- Saki [faqs]

[Link]

oh wait, I see someone has beat me to the punch...

[Link]

Is this trial period truly free, or is it only free if I cancel?

Thanks.

[Link]

Thanks,
Mike B.
Adult DVD Empire

[Link]

Only one DVD was sent, so I had a look at your policies.

It seems that if the title at the top of the list isn't available, rather than go to the next one down, Adult DVD Empire will wait until the next day. If on the next day that top title still isn't available, someone will check the next one down. If that title isn't in, Adult DVD Empire will wait yet again until the next day!

This is asinine...

Edited by - Dirty Gweilo on 7/28/2003 7:44:50 PM

[Link]

In contrast, only six out of 63 titles in my Xrent queue (which is 90 percent the same, just in different order) are listed as "out."

If every time the top movie in your Longview queue is unavailable costs you a full day of response time... well, that ain't good.

[Link]

i still love ADE and they rock in their SALES service, but their rental program needs a ton of work, not to mention some serious stock upgrades. heck the guy i talked to on the phone even confessed to me that a big problem was that they put very few copies of titles up for rental. it definitely shows. if they fixed the bugs and increased their rental stock, theirs just might become the best rental program for the best price.

[Link]

Two of the discs were returned by the next day; the other was mailed back after only two days. As of today, two weeks after joining, I still have not received a fourth disc. The turnaround time is atrocious so far.

I have 70 discs in my queue, but only 23 are listed as available now. For the most part, they're not brand-new or obscure titles... the kinds of titles listed as "out" include Service Animals 8, Just Over Eighteen 3, and Sex On Film from Wicked.

So basically it's a total disaster so far. I'm going to have to cancel until I hear from other people that things are working better.

[Link]

returned 2 discs this past saturday (the same day i received my 8th), 4 discs returned monday and the last 2 of my original 8 were returned today. to my pleasant surprise ADE got my first 2 returns on Tuesday which in turn opened up 2 rental slots. as it happened, the top 4 selections in my list were all available at the time. nothing had changed on my list from the previous night. Empire mailed out my top selection to me that same day (Tuesday), yet for some odd reason which escapes me, did not mail out my 2nd selection until today (it was available the entire time and sat at no. 2 on my list since monday). so the quirks continue. i'm expecting ADE to get my next 4 returns tomorrow, so i'll see what happens then.

overall i wouldn't say that their rental program is terrible. i wouldn't say it was good either. quirky is the best and only word i can think of to describe it. very inconsistent and unpredictable, but generally speaking i've been getting titles at not-too-incredibly slow a rate.

Edited by - wetmartini on 8/6/2003 3:31:39 PM

[Link]

i've said it before and i'll say it again, i think ADE absolutely has the potential to be the best - with their selection, competitive pricing, great website, and all the other benefits of a large, well established business. they just need to work out these kinks.

[Link]

Obviously service is important to me. With Xrent Preferred, I've turned around TWO cycles of discs in less time than one has taken from Longview. I still haven't gotten my fourth disc from them. I don't quite expect Netflix-caliber service (I returned two discs Monday; got a new one already Wednesday, will probably get the other tomorrow) but more than a week each way in transit is unacceptable.

Bigran, how has BushDVD been with the turnarounds?

[Link]

Since they are in the same city (San Diego) as me, I enjoy very quick mail times which works out great for me, but maybe I could get that with the LA companies too.

Sidenote to WetMartini: Once you are a member, you can see availability information when you look at your rental queue. I have about 50 in my queue and most are available right now.

And finally, BushDVD does seem relatively accommodating if you make suggestions of titles they could add. I asked about a lack of newer Private titles and they asked for specific titles, so I sent them about 25 or so of recent titles and they said they would add those to their mid-August order.

(Sorry, by the way, for continuing to take this thread further off-topic.)

[Link]

I know for some of you that have participated in the initial run of Empire Rentals that your experiences have been frustrating, but rest assured that we are doing our best to take customer feedback and put it to use in making changes to improve the program. Please feel welcome to contact me with additional suggestions.

Thank you,
Melissa R.
Empire Rentals Site Manager

[Link]

it's comforting to know that you guys are at least paying attention to the feedback and are working to improve the rental program. hopefully everything will be running more smoothly soon.

unfortunately, day 13 of my membership continued in the tradition of quirkiness that i've experienced thus far with ADEs rental program. on a semi-positive note, when i checked my account around lunch time i saw that the 4 discs i sent back on monday were apparently received today, and i was alloted 4 new rentals. i was hoping that my returns would arrive yesterday as some of my rentals spent only 2 days in transit (i'm 1.5 states away from ADE) but 3 days is quite acceptable (especially given some of the stories i've heard about Longview). luckily, the top 4 selections on my list were all available (i rearranged my list this morning to bypass ADE's priority-waiting code). when i checked back just 5 minutes ago, it read that only *one* of my rentals had shipped, despite them all being available. needless to say i am confused as to why only 1 of my rentals would ship when 4 were available, placed in the top 4 spots, and had been there since early this morning.

i can think of 2 possible explanations aside from plain old human error - which i rule out due to the ongoing consinstency of these quirks.

first, ADE could be having a problem with its inventory database. thus when titles are shown to be available they might actually be out. i doubt this is the case since a). this type of system is fairly simple and in widespread use, b). ADE has had plenty of experience and strong success with this system for their SALES and c). the 2 other instances in which i experienced this same quirk, the titles that didn't ship immediately were shipped the next day indicating that they most likely were available, as stated.

the second, and much more likely possible cause is a problem with their priority-waiting system. for those who are unfamiliar with the system, here is an excerpt from ADE's rental FAQ:

"If your Membership entitles you to rent 3 DVDs at a time, we will send you the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd DVDs in your list first. If the 3rd one is not available, we will send you the 4th the following day. If the 4th is not available, we will not send you the 5th on your list until the next day after that, all the while continuing to check the availability of the skipped selections (3 and 4) on your list. We hope this system will keep your higher priority movies more readily accessible to you by not automatically skipping them to send you the available titles only."

although i think the intentions behind it *may* be good (it could also have been put into place as a huge time sink, in which case it's doing a marvelous job), this system is just a mass of bugs and quirks waiting to happen imho. when running properly, the system will purportedly wait a day, or two, or three if your top priority selections are unavailable, thus allowing some time in case they are soon returned. unfortunately, the system seems to be causing shipment delays even if your top priority selections *ARE* available. not to to mention all the other odd factors and changes that can disrupt it. what happens, for instance, when someone changes the priority of titles in their list?
ADE is apparently aware of this issue and has posted the following tip on their site:

"Since re-prioritizing your list is in effect refreshing your list and will place you behind other customers who may be waiting for the same title, we recommend not Updating your list during the day you are waiting for a particular title to ship."

ok, but i've been following that guideline since day 1, always being careful to perform changes to my list at night or early in the morning (7:30ish AM EST). and the system is still screwing with me.

my *strong* advice to ADE? toss out the priority-waiting system. fire the person who came up with the idea and consider firing the people who implemented it (although i'd cut them a little slack since at the concept level the system is a huge mess to begin with). the kicker is - even IF the system were working *perfectly*, i'd still hate it. it causes 1 hex more problems than it creates - primarily the inability to modify your list during the day. what if a title you were waiting for suddenly shows up as available in that time period? and what criteria do you use to determine whether a title is listed as "available" or not? i was told a rental copy is removed from availability when it is placed in a slot above the "line" on someones rental list. but the CSR who gave me that info didn't seem too confident in what he was talking about. even issues with availability are made much more complex because of the way they have to accomodate priority-waiting.

kill priority waiting. allow customers to manually determine when and which rentals ship out (like Xrents weekly rentals. heck, just like your sales system). change availability to reflect whether a rental copy is simply in or out (not based on a position on someone's rental list). when a customer chooses a title and actually clicks to have it shipped, then and only then should that copy be designated unavailable (again, just like your sales).
to me this is the perfect system. the customer has absolute freedom and absolute control. information on availability can be counted on as reliable. does it require more effort on the cusomer's part? yes, but somehow i think quadrapalegics are the only ones who will take real notice.

the irony in all of this is that what i propose is not only similar to your very successful sales system, but is also 10 hex *simpler* than what you are unsuccessfully attempting to do. sometimes it's the case that the better, more profitable system or solution is the more complicated one. this is not one of those instances.

someone from ADE please reply so i know that you've at least read and taken into consideration what i've written here.

P.S. i sure hope the people from ADE reading this aren't the ones who came up with the system ...

Edited by - wetmartini on 8/7/2003 5:14:34 PM

[Link]

Wanted to let you know that I have read your post and think you have some great ideas there. They will definitely be taken into consideration as we continue to adapt the Empire Rentals program for the better.

If anyone has additional comments or concerns you are welcome to email me at the following address:
rentalfeedback@dvdempire.com.

Thanks,
Melissa R.

Edited by - Mademoiselle on 8/8/2003 8:41:46 AM

[Link]

I had reservations about sampling Adult DVD Empire's rental service, but decided to give it a try. After finding some of the "gotchas" of the service and reading other complaints, I knew I wasn't going to stay. I returned my DVDs with what I thought was plenty of time, but to my chagrin, found out that ADE had stacked the cards against me.

You see, ADE doesn't seem to operate on the weekends, yet they hold them against their customers. I signed up on Saturday, but they didn't begin shipping until Monday. When I cancelled my service, they sent a message stating if they hadn't processed the returns by Sunday(!!?), they would charge my credit card. Sure enough on Sunday I received an e-mail stating my credit card had been charged...today I received 2 e-mails stating my returns had been processed...what bunk.

I've sent ADE my complaint and hopefully they will resolve it, but for now I cannot recommend their rental service to anyone.

Edited by - Dirty Gweilo on 8/11/2003 9:38:05 PM

Edited by - Dirty Gweilo on 8/11/2003 9:39:00 PM

[Link]

I wanted to let you know the weekend issue raised by you in your direct email to me as well as here on ADT has been recognized. As a result, we changed the way in which customer accounts are processed in regards to counting the weekends in this morning. We will now give customers whose last day for product due back to us from a membership cancellation on a Saturday or Sunday until late Monday afternoon to get all of their DVDs back to us. Thank you for your input,

Melissa R.

Edited by - Mademoiselle on 8/12/2003 10:23:47 AM

[Link]

well, 2 weeks ago i returned a group of 4 DVDs at the same time, same place. a week later 1 DVD return was acknowledged from that group. another the following day. a third that friday. the 4th still has yet to show up as returned. 1 week ago i returned another 4 DVDs and none of those have shown up as returned. my account ends this coming monday and i have a strong feeling those DVDs i returned 2 weeks before termination date (hell yes i am cancelling) will earn me no additional rentals. which reminds me, since last wednesday i had 2 rentals to my credit from the 2 out of 8 they actually acknowledged. the top 5 or 6 titles on my list were available all week. i know better than to mess with my list when i have possible shipments. it could turn a 2 or 3 day delay into a 1 week delay, although it's suppposed to be a zero day delay. ADE was kind enough to send me 2 rentals last friday.

my conclusion? don't touch this rental program with a 200 foot pole. i loved ADE and was a big fan of their site, but this rental program was far more than even i could take.

[Link]

I am back to report that the coming changes I wrote about to the ADE Rentals Program have been put into effect.

The way the new updates will work are as follows: upon signing up for a membership or returning an out title to us, our system will search for the equivalent number of titles needed to fulfill your membership level. For the first business day this search will be based on the highest priority titles in your Rentals List. If those titles are not available after the first day, we will send you the next titles on your Rental List, starting with the highest priority and continuing down, that are able to be shipped to you immediately. This will cut down on the turn around time, so you are not waiting for titles to be shipped to you.

The new system does take into regard the titles as you have prioritized them, but more efficiently focuses on selecting product that you can have in a more immediate time frame. We have also made adjustments in order to process customer problems more efficiently and introduced this week a Rent To Buy Program for rental clients.

As for the shipping issues many of you have mentioned, there is little at this point we can do to adjust it. The Postal Service has proven somewhat difficult with some customer shipments, but we are continuing to seek out options for improved efficiency and satisfaciton for you.

Myself and the staff of ADE will continue to develop and make adjustments to the Rentals Program in order to make it of the same caliber as the ADE shopping experience. Please feel welcome to continue to send your suggestions and comments to me directly.

Wetmartini--
I acknowledge your experience was less than satisfactory with the Rentals program. From your email I gathered it was due to a number of reasons. I apologize for the inconveniences to you and want you to know that I take note of your experience and will apply it to additional improvements to our program.

Thanks,
Melissa R.
Empire Rentals Site Manager
rentalfeedback@dvdempire.com

Edited by - Mademoiselle on 9/5/2003 11:45:45 AM

[Link]

------------------
Regards and Thanks
ShiWarrior
- - Minka Fan - -

[Link]