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| Company | Overall | Interface | Service | Value | Selection | Reviews | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinemail.ca | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 25330 | 38 | view |
| Zip.ca | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 58177 | 106 | view |
| Canflix | 3.1 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 11000 | 36 | view |
| Videomatica.ca | 2.8 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 15642 | 13 | view |
| Premieres.ca | 2.8 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4531 | 6 | view |
| DVDLink.ca | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 15000 | 3 | view |
| Cyberflix | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 4322 | 9 | view |
| Rogers Video Direct | 2.4 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 58177 | 8 | view |
| Relay Rentals | 2.1 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3343 | 4 | view |
| DVDFlix.ca | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 9670 | 19 | view |
| DVDHype.com | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 10540 | 15 | view |
| Starflix | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.4 | n/a | 13 | view |
I tried zip.ca for two weeks from Montreal. I barely got 2 deliveries in that time, and both of them were the low priority DVDs on my list (the second one was actually parked). I called customer service to ask to cancel the trial, they were polite, and said that Canada Post was the reason DVDs take 6 days to get from Ottawa to Montreal. Their selection is tempting, their web site seems intuitive and finding titles is quick. But without a quicker delivery, I'm happier to walk to the local DVD store. Netflix in the US works so well, yet I can't grasp why the model works this badly in Canada.
I used netflix in US, and would consider comparing zip.ca to netflix an insult to netflix. ZIP.ca does offer wide variety of titles and good delivery time, but it has a major flaw which negates all pluses. Basically, the priority system at zip.ca doesn't work as intended. You receive "first available movie" which might be miles down the road from what you actually would like to see. New releases sometimes will take 2 or 3 months before these are actually delivered to you (I am still waiting to receive WALL-E). Basically, unless you are one of the people who would watch whatever is delivered vs. movies you actually would like to see, stay away from zip.ca... and yes, in comparison I NEVER had this issue with Netflix in US. I am planning to switch to canflix in the next few weeks, with the hope for the best.
Used to use VHQ when they get sold to Zip but alas the service dropped and the price shot up.
I joined Zip.ca with very little hope of it being a decent service, from the reviews I've read. Well, at least those reviews were accurate, but what choice is there really? When I started, just a few months ago, I would get movies in my top 10-20... after a month, 20-30, right now I'm in my 40s. They have a ton of movies, but EXTREMELY few copies of any of them. Some movies out for well over a year have been in my top range for some time now, and two months I have yet to see it... Simply put, you won't get any new movies unless you are either waiting with nothing else coming your way, or you pay extra (so much that the extra charge is more expensive than a whole DVD rental anywhere else). The last four movies I've received have been 2-3 or more years old, which is fine.. that is why they are on my list, but way way down on it. I really shouldn't be getting these consistantly. If you like movies, want a huge variety, and don't really care how long it takes to get those movies, then Zip.ca is great, otherwise avoid it like the plague.
After reading some of the reviews, I felt compelled to comment. I too, was a faithful Zip subscriber for almost 2 years. I brought numerous customers to them because I would sing their praises long and loud. After dealing with them for about a year, I had a DVD go missing. They handled it without any penalties. Then about a year later, I had two go DVD not arrive in the mail as indicated on the website tracking. I reported them missing or stolen after waiting almost 2 weeks. I was told that my account status was going to be changed to a lesser one. I was not happy, but I understand that they are a business and have to limit losses in cases such as this. Surprisingly, the very next day, the two missing DVD's showed up at my door. The Canada Post carrier (who has since been replaced), had sent the two DVD's to the wrong house. I immediately called ZIP to rectify the situation but could get absolutely no where with them. It seems that they are such a big slow bureacracy that once I filed a report I could not retract it. I was told that I either have to pay up, or live with the reduced status. I was also told that if any other DVD went missing I was going to be required to pay for them. I could not believe the lack of support. I even managed to get a hold of the president, I believe his name is Rick Anderson, who was completely unsympathetic to my situation. This, after being a loyal Zip customer for two years - and having made dozens of referals to their company. Needless to say, I most certainly did NOT give them a dime. I switched my service over to Cinemail about 6 months ago. I do find things marginally slower because I'm dealing out of province. I am located in Ottawa and so is ZIP so it's hard to compare fairly. My subscription with Cinemail, was the 3 DVD plan and I had the 4 DVD plan with ZIP, so also a little harder to compare. I have been SO happy with the service that I've just increased my subscription with Cinemail to the 4 plan. I'm also happy to say that I've had NO DVD's go missing since I've been a member. I found ZIP extremely difficult to deal with because they rely far too much on automated systems to handle customer inquiries. They might want to look at increasing the skill level of their front line staff and actually empower them a little to solve simple problems. Technology is wonderful if used properly, but it will never replace the one-on-one effective of live human interaction. I thought it necessary to comment on this when I began reading in your reviews that many other people had similar problems as I did. Regards,
First of all, it's a cheap website. Search function is poorly designed. If you search a director's name, then you always go to a "Title" tab with no results, then you have to click on the "Director" tab, which is a new separate search. "My Rental History" list only has Previous & Next buttons, so you have to go through every single page to get to the beginning of the list. The wait for any new release, not a Hollywood blockbuster, but something like Deepa Mehta's Water, is a LOT longer than 3 months. I don't even think this would work if I had 40 titles in my Ziplist, right now I have around 200. The worst thing about Zip.ca is their standard policy of accusing honest and law abiding customers of stealing if a DVD goes missing in transit. I do not understand the logic behind their attitude and arrogance since I have no control over what happens to a DVD after I drop it in a mailbox. I understand this is a corporation and it only cares about recovering cost. But the fact is that the majority of the customers do not steal from them, and treating them this way would simply offend them and drive them away to Zip's competitors. I will not recommend Zip to anyone. The only reason why I joined Zip was their huge selections. Most films I watch are foreign, old, hard to find, I couldn't find them anywhere else. For people who are interested in mostly main stream, recent films, there's no reason to join Zip, stick to your local rental store. I'll probably switch to Cinemail soon.
I've been with Zip since the begining and their service was going down hill till they implemented their speed or order. When i switched over to the order of my ziplist, i've gotten more of the top movies on my list. Beyond that i've also been shipped movies over and above my 4dvd plan simply because zip hadn't sent me my top titles. A good trick is to rearrange your list every now and then. It triggers their zip priority and you could get more movies.
Back in the beginning this site was great. I used to get new releases the within 1 to 3 weeks of the release date. Now with their cap system the only way you will get a new release is to use the gotta have it function which will cost you an extra $4.99 per selection. Or like me I can use my Zip points for this. If you don't use this function you can wait about 6 months to get a new popular title. And good luck nowadays to get any selections in your top ten list or top 20 for that matter. This site has really gone downhill since the cap seems to have limited the availability of titles.
Their collection is amazing, their service is also good. The only problem is that they sometimes take more time to ship DVD than what they posted on their web site.
I was a happy Zip.ca customer for nearly 2 years. The selection is huge and the shipping times were amazing. The caps were a big surprise. As many others have stated the 11 disc threshold on the 4 DVD plan is too low, and the $2.49 charge for overages is too high. The 4 disc plan is $24.95 a month which works out to $2.27 per disc. How can they charge MORE for overages, if anything they should be discounted. I had a disc go missing a few weeks ago. Coincidence or not my shipping times have taken a huge hit. I am in TORONTO and discs now take 5-10 business days to reach me (used to be 1 or 2 days.) A disc they shipped 3 weeks ago still hasn't arrived so I will soon have to report it missing as well. At least after reading the reviews I know I am not alone in this. I would not recommend this site.
Being the largests online DVD rental company, I was expecting superior service and quick turn around time. I receive my DVD quite quickly. The Zipfill is a tremdous asset. Unfortunately, over 8 months, I have not received any DVD high on my selection list. I mostly get my 30th to 40th selections. Unreal.
I assumed when I signed up for this service that I would get the top three DVD's on my list, like Netflix. Instead I nearly always get the most obscure/least in-demand selection on my list. I have not gotten any the top three DVD's in my list in the three months I have belonged. Awful value, I will be cancelling as soon as my subscription runs out. I hope Netflix finally moves into the Canadian market and wipes the floor with them.
This was my first foray into online rentals and thought they were OK until I found alternatives. Just didn't get enough value for my money.
I've been a member since the service started and they recently deactivated my account without any notice after I reported a disc missing. Funny thing is the disc showed up so it proved that it was CP being slow. I'm glad because their service and delivery times were pathetic.
I lost my zip refill because Canada Post loses a disc and I get accused of stealing. What a bunch of garbage. The service is so painfully slow. They stall on shipping me discs cause I can see when they start returning the ones into their system but yet don't ship me the new ones. If you try to complain none of the customer VHQ online where did you go???
Rented out more than 400 movies from this company. 4 went missing in the mail. Certainly no fault on my part. Well it must have been, because they deactivated my account. They almost got to the point of accusing me of stealing there product. Wish they had in writing. Will never deal with Zip.ca again
Another ex zip customer who paid them $600 a year for ages, brought them other customers and got rewarded by being accused of stealing 3 DVD's.. madness.
It costs more per DVD than any other rental site but it has the best selection by far. Zip has fast shipping to NS unlike Cinemail. They also added some DVDs I requested -- I was very impressed by that.
The Ziplist interface is buggy, and no control over priority of selections other than 1 ASAP slots. Value is ruinded by caps that are less than 3 "full cycles" of your selection in a month.. Fast shipping, but that just gets you to the cap faster. Customer Service is downright atrocious.
First of all the cap of 11 is too low. I think 16 should be a fair cap for a 4 dvd plan based on there are 4.x weeks a month! Another is the famous stolen dvd issue. I once received a dvd that was about 2 weeks behind the schedule. I reported to them and they suspended the solt. The suspended solt costs me money as I pay monthly fee. When the dvd finally arrived, I lost money of not using the solt and they did not lose anything!
The selection is still the best, but customer service needs a lot of work. I rent a lot of TV series and it is very frustrating when discs are sent out of order because their database did not flag a disc as being part of a boxset. Explaining this to customer service is like talking to a wall! Hint: If you see a TV series set, if there is no "Rent All" button to go with the set of discs, then likely you will not receive the discs in order. Zip's anime collection is unsurpassed, which is why I still subscribe. I wish caps were a little higher, otherwise I only give Zip a rating of "Passable" for value.
the worst customer service of a canadian company
They really lack in service once you become a member. Since introducing caps they have really opened the eyes of many to their competition.
Not sure why people are complaining about all that stuff, I been with Zip since last fall and it's been great for me. The website is pretty good, I would change a couple of things with how a person can find a movie, their selection is the biggest I've seen so far, I found movies/documentaries with them that I couldn't get anywhere else. Turn around time is good too. I don't expect it to reach me in a day, I am more reasonable than that and shipping time with them is reasonable as well. I had a problem with a 'Stolen' DVD, didn't have an issue with the process since it was only one DVD, I was still getting 3 out. The DVD did end up showing up after a week or so. Mmm, other than that, I haven't had any major issues or problems, and I think their service is great!
The 11 DVD a month soloution that Zip is using will shoot them in the foot.
very poor customer service, sent a query 3 days ago no replies yet, is it a poor customer service, or they don't bother about the queries, please someone let us know before I start to pay for the service.
Before caps & the way they put them in place my ratings would have been more in their favor. The way it all came about wasn't handled very well @ all. Their customer service in a word SUCKS! The Selection of titles is the best. It all depends on how much BS you want to put up with if you want to be a member. For me, its not worth it but I gave generous marks to be more than fair.
I tried Cinemail, Canflix, Zip.ca and Starflix, and I liked Zip.ca the most for their selection. I am a big fan of French movies and Festival movies, and I couldn't be happier with ZIP.ca.
Priority System Sucks, Customers get no respect and are treated as theives and 11 DVD's a month doesn't represent good value!
I have tried a few other sites and they just seem a little cheap. I would totally recommend Zip to people. Even with the caps, you can't beat it. They don't have games though, this site is a little misinformed...
I read some bad reviews ont his site which worried me a little about trying Zip.ca, but given the free trial I figured why not. Turns out the Customer Service (which I decided to test right away) was stellar! The interface was good (my only complaint was ordering of the movies I wanted to see) and the selcetion is by far teh best of any I have seen. Also, turn around time was as faster or faster than any other serivice I tried.
While there is much debate on capps and levies. Zip remains a real good rental outfit, if you consider that on the 8-disc plan you have a cap of 22 without being charge shipping and handling. Rental at a video store would be a huge cost at that number and purchasing monthly 22 DVD's would be extravagant. The Website interface is good compared to the lot of them. Still there is not connect to movie websites like IMDB which make moivie buffs bouncing back and forth to get decent movie information. The Zip list functions but is no way intuitive to the user. Customer service? Hopefully a service require minimal CS but when you need it Zip offers basic replies and mediocre service. It stance usually is customer is guilty of something and will reply in sarcasm and defencsive langauge. In terms of what Zip has to offer in way of DVD selection. It is unbeatable at this point, They offer a large selection of diverse titles. They have noticably slowed down in getting new releases as quick as they used to but still with a library such as there there is plently of DVD to go around.
Amazing selection, any movie I could think of, they have it. THe movies come in a day!! Amazingly quick turn around of the titles I send back to them. The NEW RELEASE selection is by far the best.. I have gotten most of the new movies I asked for. I only hope they increase their monthly cap. By far the best value for new releases, turnaround and selection!!!!
The value has dropped for high-volume users, but if you're looking for rare discs, Zip is where you'll find them.
Almost all responses from customer service are 'templated' and useless. I have had ASAP's in my list for MONTHS without being sent, average ASAP delivery time is over 2 weeks+ for me. New price structure is a total rip-off for a company that sends out movies from your list RANDOMLY.
The caps were a BAD idea.
I started my two week Trial period and boy am I glad I did, not only are they a new release rental company, you have a choice of wheather to email, phone or chat on line with customer service about any problem you may have. They also list the date at which time your DVD's are expected to arrive. I was also told that ZIP.CA is not in one location but across the country. i.e-Toronto, Calgary EXCELLENT SERVICE
Stay away from zip. I joined about 8 months ago and in the beginning it was great, but since then it has been a horrific decline. They have ought out like 3 or 4 different other oline dvd companies and now the service sucks big time. I have had times when it took well over 2 weeks for them to recieve the dvds i had sent back. When you try and contact them it takes like 2-4 weeks for them to respond and when they do its useless. As all they do is try ad defend them selves never dealing with the real issues. The big kicker was lately when they decided to start to put a limit on just how many dvd's they will send out before charging you an additional 2.50 per dvd. What really bothers me about this is that on teh envelope you get when you get the dvd's it clearly says the postage is 50 cents for the sent dvd and another 50 cents for the return envelope. So thats $1.00 right yet they are saying they will be charging their members 2.50 per dvd. So they are charging 2.5 times what the actual price is. All this on top of the 25.00 im already spending. Yet when i signed up it says the service was unlimited, doesnt sound to unlimited to me. $2.50 per dvd, for me that would meant they would be charging me an extra $15 per month for their service. Zip is a scam with horrific service, stay away.
I was a happy VHQ user until Zip took them over. I used to be able to have a rank ordered list for movies. With Zip, that is not possible. It's either "ASAP" or "Standard." Zip also doesn't take into account the ordering for movie series. Last week I got Star Wars III, and I haven't seen the other two yet. That's just stupid. No one seems to review my list before sending out the movies.
ZIP.ca USED to be the best. NOW they are just passable. Their only saving grace is their selection, but with CAPS this is somewhat negated.
The new pricing at Zip (and those sites that are powered by zip) is a fundamental change in the business. I hope people remember all they give up to be a ‘zip’ member. They give up control of which movie they see when. When the price was a flat fee you didn’t mind renting an older film you missed seeing but I’d sure feel ripped if I had to pay an extra 2.49 to see something over 30 years old. And heaven forbid a movie that is popular arrives damaged, nothing like waiting 2 months for a disc only to get a bad disc. Their concept of sending a replacement is a joke, all they did when it happened to me was put the movie back on my zip list. No prioritization, no ‘extra disc’ for the inconvenience nothing. I waiting another month for the ‘replacement’. So when I read that email I immediately cancelled my membership and I hope EVERYONE who is a zip member does the same. If we wanted ‘blockbuster’ we’d go there in the first place.
I used to be with VHQOnline (which I really liked), and was shunted to Zip.ca when Zip.ca bought them out. I really don't like the queue, or "ZipList" because there is little choice for priorities. The first two months with Zip.ca, they never sent me a single DVD that I had listed as "ASAP". Now I'm actively looking to go elsewhere because of two new policies: 1) They are eliminating the deal I had for having 3 DVDs out at once, which I prefer. 2) They are introducing limits for the # of DVDs per month.
The introduction of caps has made the fairly appealling Zip into a totally unappealling option.
I have been a member of zip for 18 months. I was a satisfied customer because of their wide selection of titles, was willing to put up with their indifferent customer service. Now that they have implemented rental caps I can no longer recommend them to anyone. Their most popular plan is 4 rentals at a time, I use this plan. The zip rental cap set at 11 for this plan is VERY low. I was renting 14 to 16 movies per month without being glued to my TV. At 16 movies that was only 4 movies per week. Even 12 movies per month was only 3 rentals per week. A cap at 11 is a big downgrade in value, you'll be renting less than 3 movies per week. Think this over very carefully before you choose this company.
I've been renting DVDs online for over 8 months now. I've tried pretty much ALL sites out there. About a week ago, I would've rated this site MUCH higher. But the new "THRESHOLD" system is now in effect! Now you get a limit of how many dvds you get per month, even with the UNLIMITED rental plans! These thresholds are unrealistic. Once you get to that limit, they charge you $2.49 for shipping for EACH dvd over your threshold (considering it costs $0.50 to send the dvd by lettermail each way, it's just ridiculous)!!! That comes out to be much more than the other sites out there. Value now = 0. In addition to that, the zip.ca customer service is barely acceptable. They respond fast, yes. But their customer service agents are rarely ever helpful, often replying to emails in a robotic way that resembles a scripted response to specific questions. It's easier to read the FAQs! Customer Service = 1 The interface is good, but as I've said before, if you want good answers to your questions, better to just read the FAQs and not bother with the CSRs. Because of the new "threshold" system, I just can't recommend this site.
While they have the largest database their policies towards their customers are overly aggressive. Since the implimentation of thresholds on unlimited DVDs (aka a LIMIT) they are asking you to pay upto 63% more for the same number of DVDs other places offer. Additionaly they use their "ZipRreceived" feature to manupulate how many DVDs you receive. I setup 2 accounts to test this, one I reported the actual date, the other I reported 2 days after the "estimated" date provided. On the latter account I began to receive things faster. I only tested this for a month though until they announced their threshold.
Few complaints I have to post. I was a happy member of moviesforme until the transition. I will give zip props for fast postage and larger database of movies BUT they dont let you have any say over which dvds they ship (you can designate 2 or 3 as "ASAP" but it doesnt seem to have much effect in my 4 months), they also cost more, and now they are introducing limits (!) on movies. If you send back your movies once a week they consider you "high volume" and charge you $2+ per each title (in other words, if you have a 4 dvd plan, in a 4 month week Id expect 16 movies, they claim the avg is closer to 9 per month).
Delivery times vary widely. From very good to OK. With more warehouses it depends on where they deliver from. Selection is their strongest quality.
I completely agree with the reviewer below. I had been a member of VHQ for over a year prior to transferring to Zip. VHQ was great. The customer service was quick to rectify any problems and went out of their way to compensate for any lapses in service. With Zip, I immediately noticed a huge increase in turnaround times, but things have degraded to the point where I am literally waiting a full month between shipments, and only receiving new DVDs after making an inquiry. (I make a point of returning all DVDs within a week of receiving them, and live in a major city where everything else reaches me by post in about three days. And Zip still manages to bill me on time!) Customer service takes ages to respond, are unnecessarily hostile and unhelpful, and this has been a really disappointing experience overall. I've canceled my membership and would not recommend this site to anyone.
Horrible Migration from moviesforme.ca. Loved movies for me... No problems but when Zip.ca bought them out I noticed considerable decrease in turnaround times and to compound the wait times, they would claim they lost my DVDs!!! Come on!!! If you can't handle taking on two other smaller companies along with Rogers customers, don't aggree to the venture! From what I've read Zip.ca was a good company, but now they've just gotten too big too fast and they forgot about customer service.
Excellent service. I like the ZipRefill feature!
Very poor migration from VHQ. Cannot set the order of the dvd selections. :( CSRs were very helpful on phone and email support. Email was fast, phone was slow. (while on hold the "your call is important to us" message was every 15 seconds! uughh!)
Was a VHQonline subscriber (after quitting DVDsToYourDoor and DVDHype in disgust.) Was reluctantly migrated to Zip. Regretting it every day. Shipping is v. slow. They take at least a couple of days to process my orders and 4/5 days to ship. The ASAP feature is a total joke. The site, although well designed, is so slow I could go boil a kettle while waiting for pages to load (am on DSL, so bandwidth not an issue.) Hate the fact that there is no way to prioritize titles. If Netflix don't hurry up and launch a Canadian service, may have to go back to bricks & mortar.
I never seemed to get a new release when I was a member. Customer service was virually non-existent.
I migrated from VHQOnline and found Zip to be a much nicer interface and they have a great selection as well as some great features. BUT their priority system needs work and the turnaround time (Very Important to me) is 3-5 Days. They also 'lost' my previous rental history and the customer service response is too slow. I hope it improves or I may just go back to the brcik & mortar stores.
I've been with Zip pretty well since they started up. It was great at first. Now it is terrible! It is IMPOSSIBLE to get customer service. There is no phone number. It can take weeks for answers by e-mail, and sometimes they don't answer at all. Their "live chat" makes you wait a few minutes, telling you you are 1st or 2nd in line, then it says "no agents are available" and drops you. If you request a series you may wait months between disks. Putting something on your ASAP list is the kiss of death - you'll NEVER get it then. It is SO frustrating. I have to quit - the health risk is too great.
From Oct'04 - May '05 I was a very satisfied Zip customer. As of late May/early June delivery times have gone from avg. 2 day to avg. 4 day (usually 5). 1 missing disc to 6 missing discs. No comments to Customer Service answered and now I've passed the 6 missing disc limit (which they don't publically post) and I've been dropped as a member. Of course, they dragged that announcement out for a month so they could charge me again.
Been a happy customer for about 9 months now. A breath of fresh air compared to my first company. I most appreciate the selection, I like horror and they've got many foreign and independant titles I'd probably never see otherwise.
Getting the titles you want in a order you want is a lottery, and the odds are quite low. You are more likely to win lotto 649. Customer service has been ok in the past, but recently it has degraded. In fact, getting the titles you want seems often more difficult than it should be. Not sure what that claimed 30000+ titles really means or how it's counted, but I don't think it means 30000+ available or in stock, for that matter.
I love it, 2 years and counting. Much better than dvdhype and moviesforme . They just need to give us a queue for our movie lists.
Zip.ca has the greatest selection, and should appeal to all segments. My main problem is with how hard to navigate their site is, and how inefficient their queue is. Apart from that, it's a great company when you account for everything. They seem to fulfill requests generally pretty well, although some movies just don't get bought.
I find delivery and turn around time to be great. However, with the upcoming caps on the popular plans, make this deal not much of one. I also did not like the way zip lists are done. I'd rather prioritize the movies I want to see rather than watch from a random pool of movies. The only thing that makes zip.ca stand out is the nice web interface and points system.
I have been with Zip.ca for about 10 months now. I must say that, having tried two other online rental copies, Zip.ca is truly the best. I've had a few issues that I brought up to there customer service dept. and they were handled in a fast and efficient manner. The only issue I have has to do with the zip list. I wish that we could put the DVDs in order of preference instead of only being able to select a few titles as ASAP.
I like the Zip.ca website and their selection is unbeatable. However, I get much faster shipping times with Zip.ca (average only 1 day to ship or return, with zip.ca it was more like 3 days average). Also I don't like the fact that you can't re-order your list on Zip.ca. With VHQ you can fully re-order your list any time, and put whatever you want on top (with Zip.ca you are limited to 2 ASAP positions on your list, the rest of the list order can't be changed). Also, Zip.ca was starting to never send me new releases for over a month, even if they were ASAP. I would go back to Zip.ca if they fix the issues I had.
excellent and fast delivery....i suggest for someone live in ottawa and sign up at this website
Just started at Zip.Ca. Seems very good so far! Customer Service was amazing!
Zip is the second service I've used. The user interface is well-refined though it's not very easy to determine what is coming soon to their inventory. Making up for this, however, is the ability to add a title to your wishlist well before the DVD is released. For instance, every week I look at the reviews of new films being released in theatres, decide which ones I want to see, then add them to my list immediately. Means I don't have to come back months later with a list of titles to add to my list. Very handy. I've had good experience with customer service. The turnaround time on titles is OK, better than I would have expected considering I live in BC. Their loyalty rewards program looks promising though at the time I'm writing this, you can only accumulate points, they haven't yet allowed anyone to redeem their points for rewards. Integration of the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes scores is helpful, though the scores on Zip aren't always the current IMDB rating. We do not have the ability to individually rank the titles in our viewing list in the order we'd like to receive them. This makes a guessing game out of determining what titles you are going to receive next.
Tried to start my trial two different times. No customer service. No DVDs ever got shipped during the two-week trial. First CC was declined (despite other sites accepting it). Second card was never processed. Ships bonus DVDs as a separate rental. Not worth it. Overhyped.
I would highly recommend it. Fast and easy!
I've been with these guys for almost a month and I should have 20 DVDs by the month's end. There selection is excellent, and about 14 of the 20 DVDs shipped to me were in my ASAP list. My ship time is roughly 3 days, but I wish it was faster. I only rent older DVDs (80's, and 90's) so I really can't speak to Zip's performance on new releases which I've read wasn't great. Also, my ziplist is huge at roughly 130 so I didn't have any problems with DVDs not being shipped due to unavailability. I rate the Customer Service a 3 although I haven't had to use it yet, but I did bump my membership from a 4 DVD type, to 6 DVD, about 2 weeks in and that went off without a hitch. All in all I would recommend Zip.ca and plan to coninue using them. I just hope they can improve shipping times in the not too distanct future.
I've been with Zip.ca for about 6 months now. I recently upgraded to 6 DVD's for $35. Overall the turnaround on DVD's was fair. The check in facility was a complete waste of time as they didn't ship anything until they physically got my returned DVD. Getting something from my "asap" list would happen once a month at best. They somehow lost 5 discs over the 6 month period. Either there is a huge theft problem in Canada Post or they are just wanting an excuse not to ship back items. It got really annoying having to fill out their "loss" forms. Seems that this is a common thread on this chat room. I liked them, but can't rate them well due to this major loss issue.
$25 per month seems like a fair deal, but the claim of 'unlimited' rentals is a little misleading. I live in Waterloo, and In my test I was able to rent 12 dvd's in one month. I never received any new releases, and one got lost, which I was charged for. I suppose you must consider that risk for any mail-based service. In my case, I decided to quit, and stick to the less-risky video store down the street.
Here is my Review of zip.ca - I have had nothing but trouble from zip.ca when I registered my account did not get activated. No phone number for support. Over 5 days to get an email reply. I was so annoyed. Finally after 8 days and several emails to support they said my account was cancelled. Then the next day I got an email indicated my account had been activated. I just got my credit card bill and I have still been charged $80 for the 3 month plan on the first day I tried to register. Looks like another 3 weeks of emails to try to get a credit issued. Further, I was unable to delete my credit card information from their database. (Even after they said my account was deleted, my information still was in their database -otherwise how could my account have got activated!) zip.ca... No thanks. Zip.ca is the worst excuse for an internet business I have encountered since the internet began... and I buy a lot of stuff on the net.
I have been with zip for 6 weeks (I stoped becose I don't have much time this month, but I will rejoin) and the average time for a small city in Quebec is 2 or 3 days. One note too, many people say the support isn't good. I found that if you are not a member, they answer slowly and mostly with automatic answer. But once you are a member, you get a reply in less than a day, and it's always a real answer. I was scared at first becose of that, but once I was a member, support was incredible. Highly recommended.
I have been using since they started in Feb. 2004 and I have been VERY happy with the service. The only downfall is the customer service interface - I find it a little confusing. They seem to return my e-mails quickly but the system ZIP.CA uses to process the customer service e-mails is a bit strange. Other then that it is perfect - anything to keep money away from the late fee kings!
I absolutely love ZIP's interface, and it's what I now judge the others by. For someone who's looking for the new releases and blockbusters as soon as they're available, ZIP makes it easy to find the titles that I want. Response to customer service email is a long wait, and somewhat painful. Expect to resond to at least 2 canned answers before someone actually addresses your issue.
Overally satisfied. Great selection, it has the most friendly user-interface but it could be better. It is too bad that you cannot decide more specifically in which order you want movies. All you can do is set 2 of them in your list in a high priority mode called ASAP. I wished they would allow a numerical order from 1 to 100 (or more) like some other dvd rental websites. I had an issue with them about a lost DVD. I dislike the way they work through this. You have to print something and FAX it out to them (not toll free of course). They should make it easier for us. And finally, what prevents me from coming back if that their enveloppes are too appealing to anyone who would like to steal DVDs. Zip.ca, please change them to simple black and white enveloppes.
Been a member for 5 months now. Great shipping speed, great selection, well organised list of upcoming releases. Thumbs up.
Zip.ca is definitely a good service. The problems they have are mostly related to the ssssllllooooowwww customer service. When you have a problem, such as lost disks, it can take quite a while to resolve...all the while, you are getting charged your for the service and you aren't getting all of your disks sent. Other than that, I like the service. If there was another service with similar selection, I would probably switch.
Well, As I mentioned in my previous post. I decided to leave moviesforme for a bigger service. First impression is an absolute GREAT one. Sign up was easy, and I had movies out the same day (Tuesday). Today was Thursday.. 2 days later.. and THEY'RE HERE ALREADY! I'm floored... it was 4-5 days min for moviesforme to reach the east coast. After examining the return envelope, looks like I send to Halifax. I wish they advertised this fact, as I'm sure they'd have a number of East Coasters sign up since it's only a 3 hr drive to Halifax from PEI. They sent me 3 dvd's on Tuesday and 1 on Wednesday. I'm sure I'll probably recieve the next one tomorrow. Should be interesting to see how long it takes to get the next ones, but right now.. VERY impressed.. keep up the good work. I will follow up by the end of my trial.
I have tried out 6 online dvd rental companies, many for a substantial period of time. Zip.ca has a decent website and a good selection. For that I pat them on the back. Delivery times are mediocre. I'd place them middle of the pack. Where they absolutely fail is customer service. Absolute worst of the bunch. First, they do NOT offer a non-email contact number which many of the other companies do. This should start warning sirens right away. I sent a few informational requests which took an overly long time to return to me. Then I had a missing DVD issue which went on for MONTHS. Customer service didn't get back to me, lied to me, passed me off among themselves, and this after they had inappropriately charged my account. It isn't with glee I give them a bad review. They have positive aspects, but to me customer service is paramount. When things go wrong you want a company that will be attentive to your needs, and when you trust an online company with your credit card you expect them to be trustworthy. Keep trying zip.
Selection is great. However delivery times aren't. Took 3 and 4 days to receive intro selections. VERY dissapointed didnt receive at least one new release from my ziplist. Return time from Vancouver two selections took 4 days, 2 selections took 8 days!!! Customer service didn't respond to my emails. Interface is clean, however can't add more than one title at once. Probably a good choice out east, but go with VHQ in the West.
For the most part I like Zip. While I'd like to be able to rank all my movies in order, they've been pretty good about giving me my ASAP titles (with one glaring exception: Before Sunrise was on my ASAP list for four weeks). They'e made some good efforts to improve delivery times out West, with a Vancouver PO Box, but I think they really need to open a B.C. warehouse -- if they did I'd give them a perfect 5 for value. I'm thinking of switching to VHQ, which has a BC warehouse, simply to get better delivery times. The selection is fabulous, including loads of TV DVDs the others don't have (Homicide, Freaks and Geeks, etc.)
While they have suffered from growing pains, Zip.ca has done pretty well given their large customer base. Transit times are quite reasonable in Ontario, and value for the money is high if you return DVDs promptly.
Personally, I would NOT rate their selection a "5", since I seriously doubt that they actually have all of the titles they list in stock. Their "green bar" and "ASAP" features are confusing and pretty much useless. Customer service is seriously lacking in all areas.