Play less; (oops sorry pay less!) (Play.com)

Member Name: loulou6

Product:	Play.com
Date:	02/09/01 (424 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap DVDs, no P&P to pay

Disadvantages: still a little expensive

I’m lucky enough to have a multi-region DVD player (this means I can watch films that have been encrypted to play only in another country). When I first bought my player (with the helpful knowledge from Dooyoo) I scoured the internet trying to find that elusive ‘bargain’, I read up on sites, always thinking that Blackstar were going to beat the opposition hands down. And up until about 5 months ago it did...... when I found Play247!

This site certainly offers a huge range of titles for either Region 1 (North America and NTSC) or Region 2 (Europe and PAL), it also offers music CD’s, and games for the Dreamcast, Playstation 1 + 2 and the Gameboy Advance, but I won’t touch on those here as this op is about the DVD side of things.

As with most online shopping sites the products themselves are more often cheaper than on the high street. It’s only when you add the postage and packing that you realise that they aren't that cheap - sometimes they can even be more expensive. The good news is that P&P is included in the price here - yeay! Prices range from £14.99 for the lesser known (and usually older) DVDs to £17.99 for films that are sought after (or 2 disc sets). Because they’re based in Jersey, you don’t even have to pay the taxman! (This is also a reason why discs are sent separately, as you can only ‘import’ £18.00 worth of goods to the UK in each package).

The site is eye-catching, clear and relatively easy to navigate with either a search box by title, actor, director, language or even subtitles. You can browse by genre or alphabetically which means you won‘t miss out on that Michael Flatley - Flatley Gold DVD you‘ve always wanted! The default selection is Region 2 so if you have a multi-region player, don’t forget to click on the correct tab at the top of the page.

When you’ve found the DVD you want all you have to do is click on the
‘add to cart’ button, The movie will be shown in the ‘Shopping Cart’ section (at the top left-hand side) along with its price. To pay for the items click on the ‘Checkout’ button. This takes you to the secure server (with the ‘TrustWise BT Verisign’ logo) where, after logging in, you can enter your credit card (they take Delta, Mastercard, Solo, Switch or Visa cards) and your delivery details. If you have any problems you can phone the customer service line on 0845 800 1020 (lo-call rate), but I’ve not had to do that here as the ordering is extremely easy.

Delivery is fairly quick at 3 to 5 days, they usually send them by Recorded Delivery (which costs them an extra .63p) and that means you’ll have to either be in at the time the postie comes in the morning or you’ll have to visit the local Delivery Office. When returning DVDs Play247 will pay for the postage and Recorded Fee (up to £2.00) but will replace a faulty disc only (if the DVD is no longer available a credit will be made to your Credit Card).

Overall, this site is definitely worth checking out if you’re buying DVDs, sometimes Blackstar will be cheaper, but most of the time, Play247 will win. (By the way, if you want to buy me a pressie I'd really like that Michael Flatley DVD ;+)

Summary: