OnlineDVDRentalGuide.ca

Hi all,

Just wanted to post my very negative experience with MoviesForMe.ca as a warning to any of you who are considering their services.

On Feb 26 I signed up for a Free Trial. I was basically evaluating three services: zip.ca, rentadvd.ca, and moviesforme.ca. I wanted to know which one had the fastest mailing time to my Toronto address and intended to only keep the one that was fastest.

Two weeks later, on the last day of my 14-day trial, or perhaps more accurately on the 13th day (I didn't keep notes -- and that has come back to haunt me), I tried to cancel the free trial.

STRIKE #1: MoviesForMe.ca offers a quick and easy free trial signup on their website. However, cancellation is not quick and easy. You have to cancel by telephone; there is no online cancellation option. All the other services I've looked into offer this.

So I called in, sometime around 4:30 pm I believe on Friday March 11, and was greeted by an agent who informed me that the cancellation department was closed at 3 pm, and I would have to call back on Monday. I was concerned because that would go past my free trial period and I didn't want to be charged. He assured me that I would not be charged as long as I called first thing Monday morning and explained the situation. I thanked him. I did not take down his name (which I now regret.)

STRIKE #2: MoviesForMe.ca does not state that the cancellation department has different hours from the regular "front desk" customer service. This is a somewhat predatory tactic; at the very least it is deliberately misleading.

So I did call the following Monday (March 14). I spoke to a very nice agent who asked me why I was cancelling. I explained it to him, and he asked me to answer a survey, and I was pleased to spend the time doing that. I try to offer reasons why I chose zip.ca over the other alternatives. At the end of it all he cancelled my service, and indicated I had a 7-day grace period to return the DVD's I had just got in the mail (I did return them the day after).

STRIKE #3: MoviesForMe can have problems with cancellations not going through, or with accounts being cancelled but the credit cards not being "disconnected" from them.

Last night I was going over the bills and realized that in March and April, I had been charged by MoviesForMe! I called in today to try to straighten it out. I was greeted by another friendly agent who assured me that it was a mistake, and the April charges would be reversed. However, he made it clear in no uncertain terms that I was going to have to suck up the March charge because I cancelled after the free trial date. I explained the situation to him and he had absolutely no sympathy, citing that I had rented 8 movies and should not be complaining.

It is true that I had 8 movies sent to me (total), but a Free Trial is a free trial. It should be honored. It doesn't say anywhere that a Free Trial is only free if you rent 4 discs. I was, to be fair, evaluating shipping time averages so I needed to get as many discs as I could during the trial, and 8 was pretty much the maximum.

Anyway, I asked to speak to a manager, and he claimed to be one. (Which is a common tactic -- but there is no way for me to prove him wrong. He could have just been doing his manager a favour by filtering calls from angry former subscribers) He was polite but was very irritated by the tone of his voice. He had no remorse whatsoever for what the company did to me -- it seems that he was operating on the logic that, because I got 8 movies, it serves me right and I damn well should have been charged for a full month! Which is absurd. For a full month of service, I expect to get at least 12 to 14 films.

So, the bottom line is: MoviesForMe makes it very difficult for you to cancel the free trial. They also run the charge through on the last day of the free trial, so I advise people to cancel before the 14th day. On top of that, don't start the service on a weekend, because that could cut in to your free period -- you can't cancel on weekends, I believe. Finally, when you do cancel, note the time and the date and the agent you spoke to. Record the conversation if you can.

Even though I attempted to cancel within my free period, my efforts were thwarted by obscure policies. I have a strong feeling the agent I spoke to today was the one that handled my original call (from his voice) and told me the cancellation dept. was closed. That may have been a lie for all I know. I was ASSURED that cancelling on the Monday would be fine with an explanation, but that seemed to make no difference.

Not only was I charged for the first month, but even after my account was clearly deactivated, I was still charged for APRIL! That is just negligence, and I imagine it is commonplace at MoviesForMe.ca. They probably do it knowing 85% of the customers will be too lazy to notice or fight back.

Anyone else here had a bad experience with them? I'm not even talking about their service -- which is mediocre at best. The price is competitive, but the selection is not, and the speed of the website is very poor. Still, I had no real complaints until I was screwed over like this.

Let this be a warning. Always take names and numbers. If I had I would have filed a dispute claim with my credit card.

I cancelled MoviesForMe yesterday and I spoke to Scott, who was quite pleasant and basically asked why I was cancelling. It will be interesting to see if I get billed again, since I had no outstanding movies - they were actually mailing 4 out to me, but he was just going to retrieve them. Technically my membership is still ongoing for another day, but I figured it wasn't worth the hassle.

I found their service to have improved somewhat in the last month, especialy with turnaround times. I used to wait days for them to send out new titles, but that had been reduced to about a day in the last month. I did make mention of the fact I had an extremely poor month with only 3 titles (and he knew immediately which month funnily enough) and that I was promised a partial refund which never materialized. He didn't comment of course.

Jason wrote:I did a two week trial with MFM. Of a list of 17 movies, most of which were not new release titles, 2 of them were in stock. So I cancelled immediately.

Do M4M members now have some sort of indication as to the availability status of titles, or did you ask them about the stuff on your list? Around August 2004 they loaded 20,000 titles into their database, but they actually only had copies of around 7000. The rest would presumably be ordered as required. I didn't think they provided any indication to members as to the actual inventory status of stuff, but my time with them was well before this.

I also had a bad experience with this company - I had thought that their Toronto location would mean a faster delivery time. During the trial period, the 4 dvds sent by regular mail took weeks - I called and let them know I hadn't received them and cancelled membership (this was on day 11 of 14 day trial, so within their time limits). I received a total of 7 dvds - all returned after a few days of receiving them.
They have since billed me for 3 months - my latest complaints to them has left me with a promise that they will refund 2 months, but not the first month rental because I 'kept' the dvds for so long. Any explanation (also done at the time) that I hadn't received them, so I wasn't 'keeping' them was ignored.
I find the service and response from 'MoviesForMe' poor - people on the phone are polite enough, but complaints are not dealt with and their 'trial period' is bogus.
Don't sign up, don't go near them. I now use Zip and am completely happy.

DO NOT SIGN UP FOR MOVIESFORME!

They bill your credit card after you cancel. Their voicemail is always full, etc.

I filed a chargeback with my credit card company and a complaint with the Ministry at http://www.cbs.gov.on.ca/mcbs/english/2452_3fe.htm

for violations of the Consumer Protection Act:

13 (2) No supplier shall demand payment or make any representation that suggests that a consumer is required to make payment in respect of any unsolicited goods or services despite their use, receipt, misuse, loss, damage or theft.

94(2) The cancellation takes effect when the consumer gives notice.

99(1) A consumer who has charged to a credit card account all or any part of payment described in subsection (2) may request the credit card issuer to cancel or reverse the credit card charge or any associated interest or other charges.

99(5) The credit card issuer shall,
(a) acknowledge the consumer's request within the prescribed period and
(b) if the request meets the requirements of subsection (4)
(i) cancel or reverse the credit card charge any any associated interest or other charges within the prescribed period or
(ii) send a written notice to the consumer after conducted an investigation explaining the reasons why the credit card issuer is of the opinion that the consumer is not entitled to cancel the consumer agreement or demand a refund under this Act.

Anyone with the same situation I would recommend doing the same.

Hey guys,

newbie here.

Ive pretty much tested out all the online services out there and have to say that MOVIESFORME is the absolute worst, most pathetic service ever created.

My experience with them mirrors what has been said above.

I joined up with them around May 24ish for the 2week trial. During my trial time, I received exactly ONE dvd, thats right 1. Well then I proceded to try and cancel my account and lo and behold no online cancellation. I emailed them and they said I have to call in to cancel, WTF was my immediate reaction as all the other services I was trying had options ONLINE to cancel your trial. Well I got stuck with this steaming pile of turd service and my first month ends on the 26th of June, and guess what...I have only received ONE dvd within this time, also they sent me an email telling me that I had another disc coming, well a week went by and no disc, so I checked my account and it turns out the disc was never sent in the first place ...that makes it 24.95 paid for one freaking DVD. I do hope that I dont get charged after I cancel my account like some of you guys did.

Granted I am only interested in Asian Cinema, of which they dont have much but still, 2 DVD's in a month and a half?!?!

STAY AWAY FROM MOVIESFORME.CA

Heres an email I sent them complaining about their lame-ass turn around times and my invisible DVD

Subject: Re: Your DVDs Were Shipped Today

Hello,

I have not received this DVD. It is not in my rental
list either. I am very disappointed with your service
as you have only been able to fulfill 2 of my requests
within 1 month. I will certainly be cancelling my
membership at the end of my billing period and will be
taking my business elsewhere. I do not understand why
my requests cannot even be fulfilled and why it takes
almost 4-5 days for me to receive a DVD whereas with
zip.ca it takes only 2 days. Thank you

Reply from them:

Thank you for contacting us.

Please tell me the first and last name used to create your account. I
need this info to pull up your account. I will then take the requested
DVD off your list.

We handle all cancellation requests by telephone. If you do need to
cancel your account, please call our office during regular business hours.
Our office is open between 9am - 4pm(eastern), Monday to Friday

Is there a problem with your account? If there is a problem, please let
me know so I can correct it right away.

Thanks Steve

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes there is a problem Steve, YOUR SERVICE SUCKS ASS AND YOUR COMPANY SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN

I cancelled M4M last month and haven't been billed again. From what I understand, their practice is to bill an extra month if you have discs outstanding.

My biggest complaint with them was that they waited 3-4 days before sending out new DVD's. I also had a similar month where they only sent me about 2 DVD's. I complained in an email and was promised compensation but that never materialized. I also made mention of this when I phoned up to cancel but of course they didn't address this problem.

Customer service was decent enough, since I had a few broken/missing discs, and these were taken care of somewhat quickly.

I have a feeling they will probably be swallowed up by zip.ca in the near future though, since they just honestly can't compete with zip's inventory.

Why would any other rental company want to touch these guys with a 10-foot pole? Their reputation is so horrendous, they'll probably disappear quietly in the coming weeks and their meagre inventory liquidated.

I considered these guys because they were the closest city to me. What turned me off and was my ulitmate decision for not trying them was the fact that I couldn't cancel online.

That threw a red flag up for me.

FWIW, my 2-week rental experience was fine for me. Quick mailing of DVDs, quick turnaround on return, not to mention the added benefit of being physically close to them so the mail didn't take very long to arrive.

Canceling wasn't evident on their webpage, but a chat with their live help system gave me the 1-800 number to call and a friendly chat to cancel and ask how they could improve the service.

For me, the primary area of focus for them should be UI.
1. The new release section was a huge alphabetical listing. That has since changed in the last week to be a listing of new releases by month, which is more what I was looking for.

2. Overall sexiness. It just kind of looks unsexy and unprofessional. Some cleanup is required.

I'm trying out the different services to see what they're all about, which is why I canceled. Nothing specific against this company other than the polish of their website.

Pete

Just to update one day after I filed my complaint with the Ministry I received all of my money back

http://www.cbs.gov.on.ca/mcbs/english/2452_3fe.htm