LoveFilm (lovefilm.com)

Member Name: yahoo2003

Product:	lovefilm.com
Date:	21/09/09 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge selection, good suggestions, exciting receiving your DVDs

Disadvantages: Don't know exactly what DVDs you will receive

LoveFilm has been around for a while now but I think initially the concept of renting DVDs online seemed a bit strange - after all how do you know what you'll be in the mood to watch when the DVDs actually arrive? I think, however, that if you approach LoveFilm in the right way it's a great service and you will be impressed and thoroughly enjoy the experience.

********** The Concept **********

LoveFilm is an online DVD rental store. It's best explained using a number of steps, as follows:

1) Open an account. There are a number of different options you can choose, ranging from paying £3.91 a month for two DVDs a month, sent one at a time, to the most expensive option of £15.65 a month for unlimited DVDs with 3 sent at a time. You generally pay by direct debit once a month but you can buy 'pay-as-you-go' credits if you prefer.

There are no late charges, but you will not get your next set of DVDs until you have sent your last set back. You can cancel your account whenever you want, although it will not take effect until they have received all the outstanding DVDs back from you. You can also then easily re-activate it online, or if you've been with LoveFilm for a certain amount of time (not sure how long I'm afraid) you can even take 'holidays' when you choose not to use it if you're going away for a few weeks or something.

2) Search the site for DVDs to put in your 'Rental List'. There are a few different ways of searching for DVDs - if there is a specific title you have in mind you can use the search box, but LoveFilm also have useful sections such as 'Recommendations', 'Most Popular DVD and Blu-ray rentals', and 'All Time Top 250'. Or if you prefer you can also search by genre (Comedy, Horror etc). I find these different options really useful as I often get stuck for ideas, and also you can see what other people have said about the films. Alongside films you can also rent box-sets and games which I also think is really good. LoveFilm generally suggests that you have around 10 DVDs or more in your Rental List. You can rank them either Low, Medium or High priority as well. Then LoveFilm will pick what DVDs out of the list to send you, and when they have sent them you will receive an email telling you what films are on their way to you.

3) When you have finished watching the DVDs, simply put them back in the self-sealing pre-paid envelope that LoveFilm sent with them and put them in a letterbox, and your work is done! Once LoveFilm receive them, as long as you haven't used up your quota for the month, they will send you the next batch, otherwise they will wait until the next month and then pick another couple of DVDs off your list (obviously the amount of DVDs depends on what plan you chose).

Other Features: Alongside renting films, you can also buy them but I haven't done this. There are also a number of other parts to the website that may or may not interest people - for example interviews with actors / actresses that you can read, Cinema Listings, Mini Quizzes, and Film News. If you're very into your films and TV you might find the site quite good for these extras as well, although I don't really tend to use them.

********** Verdict **********

Choice: In my opinion, the choice is really good - there are hundreds of films, series' and games to choose from both old and new. What you do have to be aware of, however, is that because it is LoveFilm who will choose the dvds that they will send you, out of your preferred list, you will never have full control over what you get. So for example, if you wanted to watch Slumdog Millionaire and you put it in your top ten list as a high priority, you may still not get it for a while or you may get it in your next batch, depending on its' availability. I think it's probably tougher to get the films which have just come out. You therefore have to be pretty open and flexible about what films you are happy to watch and don't get a particular one set in your mind. I guess the problem with this is that you may be in the mood for a romantic comedy, but have been sent two horror films off the list, or vice versa, so make sure you have a good balance of films in there and that you would definitely be happy to receive them. Personally I find it quite exciting not knowing exactly what I'll get, and checking my postbox to find them sitting there is a sad thrill for me!

I like the fact that what you have seen will stay in your account information (and you can rate them once you've seen them as well) so you can always have a quick look and see what you've seen, what's on your 'pending' list, and then also add some more whenever you like (whenever someone mentions a film they've seen that they like, or I hear about one, I stick it on my LoveFilm list online).

Timescales: I have been really impressed with how quickly LoveFilm turn things around. For example, if I send back my two dvds today, normally they arrive by tomorrow. Then best case LoveFilm could send the next batch out that same day, or it could be the day after depending on exactly when they receive them. Then after they send them they normally arrive the next day. So the turnaround time between sending the dvds back and receiving the next batch is normally around 3 days max, which I think is great! So although you can't make exact plans, you roughly know what you will get and when. The best approach is just to bear in mind that you will normally have a film or two from LoveFilm that you haven't watched so you normally have one ready to watch if a friend comes round, or if you have a quiet night in planned etc.

Customer Service: Their customer service team seem to be fairly responsive. When I have sent emails they've normally responded within 24 hours or so with all the answers that I'm looking for. One thing that some people may not like (but I don't really mind) is that sometimes if you try to cancel your account they tell you that you have to phone a specific number to complete the cancellation. Then from my one experience of doing this, the person on the other end tried to persuade me to stay and tried talking me into a deal which I suddenly realised wasn't actually a good offer. I think they probably get some kind of rewards if they persuade customers to stay so it's in their interest to keep you.
I like the fact that you get an email when they have sent your films out so you know when to expect them, and that they tell you what they have sent.

Price: I'm really happy with the price, especially as there are about 8 different options so that you can choose what suits you. I will probably stay on the £3.91 a month for two DVDs plan, as this amount is pretty negligible and you may have a week or two out of that month where you don't get a chance to watch a DVD or when someone has brought a specific one round to watch, or you've got a DVD as a present or whatever. At that amount it doesn't really matter if you do occasionally still rent a DVD from Blockbusters. Overall if you treat it in the right way it's cheaper than renting from Blockbusters where it's often £3.50 a DVD.

Comparison with other similar companies: I know there are a few other companies, such as Tescos, which offer a siimilar service. I know that a friend of mine who uses the Tescos plan isn't impressed, as she got sent films that weren't even on her wish list, and they sent her an extras DVD (not the series extras, I mean like the extra DVD you may get when you buy a box-set with interviews etc in) and counted that as one of her quota! I haven't really heard anything else from other people though.

Free Trial: With LoveFilm if you go on their site you will probably always see an offer of a 14-day free trial. This is great but if you do want to cancel it you have to have a good memory and you have to remember that it only takes effect when they've received the outstanding DVDs back, so in between waiting for your DVDs and sending them back etc and making sure you've allowed enough time, it's only really a 1-week trial in my opinion. Furthermore, if you cancel your account they will often offer you a free 30-day trial to come back to them, which is also nice and a bit of an incentive.

********** Conclusion **********

LoveFilm have done well to establish this as a good concept as initially the idea seemed like it could be a bit flawed. If you treat this service in the right way and are happy not to know exactly what DVD you will receive, I think you will be very happy with it.

Summary: Love the whole experience of LoveFilm!