word!

That’s the line I was given after successfully canceling my account with the ‘newest’ DVD rent-by-mail, powerhouse Blockbuster, and asked why it was so difficult to get onto the website.

It seems the 800 poung gorilla that has sat quietly in the corner while all the others were raking in cash has finally come to the realization it should jump in on this fad, lest the competition undermine their cash cow operations and make them irrevelant. I’m somewhat glad for it, as it has brought down prices at Walmart and Netflix. Capitalism works good that way.

Now that Blockbuster has made it’s play though, I’m starting to wonder if it was worthwhile to put the worst foot forward into such a sizzling competitve and fickle market. I decided to join after seeing their ads plastered all over USATODAY offering a free month of renting. Sounds easy enough. I’ve done it with both rivals and it worked flawlessly.

But Blockbuster can’t even figure out how to let you sign into their website for the rental program. After seeming logging in and giving them your credit card info, you think you’re all set to go. But nope, you can’t. Seems they don’t think you logged in and want you to do it all over again. So I read through FAQs and maybe there is a cookie problem. So I follow the advice and clear cookies in both Mozilla and IE. nothing. Try different computer, same thing, nothing. After putzing a good hour on this, I call up Customer Service and cancel accounts. And for all this they can say they’re a new company. What, did they just steal Blockbuster’s trademarks and create all the buzz in the industry after doing so? I think not.

I am less than impressed with their stupidity, both online and in-person customer service. Get with it.

**UPDATE — while researching links to Walmart’s service, it appears that Walmart has conceded defeat of their service and is pushing it’s users to Netflix. Interesting.