted in 24 hours. The trouble is they say that each day I phone. They then said to email “Head Office” at, support@lovefilm.com Is that not where I started?
I’ve emailed and asked if I can have my account balance refunded and go to pay monthly or close it altogether but no reply.
I note you say “we carry the combined stock from both companies warehouse” but it is no good if you don’t send any out. I have over 120 films in my queue so there must be something available or are you just not sending me any?
No DVDs at All
26 Oct 06 at 12:10:02
I have the same problems as “No DVDs at All” –
i) discs returned days ago, now my account says “waiting allocation” for my new shipments
ii) contacting customer services with email is completely fruitless. How can a company have the gall to think it is acceptable to tell me to expect a delay in answering my email when I have paid them for a full service? I suspect they have so many emails because their service is so shoody.
iii) calls to the Indian call centre are pointless. They have no useful information – they cannot tell me when my “waiting allocation” discs will be allocated and they cannot tell me what happens next.
I really want to cancel my 12 month subscription but I suspect I will get no refund so they have basically stolen my money under false pretences by accepting my payment for a certain level of service and then writing into the small print that they have no intention of honouring that service level and there is nothing I can do about it. Anyone not yet subscribed to Lovefilm or on a free trial should leave now before they part with any of their money.
Marc Bright
26 Oct 06 at 13:10:09
Ditto for me. Only on 1 DVD at a time and its now 2 days since they acknowledged receiving the last one and I have still not had one allocated.
ScreenSelect were great. Only had one small problem with delaysin two years. This takes the cake. Might have to move to Blockbuster…..
Richard Rudkin
26 Oct 06 at 14:10:45
Just phone the call centre. They are obviously trained to completely deflect questions with stock answers, here is the conversation:
After going through identification he asked me what my problem was. I told him I was waiting allocation and he asked me if I wanted to upgrade my account. I am on the “gold” account.
He then said the problem was that I did not have enough discs in my q:
call centre: you need to have at least 10 discs in your q
me: I have 96 discs
call centre: in that case the problem will be resolved in 24hrs, thank you and goodbye…
me: wait a minute! That is the answer I had 24 hours ago.
call centre: I promise you it will be resolved in 24 hrs, thank you and goodbye.
Brilliant. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is no actual connection between Lovefilm as the person I spoke to obviously could not access my account details and was promising me something he has no power to make happen.
I’d love to move but I stupidly signed up for a 12 month account so the thieves get to keep my money and provide a useless level of service.
Marc Bright
26 Oct 06 at 15:10:53
Oh Well it looks as if no one is going to be getting anything now. The last time this happened we were fobbed off with some excuse about merging databases and told to phone India. I make it several weeks now they’ve been “working as fast as possible” either they are not telling the truth or their fastest is not very fast at all.
Below is the current ‘home page’ for LoveFilm:
“LOVEFiLM is getting an update. Please bear with us
We’re currently doing essential maintenance work on our systems.
Unfortunately this means that we have had to temporarily close the website but can assure you that we are working as fast as possible and the website will return to normal as soon as possible. Please check back in a few hours.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you and hope that you will bear with us.
Once again, thank you for your patience during this time.”
No DVDs at All
26 Oct 06 at 22:10:05
Just phoned them again today. Now they say they have had a technical problem for a few days and have been unable to send out any discs. What a bunch of lowdown and dirty liars. For days they have been telling me this is just a normal “we are busy” delay and today they tell me it has been an IT problem for the last few days. Why tell me this now? Is this even true now?
As usual I was told I would have my discs despatched with the standard answer that means “please go away” i.e. 24 hours.
Marc Bright
27 Oct 06 at 10:10:45
Just cancelled my account – might rejoin when they get things sorted out. Also worth noting that instead of ringing 0870 number you can call 01279 770080 instead. Much cheaper and more satisfying when you don’t pay through the nose for ’support’.
Gavin
30 Oct 06 at 14:10:37
Service is back up and running now. As an apology they sent me one free rental.
One of the most annoying parts of this ordeal has been their refusal to accept blame, in fact they have tried to get me to see it from their point of view by using the old “unprecedented demand” excuse. Sorry, but is that anything to do with me? I didn’t sign up for “please send me X DVDs at a time but I will let you off when your greed for more business exceeds your ability to deliver…”.
The service level still is not as good as previous though. Discs are not registered as returned until 2 days after posting now, it was always 1 before.
Sigh…..
Marc Bright
10 Nov 06 at 11:11:15
I had the same issued with Lovefilm, which is turning out to be a breach of the trade descriptions act. Cancelled 26 Oct. Lo and behold on 3 November they re-activate my account and take another months money. Speaking to the CS people is like weading through treacle. You might as well be talking to the wall and the wall would be more helpful. Anyway I’ve since moved to Blockbuster and even though an not on free trial they are very fast.
John Smith
10 Nov 06 at 16:11:25
Looking at your comments I don’t think I will choose LoveFilm. Are they any other online DVD rentals that have a good customer satisfaction?
Mike D
23 Nov 06 at 12:11:49
Mike, I’m afraid I don’t know – I haven’t tried any others apart from Screenselect, who are now a part of LoveFilm. Perhaps this website might help though:
http://uk-dvd-rentals.co.uk/
andrewferrier
23 Nov 06 at 13:11:56
I Have just left lovefilm as they practiced throttling although i did not know the name for it when i had gone through dvd’s quite quickly there were sudden delays discs were awaiting allocation for 8 days thats not what I paid for and there are a lot of other companies out there anyway they are probably better off without me as i ma not a low user
Valiant
24 Nov 06 at 11:11:26
After getting fed up with the decline in service, today I decided to jump ship from Love film before things got any worse.
Just off the phone with Customer Services using the above 01279 770080 number (got straight through) – they tried to offer me 3 months for the price of 1 with “no contract involved” (Very dodgy sounding)! but I politely declined and got them to continue processing my cancellation. Apparently this has now been done – tomorrow is my next scheduled payment date so we shall see what happens there!
If you are going to cancel, I would first return all your DVDs, then immediately after posting them go and clear all your selections so they can’t “accidentally” post more out. Once you see that they have received your last rentals (”No selections currently at home” showing in your account), then call the number above and stick to your guns. Good luck!
David
27 Nov 06 at 16:11:32
[...] I’ve written before about my mixed relationship with LOVEFiLM. It’s now becoming obvious that, as I suspected might happen, the turnaround time for sending out DVDs is worsening again – my last five or so have all taken several days longer than they should have, and the delays are getting longer each time. I’m far from the only ex-Screenselect customer to see this. If this continues, I’ll be cancelling my account. Please, LOVEFiLM, get it sorted. [...]
Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » No Love for LOVEFiLM
10 Dec 06 at 21:12:48
I have had it completely with Lovefilm- Having been with Screenselect for two years – recommended it to all family and friends – I have had nothing but problems with Lovefilm – but it would seem that the majority of you have had problems with film delivery – up to now I have not had this problem – my problems are with their continual freezing of my account! With Screenselect I had no problems – they called for the money from myBank – they paid – I got films – for the last three months Lovefilm have frozen my account and asked me to reregister my bank details – the first time I thought it was because of the merge – so I did it – the second time it would appear that they were calling with a different name from that on my account – well same sort of name but differenet derivative – and now again – juts when I wanted films for Christmas – they freeze my accoiunt – there is no reason for this – there is money in my Bank – I rang India – they were rude – they told me to renter my details – I said I want to cancel – they said you can’t cancel until you re-enter your details!!!! I am writing to my bank to tell them NOT TO PAY THEM ANYTHING…beware – I am really worried about them having my account details
Fed Up of LoveFilm
18 Dec 06 at 14:12:50
Unbelieveable; are you that sad you go around looking at all the problems one has it ones life!
Do you ever stop complaining christ alive, a sign at Sainsburys, something else at Whsmith!!
Get a life
James Hardey
1 Jan 07 at 15:01:07
James, I love looking at little things – like the sign in Sainsbury’s you mention – and figuring out what they tell us about the larger questions of how to run our society. I try not to be too negative, but when my political views are so far from the current climate, it’s hard sometimes. I’m glad you found the time to write a comment, anyway.
andrewferrier
1 Jan 07 at 15:01:53
[...] I’m not sure what the blogosphere-approved name for it is, but I had my first truly negative comment on this blog the other day. I’m not quite sure why the author chose to leave it, but he’s right in a roundabout way: I do like holding the market to account, like any amateur economist. [...]
Andrew Ferrier’s Blog » Blog Archive » Winchester Letting Company
3 Jan 07 at 16:01:21
I have read with interest some of the comments concerning Lovefilm and would like to add mine.
I joined the free trial one evening in November and after thinking about it I decided it was not for me and tried to access the account to cancel. I was unable to gain access and then gave notice of cancellation by email to customer services after an exchange of emails I received two from different customer service people confirming the account was cancelled. I then noticed in December my account had been debited a months subsription because they claimed they had no notice from me despite the emails I had received. I have since the had an exchange of 40+ emails with customer servcies rearly communicating with the same person twice and none of them have read the previous emails and denying a refund.
I am currently preparing a presentation to the Office of Fair Trading and intend showing all the correspondence to consumer watchdogs.
I am not looking for compensation merely the return of monies fraudulently taken from my account.
ALL YOU MEMBERS BE AWARE OF HOW THIS COMPANY OPERATES
A Beadle
20 Jan 07 at 17:01:35
Well it makes me feel a little better after reading others comments about this company. I cancelled last Aug – sent the discs back and thought no more about it. I had set up a wanadoo mail account for use with screenselect(I guard my actual email address). I later noticed Lovefilm had billed my account 4 months running starting Oct 06. When I phoned to complain and claim my money back, they said sorry about that won’t happen again but you can’t have your money back. I then informed my bank not to pay Lovefilm again (I had used my debit card for the subsciption and told to bank to block any further payments to this company)
Yesterday a debt recovery agency sent me a letter claiming I owe Lovefilm £60. My Virgin credit card sent a letter today, my credit limit was dropped from £6500 to £500 due to the sudden drop in my credit rating.
Lovefilm have stolen 4 months x £14.99 then passed the case to a debt recovery agency when I stopped them from stealing anymore of my money.
Really nice company – it looks like I am facing an uphill battle which will probably end in court against these swindling conmen.
Good luck to all – I’ll check back here to see if anyone has had the same sort of experience.
cheers.
Diagaro
9 Mar 07 at 11:03:26
They are the worst company ever, they took ages getting my free trial active, I received one DVD in the two week period, I watched and sent it back the next day, I decided to cancel the service, they claim they did not receive the DVD and have charged me for two months service when I’ve had a frozen account
Ashraf Vali
26 Apr 07 at 12:04:13
Ashraf,
Please let me know if this was sorted or not and I will get onto this. I am from LOVEFiLM and do consider these issues as serious. We had a number of problems post merger but these are mostly fixed. We are gettting a lot of new members signing up at the moment, I’m pleased to say so ironing out these wrinkles is key.
Thanks for your help
Simon Calver
11 May 07 at 18:05:15
Mostly like LoveFilm, just wish I could share past and future rental lists with friends in the UK and US. Mainly frustrated with the damn download “engine” that we now have to use. I used to download movies regularly, now I hardly do as the technical help was hopeless and I finally figured out that I have to drop my ZoneAlarm firewall completely to download movies which is quite dangerous. I don’t entertain any hope or desire to try and get a straight answer out of LoveFilm on how to fix that.
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Anikrichard
5 Sep 07 at 15:09:01
Hi All,
I was reeled in to LoveFilm by the ‘three months for the price of 1′ offer. What a mistake that was. After 4 months, i noticed that they had been billing me every month. Thats when it all started. I emailed / called cust services and they said they would give me the money back. They then said it had been sent back to my debit card and said it may take up to 11 days. I waited and nothing. Then they said it had gone from there system. 7 emails later, they said there had been an error with the ‘money system (!!??)’ and they would send out a cheque. This would take up to 11 days as well. So i waited and nothing as expected. I phoned and they told me to wait another few days. Then another few days. Then i was told it was gone (where i asked!). Then i was told it was in the post. Now they have no idea. Its now 11 weeks since i have been on to these jokers and NOTHING yet.
Karim
11 Feb 08 at 09:02:11