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By Helen Storey
Staff Writer
16 October 2009
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IF you happen to live anywhere near London, you can't have failed to have noticed that Royal Mail have been acting more like Royal Fail in light of the recent postal strikes.
This is bad news if you're expecting your DVD rental to plop on your doormat in record time.
With the news this week that there is another impending strike, how have the strikes so far affected DVD rental customers, and what can be done about it?
Non-receipt of discs
The main problem affecting customers is that they're just not getting their favourite films in a reasonable amount of time, which can be a huge problem if you're only allowed a certain amount of DVDs per month.
LoveFilm subscriber, Susanne Hauner, from London, has been waiting over three weeks for her latest DVD to arrive.
She said: "I get three rentals per month, and with the strike now I'm falling well behind. Since I'm still waiting for the final one of last month's rentals I very much doubt that I'll be able to use up the three rentals I've paid for this month. Because, of course, they won't send out a new DVD until I've returned the last one, which I haven't even received yet."
Online forums are ablaze with tales of angry customers: some say they've been charged for not returning discs that they haven't even received. And complaints aren't just based in London; they've been stretching as far afield as Scotland and the North-east.
Alternative carriers?
Rental giant LoveFilm has hinted that it may change to another postal carrier while the strikes continue. A spokesperson for LoveFilm told theregister.co.uk: "Everyone in the UK is affected by the postal strike. As an online business, LoveFilm is in the fortunate position of being able to talk to its customers about any event in real time, come rain or shine, to minimise disruption."
Using alternative mail carriers could still have its problems. This week the Telegraph reported that some of Royal Mail's rivals have received over 25% more business than usual, and that some of them may struggle to cope with the sudden surge.
What to do instead
Only a few weeks ago we reported that LoveFilm had streamed its first movie premiere, so perhaps a temporary increase in the number of streamed movies may appease any irate or disappointed customers in wake of the strikes.
Any Blockbuster subscribers who are signed up to an Online Xtra package can take advantage of in-store rentals on top of their online rentals too.
Following postal strikes in previous years, some DVD rental companies offered their subscribers a free week's rental to apologise for the large delays but only time will tell if they'll follow suit this time around.
At the time of writing, LoveFilm users can report the amount of discs that they feel they're missed out on due to the postal strikes and information on the disruption seems fairly prominent but there isn't any customer advice on other DVD rental sites.
Until any of the DVD rental companies actually make changes to their service in the face of the strikes, however, you'd best put on your patient pants and set up camp on your bottom step.
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