Avoid LOVEFILM at all costs

C

cutie bug

New member
Here's why. 3 1/2 months ago I signed up to love film after a 30 day free trial ad was shown on TV. Whilst I had already heard of the company and had seen someone from my street posting off his most recent DVRAB in the post office, I wasn't aware of the free trial thing untill I saw the ad. So anyway, once I signed up I was asked to choose some DVRAB to rent, free of charge, for a month. I chose 2 (for reference lord of the rings 2 + 3), which were then quite promptly delivered 2 days later. I enjoyed them enough (despite them only working on my PC) to decide to let my account run from the trial period into the paid period as I wanted to watch the dvRAB again a few times as LOTR films aren't easy to understand completely on first viewing (especially when you saw film 1 yonks ago and can't remember what happened). So 2 and a half weeks ago, I decided to now cancel my account and return the DVRAB, but shock horror my baby sister (aged 3) had wripped up the paper envelopes and coloured them in. So I e-mailed them and asked if sending them in 2 old 'dvd-rw' cases would do, to which they replied 'sure as long as we get the dvRAB'. So I put them in some old dvd-rw cases and then cancelled my account through the form provided (I read in their FAQs to hold on to the dvRAB untill after processing a cancellation request). So I go to bed that night and wake early to see if they'd cancelled it yet, and I noticed that they hadn't and instead I'd got an e-mail. The e-mail said "we need the DVRAB back first" and so I thought 'hu?', but didn't question their change in policy and sent them back. 3 days later I e-mailed them again asking if they'd been recieved and if they would now process my cancellation and they said they'd recieved them, but I'd have to phone to cancel. Again I thought 'hu?' but didn't question and phoned, but this is where I got really peeved, the woman who answered (who by the way was in some indian call centre, judging by her accent and the guy next to/behind her shouting's accent) told me that LOVEFILM had not recieved any DVRAB back and that I would need to check with royal mail if they were sent. I told her that the other woman had said they were recieved and she got nasty with me almost shouting "Well they weren't!" and so I contacted Royal Mail and asked if they had delivered them properly. I was told they had and so contacted love film by phone again, this time getting a male indian call centre man, who was much nicer to me. He checked and found they had arrived....but...he said I'd have to e-mail them my cancellation request via the website as is practise for all people who signed up for the trial. So I sighed impatiently and e-mailed them detailing all of the above and was told that the man was wrong and that they could only do it over the phone. So again really impatient now I phoned up the call centre, this time it was a scottish sounding person who answered and I asked if he could please cancel my account and detailed all the above. He said he'd need my account password and to proceed, so I had to reset it and phone them back and again explain it all as it was now someone with an unrecognisable but british sounding accent who spoke quite camply (I'm guessing he was gay). He was really sweet and said that he'd process my cancellation A.S.A.P. My account is STILL open and in just 3 days is due for renewal, meaning
 
Simple. Cancel your direct debit (do it by phone banking or online) then they can't take the money.

You've done your bit.

Call them on Monday to confirm the cancellation has been recieved and is being processed, get a name for the operative and a reference number for the cancellation.

Also request a confirmation email/letter to prove this has been done.

All over.
 
This very hard to read. It would have been better paragraphed properly.

It is easier to write to them and say you wish to cancel. This way,you get confirmation that your account has been cancelled.

Do not put any DVRAB in your rental queue,then they can't send any out.
 
Jeeezzzz!!! That wins the hardest post to read of the year contest!

Anyway, any time I have used Lovefilm I have had no problems whatsoever. I have cancelled online, sent the discs back with a proof of posting from my local post office and all has gone by the book.
 
To cancel a Love film account:

make sure youre not to near the billing month, around a week should do it, return all your DVRAB and wipe your rental list so no new ones are sent out, when the DVD's go back cancel on site, they will then prob say you have to call, as they try to retain you. Either take what they offer or don't and complete the cancellation.
 
I was just being descriptive and making sure I describe absolutley every detail, so that no one could try using a mistake I made to defend the company. If you were kidnapped by a tall dark man or a short overweight woman, you wouldn't say to the police "they were wearing a balaclava, thats all I know", would you? It's not like I said anything homophobic or racist or sexist isi t? God is this world so PC now that I have to explain myself for describing someone properly :rolleyes:.

Also, to everyone who commented. As said in my post, I'm sorry that the post is hard to read but I was tired and drunk and trying to rush so I could get to bed before everyone got up in my house.
 
As said in the post, I read about someone who did this and he got lawyers calling him asking why the payment for a new month that had started before they'd cancelled it properly was not allowed and then lovefilm sending him the lawyer's fees.
 
What? How would his sexuality affect the story? It's not about being PC, it's about being irrelevent, you weren't trying to pick the guy out of a line up. It's the same with, saying Indian or Scottish-sounding. What difference does it make?
 
As the poster says, call them back, as for the agents name, ask for a manager even, you don't have to start shouting or anything, just say you've had problems and you want to speak with someone higher, get them to send you an email while you're on the line confirming the cancellation will be done before a new charge is taken
 
I had no problems at all cancelling it, and this was amid the cd-wow messy takeover.

They had problems billing (no idea why) so I emailed and said actually could I cancel, they said yes, and didn't bill me any further. Job done.
 
I found LoveFilm really good.

When you're describing your situation btw, I wouldn't use the racial or sexual orientation descriptions - don't think it'll get you too far :p
 
There's a few things that don't ring true with this story.

First of all, you can't cancel online (they removed that ability about 18 months ago), so you wouldn't have been able to put in your cancellation request on the website, it merely brings up a phone number for you to ring, when you try to cancel, so i don't see how you could have cancelled before sending the discs back.

Also, there was no change in policy, i've been with LoveFilm for years, and every time i've cancelled (in order to get 3 months for the price of 1, to lure me back) the policy has always been the same, cancellation will only be completed once the discs are back with LoveFilm.

If you're sure the discs were back, but LF messed you around to get another months money out of you, then tell them this and demand the money back. Especially if you have the email where they told you they had the discs, send them a copy and tell them what you were told on the phone. They'll refund it.
 
I've been with Lovefilm for about three years and bar the odd film from the bottom of my list and the odd slow(ish) delivery I haven't had any real problems. I've cancelled and rejoined a number of times.

The lesson here is, if you knew you didn't want to carry on with your subscription you shouldn't have carried on with it and left it until the last minute to cancel. Also, considering your sibling tore up and wrote on the original packaging, I think they've been more than reasonable.

Like other posters have written - and you have tried to justify - I don't think anyone's racial or sexual identity has anything to do with anything. I deal with Indian call centres and "people who speak quite camply" almost every day and their personal identity doesn't affect how they do their job in any shape or form - so it's not relevant to your story.

If Lovefilm have their discs back, there are no discs in your list and you have some form of paperwork - ask them for it in writing, email or "snail mail" - confirming that your contract with the company has ended, you have no discs in your possession and are not expecting delivery of any more, they have no legal leg to stand on if they try to claim any monies off you - however hard they push.

It sounRAB like you've been a bit unlucky and have had to go around the houses to cancel - I've never had a problem doing it personally - but I don't think your attitude has helped.

Also, I might suggest not posting on forums when you're drunk.

Good luck anyway and I hope you find a service you're happy with elsewhere. I haven't so I've always ended up going back to them.
 
I wasn't gonna post on RAB for a while but I saw this thread and I can relate as I had a bit of a headache trying to close my lovefilm account. I sent them an email saying that I was annoyed that I couldn't cancel online as I had opened the account online and I didn't think that this was very fair that they would make it more difficult. They replied saying that after 10pm you can close your account online when the lines close. I did and it was easy. They still send me offers trying to get me back but I will never sign up again.
 
Cancelling the direct debit does it all fuss free.

They cant take any more money and they wont do anything unless you still have discs from them
 
I would agree with the original post of this thread,LOVEFilm are pretty crap,for a start you DO NOT get the latest releases.The quality of the disc are terrible.
End of the day you simply CANNOT beat you local independant DVD rental shop.However there are always the bargain basement types who THINK they are getting a bargain!!
 
Everyone bow to the all-knowing, FulhamRoaRABw. although now, I come to think of it, I pretty much always get the titles i want, simply by prioritising them, and I never have anything I don't want to watch on my list. Also in about 2.5years of using them I've had one damaged disc i can think of. Plus the fact I can keep them for as long as I want and as long as i get more than say FOUR in a month it works out cheaper than a shop... But thanks, I didn't realise how much I was being conned!:D
 
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