and, now that you've been the guinea pig, i've switched too, because of the fast post issue.

dvd unlimited don't answer the phone, and ignore repeated emails. that's just rude.

I was also with DVD unlimited and found their customer support to be terrible. I've been with all 3 online dvd companies now and found Movieshack to be the best of the 3 - faster turnaround, better features (yay to ajax and rss!), and excellent customer support.

I belong to DVD unlimited thanks to the month free trial with Pizza Hut earlier this year. Since then I've continued to get DVDs and games for my XBox because it works well for me - lots of movies to watch all the time. Being in Auckland the turnaround time is fine when you mark it returned on the net a new movie is posted the next day. I watch about 10 a month, heaps more than I ever used to! Haven't had a need to try call tho

Well I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who has had problems with DVD Unlimited. I signed up for their two week free trial, needless to say - that FastPost issue must really be an issue, because I did not receive one DVD during that trial period. I tried to contact them about this but as Sue already mentioned, their customer service is pretty shocking. They do not answer their correspondence. Needless to say, I will not be using their service again (if you can even call it a service).

I joined dvd unlimited for the free trial and found it to be very dissappointing, I then moved on to Aro Video, on a friends recomendation, who do an online courier rental service and while it ends up being a bit more expensive depending on how many movies you get, they have an great catalogue and because it is courier you get them so much faster and just put them in your mail box and call the courier company! they also have much better customer support and they answer the phone when you call (unlike DVD unlimited) I'm yet to give Fatso and Movieshack a go so we'll have to see if they are better than DVD unlimited, I think they'd have to be to stay in business without being bought out by a giant like sky. now I just need to find a good games rental sight because Gamehog are just as bad as DVD unlimited, can any one help me?

I have tried both Aro Video and DVD Unlimited - the latter was hopeless in every way - and with Aro the dvds arrived but they were the wrong ones which was also pretty disappointing.

So I moved onto fatso.co.nz - I have to say that my experience has been seemless and the service is just amazing value - I watch about 6 movies a week on the 3 disc plan which goes for $39.95.

I don't always get my top picks - but when i quizzed them on this they've always come back to me in quick time and have always been friendly and professional in the way they responded.

I'd definately recommend fatso - WHO ALSO HAVE GAMES at no extra cost, which is something Movieshack don't do at all. in fact their selection doesn't seem to stack up to what they quote - so overall I can't recommend any of the services - Except Fatso.co.nz

well well, ive been with fatso and i have to say I think their service sucks. I'm on the budget 1 dvd plan $19.95 a month and they on purposefully give you incredibly slow turn around! it sucks. will be quitting from them at the end of this month. They also seem to be rather rude and ignore emails too... quite strange because as soon as i became a paying customer they gave me the shaft! as while i was on the free trial i thought the service was great...

I have found too that emailing businesses isn't always that easy, I've had trouble with banks and other businesses where they haven't gotten back to me for over a week - but fatso has a toll free number that you can call them and speak to a real person, or atleast leave a message and have somebody get back to you - which i like.

[...] I’ve been through a few DVD rental services. I started with DVDunlimited (even have the t-shirt), but their shipping became slow and so I went to fatso. Who seemed okay. But scratched DVDs were annoying, especially as PC-based players don’t seem to cope too well with them. [...]

I have nothing but positive feedback about DVD Unlimited. I have been at one time or another a member with Movieshack, Fatso and DVD Unlimited and have found that DVD Unlimited easily offers the best overall service. They have more titles to choose from along with more copies of each of these titles which means I only have to wait a short amount of time to recieve the newest releases. I have a new Pioneer DVD player (love that 6.1 channel sound!) and found that I was receiving a minimum of 1 scratched disc a week from both Movieshack and Fasto. This is so frustrating (particularly when it happens half way through the movie!) but I also recieved a number of discs that would not play at all. After inspecting these discs I found food on some others craters, it would seem that neither Fatso or Movieshack have any sort of quality control or cleaning process they carry out on returned discs. A mate then reccomended that I move to DVD Unlimited and since moving to DVD Unlimited I have had only a single disc that did not work. I rang them and advised them about it and asked them how they clean/inspect their discs. Apparently they have 3 of these massive machines which they load returned discs into which cleans the disc and repairs any scratches - wish I could send my CD collection in there!! Hands down - DVD Unlimited.

I have only been a member with DVD Unlimited, I have not tried any of the other services before and am very unlikely to. as I have had nothing but exemplary service from the team at DVD Unlimited (and that lovely lady who has answered the phone the last two times I have called - was it Kirsty??). Since my husband and I started a family we do not have much of a chance to get out to the movies like we used to. DVD Unlimited spoil us for choice with their range of titles including the most up to date of new releases, now we don't feel like we are missing a thing!

Dvd unlimited by Sky Tv has been fantastic. I use this service as it is easy userfriendly I have had no problems at all. Gosh spike rulz.

DVD Unlimited totally sucks. I’m currently on a 2-week trial period. I joined on 25th March 2006 and straight away 3 DVDs were sent to me. I got them 2 working days later on 28th March 2006. “OK, that was really fast”, I thought. I watched them that night itself and posted two of the DVDs the next morning (on 29th March 2006). Unfortunately, they didn’t arrive until today, 3rd April 2006. It took 4 working days for the two DVDs to arrive in Auckland! In addition, they’ve only sent me one DVD instead of two. I don’t think I’ll be going with DVD Unlimited.

Ive found that fastso were slow at sending out dvds, while dvd unlimited had a beeter selection, then I tried movie shack which is better and im never without a new dvd, but there selection isnt as up to date

I also have rent online i started off with movieshack and was with them for a year now iam with dvd unlimited WHAT A HASSLE WHAT EVER YOU DO DONT SIGN UP! I am on the 5 dvds at a time $59.00 and iam lucky to receive 2 maybe 3 a week it would be chaeper for me to go and buy them. They don't answer there emails and it takes over 4 days to receive the dvds. I am now going with the free trial with fatso and have never had a problem. Like i said don't not us dvd unlimited they take your money and run.

DVD Unlimited used to be so fast when I first signed up, now it is so slow, I will be quitting at the end of this billing period. Even with the 3 DVDs at a time plan, you'd think one could work it so every night there is something to watch while the other two are being returned, but instead you post them back one day at a time, then go for a week of nothing, then get three at a time.

I have tried all 3 services and i agree DVD Unlimited blow chunks. I was with Movieshack for a few months but their selection wasn't the best and i never got my top picks which was really annoying. I then tried fatso and so far so good, I had the odd one that did not play but they sent me replacements out pretty fast so i was happy. My 2cents worth is definitely fatso.

If anyone can give me a phone number for Movieshack please email to clegg@victory.org.nz it would be greatly appreciated.

Joined Movieshack as part of Ihug's promotions. Was pretty unimpressed by the amount of time it took between sending DVDs back and getting new ones, so I chose to cancel my membership.

Posted my 3 DVDs back on Saturday - together - membership renewal date was listed as Sunday. Entered details of my resignation that night.

On Tuesday the next week they sent me an email saying I'd sent an extra couple of DVDs back by mistake. (I'd included one each in two of the covers, by mistake)

On Wednesday got an email telling me they'd received 1 (of the three posted on the same day) DVDs (wasn't one of the ones with the extra DVDs)

A week later they sent me an email telling me that I'd recorded 2 DVDs as having been returned to them, but they hadn't got them yet.

TWO WEEKS later they sent me an email saying they'd got the last two DVDs and my membership was now cancelled.

The next day they sent me an email telling me that I had 0 DVDs in my queue.

Honestly, don't bother. The turn-around time is pathetic, and they don't seem to have anybody processing returns over the weekend. (unlike your local video shop) They don't even have console games to rent either.

Sent movieshack a message two weeks ago. They had sent my ICEAGE 2 but when I tried to play it I discovered it was a Kellogs Cereal Iceage 2 Children computer game disc. Posted it back the following day letting them know of the mistake and asking if it happened often as I am still in trial membership. They replied that they could not comfirm that they never brought games, but they sent out another copy for me to watch. Today over two weeks later I receive a message which says: "Hi Angela, Thank you for your message. We recently received a DVD return from you, 'Ice Age 2: The Meltdown'. The DVD which was enclosed on return was not ours but was a CD ROM. Please return the correct DVD as soon as possible. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind regards, Johnny Movieshack" That is a direct quote. They had already marked this as returned weeks ago and now I am due to start paying for my memebership tomorrow. No time to cancel. Convenient for them. And as I had already sent a message regarding this matter and thought it was over, with no phone number you can't get hold of them to sort it out. I wouldn't use them. But will post if I get a phone number or get this sorted out.

I have been trying Fatso, and find the service terrible, very slow turn around, the 2 weeks free wasn't worth even doing. They have over charged me and are refusing to return an overcharge which was made days after I had changed rental options.

I signed up to MovieShack for their trial period last month, we ended up not getting many movies because all the good ones were taken and by the time you got new ones it had been about 4 days.

I decided canceled my account 5 days before it was due to renewal and they said it couldn't cancel till all the dvd's were returned so I sent them back 3 days before it was due to end. They sent me an email the day after the due date saying they had received them and my account was not closed.

I later came to notice I had been charged for the next months membership cos they were a day late which is thought was really rude. Also the membership is now canceled so i cant use the months worth of dvd's i paid for.

Im not a happy customer and im sure there alot more people who wont be happy with their service either. I have also tried to find a phone number but no luck (they are on trademe advertising dvd's and a job which i used to email them)

I've been with Fatso since January 2005 - never had a problem with them (note that Fatso checks for scratched DVD's as well and if they are scratched or the skip you can flag them and describe what the issue is). I've tried DVD Unlimited and Movieshack as well out of curiosity. DVD Unlimited was very slow but Movieshack was good. Fatso is still faster (overnight delivery) at least when comparing it to my 2 week trial experience with Movieshack. My advice would be to take the 2 week free trial of all 3 services and decide for yourself which one you prefer. Just my 2 cents

As victoria : I alo signed up to MovieShack for their trial period last month, we ended up not getting many movies because all the good ones were taken and by the time we got DVD's to watch we had only seen 10 DVD's out of our supposed 25 for the month trail membership.

I canceled my account online 6 days before it was due for renewal and they said it couldn't cancel till all the dvd's were returned so I sent them back 3 days before it was due to end.

Instead they convieniently sent me another 3 dvd's the next day and said via email my membership could not be cancelled because I had outstanding DVD's to be returned.

I later came to notice I had been charged. The interesting thing here is that they charged against a very very old credit card details given to them over 2 years previously when my wife had been a member. I had not authorised this charge and had cancelled my membership. Also the membership is now canceled so i cant use the months worth of dvd's i paid for.

As Victoria said I am sure this is how they operate to rip people off. I have also tried to find a phone number but no luck.

I have had a bad financial experience with Movieshack, I can add these comments :- 1 DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH THESE THIEVES - they have no humans to discuss account issues with 2 Having returned all my DVDs by the due date on the free trial, they didn't provide easy means of canceling the account (it's hard to find on their website and in very fine print on the terms and conditions). 3 They DO NOT reply to emails asking for clarification and they continue to take money from your account even when you have emailed via their website and tried to contact them THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS SO POOR I BELIEVE THEY HAVE SET IT UP DELIBERATELY TO ALLOW THEM TO RIP CUSTOMERS OFF!!!

Like Stephen Marshall (10.10.07), I have had similar problems with DVD. I did, however, cancel my free trial, and received their confirmation. When I received my credit card statement I found that they had debited my credit card with $49.99 anyway. It has been impossible to get any response from them. I sent numerous e-mails via their contact us section and also wrote a real letter via the post. To date I have had no response and no credit. I re-iterate Stephen's last line in his comment!! DVD are out to rip off customers!!

I have been a member of fatso for a long time and they are probably the best out of it and dvd unlimited. I want to try gamehog but no one has really posted about it in this article.

As many people here have stated. MOVIESHACK = SCAM. If you are thinking of giving your bank account details to a company that has no customer service you are either crazy or you got sucked in by a free trial offer like I did. BE WARNED! SCAM, CRIMINALS, THEIVES, EXTORTION, LAWSUIT! They will bleed you dry! If you know of any way to contact these people to cancel your account - let me know - James Locke 0212515678 frewyn@gmail.com.

I have a great idea. If there is any lawyers reading these comments, I think we could sucessfully prosecute these thieves. Lets all get together and sue these pricks for all the money they have extorted from the unsuspecting public.

Hi I joined Movieshack and would like to share my experiences

I joined a promotion where i got 20 DVD's for free for one month with a $20 joining fee. But i wanted to cancel my account because it wasn't suiting my lifestyle rather than anything else. Once the DVD's were watched and returned, up to 3 new DVD's were sent out to me the next day so i had no problem with the time of their services. But like someone mentioned, i usually didn't receive the dvd's i wanted to watch the most, especially if there was high demand for them from other customers. But still i would recommend their services. It's nice to always have quite recently released dvd's to watch at home.

I was wanting to cancel my account and i was reading some of the comments above and i began to be concerned - especially about how the people cancelled their accounts but because movie shack hadn't received the dvd's back, the next month's payment already went through...and they ended up not being able to watch the next month's worth of dvd's.

Anyway on a Thursday,i posted the DVD's back and i cancelled my account online on the same day. My next billing date was on the coming Sunday. I was concerned that the DVD's wouldn't arrive at Movieshack in time for my account to be completely cancelled. It was compounded by the fact the Dvd's should ideally arrive at Movie shack by the next day (Friday) because Movieshack doesn't operate on weekends.

After i cancelled, at the top of their site it said, "We are waiting on movies to cancel your account. Click here for more information."

I was pleasantly surprised when they informed me that the next billing date would be delayed by 4 days to give me more time for the dvd's to arrive at Movieshack.

All in all, i was satisfied and happy with Movieshack's services.

Ooh i would also like to add that it's very strange they don't have a telephone number for us to call.

MOVIESHACK - last month i cancelled my account and movieshack acknowledged they cancelled the account but following month i was charged another lot!

we should take this up to FAIR GO as it sounds as though there are other people caught up in this as well.

I tried the 2 week free trial of FATSO this Jan, and canceled 12 days later, and switched to MovieShack for faster services. The terrible thing is I just found out FATSO charged me membership fee TWICE in FEB! The 1st time I asked for the reason, they replied they never noticed I canceled my account, then I forwarded them the cancellation confirmation email I received. Then they didn't respond me for 2 days, and afterward, they said one of the DVD I borrowed at the 1st time was lost, so they charged me 1.5 month rental fee as a fine for that, which is a bloody LIE. I posted that DVD with 2 other DVDs, and the other 2 were confirmed to be returned. On the other hand, they never informed me about any lost DVD issue before I found the incorrect charges. I know that DVD was definitely NOT missing, but how can I prove it? Can they just say one DVD is lost by themselves, and charge me fine straight away? They refuse to refund me, what shall I do now?

I would beware of Movieshack as they have charged my credit card after I cancelled my membership and they have been total jerks about giving me a refund!