RentmyDVD.com Inc. More Feedbacks. Please let us know
07-26-01, 08:13 PM
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Hello Forumites. I must say that I appreciate all the positive feedback lately; we'll always take the criticism of course, but it's nice to hear everything- good and bad and everywhere in-between. In any case, let's talk...
hypeiv:
Unbreakable was, as some other titles in the past have been, a defective pressing. Not all of our copies were bad, but the discs that came from one certain duplicator were absolute junk. Most didn't survive their first trip out. The title name is the most unfortunate aspect of the situation, but it's quite a pain when this kind of thing happens. It's happened most notably with this, with "Traffic," "The Emperor's New Groove," and "Nurse Betty."
____________________________________________________
MPSAN:
If you have a delay in either direction just shoot us an e-mail and we'll take care of it.
____________________________________________________
gameboy747:
Right now we don't have an 800 number, we've just got (510) 739-2660. We'll be happy to return your call if you don't want to spend the time on your dime. For coupons right now we have one with new Samsung DVD players, any new DVD player at The Wiz retail stores, and several others in the works and just about to hit the market.
____________________________________________________
bigDVDaddict:
I have absolutely no idea what happened when you got sent those bottom feeders from your Wish List. Yours is the only situation I have heard of this sort and the only thing that I can imagine is that the new web site's loading had something to do with it. If it happens again or if you have more specifics just send an e-mail to customer service and we'll look into it.
____________________________________________________
musicparadise:
Send an e-mail to customer service and we will send you extra return mailers. Returning one-at-a-time is not a problem. (full answer to your stamp licking question follows...)
____________________________________________________
HepDude and jmgilberg:
The sticky thing, as far as I am hearing, is primarily occuring on the East Coast. It could be, as far as I can imagine, one of three things. Either the seasonal heat as HepDude suggests, a bad batch of envelopes from the printer, or the heat from printing the return address directly onto the envelope as opposed to the labels we used to use. I'll look into it.
____________________________________________________
jmgilberg:
The two disc set thing is no longer even under review. I talked about it a couple of times in the last thread and, basically, 2 disc sets are a nightmare either way you slice it. By doing it this way the biggest problem (and we've discussed solutions to this in this forum) is the possibility of getting disc two before getting disc one. The other way- renting them together- is just plain miserable for inventory and for the entire process. It's a simple utilitarian decision; renting them separately is better than any other solution.
____________________________________________________
OK! jmgilberg, musicparadise, Dave654. and anyone else interested in the USPS- this post's for you.
In this post I will be making several arguments, all of which are open for discussion which, when offered, I will immediately and vehemently attack. Here are my assertions:
1) Stamps are better than Business Reply Mail (BRM) for returns.
2) The most important thing we need is to incorporate the USPS address database to our existing system. They basically sell you the entire database of US addresses and quarterly updates so you can make sure everything's correct in your database and you can then be certified to send envelopes with PostNet barcodes (for quicker and more accurate delivery) to your customers. You also get a discount for doing bulk outgoing mailings with the PostNet barcodes.
OK, so number two is a no-brainer and I'm not going to get argument. Number one, on the other hand, well, I guess we'll see. Here's the deal for those of you not in the know.
BRM is designed for businesses that aren't expecting 100% returned mail. My personal opinion is that anyone using BRM for this type of business is foolish. Why? First, you must pay an annual BRM permit fee for each weight and class of mail you want to receive; if your volume is high your fee goes up while your per-piece fee goes down. BRM does not pay standard first-class rates, regarless of type or volume. There's regular BRM and qualified BRM (QBRM) and anyone that wants full details can look 'em up on the usps website; basically, no matter how you do it, from bottom of the barrell BRM to high-volume QBRM, you are paying too much. If we were to switch we'd either go for QBRM- $500 annual fee, and $0.36 per piece or we'd use High Volume QBRM- $500 annual, $1,800 quarterly, and $0.32 per piece. With BRM, too, you have to do prepayments with the USPS and deal more intensely with them than anyone should want to. With stamps you have no annual fee and pay $0.34 per piece. period. We have a pack of lazy basset hounds that lick them in our warehouse (just making sure you were still paying attention) and actually we're doing-away with the stamps anyway. They've always been sticker stamps (no licking), but the man-hours are starting to eat away at the cost savings. We've got something else coming out soon. And, yes, when we do it we are switching to one DVD per envelope. I would imagine our new mailing scheme will be introduced next month. It'll be better but it still won't be at the level I personally think it needs to be; however, it will be better. But no BRM. BTW- I know some of you out there like this sort of thing, so here's the deal because I am feeling extraordinarily mathematically lazy today. First one to post the correct answer will get their very own set of Rentmydvd.com beverage coasters:
Given the figures for QBRM I cite above and given a situation wherein we only have and use First class 1-oz mail; further given that it takes approximately 1.5 seconds to affix a postage stamp to a return envelope at a rate of, let's say $10/hour for a warehouse staffer, where are the break-even volumes of mail we must receive each day? That is to say, at what point does QBRM save us money?
We're talkin' about beverage coasters here, people. You can post questions and I will answer them as fast as I can, but the first correct post wins the prize.
Rentmydvd- where we'd prefer you wouldn't use our DVDs as beverage coasters so we let you figure out things we've had to figure out and offer you actual beverage coasters for figuring them out correctly.
hypeiv:
Unbreakable was, as some other titles in the past have been, a defective pressing. Not all of our copies were bad, but the discs that came from one certain duplicator were absolute junk. Most didn't survive their first trip out. The title name is the most unfortunate aspect of the situation, but it's quite a pain when this kind of thing happens. It's happened most notably with this, with "Traffic," "The Emperor's New Groove," and "Nurse Betty."
____________________________________________________
MPSAN:
If you have a delay in either direction just shoot us an e-mail and we'll take care of it.
____________________________________________________
gameboy747:
Right now we don't have an 800 number, we've just got (510) 739-2660. We'll be happy to return your call if you don't want to spend the time on your dime. For coupons right now we have one with new Samsung DVD players, any new DVD player at The Wiz retail stores, and several others in the works and just about to hit the market.
____________________________________________________
bigDVDaddict:
I have absolutely no idea what happened when you got sent those bottom feeders from your Wish List. Yours is the only situation I have heard of this sort and the only thing that I can imagine is that the new web site's loading had something to do with it. If it happens again or if you have more specifics just send an e-mail to customer service and we'll look into it.
____________________________________________________
musicparadise:
Send an e-mail to customer service and we will send you extra return mailers. Returning one-at-a-time is not a problem. (full answer to your stamp licking question follows...)
____________________________________________________
HepDude and jmgilberg:
The sticky thing, as far as I am hearing, is primarily occuring on the East Coast. It could be, as far as I can imagine, one of three things. Either the seasonal heat as HepDude suggests, a bad batch of envelopes from the printer, or the heat from printing the return address directly onto the envelope as opposed to the labels we used to use. I'll look into it.
____________________________________________________
jmgilberg:
The two disc set thing is no longer even under review. I talked about it a couple of times in the last thread and, basically, 2 disc sets are a nightmare either way you slice it. By doing it this way the biggest problem (and we've discussed solutions to this in this forum) is the possibility of getting disc two before getting disc one. The other way- renting them together- is just plain miserable for inventory and for the entire process. It's a simple utilitarian decision; renting them separately is better than any other solution.
____________________________________________________
OK! jmgilberg, musicparadise, Dave654. and anyone else interested in the USPS- this post's for you.
In this post I will be making several arguments, all of which are open for discussion which, when offered, I will immediately and vehemently attack. Here are my assertions:
1) Stamps are better than Business Reply Mail (BRM) for returns.
2) The most important thing we need is to incorporate the USPS address database to our existing system. They basically sell you the entire database of US addresses and quarterly updates so you can make sure everything's correct in your database and you can then be certified to send envelopes with PostNet barcodes (for quicker and more accurate delivery) to your customers. You also get a discount for doing bulk outgoing mailings with the PostNet barcodes.
OK, so number two is a no-brainer and I'm not going to get argument. Number one, on the other hand, well, I guess we'll see. Here's the deal for those of you not in the know.
BRM is designed for businesses that aren't expecting 100% returned mail. My personal opinion is that anyone using BRM for this type of business is foolish. Why? First, you must pay an annual BRM permit fee for each weight and class of mail you want to receive; if your volume is high your fee goes up while your per-piece fee goes down. BRM does not pay standard first-class rates, regarless of type or volume. There's regular BRM and qualified BRM (QBRM) and anyone that wants full details can look 'em up on the usps website; basically, no matter how you do it, from bottom of the barrell BRM to high-volume QBRM, you are paying too much. If we were to switch we'd either go for QBRM- $500 annual fee, and $0.36 per piece or we'd use High Volume QBRM- $500 annual, $1,800 quarterly, and $0.32 per piece. With BRM, too, you have to do prepayments with the USPS and deal more intensely with them than anyone should want to. With stamps you have no annual fee and pay $0.34 per piece. period. We have a pack of lazy basset hounds that lick them in our warehouse (just making sure you were still paying attention) and actually we're doing-away with the stamps anyway. They've always been sticker stamps (no licking), but the man-hours are starting to eat away at the cost savings. We've got something else coming out soon. And, yes, when we do it we are switching to one DVD per envelope. I would imagine our new mailing scheme will be introduced next month. It'll be better but it still won't be at the level I personally think it needs to be; however, it will be better. But no BRM. BTW- I know some of you out there like this sort of thing, so here's the deal because I am feeling extraordinarily mathematically lazy today. First one to post the correct answer will get their very own set of Rentmydvd.com beverage coasters:
Given the figures for QBRM I cite above and given a situation wherein we only have and use First class 1-oz mail; further given that it takes approximately 1.5 seconds to affix a postage stamp to a return envelope at a rate of, let's say $10/hour for a warehouse staffer, where are the break-even volumes of mail we must receive each day? That is to say, at what point does QBRM save us money?
We're talkin' about beverage coasters here, people. You can post questions and I will answer them as fast as I can, but the first correct post wins the prize.
Rentmydvd- where we'd prefer you wouldn't use our DVDs as beverage coasters so we let you figure out things we've had to figure out and offer you actual beverage coasters for figuring them out correctly.
07-26-01, 08:54 PM
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RMD wrote:
"Hello Forumites"
I don't think we need to resort to name-calling here!
"musicparadise:
Send an e-mail to customer service and we will send you extra return mailers. Returning one-at-a-time is not a problem."
Sounds like an easy solution - thanks! Actually your follow-up information about moving to a one-DVD-per-envelope system is even more welcome news.
"The two disc set thing is no longer even under review. I talked about it a couple of times in the last thread and, basically, 2 disc sets are a nightmare either way you slice it. It's a simple utilitarian decision; renting them separately is better than any other solution. "
This may bother some people but I have never considered it a problem. I think the way you are doing it is the only way that make sense as well.
"My personal opinion is that anyone using BRM for this type of business is foolish. Why? First, you must pay an annual BRM permit fee for each weight and class of mail you want to receive"
I don't know about the other folks but when I asked about the use of postage stamps I wasn't even thinking about using permit forms of mail (I have done it and I agree that it is not worth the cost or the hassle). I was just thinking in terms of machine printed postage which would save some poor guy the job of attaching stamps to each of the hundreds of mailings you do each week. As I also noted, I was just curious - I don't care how you do it as long as the DVD's get here and back to you (and you're doing a good job of that right now).
"We've got something else coming out soon. And, yes, when we do it we are switching to one DVD per envelope. I would imagine our new mailing scheme will be introduced next month."
That is an excellent step in my opinion, but unfortunately it looks like you won't be leaving me with anything to complain about! I guess I'll just start hounding you to put a mailing branch in Tampa (even though it would make no geographical sense whatsoever).
"Given the figures for QBRM I cite above and given a situation wherein we only have and use First class 1-oz mail; further given that it takes approximately 1.5 seconds to affix a postage stamp to a return envelope at a rate of, let's say $10/hour for a warehouse staffer, where are the break-even volumes of mail we must receive each day? That is to say, at what point does QBRM save us money?"
This looks like a trick question. I am not even going to begin to tax my brain by trying to figure it out (unless those coasters are made of 24-karat gold). I'm going to go watch a DVD - catch you later.
"Hello Forumites"
I don't think we need to resort to name-calling here!
"musicparadise:
Send an e-mail to customer service and we will send you extra return mailers. Returning one-at-a-time is not a problem."
Sounds like an easy solution - thanks! Actually your follow-up information about moving to a one-DVD-per-envelope system is even more welcome news.
"The two disc set thing is no longer even under review. I talked about it a couple of times in the last thread and, basically, 2 disc sets are a nightmare either way you slice it. It's a simple utilitarian decision; renting them separately is better than any other solution. "
This may bother some people but I have never considered it a problem. I think the way you are doing it is the only way that make sense as well.
"My personal opinion is that anyone using BRM for this type of business is foolish. Why? First, you must pay an annual BRM permit fee for each weight and class of mail you want to receive"
I don't know about the other folks but when I asked about the use of postage stamps I wasn't even thinking about using permit forms of mail (I have done it and I agree that it is not worth the cost or the hassle). I was just thinking in terms of machine printed postage which would save some poor guy the job of attaching stamps to each of the hundreds of mailings you do each week. As I also noted, I was just curious - I don't care how you do it as long as the DVD's get here and back to you (and you're doing a good job of that right now).
"We've got something else coming out soon. And, yes, when we do it we are switching to one DVD per envelope. I would imagine our new mailing scheme will be introduced next month."
That is an excellent step in my opinion, but unfortunately it looks like you won't be leaving me with anything to complain about! I guess I'll just start hounding you to put a mailing branch in Tampa (even though it would make no geographical sense whatsoever).
"Given the figures for QBRM I cite above and given a situation wherein we only have and use First class 1-oz mail; further given that it takes approximately 1.5 seconds to affix a postage stamp to a return envelope at a rate of, let's say $10/hour for a warehouse staffer, where are the break-even volumes of mail we must receive each day? That is to say, at what point does QBRM save us money?"
This looks like a trick question. I am not even going to begin to tax my brain by trying to figure it out (unless those coasters are made of 24-karat gold). I'm going to go watch a DVD - catch you later.
Last edited by musicparadise; 07-26-01 at 08:57 PM.
07-26-01, 10:04 PM
#28
DVD Talk Special Edition
Answer to the 'free coaster' question:
Using QBRM will never save you money no matter how many envelopes you process per day.
QBRM costs 36 cents per envelope vs. 34 cents per envelope with stamps. So its costing you 2 cents more each without figuring in labor. For labor, you can do a stamp every 1.5 seconds for $10/hour, which comes out to 40/minute or 2400 envelopes per hour. At $10/hour, that comes out to only .42 cents per envelope.
So, total cost per envelope:
QBRM: 36 cents
Stamps: 34.42 cents
And that doesn't include the $500 annual fee.
High Quantity QBRM is another story.
Here you pay 7700 annually with 32 cents per envelope vs. 34.42 cents per envelope with a stamp.
Doing all the math, you end up needing to use 318,621 envelopes annually to break even, anything over than and you are saving 2.42 cents each (32 cents vs. 34.42 cents). For a daily figure, divide the 318621/365 = 873 envelopes per day (assuming you work 7 days a week).
Now where's my coasters??
Using QBRM will never save you money no matter how many envelopes you process per day.
QBRM costs 36 cents per envelope vs. 34 cents per envelope with stamps. So its costing you 2 cents more each without figuring in labor. For labor, you can do a stamp every 1.5 seconds for $10/hour, which comes out to 40/minute or 2400 envelopes per hour. At $10/hour, that comes out to only .42 cents per envelope.
So, total cost per envelope:
QBRM: 36 cents
Stamps: 34.42 cents
And that doesn't include the $500 annual fee.
High Quantity QBRM is another story.
Here you pay 7700 annually with 32 cents per envelope vs. 34.42 cents per envelope with a stamp.
Doing all the math, you end up needing to use 318,621 envelopes annually to break even, anything over than and you are saving 2.42 cents each (32 cents vs. 34.42 cents). For a daily figure, divide the 318621/365 = 873 envelopes per day (assuming you work 7 days a week).
Now where's my coasters??
07-27-01, 12:37 PM
#30
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"We've got something else coming out soon. And, yes, when we do it we are switching to one DVD per
envelope. I would imagine our new mailing scheme will be introduced next month."
Is this BEFORE you come out with 6 out? :-)
And quit calling us "free coasters". :-)
envelope. I would imagine our new mailing scheme will be introduced next month."
Is this BEFORE you come out with 6 out? :-)
And quit calling us "free coasters". :-)
07-27-01, 01:11 PM
#31
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!We have a winner! Congratulations to Jeraden and thank you all for playing. The only thing Jeraden left-out, and this was definitely not asked for and in no way changes the outcome or the prize - which will be sent today, was that we presently have two branches and are still planning to open more. The High Volume QBRM would only make sense if we received the 873 envelopes every day at each branch. And actually, to add one final detail to the mix, since the USPS generally only works approximately 305 days per year, we would need to receive - at each branch of RMD on every working day - 1,045 envelopes for this method to even break-even with stamps (or the soon-to-be-introduced New and Improved RMD Mailing Scheme- [NIRMDMS]). Great job, Jeraden.
Have a great weekend everybody. I myself will be going this evening to pay a half month's Plan A Membership Fee to see Burton's "Planet of the Apes" in an actual theater (I'll probably spend the other half on heated corn kernels and carbonated sugar water). I'll let you know if it's worth it...
And MPSAN- the six-out is in its final stages. And, OK, OK- no more "forumites," no more "free coasters"- how about "liberated coasters?"
07-27-01, 10:43 PM
#33
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Just to confuse you, I'll support RMD on these points:
* To the person who had lower priority items ship instead of higher priority items - when did you check the list to determine that there were items "available" above the one that shipped?
I ask because an item can say "available" BEFORE the Wish Lists are processed, and then someone else could have also had it as the top available item on their Wish List, in which case that other person might have gotten the copy.
For that matter, an item could say "available" AFTER the Wish Lists are processed, if the item was not available when your Wish List was processed and THEN a return was processed shortly thereafter, making it say "available" even though there wasn't a copy available earlier (when your Wish List was processed).
* Concerning two-disk sets, it's unfortunate that the studios don't always press single disk editions at the same time for rental outlets. Take "Snatch". You watch the film. Either you hate it, in which case you don't ever want to see another word about it, or you thought it was entertaining, but forgot about it a few minutes later, or you thought it was terrific, and want to know everything about it, watch it again with the commentary on, etc. So, only the third sort of person is interested in the second disk, and in that case, the person almost always wants to buy the DVD set. Only a tiny fraction of the public wants to rent the second disk. Generally, you rent a movie because you haven't seen it and are unsure about it.
Speak for yourself - I find that currently both services complement each other - RMD has available all the films that are "long wait" at Netflix, while Netflix has availalble "now" all the films that RMD has not yet purchased any copies of.
* To the person who had lower priority items ship instead of higher priority items - when did you check the list to determine that there were items "available" above the one that shipped?
I ask because an item can say "available" BEFORE the Wish Lists are processed, and then someone else could have also had it as the top available item on their Wish List, in which case that other person might have gotten the copy.
For that matter, an item could say "available" AFTER the Wish Lists are processed, if the item was not available when your Wish List was processed and THEN a return was processed shortly thereafter, making it say "available" even though there wasn't a copy available earlier (when your Wish List was processed).
* Concerning two-disk sets, it's unfortunate that the studios don't always press single disk editions at the same time for rental outlets. Take "Snatch". You watch the film. Either you hate it, in which case you don't ever want to see another word about it, or you thought it was entertaining, but forgot about it a few minutes later, or you thought it was terrific, and want to know everything about it, watch it again with the commentary on, etc. So, only the third sort of person is interested in the second disk, and in that case, the person almost always wants to buy the DVD set. Only a tiny fraction of the public wants to rent the second disk. Generally, you rent a movie because you haven't seen it and are unsure about it.
How about "ex-flix" ? :-)
Last edited by HepDude; 07-27-01 at 10:46 PM.
07-30-01, 05:58 PM
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Returns
I sent back Luck Numbers and Billy Elliot in the same Sleeve as normal...
When RentmyDVD.com received it they sent me one DVD and still show Billiy Elliot as out. I have sent 2 emails and have not heard anything back.... Isent the first email 3 days ago...
What's up???
When RentmyDVD.com received it they sent me one DVD and still show Billiy Elliot as out. I have sent 2 emails and have not heard anything back.... Isent the first email 3 days ago...
What's up???
07-30-01, 09:38 PM
#36
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Secure Signup
I'm cancelling netflix to give Rentmydvd a shot. I'm sick of all of the "Long Wait" titles in my queue, some of which have been there for months! Hopefully rentmydvd will be better.
I have a problem trying to sign up though. The site says that the transactions on rentmydvd are secure but when I try to register for a monthly membership it shows that it is NOT secure. I even tried adding the (s) to https:// etc and it works but when you try to submit the page it is hardcoded to a non secure url.
I want to sign up but want to do it securely, how do I do this?
I have a problem trying to sign up though. The site says that the transactions on rentmydvd are secure but when I try to register for a monthly membership it shows that it is NOT secure. I even tried adding the (s) to https:// etc and it works but when you try to submit the page it is hardcoded to a non secure url.
I want to sign up but want to do it securely, how do I do this?
07-31-01, 08:19 PM
#37
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Good news is I was able to register securely...
The bad news is the inventory seems worse than netflix!!!
At Netflix I had 14 out of 26 titles as "Long/Short Wait". At Rentmydvd I have 13 out of 18 as "out of Stock".
The worst part is when I browsed before signing on most of the movies showed as available. As soon as I register almost every damn movie I want is out of stock. There appears two be two different inventories, one where you are logged in and one when you are not. That's wrong and very misleading.
Oh well, I already signed up so I'm a prisoner for a month
. I'll see how it goes, if it doesn't get better then I'm definately going back to Netflix or some other rental place.
The bad news is the inventory seems worse than netflix!!!
At Netflix I had 14 out of 26 titles as "Long/Short Wait". At Rentmydvd I have 13 out of 18 as "out of Stock".
The worst part is when I browsed before signing on most of the movies showed as available. As soon as I register almost every damn movie I want is out of stock. There appears two be two different inventories, one where you are logged in and one when you are not. That's wrong and very misleading.
Oh well, I already signed up so I'm a prisoner for a month
. I'll see how it goes, if it doesn't get better then I'm definately going back to Netflix or some other rental place.
07-31-01, 08:37 PM
#38
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I also signed up to rentmydvd and only 3 out of the 12 dvds on my wishlist are available. I hope rentmydvd is getting a few more copies of the more popular dvds to minimize these availability problems. On the plus side though, shipping is fast (2-3 days to NY) and $13.95 a month is more than reasonable.
08-01-01, 09:08 AM
#39
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We've talked about the out of stock issues in the past. Even suggested exception reports. As more people come aboard the out of stock titles become more of an issue in my mind and others. Rentmydvd.com representatives have stated that they want our business and will do what it takes to keep it blah blah blah. But there's still the out of stock items issue. To many of the titles in my want list are out of stock as well.
6 of 9 titles in my wish list were out of stock prior to 9am Eastern. Of which the 3 available were of 7,8,9 priority: bottom of the feeder list. Then 2 of my titles were checked in. Due to items being checked in I looked and noticed that all 9 of my titles were available I believe this was 11:30am. Then at 1am I noticed that Saving Silverman was the only not available DVD in my list. Someone may have paid to rent this one DVD or there was an issue concerning the wish list and/or DVD. Anyways its 2:30 pm and I'm issued 2 DVDs from the middle of my wish list. Kinda luke warm on this. Was hoping to get at least an item from 1-3. Now I have 7 DVDs in my list and 4 are out of stock. Currently I don't see an improvement on the stock issue. Till next time. laters
6 of 9 titles in my wish list were out of stock prior to 9am Eastern. Of which the 3 available were of 7,8,9 priority: bottom of the feeder list. Then 2 of my titles were checked in. Due to items being checked in I looked and noticed that all 9 of my titles were available I believe this was 11:30am. Then at 1am I noticed that Saving Silverman was the only not available DVD in my list. Someone may have paid to rent this one DVD or there was an issue concerning the wish list and/or DVD. Anyways its 2:30 pm and I'm issued 2 DVDs from the middle of my wish list. Kinda luke warm on this. Was hoping to get at least an item from 1-3. Now I have 7 DVDs in my list and 4 are out of stock. Currently I don't see an improvement on the stock issue. Till next time. laters
Last edited by sm8680; 08-01-01 at 01:44 PM.
08-01-01, 10:22 AM
#40
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Actually, I had very good luck the first few weeks I was with RMD. I got a lot of titles I could not get at Netflix (which I just left). It is only this past week that I have seen my out of stock numbers take a big jump. Hopefully it is just a temporary situation. None of the online DVD rental companies will make it if they can't keep a handle on this situation. That is far and away issue #1 with customers. If you can't get what you want (or a sizeable percentage of them), you might as well go back to Blockbuster.
08-01-01, 10:56 AM
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Originally posted by Mike A
Good news is I was able to register securely...
The bad news is the inventory seems worse than netflix!!!
At Netflix I had 14 out of 26 titles as "Long/Short Wait". At Rentmydvd I have 13 out of 18 as "out of Stock".
The worst part is when I browsed before signing on most of the movies showed as available. As soon as I register almost every damn movie I want is out of stock. There appears two be two different inventories, one where you are logged in and one when you are not. That's wrong and very misleading.
Oh well, I already signed up so I'm a prisoner for a month . I'll see how it goes, if it doesn't get better then I'm definately going back to Netflix or some other rental place.
Good news is I was able to register securely...
The bad news is the inventory seems worse than netflix!!!
At Netflix I had 14 out of 26 titles as "Long/Short Wait". At Rentmydvd I have 13 out of 18 as "out of Stock".
The worst part is when I browsed before signing on most of the movies showed as available. As soon as I register almost every damn movie I want is out of stock. There appears two be two different inventories, one where you are logged in and one when you are not. That's wrong and very misleading.
Oh well, I already signed up so I'm a prisoner for a month
. I'll see how it goes, if it doesn't get better then I'm definately going back to Netflix or some other rental place.
08-01-01, 12:57 PM
#42
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More likely, he encountered items which are in-stock at the OTHER distribution warehouse. When you look at the web site without logging in, it will tell you if a copy is available in any warehouse. When you log in, it only tells you what is available in your regional warehouse.
Probably the most frustrating aspect of RMD is that you may wait 3 months for a title to become available, while all the time, there is a copy sitting in the OTHER distribution warehouse. This is even worse when one warehouse has a copy, but the other warehouse does not have any copies at all (due to customer theft or purchase or loss).
Probably the most frustrating aspect of RMD is that you may wait 3 months for a title to become available, while all the time, there is a copy sitting in the OTHER distribution warehouse. This is even worse when one warehouse has a copy, but the other warehouse does not have any copies at all (due to customer theft or purchase or loss).
08-01-01, 01:01 PM
#43
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By the way, there has been a change on the web site.
It used to allow you to put not-available items into your wish list, so that a) it tells (theoretically) RMD which items people want, and b) when they obtain the item, it will then appear as "available".
Now, all of a sudden, you cannot put anything into your cart that they do not stock.
This seems a step backwards to me.
It used to allow you to put not-available items into your wish list, so that a) it tells (theoretically) RMD which items people want, and b) when they obtain the item, it will then appear as "available".
Now, all of a sudden, you cannot put anything into your cart that they do not stock.
This seems a step backwards to me.
08-01-01, 02:59 PM
#44
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Different inventories because of the different warehouses? Well that could explain why some things were available when not logged on and not available when logged on. That explains it but it doesn't make sense. Why split your inventory that way? I agree that you should ship from the closest warehouse but if the closest warehouse is out of stock then next ship from the available.
08-01-01, 03:12 PM
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I sent back Luck Numbers and Billy Elliot in the same Sleeve as normal...
When RentmyDVD.com received it they sent me one DVD and still show Billiy Elliot as out. I have sent 3 emails and have not heard anything back.... I sent the first email 5 days ago...
What's up???
This is a repost except for the times now..... NO RESPONSE FROM RENTMYDVD AT ALL YET.... 5 DAYS 3 EMAILS!
When RentmyDVD.com received it they sent me one DVD and still show Billiy Elliot as out. I have sent 3 emails and have not heard anything back.... I sent the first email 5 days ago...
What's up???
This is a repost except for the times now..... NO RESPONSE FROM RENTMYDVD AT ALL YET.... 5 DAYS 3 EMAILS!
08-03-01, 07:35 PM
#46
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Hey everybody. Just a quick post before the real post:
justwantmymovies-
I personally checked the e-mail servers and holding tanks, there's nothing here from anyone about this specific problem. I can't find your e-mail through DVDTalk and I don't know what e-mail you are trying to send this problem to. Since I also don't know your name, do me a favor: go to the site, click the "Customer Center" link on the top, click the [email protected] link in the middle of the page, and type your problem one last time. I really don't know what to tell you other than we simply wouldn't let 3 e-mails go unanswered, especially for 5 days. We simply haven't received anything from you yet. We've also got customer service phones that are open 9-5 PST Monday through Friday and we're constantly watching the skies for smoke signals. We are here and we are listening and we are solving problems just like yours.
____________________________________________________
Back in a few minutes.
justwantmymovies-
I personally checked the e-mail servers and holding tanks, there's nothing here from anyone about this specific problem. I can't find your e-mail through DVDTalk and I don't know what e-mail you are trying to send this problem to. Since I also don't know your name, do me a favor: go to the site, click the "Customer Center" link on the top, click the [email protected] link in the middle of the page, and type your problem one last time. I really don't know what to tell you other than we simply wouldn't let 3 e-mails go unanswered, especially for 5 days. We simply haven't received anything from you yet. We've also got customer service phones that are open 9-5 PST Monday through Friday and we're constantly watching the skies for smoke signals. We are here and we are listening and we are solving problems just like yours.
____________________________________________________
Back in a few minutes.
08-03-01, 09:14 PM
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Here is the response I received:
-----Original Message-----
From: Rentmydvd Service [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 6:22 AM
To: ??????? Don't want my email on this board...
Subject: RE: Shipping Confirm...... rentmydvd.com
Mr. Estep,
I am so very sorry for not responding sooner. Unfortunately we experienced a problem with our e-mail server. I have taken care of "Billy Elliot" and received it in and listed it as lost in the mail. I am again so very sorry I have not responded earlier.
Regards,
Roy Derham
Customer Service Manager
***********************************************
Now, the only problem I have with this is, I run my own email server and if there was a problem with delivery my server would have sent me a NDR (Non-Delivery Report), but I never received anything. That indicates that my emails at least made it to your server. Now what happened to it after that is another thing.
Anyway, my problem has been fixed by Roy.
The reason I was upset is because I have always had great service from Rentmydvd until this problem came up.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rentmydvd Service [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 6:22 AM
To: ??????? Don't want my email on this board...
Subject: RE: Shipping Confirm...... rentmydvd.com
Mr. Estep,
I am so very sorry for not responding sooner. Unfortunately we experienced a problem with our e-mail server. I have taken care of "Billy Elliot" and received it in and listed it as lost in the mail. I am again so very sorry I have not responded earlier.
Regards,
Roy Derham
Customer Service Manager
***********************************************
Now, the only problem I have with this is, I run my own email server and if there was a problem with delivery my server would have sent me a NDR (Non-Delivery Report), but I never received anything. That indicates that my emails at least made it to your server. Now what happened to it after that is another thing.
Anyway, my problem has been fixed by Roy.
The reason I was upset is because I have always had great service from Rentmydvd until this problem came up.
08-03-01, 09:58 PM
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Justwantmymovies-
You're absolutely right and I apologize. I have no idea what happened "to our server" or anything else- all I know is that when I checked I couldn't find you. The reason that I wanted you to use the link in my above post is because we have been in the process over the last week of changing our e-mail system and making the incoming stuff web-based for better control. Whether or not your problem had anything to do with this I can't say- I'm glad it eventually worked out, I'm sorry it took so long, and hopefully in the future you'll never experience anything like this again with us.
____________________________________________________
Everybody else-
I'm gonna keep it a bit short and sweet today and, shhhh, listen: I AM TAKING A VACATION. I'll be back to the post around the 23rd or 24th. I just want you to know I'm not ignoring you.....
____________________________________________________
HepDude-
Thank you for your first post and as far as your second goes, it's like this: We are making more categories other than simply Not Available, coming soon, and available. While we do it we're not allowing NA titles on Wish Lists. When we're done we won't allow stuff that's not on DVD but we will (because we need the data, etc...) allow adding titles we don't presently carry that are on DVD. It's a function to be introduced in the near future.
____________________________________________________
FilmStudent-
You are not alone and the "This Week's / Next Week's" function will be reintroduced in the near future.
____________________________________________________
MikeA-
Sorry about all the HTTPS stuff. I'm glad it finally worked-out. John-in-VA and HepDude are both right concerning availabilty. By logging-on you see what's available in your location at the present time. Returns and outgoing movies affect it as well as where you are.
We are not going to make California inventory available to the East Coast or vice-versa. When we open our other branches there will be sharing; however, if we did it that way now I'd have to hear even more similar complaints about the situation- shipping times made longer don't work for either us nor our customers.
____________________________________________________
gameboy747-
I'm glad that everything is getting to you quickly. As to your other concern, it is addressed below.
____________________________________________________
To everyone getting worried and saying they don't like the looks of this "Out of Stock" stuff:
First, musicparadise's post again:
So I ask you all, and please be honest when you answer this question here and elsewhere and please refer to my earlier post about how a video store's shelves look on New Release Tuesday, etc... and answer me this:
When it comes to the New Releases and the big titles that you want to see (I've addressed smaller and older titles a bunch of times, just scroll up and you're bound to hit a post) are you getting what you want? I'm not asking if you are getting it on day 4 of its release, I'm asking if you are getting the titles that you want to see in a reasonable amount of time. I'm asking about the important part of musicparadise's quote: "...If you can't get what you want (or a sizeable percentage of them)...". So, is the situation you find yourself in? I honestly don't think anyone can say that this is the case. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But honestly, and again I make this point, "Out of Stock" on a Wish List for these types of titles may not look to you like a pleasant description, but are you getting the titles? Are you watching movies? Or are you having problems? If you're having problems getting the titles you want then please do post all the problems and the titles. If you're getting the titles, though, I just don't understand why you want them to always show as "Available." If our New Releases don't show "Out of Stock" then we have over-purchased, plain and simple. We could easily change our descriptions of movies that are out of stock to "Holding" or "Almost" or some other ridiculous word or phrase that means we're out but facts are facts: for a brand-new release, any video store, any online rental place, any entity that rents entertainment media must be out of stock if they are to reasonably expect to get a return on investment. You can bump-up inventory numbers by doing revenue-sharing deals with studios and attempt to get more for less other ways; it doesn't matter how many you bring in. If you aren't out of stock you aren't making money. If you're good at what you do- and we like to think we are- you are able to maximize return while minimizing wait. So, that's the question I leave for you while I go on my vacation: How long are you waiting to see these titles? From the title's release date to your door: what's your average, what's your worst, and, because I like the happy endings, what's your best? Let me know.
Talk to you soon and, of course, I'M GOING ON VACATION.
-Matt
You're absolutely right and I apologize. I have no idea what happened "to our server" or anything else- all I know is that when I checked I couldn't find you. The reason that I wanted you to use the link in my above post is because we have been in the process over the last week of changing our e-mail system and making the incoming stuff web-based for better control. Whether or not your problem had anything to do with this I can't say- I'm glad it eventually worked out, I'm sorry it took so long, and hopefully in the future you'll never experience anything like this again with us.
____________________________________________________
Everybody else-
I'm gonna keep it a bit short and sweet today and, shhhh, listen: I AM TAKING A VACATION. I'll be back to the post around the 23rd or 24th. I just want you to know I'm not ignoring you.....
____________________________________________________
HepDude-
Thank you for your first post and as far as your second goes, it's like this: We are making more categories other than simply Not Available, coming soon, and available. While we do it we're not allowing NA titles on Wish Lists. When we're done we won't allow stuff that's not on DVD but we will (because we need the data, etc...) allow adding titles we don't presently carry that are on DVD. It's a function to be introduced in the near future.
____________________________________________________
FilmStudent-
You are not alone and the "This Week's / Next Week's" function will be reintroduced in the near future.
____________________________________________________
MikeA-
Sorry about all the HTTPS stuff. I'm glad it finally worked-out. John-in-VA and HepDude are both right concerning availabilty. By logging-on you see what's available in your location at the present time. Returns and outgoing movies affect it as well as where you are.
We are not going to make California inventory available to the East Coast or vice-versa. When we open our other branches there will be sharing; however, if we did it that way now I'd have to hear even more similar complaints about the situation- shipping times made longer don't work for either us nor our customers.
____________________________________________________
gameboy747-
I'm glad that everything is getting to you quickly. As to your other concern, it is addressed below.
____________________________________________________
To everyone getting worried and saying they don't like the looks of this "Out of Stock" stuff:
First, musicparadise's post again:
Actually, I had very good luck the first few weeks I was with RMD. I got a lot of titles I could not get at Netflix (which I just left). It is only this past week that I have seen my out of stock numbers take a big jump. Hopefully it is just a temporary situation. None of the online DVD rental companies will make it if they can't keep a handle on this situation. That is far and away issue #1 with customers. If you can't get what you want (or a sizeable percentage of them), you might as well go back to Blockbuster.
When it comes to the New Releases and the big titles that you want to see (I've addressed smaller and older titles a bunch of times, just scroll up and you're bound to hit a post) are you getting what you want? I'm not asking if you are getting it on day 4 of its release, I'm asking if you are getting the titles that you want to see in a reasonable amount of time. I'm asking about the important part of musicparadise's quote: "...If you can't get what you want (or a sizeable percentage of them)...". So, is the situation you find yourself in? I honestly don't think anyone can say that this is the case. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But honestly, and again I make this point, "Out of Stock" on a Wish List for these types of titles may not look to you like a pleasant description, but are you getting the titles? Are you watching movies? Or are you having problems? If you're having problems getting the titles you want then please do post all the problems and the titles. If you're getting the titles, though, I just don't understand why you want them to always show as "Available." If our New Releases don't show "Out of Stock" then we have over-purchased, plain and simple. We could easily change our descriptions of movies that are out of stock to "Holding" or "Almost" or some other ridiculous word or phrase that means we're out but facts are facts: for a brand-new release, any video store, any online rental place, any entity that rents entertainment media must be out of stock if they are to reasonably expect to get a return on investment. You can bump-up inventory numbers by doing revenue-sharing deals with studios and attempt to get more for less other ways; it doesn't matter how many you bring in. If you aren't out of stock you aren't making money. If you're good at what you do- and we like to think we are- you are able to maximize return while minimizing wait. So, that's the question I leave for you while I go on my vacation: How long are you waiting to see these titles? From the title's release date to your door: what's your average, what's your worst, and, because I like the happy endings, what's your best? Let me know.
Talk to you soon and, of course, I'M GOING ON VACATION.
-Matt
08-04-01, 02:20 AM
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We are not going to make California inventory available to the East Coast or vice-versa. When we open our other branches there will be sharing; however, if we did it that way now I'd have to hear even more similar complaints about the situation- shipping times made longer don't work for either us nor our customers.
And, for those titles where you had one title in a location and that title is lost in the mail, then the wait time is "infinite". It makes even less sense in those cases to not allow any RMD member to rent the one remaining copy in the other location, but to only allow half the members to do so by accident of geographical location.
There are certain policies that make sense only when you look at the situation from the company's point of view, but then don't make sense from the customer's point of view - and these things are exactly what makes a customer pick one company over another in a competitive situation.
Although I can't be positive, I'm pretty sure that everything that is on people's wait list for weeks are titles that are, as you say "old and small".
You do say that the problem is that you can't get more copies of these titles. And this is understandable to a customer. But, what is not understandable is when they can't rent that title even when the web site says it is available, and you have the title in stock, simply because they happen to live in the wrong half of the country. While people are not going to wait a week for the P.O. to deliver a copy of a recent big release, nevertheless they are happy to wait a week for it, when the only other alternative is to buy it for $29 sight unseen.
Ultimately, the problem with buying one copy of a title for each location (presumably in order for your inventory to look broad), is that the following syndrome occurs: Originally, the one copy is sufficient to supply all customers while keeping the Wish List wait time at about 2 weeks. This may be just short enough to prevent the customer from getting frustrated. Then, after word of mouth and advertising campaigns, over time your customer base grows to become 4 times larger. But - as you state - you are unable to buy more copies. The result is that the wait time becomes 2 months, and the customers are frustrated.
I think that if the availability to you from distributors of "old" titles doesn't improve, then I can only see two solutions, both of which seem to be necessary - one, making inventory in other locations available to everyone in certain situations (ie allow CS reps to manually toggle a software flag), and two, modifying your inventory and accounting systems to allow you to purchase titles at retail (eg from Amazon) that have severely long wait times. Certainly something that has a number of customers waiting for months, will at least break even if you have to pay a few dollars more at retail.
08-04-01, 09:35 AM
#50
DVD Talk Special Edition
Probably about 50% or more of the discs I rent are new releases. I've never had a problem with getting new releases - I think there was only one occassion where it was out of stock for 1 day and got sent something else, but my next return it was back in stock. The main problem is just the non-new releases for me. I've been a member 3 months now and the following titles have been Out of stock since the day I joined:
Romper Stomper Disc 1
American Movie
Tora Tora Tora
Tigerland
Others I see go in and out which isn't a problem, just the ones that never seem to get checked back in. To be honest, its really not a huge problem for me unless I was running out of other movies I want. Sure, I want to see the above movies, but its not life-or-death that I see them immediately, just so I see them eventually. There are plenty of other things to watch in the meantime. And really, whats my alternative? Go to Blockbuster where they don't even carry the movies period?
Romper Stomper Disc 1
American Movie
Tora Tora Tora
Tigerland
Others I see go in and out which isn't a problem, just the ones that never seem to get checked back in. To be honest, its really not a huge problem for me unless I was running out of other movies I want. Sure, I want to see the above movies, but its not life-or-death that I see them immediately, just so I see them eventually. There are plenty of other things to watch in the meantime. And really, whats my alternative? Go to Blockbuster where they don't even carry the movies period?