[Jake]

This maybe an ongoing promotion but this morning I heard a radio ad plugging this free offer. It will be interesting to see what effect Netflix.ca will have on zip.ca's business.

http://www.zip.ca/DVD/SignUp/FreeTrialInfo.aspx

 

[ScaryBob]

Zip.ca and the other mail order DVD rental businesses have offered free trials for some time. I doubt Netflix will have a big impact on Zip. Netflix is not offering DVD rentals in Canada and their selection is nowhere close to that offered by Zip and similar rental services.

 

[gbamber]

Neither does netflix have the classic videos that videomatica.ca has.

 

[Jake]

Netflix is not offering DVD rentals in Canada

I guess you missed the last part of the subject line.

 

[rlongfield]

I'd never heard of Videomatic so I check out their site and looked at their rates.
They're doing it wrong

"1 DVD Out At A Time" package costs just $9.98 per month. Our "2 DVD Out At A Time" monthly packages start at $24.95{/quote]
Shouldn't it get cheaper per dvd when I goto a bigger subscription? I would have pegged the 2 DVD at a time package at $18 a month. Give me an incentive to spend more money.
As for Zip, if they start streaming I'd happily support them over netflix.

 

[MarcP]

I've been on ZIP for over a month now, but being in Alberta and having those discs shipped from Toronto/Ottawa isn't good. Sometimes takes a whole week to get them.

 

[jayoldschool]

I've been on ZIP for over a month now, but being in Alberta and having those discs shipped from Toronto/Ottawa isn't good. Sometimes takes a whole week to get them.

Join Canflix

 

[JamesK]

having those discs shipped from Toronto/Ottawa isn't good

One was just shipped to me today from Vancouver and I live in Mississauga. You can thank Canada Post for the delays, even when going all the way from Toronto to Mississauga. I've seen even that take a week. I've also seen two discs that were mailed at the exact same time take a difference of as much as 2 days to arrive.

For those of you out west, who don't know the geography, Mississauga and Toronto are right next to each other. Also, given that Toronto to Vancouver is only a four hour flight, there's no excuse for CP to take so long to deliver something across the country. Even shipping by train or truck would be faster.

 

[MarcP]

I know where Mississauga is. I moved to Alberta from Brampton last June.

What I find really ironic is that even though the discs are shipped from Toronto, the return envelope lists a Calgary address. I'd assume they have a Calgary warehouse, but they just don't ship from there.

 

[ScaryBob]

I'd never heard of Videomatic so I check out their site and looked at their rates. They're doing it wrong

There are other considerations, such as monthly limits on the total number of rentals. Videomatic does not fully describe the plan terms or list them all the main web site. You must actually sign up to see them. For that reason alone, I decided not to use their service.

What I find really ironic is that even though the discs are shipped from Toronto, the return envelope lists a Calgary address. I'd assume they have a Calgary warehouse, but they just don't ship from there.

Netflix ships from a number of locations across Canada. I assume that they have several locations in major cities to reduce return times. They seem to ship titles from the closest location if possible but more distant locations if a disc is not available nearby.

I've been on ZIP for over a month now, but being in Alberta and having those discs shipped from Toronto/Ottawa isn't good.

There is a video rental service in Winnipeg (Cinemail . ca.) The service was good but mail from Winnipeg to Ontario is slow. They have a smaller selection than Zip as well. Canflix is in Calgary so you might have better luck with them. I also ran across a couple of services in Vancouver.

 

[JamesK]

but they just don't ship from there.

I've seen discs from Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver, so they do ship from Calgary. My return envelopes are all marked Toronto. My guess is they do that so the discs wind up, in proportion, closest to where the customers are, in order to reduce shipping delays. Where they ship from, depends on where an available disc is.

 

[North_of_Calgary]

Mine usually come from Ottawa but always have a Calgary return address. Probably so they can confirm my return quicker. Then they probably bulk mail them back down east.

And it usually takes 6 to 8 business days to receive them. They always arrive about 3 or sometimes 4 days after the estimated delivery date. I blame that on Canada Post however. Shamefully rediculous to think that something can't be sent from one major city in Canada to another in less than a week (i.e. Ottawa -> Calgary).

 

[JamesK]

^^^^
Sometimes, I was able to achieve 2 day round trip, that is from Zip to me and received back by them in two days. However, it usually takes longer. I've seen a week between Toronto and Mississauga, on a few occasions. There's even one I returned over a year ago, and they still haven't received it! Yep, Canada Post.

 

[islandboy]

Ive been with zip for some time now, and they really are great. Not paying extra for blu-ray is quite awesome.

Some blu-ray new releases come to me right after they come out.

I get about 12-14 movies per month on the 3DVD Unlimited so it works out to about $2/movie, which is quite a good deal, and no gas wasted or hassles dealing with a video store.

They also have "ziprefill" which means they will send you a movie after you have told them you have put one of yours in the mail. You can do this for up to 2 movies at a time.

 

[Shiningblade]

How do they deal with missing arrivals or returns? How many times can you get screwed by lost post before they penalize you?

Cheers

 

[JamesK]

^^^^
As I mentioned, one got lost on the way back. It simply shows in my list as "reported". I don't know at what point Zip see too many losses.

 

[MarcP]

Well, I'm going to have to agree with the comments on Canada Post. Just received a package that took a full week to go from a Calgary address to another Calgary address in the same quadrant.

I guess even if Zip were shipping from Calgary, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

 

[PokerFace]

Zip.ca shipments from Calgary or Vancouver to Toronto take between 2 to 6 business days. If a shipment is sent on Friday, you can sometimes get it in 2 business days (the same goes for Cinemail shipments to Toronto that come from Winnipeg). Most of my western shipments average 4 business days, but today I got a Wednesday shipment from Calgary to Thornhill in only 3 business days. Toronto to Toronto shipments have slowed lately, but I did get my Friday shipments today (only 1 business day -- though usually take 2 days during the week).

My Zip.ca record: 557 total rentals and 7 stolen DVDs (1.26%) since July of 2007 (with a few months here and there on vacation).

The more you rent, the more lenient Zip.ca is. "Stolen" discs are reviewed on a case by case basis, but as long as you don't lose too many consecutive discs, you should be fine until you reach about 5 stolen DVDs before Zip gets worried about your account and then asks you to agree to pay for future "missing" discs (unless you've rented many discs from them like I have and I think I need to keep my stolen % in the 1% range to avoid getting asked to pay for future stolen discs). So far, I haven't been asked to pay for any of my missing DVDs (all retail prices similar to Amazon.ca, but often less than that). If you lose a single disc from a TV series, you would only be charged for that one disc (price is based on total price of set divided by each disc in the set), assuming of course that you've already agreed to pay for future "missing" discs.

Zip won't charge your CC until you agree to pay for future missing discs, or if you cancel and don't return your discs fast enough (about 2 weeks after you cancel). If you ever get charged when you think you shouldn't have been, give them a call (1-866-422-4830).

I've had zero DVDs go missing from my Cinemail account, but I've only rented 58 DVDs from them (since December of 2009).

 

[North_of_Calgary]

Well, I'm going to have to agree with the comments on Canada Post. Just received a package that took a full week to go from a Calgary address to another Calgary address in the same quadrant.

I guess even if Zip were shipping from Calgary, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

MarcP: are you getting your mail in Airdrie? I find the Airdrie post office is dreadfully slow (my mail goes through there). A Calgary -> Airdrie delivery seems to take an extra 2 business days over a Calgary -> Calgary delivery. I've never received a zip.ca delivery in less than 6 business days and it's usually 7.