I started logging this experience when I first received my Blockbuster On Demand wireless video download set top box, thinking it would be a very short article. However, with all the headaches I have endured with installing and using the box, it is quite a bit longer that I had planned. However, hopefully it will help someone else in their own experience.
Week of December 7th 2008
Was excited about ordering the 2Wire On Demand settop video download box from Blockbuster. $100 buys the box and 25 prepaid movie rentals. I was even more excited when it arrived a few days later.
Monday December 15, 2008: After receiving the box, logged into my account at Blockbuster.com and put my mail subscription on hold. Getting ready to hook up my new 2-Wire On Demand video box for my new Blockbuster Access download subscription. If things go well, it will forever change how videos are rented.
Wednesday December 16, 2008 : Messing around with starting to install my new Blockbuster 2Wire MediaPoint super duper video download rental box. It keeps locking up. Will try tomorrow.
Thursday December 18, 2008
- With my wireless printer off and my notebook disconnected from the network, rebooted the Blockbuster box and got it to connect. But when it came time to register it on their website, blockbuster.com was taking downtime (for several hours).
- Got logged into Blockbuster.com, but I see nothing on the website prompting me for the PIN being displayed by the MediaPlayer on my TV. This is a sign of poor user experience design. Likely the reason I was not contacted by a recruiter in the past to work for Blockbuster is that BB did not want to spend the money to get a much-needed business analyst to work with their Information Architect (assuming they even had an IA). I’m also irritated that the BB IVR requires me to push 1 to continue in English. And the recorded wait message tells me that I can handle my business with them online; that’s the reason I’m even calling!
- Still on hold with Blockbuster customer service, I see a URL called blockbuster.com/settopbox in the poorly worded blurry text instructions on my ancient non-high-def TV. I try the URL and get “SITE UNAVAILABLE” or an error with some numbers. Customer Service Rep finally comes on and says she can do nothing to help me register my box and that I need to use the website. When I explain that the website is erroring out, she says she knows and that they are doing some updates. When I ask why they are updating their website in the middle of the day, she stammers and says she really does not know. I politely refrain from telling her that the reason is because somebody screwed up somewhere in the requirements/design/coding/testing/deployment phase(s) of the SDLC and they are probably trying to back off a series of “enhancements” or fix them since they are taking hard downtime and people are going to NetFlix or MovieLink or somewhere besides Blockbuster at the moment.
- Finally got into the blockbuster.com web page to enter my PIN. But it said that the PIN is now expired. So I basically have to start over with setting up the set-top box. With a 50 character network password, it is really becoming a pain in the posterior after 6 tries and counting.
- Finally got the blockbuster set top box setup. Now I am trying to understand their business model just so I can be a customer to them. Here is what I think I know and think I understand:
- Rent videos in a store
- Rent videos online and receive in the mail
- Rent videos to download to your computer
- Rent videos via your set top box
I just canceled number 2 above, and am seeing that the 4-some-odd movies in my online queue are not listed in my set-top Favorites. Nor can anything I do online affect my set-top experience. The “download rentals” on the website confused me by leading me to initially think they were discussing the settop download rentals; but not so! And in BlockBuster’s poor user experience design, this is not explained.
So now I must manually search on the settop box for each and every movie I had already spent time putting in my online queue over many month’s time, and I must do it using a very cheap remote control and a very klunky onscreen menu. The print on the buttons looks like it is already starting to wear off and I have not even downloaded a movie yet. The menu and remote combine to allow primarily control using directional arrows and an OK button. This can be a bit tedious for modern people – such as adults, teens, children, and seniors – who have ever used a keyboard or a PDA or even a telephone with letters on on the buttons.
As I relearn how to use this type of remote and menu, I now discover that many of the titles I had in my online rental queue are not available for settop rental – like Tropic Thunder which is coming soon, and The Bucket List which is not even found).
With the purchase of the box for $107 plus tax, you get 25 rentals. That is 4 bucks a rental. Then rentals vary in price from $1.99 and up (at least $3.99 for recent releases). My wife is already telling me to ship the box back for a refund and take our online-by-mail rental off of hold for $12/mo unlimited rentals with 1 out at a time and free in-store exchange. Though I love the idea of on-demand video rental, Blockbuster’s download model is more of “on-supply”.
Speaking as a software development professional who loves to see a job done right, I must say that I am less than impressed with Blockbuster today.
- Maybe Blockbuster is not so dumb after all. They have retained me as a customer to do user acceptance testing, and are even getting me to pay them!
- Blockbuster emailed me confirmation of the ordering and shipping of my set top box. So now I am confused yet again by Blockbuster… Is that communique about the box I received 4 days ago, or did Blockbuster decide I was ordering another one when I logged in this morning to confirm my PIN to register my existing box? I’ll have to visit my bank account to try to find out.
Wednesday December 31, 2008
Well, I am getting tired of blogging about the Blockbuster On Demand, and I am tired of the box itself. So, I have called customer service to get an RA number (return authorization – required in order to return a product via mail). After pressing 1 for English and waiting 12 minutes on hold, I was connected to a customer service rep (CSR) off shore in Europe or South America who then transferred me to an English first language CSR Stateside.
At first she tried to reason with me and talk me into keeping the box and trying to help me work out the bugs over the phone. But she could probably hear the frustration in my voice and she wisely decided to issue the RA number. I suspect there are quite a few others who have had similar customer experiences.
In short, here is a quick recap…
- Offering: 8gb solid state memory wireless/wired download box. $100 + tax for the box and 25 prepaid rentals.
- Difficulty with the wireless connection. My downloads (both of them) took over 4 hours each due to repeated broken connections. Actually, the second one never completed but I was charged for it anyway and had to have the CSR credit my account.
- Klunky human interface and a cheap remote control with sticky buttons. The security code is not hidden on the screen, and my kids could easily see what it is when I was trying to download their movie.
- Many expected titles (movies) not available for download, even though they have been out for years and can be rented online by mail – I mean that between 50% and 75% of the movies I had in my Blockbuster Rent-by-mail queue were not to be found for On Demand Download.
- Customer service has very limited call-in hours. An offshore model adds complexity. Online support is very limited. On-screen support is nonexistent except for instructions to call in during business hours.
- Overall rating: “D-” by this customer.
My response: Return the box for a refund. I was getting ready to reinstate my rent-by-mail membership, but then took a look at NexFlix. At this time I think I will give NetFlix a try.
