Cancelled LOVEFiLM
I’ve written many times before about the poor quality customer service I’ve received from LOVEFiLM, the UK’s largest DVD rental service, and those posts have solicited a lot of complaints from other people too. I’ve finally bitten the bullet and cancelled my account: a combination of frustration with poor delivery times, them never sending me the titles high on my list, and that they won’t allow me to freely suspend my account for a reasonable amount of time. It’s sad, as they used to provide excellent customer service when I first used them a few years ago (when they were small), but acquisitions and growth seem to have made them fat and lazy, and they no longer treat customers with respect - written examples are all over their website, including the veiled threats of continued charges in the cancellation process itself.
At some point, probably once I return from San Jose, I plan to sign-up with Amazon instead, who now seem to be their largest competitor, and stock 2/3 of the titles that LOVEFiLM do, so might still stand a chance of fulfilling my sometimes unusual taste. Amazon have generally provided excellent service in the past, and it’ll be interesting to see if their foray into DVD rental hurts or helps their brand.
I am currently with LOVEFiLM (a 3 month free trial courtsey of the fact I was a ScreenSelect customer in the past) and have to admit they have been OK so far. However, my most recent DVD arrival came in a long paper envelope which I found far less “user friendly” than the old ScreenSelect style envelopes, and I am not particularly impressed that the DVDs don’t come in cases, just paper sleeves. I’ll see out my free trial but think I’ll probably quit after that as I’m not sure the service is really worth the money.
Chris Tomkins
21 Jan 07 at 17:01:04
Chris, when I first started out with LOVEFiLM (2 years ago?) the service was excellent - and even this time round, it was OK when Screenselect first merged with them. But I’ve found they seem to have a habit of getting worse over time - that’s what made me leave them the first time round, and it’s what’s made me do that this time. I doubt I’ll be back.
Of course, unless you watch a lot of DVDs, it probably isn’t worth it at all - although they do compare favourably to high-street stores if you do.
andrewferrier
21 Jan 07 at 18:01:02
I used screen select for over a year and they were great. I canceled after i found my usage dropped, but i never had a problem with them.
this xmas just gone i got a free trial offer from lovefilm, thought i’d give it a go and now after having read all the bad comments people are posting around the net i’ve canceled.
the problem is i returned 3 discs at the same time and 1 of them ‘mysteriously’ went missing. now 14 days later i have received one of their forms saying i must return it within 10 days or they will charge me £50. i’ve sent it back but it really wouldn’t surprise me if they charge me anyway. i’ve heard stories from other customers saying it has happened to them.
the worrying thing is that they’ve allowed me to cancel whilst i have this outstanding form and i’ve read that loads of people have had money taken from them even after they have canceled!
lovefilm have told me they have deleted my details from their database twice now and they are lying! i can still log into the site and i can still see my phone number, address, and credit card expiry date etc. and most worrying it says next payment is in february…
it’s absolutely shocking. they should not be allowed to keep my details without my permission and it makes it even worse that they are lying to me.
check this link for more bad experiences: http://www.dvdrr.com/reviews/LoveFilm.html
paul
26 Jan 07 at 21:01:11
I’m a Lovefilm customer too, and I am within hours of cancelling too. IMO, they’ve gone downhill very badly in the past few months. We’ve had to ask for re-delivery far too often. My wife is suggesting we look at easyCinema. Sounds like Amazon is probably worth checking out too.
Roo Reynolds
6 Feb 07 at 18:02:52
Being a free trial junkie Theres always seemed much variety in the dvd rental market, but… Lovefilm who I agree were alright. But they seem to have bought out the entire market. The only competition with similar variety being amazon and blockbuster. I have recently tried to get a free trial with lovefilm and (failed quite rightly) now find their customer service horrible. The only thing its good going for it is range and amazon and blockbuster have that also. Now to canel your account you have to phone a number and be asked why you want to cancel. What was wrong with a web page doing it?
AND another thing I’ve noticed from being a free trial junkie(i change flats a lot) is that with Lovefilm you have to return the discs WITHIN the trial period If you want the cancellation accpeted.Otherwise you are charged. So sending it 3-4 days before the expiration means nothing If their staff don’t process it in time. I find it horrible also someone has mentioned that you can’t suspend the account for a bit.
I Don’t rate lovefilm and when I get a perament home it will most likely be blockbuster. I read somewhere that they both have the same range of titles, but that since Lovefilm count DVDs with two discs as double then their range looks the biggests.
Ken
8 Mar 07 at 18:03:48
I had been using them for 3 months and loved the service. They were fast with shipping and I sometimes managed to get 8 DVD’s per month (2 at a time allowed), which I prefer more than SKY Movies. Then I made the silly mistake to pay in advance, which was going to give me more than 30% saving. Sometimes it takes two working days (or more) for a movie to even be “allocated”. I have complained, but all I get is that they had a major sign up during the festive period and that they are purchasing more copies of each title to support the demand. I have over 80 titles in my list at all times, so I find this very hard to believe. But I guess I’m stuck with them till September now as I’ve been slung on that hook for 6 months and getting my money back will not happen… I keep complaining and keep returning and adding selections to my rental list hoping it will improve…
Steve (Edinburgh)
12 Mar 07 at 11:03:22
I’ve had my fingers burned by LoveFilm too. Like Steve, I made the mistake of signing up for a 12mth pay ahead deal, and immediately the service deteriorated to the point where it provided nil value for money. After I was sent five successive unplayable copies of the same film (at least three of which were actually the same disc, though they claim to withdraw faulty discs immediately), followed by one that just about played (we couldn’t hear the soundtrack without turning the TV up to full volume), I decided to cancel and ask for my money back. They flatly refused to give me a refund, saying that their terms and conditions stated that refunds would not be given. This is, of course, entirely illegal, and I have spent three months now arguing the toss with them. It can take them a couple of weeks to reply to an email, and when they do it’s often with completely irrelevant cut-and-paste nonsense. Maybe they were good once, but those days appear to be long gone.
Sarah (Devon)
25 Mar 07 at 11:03:17
I’ve been with Lovefilm since they bought out ScreenSelect. Lovefilm seems to be good at that, buying out the competition. I’m fortunate in the fact that my story isn’t as bad as others yet I’ve expereinced a fear few DVD’s received in poor quality. I’ve sent back on film DVD twice and ended up deleting it from my list. I’ve sent back another film that wouldn’t play yet, Lovefilm aren’t sending me a replacement that film’s been taken off my list and recorded is being succesffully rented!!
They’ve been fearly compensatury with up to a point, sending out an extra DVD when things go wrong. However, there customer service is rediculous. I’ve experienced a fair few cut and paste e-mails that avoid answering my question. When i Have listed films in top priority before, I get to see most of the films but not all as, others on my medium priority are sent instead. Lovefilm claims that everything they send me on my high priority list. Even when I went on a spate of putting TV series at high priority; at least two low priority films were sent out during this period. they’ve no clue when it comes to their priority system. There cust service via e-mail is just stupid. I’m dreading cancelling at the end of June but, after what I’ve red on various sites on the net, I wanna leave before my service gets worse. I’ve been fairly lucky considering but, how long’s that gonna last, eh?
Justin
26 Apr 07 at 13:04:15
I also made the mistake of paying for 12 months. I started with ScreenSelect which was excellent.
The merged Lovefilm is a disaster. I can’t log onto my account, and think that I never will - even to cancel (which I see is not simple at all). This means, of course, that I can’t add, delete or change the priority of any title. The films requested in a special series don’t arrive as they should - only the first one is delivered. I now have the prospect of waiting until November when I have the prospect of automatic renewal without permission. What a nightmare!
Hugh
26 Apr 07 at 18:04:33
I’m on a 30days free trial with lovefilm (UK) and I must say that the experience so far has been great. Very quick, always a high priority DVD, no faulty disc etc…. So my theory is that they take great care of people on trial to the disavantage of paying customers (even more when it’s paid in advance!) … but that’s just a thought. Anyway I wan to cancel - I’ll be away often in the next months and actually I find this expensive (I don’t usually rent either) - I’m dreading to make something wrong when cancelling though as I don’t want to be charged for the next month!
Katia
3 Jun 07 at 15:06:53
I do feel that LoveFilm have taken these and many other complaints into hand. The service did reach a low, but in the past few months it has accelerated to a much better level. Now my DVDs turn up faster than before and they are the ones from my high priority list.
Maybe the merger they went through was a rough transition, merging two large companies can be a bit of a challenge. Anyway im glad i stayed with them, i did try a few free trails whilst i was thinking of moving away from LoveFilm, but the websites and the service seemed a bit empty. At least now a couple of rough months has gone and let the cheap DVD rentals flow.
Dave
4 Jul 07 at 22:07:30
We cancelled LOVEFiLM and changed to easyCinema. It seems to be the same warehouse (and hence, I think, the same selection?), but so far the service is better no postage problems. Odd. But we’re happy so far.
Roo Reynolds
21 Aug 07 at 21:08:53
@Roo, the other interesting thing about easyCinema, so it appears, is that you pay based on how many films you get through. So postage delays are absorbed and they have a motivation to get that right. I might try them out.
andrewferrier
22 Aug 07 at 09:08:53
I have been member of both ScreenSelect and LoveFILM, both are cancelled, LoveFILM more recently was cancelled after poor service, the frequency of poor quality discs, the mix of low and medium films to my high list was a joke.
I can say though I have complained to thier higher management, and due to speak to the Chief Executive soon, frankly for £20 a month service I expected to watching more than if I went to Blockbusters !
At the point of cancelling I was so frustrated as many times I was putting films on my list to watch as soon as they were released, if it was a film I wanted to see on High, yet there were films put on High 8 months ago still never seen.
Glen banyard
13 Oct 07 at 17:10:04
I had a free trial with ScreenSelect last year and it was great. Now that they have merged with LoveFilm, I thought I’d try out another free trial.
It’s pretty appalling. I signed up for their Games & Movies Unlimited Package which is £14.99. My “Month” trial was just billed today and I still have another 2 weeks to go on my trial, so I guess I’m stuck with them for another month. You can’t cancel online anymore, you have to phone. I don’t have much of a problem with that just as long as they don’t “pull a fast one” on me and try to put me on a cheaper package.
As for the rentals, I haven’t received a single High Priority game or movie I wanted. I tried to rent Season 2 of Arrested Development which is 3 discs. They sent me Disc 1. Fair enough I thought. Until my next rental arrived and it was Disc 3 and a very low priority movie.
What’s the point?
Anonymous
12 Nov 07 at 14:11:28
I wish i’d read this before i subscribed to lovefilm, the first payment was taken halfway through the 28 day free trial, and 3 out of 9 discs skip, or are marked so much they are useless. i’ve just cancelled the rest of the orders & phoned them up to cancel the account, as the website says they need to ask a couple of questions before the account will be closed.
their suggestion: wait until 5 days before the billing date and cancel online.
but you can’t! and in their terms & conditions on the website, lovefilm will only accept cancellations on the website! what a crock! (and no points for guessing what it’s full of!)
Gordon
8 Jan 08 at 20:01:13
I signed up for a free trial, and the service itself seemed fine. However, despite canceling within the 14 day, I was still charged.
I phoned to complain, and was told that in addition to entering the code for a free trial (from a leaflet through the door), I had entered a second code (PAYGB?) that specifically requests there to be no trial period. I’ve no idea where this could come from, as I didn’t type it, and I assume they don’t send out adverts with a code to *not* have the usual trial period!
Even though they accept I entered the valid code for the free trial, they are still only considering whether to refund as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. I’m still waiting…
Phil
13 Mar 08 at 10:03:27
ive had adifferent experience with lovefilm.
i signed up to their service but had problems with my debit card being authorised. They sent me 2 emails one after another saying my account had been suspended and to go on their webiste and re-enter my details.
Unfortunately i did pick up these mails for a few days and on doing so i decide to mail them to cancel my account.
They mail me back saying my account had been cancelled and no money would be taken from my card.
i was shocked when a day later money had been taken , so i contatced them and they are now claiming the payment was taken the day before i cancelled my account. I have threatened them with stealing the money from me and am waiting for a response although im guessing they are wondering what to do about all this …its been 2 days since i mailed them. How crap can a company be??
iestyn
29 Jun 08 at 08:06:48
I had a free trial that went OK but I decided not to continue as I didn’t think that I’d watch enough movies to make it worthwhile.
Today, I received a letter from a debt collection agency demanding £10 that supposedly is owing. I owe them nothing whatsoever and have abided by all the terms and conditions.
I’m amazed that they have taken this option rather than trying to contact me initially.
Avoid like the plague!
richard
1 Jul 08 at 01:07:42