Blockbuster online has been down all day!

I'm not sure if it was really scheduled, or not. But, the evidence leads me to think it wasn't planned. Earlier this morning I started getting a weird error from the Blockbuster Online site:

An error occurred while processing your request.

Reference #102.a7e4843.1199723764.1abaabc2

There was another error before that, but I didn't get a copy of it. And now, the site has the following message:

SITE UNAVAILABLE
We’re sorry, BLOCKBUSTER.com is temporarily unavailable while we make some changes to the site. We’re working hard to bring you an ever better BLOCKBUSTER Online experience. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.Check back soon!

Make some changes?! Ha! Probably fix something that broke! I can't see any major website rolling out a "better" experience with down time like this. Something happened. And, as a current account holder, I'm concerned. Maybe they will fess up to what happened.

Update:
The site is back up now. But interestingly, everything is the same. And, despite being on the "3 at a time" plan, I currently only have one DVD. They still have not shipped out the next two DVD's on my list yet. One has been almost a week, and the other has been about two days. Two days is not surprising, but almost a week waiting for them to ship a movie out is kind of ridiculous. I'll try emailing support and see what they say.

Update 2:
I knew something was up. After receiving one vague message, I replied and insisted that something was wrong. I then received the following:

Hello Ronnie,
I'm sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. Based on our recent updates, we experienced a rare system issue which prevented shipment but it has been resolved quickly. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I thank you profusely for your continued patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Aristotle D. Customer Care Associate Blockbuster Online

So, something DID happen, but they aren't saying exactly what. Since then, however, shipments have been much quicker. But I have created a spreadsheet to track everything, just in case.

Blockbuster Online is raising their rates, again...

I've been with Blockbuster Online for a few years now. I'm on the 3 at a time unlimited rentals with 2 movie/game coupons a month for in-store rentals. It started out being a nice deal. $14.99 a month. Then about a year ago, they raised it to $17.99 and for new accounts they made the coupons for movies only. They left accounts like mine alone (except for the price), so I can still get in-store rentals of movies or games with the coupons.

Well, I just received an email that they are raising the rates again. For the same plan, it will now be $19.99. I like the service, but I don't like it that much! I didn't like it when they raised it to $17.99. And that was barely worth it. Now that it will be going up to $19.99, it's not worth it at all. I just don't rent enough DVDs from them.

December 27th is when the website will be updated with the new pricing structure. At that point, I will have to decide to either go to a cheaper plan, or just cancel the account all together. I can get DVDs for free from my local library. I might as well take advantage of that. But Blockbsuter is more convenient.

Of course, another possibility is Netflix. They are actually cheaper than Blockbuster, at least for now anyway. I may give them a try. They just don't have the ability to provide free in-store rentals like Blockbuster can. But if I can get the same plan for less than what I'm paying now, it will be a trade off I can live with.

Look for an update on December 28th to see which direction I go.

Website to watch - iletyou

An interesting website is about to come out of beta called iLetYou. It's like Peerflix, but you get your DVD's back. It's more like Netflix or Blockbuster Online. Basically, you can open up your own video and game rental store. You get to set the prices. And you get to decide how long people can rent your DVD's and games. People will be able to search for a title and select the best deal from any of the stores that have an available copy. iLetYou even has the ability to allow you to charge a subscribtion fee, much like Netflix and Blockbuster, and your customers will be able to keep the DVD's for as long as they want.

You, of course, don't have to rent your DVD's if you don't want. You can still get an account to rent from the stores listed on the site. They are currently in closed beta, but invitations can be obtained by entering your email address.

It has the makings of being competitive to Netflix or Blockbuster. The only concerns I have will be the reliability of the individual stores, how disputes will be handled, and the policies for when a person doesn't return an item or they return it damaged. I'm sure those concerns will be answered by the time they come out of beta. But until then, check it out. It could be an interesting alternative to Netflix and Blockbuster.