Amazon Wins Hands Down (Amazon DVD rental)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Amazon DVD rental
Date:	28/05/07 (670 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great prices, excellent customer service, free 1st class postage, member disoounts off purchases

Disadvantages: screen freezes for about 5 seconds while rntal queue managemetn page is loading

We all probably know Amazon. One of the internet’s biggest retailers, it sells books, toys, DVDs, electronics, cds, you name it, it is probably on there somewhere. Every few months Amazon seems to add a new category of goods to its stores, in the US they can even bulk buy dry goods and cupboard foods! Thus it was, having exhausted all the free trial offers out there, and being disappointed on some level, I decided to try Amazon's new at the time service.

~~~The Packages~~~

During sign up, I was asked to select a package. Members can change packages at any time, or cancel membership with a mere click of the button after signing in. The package deals are as follows:

2 DVDS a month, 1 at home at a time.....£3.99 a month

3 DVDS a month, 1 at home at a time.....£5.99 a month

4 DVDS a month, 2 at home at a time.....£7.99 a month

6 DVDS a month, 3 at home at a time.....£9.99 a month

There are no time limits as to how long you can keep a DVD, but a new film will not be sent out until you have sent back the number of discs required to bring you to your allowed at home level. I find this quite handy, as we currently use the 4 a month, 2 at home at a time system. This means the kids can watch their film as many times as they like as long as they like, and hubby and I can send ours back as son as e have watched it, and get a new movie right away while the kids keep theirs until either tired of it, or I put it on our wish list to purchase later.

Amazon sends the DVDs out in a sturdy clam shaped flat case so it is well protected, and these are inside a sturdy envelope. The envelope needs to be opened with a little care, as the outside flap is removable so that it also becomes your return postage paid envelope to send the disk back to Amazon. You can place up to 2 DVDS in an envelope if you so wish and Amazon do not mind.


~~~Is there a free trial?~~~

Yes, you can try it for free for 2 weeks. You can either sign up for it via the Amazon.co.uk website, or by asking a member to send you a free trial invite. I LOVE sending these out, as not only do my friends and whatnot get a free trial, but all but 2 have ended up joining, resulting in me getting a £5 gift voucher as a referral bonus. The £5 voucher is a normal Amazon.co.uk gift certificate they credit to your account immediately, and you can use it on any item that Amazon.co.uk itself sells.

~~~Any other perks?~~~

You betcha! In addition to having a much larger selection of films across more genres than even Lovefilm and Blockbuster, you get a 10% automatic discount off of ANY DVD you purchase. This does not have to be a DVD you have previously rented, nor a title that is available for rental. If it is a DVD, and Amazon.co.uk are selling it themselves (not marketplace or affiliate), you get 10% off without having to do anything else. Over time, this comes to a rather substantial discount, and it even applies to preorders and clearance titles, as well as Region 1 imports they sell on the .co.uk site.

Another perk is the ability to add a title that is coming up for release. Just as you can pre-order to buy, you can pre-reserve new releases up to a couple months in advance so you go to the head of the queue. Just add it to the top of your preferences so you move up the queue faster.

~~~What if I lose a disc or get one that is damaged?~~~

If this happens, simply log on, tick the circle next to the title in your rental list that says REPORT Problem, and then tick the appropriate box. Amazon is really great about this. I have returned discs that seemed to never arrive back, a disc that Royal mail seems to have lost on its way to me, a few discs that were not what the case said they were, and even a damaged one that would not play. Using report a problem immediately resolved it from my end, without any further action from me.

In the case of I did not get it, or they had it go astray on the way back, the results could not have been simpler. The I did not receive it option saw the title placed back at the top of my rental queue and a replacement disk sent out ASAP without the missing disc counting towards my total. The "It’s been 4 days and you have not appeared to have gotten it back" option saw them apologising for the issue and sending me my next film immediately.

The apology and sending the next disc immediately is also the result I get when receiving the incorrect disc, with the correct title being placed back at the top of my queue. I find this happens usually with kid's films, with the wrong title being placed inside by mistake. Immediate replacing it in my queue and crediting me back with an allowed disk to my total also occurs when reporting an unwatchable disc.

Other problems you can report are lost envelope and lost case. Lost envelope tells you to place the disc inside the same envelope as another disc, and provides an alternate freepost address to send the disc to. Lost case tells you can use any empty case that is suitable, or better yet, to place the DVD inside the case of another title and return them together, marking Problem reported on the sticker that is on the case, alerting staff to check it so they can get it a new case.


None of these options gets you charged any extra money at all, and the response is literally immediate as Amazon has the system completely automated unless further assistance is somehow required. The single time in all my two and half year’s of being a customer that I had to go that far by sending an email, I received a response within 24 hours. The response was polite, professional, and settled the issue to my satisfaction. Amazon seem to really want the customer to be very happy.

~~~So how do I join?~~~

You either request your free trail invitation from a known member (such as myself heh heh), or log onto www.amazon.co.uk and select the DVD tab. The DVD tab says DVD Buy or Rent, and this will take you to the DVD section's homepage. There is a box on the upper right hand side that you click to sign up and try the free trial. You can also sign up while browsing for DVDs. When looking at a title, it will state it is also available as a rental, and you can click the link provided to sign up for t your free trail. If you are a member, the ADD TO WISHLIST portion of the DVD's page will also have a link to add the title to your rental queue.

However you elect to join, you then fill in your preferred delivery address, and enter in your desired payment method. You will NOT be charged unless you have not cancelled your membership before the expiry date.

Also note if you receive an invite, but join via the site rather than via the link on the email, your referrer does not get credit.


~~~Ok, I joined, how do I get the DVDs I want?~~~

This is very simple. You can either go to your rental list page by clicking the manage my Rental list tab at the top of the Amazon header after choosing DVDs as from the menu bar at the top and add them by using the little SEARCH DVD RENTAL TITLES box. For example, you can type The Muppet Christmas Carol and up will pop the usual sort of search page results you get on Amazon. You then select the DVD you were looking for, and click the add to my list link. Alternatively, you can simply browse DVDs and add them from the link on the sales page as described earlier.

You can rent box sets if desired, but only the number of outstanding for the month discs will be sent to you. For example, a 6 disc box set counts as 6 DVD rentals, and if you are only allowed 2 discs at home and have 1 already at home, you will only be sent the first disc. They do place them in order, so no worries about watching things in the wrong order.

You can control which discs you get when by moving the titles up and down to your preferred order. This is especially handy as you can arrange a wider variety, and can make sure you don't end up with the wrong sort all at once, so that you or the kids end up with nothing to watch for an entire month while the other has a field day. This also is extremely useful when renting the box sets, as you can break up getting the next disc until you have had time to watch all the episodes on the disc you have, and still get to watch something else in between box set discs.

At this point, you can actually save up to 472 titles at a time in your rental queue. That's a LOT of watching!

~~~What if I want more DVDs than my package allows for?~~~

This is dead simple. You can purchase more DVD rentals by simply ticking a box and paying £1.99 for each extra rental for that month. It gets sent out immediately via First class post, same as the other rentals.

~~~How long do they take to send my next film usually? And how do I know it is on its way?~~~

They send out the next disc within hours of receiving the one you sent back. They ask you to allow up to four days for Royal mail to get it back to them before reporting it lost, but in my experience, you send it back say on a Monday, they get it Tuesday, and Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, I receive an email saying they have received it (by name, so if you sent more than one, you know which ones they have gotten back in case one goes astray), followed shortly by a polite email informing me they have sent my next film, and telling me which film it is. I then get it Wednesday with my post, or Thursday if my local post is slow.


~~~What about games?~~~

Games on DVD format are counted as DVDs. For example, Dora's Backpack Adventure game is in DVD format, and can be rented. This also means it counts in the save 10% membership deal if purchasing.

~~~In conclusion~~~

Amazon has literally thousands of DVD titles, making this a much more comprehensive list to choose from than the competition. Customer service wise, I am also impressed. Easy to deal with and without unfair penalties, this is one to trust. Unlike Lovefilm who erroneously charged me DURING a free trail and who refused to refund, Blockbuster who failed to send my activation email, or to respond to my query at all regarding it and then said I had had my trail though never activated or used, and various other schemes I have tried and had had site issues with, felt limited by choice, and so on, Amazon stand head and shoulders above the rest. My only quibble is this:
When the DVD Rental Queue page itself is loading, the screen freezes for about 5 seconds. That's it, it is my SOLE quibble which is really a bunch of nothing. I really appreciate their professional and customer service oriented approach, the lightening fast responses to any issues, and the occasional referral bonus is nice too. The 10% DVD purchasing discount is also highly appreciated, especially seeing as Dooyoo kindly pay out in Amazon vouchers and the discount makes it go that little bit further.

So, if you want to rent DVDs, try the best. You will definitely forget the rest.

Summary: Try the best. You will definitely forget the rest.