waider

Since one Justin Mason inadvertently brought my attention to another Irish DVDs-by-email company (MovieStar), I had a poke at their website; it's interesting to compare MovieStar with my own suppliers, ScreenClick:

• both have a big-image splash pages, although the MovieStar one comes with some useful links (including, er, two to the page you're on)
• both advertise €7.99 starter packages (MovieStar claims it's "the cheapest place in Ireland to rent DVDs" despite this)
• "movie rentals to your door" vs "DVDs to your door"
• both have a two-week free trial
• both have near-identical four-step "how it works" diagrams
• both have near-identical product offerings (same prices and restrictions; only ScreenClick offers the four-disc-per-month version, however)

The reason Justin mentioned MovieStar is that they've announced that they're going to be offering movies to download from May 1. Aside from the comments he's already made on his blog about this, I find it surprising that there's no mention of it on their website - their "Media Center" section is full of advertising, and there's no press releases section. Seems like if you're identical to your competitor in pretty much all respects, and you've come up with a differentiator, you should maybe plug it a little harder, right?

response to "my latest DVD hasn't turned up" email:

Hi Ronan,

Sorry for the lateness....again. We dispatched another dvd to you today. An Post are either lulling you into a false sense of security or they have realised the errors of their ways and reformed. Until they prove otherwise we should all embrace the notion that the glass is half full. Our support department have a naughty list and a nice list. We are pleased to inform you that you are at the very top of the nice list. If An Post cause you anymore problems don't hesitate to let us know.

Best Regards

Support @ Screenclick.com

(An Post is our national postal "service")

My latest DVDRentals (sorry, ScreenClick.com) offering arrived today. It's cracked. Unwatchably so. That makes for three of the last seven discs unwatchable, which means this past month I payed €20 for four discs. Which in turn means it'd have been cheaper to walk to the rental store in Dalkey and rent the damn things, even if I would have had to badger the listless youth behind the counter into searching for my choice of movies. I am charitably assuming that ScreenClick do at least a cursory visual inspection of discs before sending them out, and that this damage is being done by the Post Office as they force the envelope through my letterbox. An Post, of course, would deny this and further state that hey, if it's valuable, insure it before you post it or something. Whoops, dropped your priceless china, hope it's well packed.