O Canada! > Canadian > Canadian Chat > zip.ca dvd rental?

reply to Savant

Re: zip.ca dvd rental?

reply to Savant

said by Savant:

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What I have said is that people should cut them some slack, I have NOT said they should accept this kind of service indefinetly. If they can't turn things around in a couple months then they are in trouble. However, people haven't really given them a chance to improve. I know their phone line worked last week because I called it and got an answer. So it has only been a week of this problem. Perhaps they are putting efforts to clear the email backlogs...

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reply to palbri

said by palbri:

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Why should I "cut them some slack" when they ARE TAKING MY MONEY AUTOMATICALLY EVERY MONTH!

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said by Savant:

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said by palbri:

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Why should I "cut them some slack" when they ARE TAKING MY MONEY AUTOMATICALLY EVERY MONTH!

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That's the point though. If you don't want to cut them slack, then you should probably take your business elsewhere since they are not providing a service that meets up to your expectations. I fully support your right as a customer to vote with your feet. If their service is not good enough for you, then cancel the service so they aren't taking your money. (if you do cancel, always do it in writing by registered mail)

However, if you don't want to cancel, then I think you need to give them a bit of slack. This was what I meant by not having it both ways. I agree, you shouldn't have to tolerate poor service, but that is why YOU have the power to cancel your service and take your money somewhere else.

The power is in your hands, not Zip's.

Regards,Savant

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reply to crazycatz
Savant, What do you suggest I do? From their point of view I have on of their DVD's. I am at the end of my 2 week trial run, so my choices are as follows.

1. Cancel my trial subscription and avoid the 25 a month for a service that I don't want and have them bill me whatever they feel like for the movie they never sent me.

2. Go out myself and buy the movie, send it to them and hope that it turns out ok.

or
3. Continue with the service, paying for something I don't want so that they will have time to catch up with their internal problems and finally turn their phones back on or answer emails.

Either way as I see it I AM PAYING FOR SOMETHING I DON'T WANT OR NEVER GOT TO BENEFIT FROM.

I am not just a whiner. At least with the cheap stuff I buy at the dollar store, I can go in, look, ask questions, and finalize a purchase. If the dollar store acted like zip does they would have my credit card on file and just bill me for what they thought I might have taken.
I think that all this is THEIR fault, not mine. If they are so far behind why don't they send an automated responce to all complaint emails saying that no credit cards will be billed to any account which has an unresolved complaint. Payment will be billed once the complaint has been resolved.
One more thing....

"Currently, our phone system is undergoing routine maintenance and upgrading and we can not receive calls. We expect to have a complete return to our normal service response times in the very near future and in the meantime appreciate your patience."

This is what the website says. Routine maintenance. hmmmm.

If you want to cancel, I'd just cancel - you should be able to resolve the missing disc without still being a member. If you haven't already, send them a note (or use the support page on the website) with all the details of your missing disc from the initial shipment so you get a support ticket started. If you have major problems with them I posted an alternative phone number and some contact names somewhere earlier in this thread.

If they really left one out of the shipment, they will have the inventory id# of what they _thought_ they included, and unless it is an especially troublesome goof it will likely turn up in their system eventually.

Out of curiosity, where on their website did you find the "phone system is undergoing routine maintenance" message? I can't seem to see it anywhere. I really doubt the "routine maintenance" just happened while they are having major customer service issues, so if they are indeed claiming this they should be taken to task for it...
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David, »dvdinfo.oberst.ca

To get to that routine maintenance message.....
click on help at the top of the screen
do a search for "phone number"

then click on "How do I contact zip.ca customer service"

the routine maintenance message is in the answer

reply to crazycatz
All well and good, but you guys didn't carefully read the prior messages in this thread.

They do have a phone number. When one calls, one is instructed that they are closed and to call back M-F, 8-8. Duh! Talk about a Catch 22!

There is no phone number listed on their website. Moreover,their automated email system goes unanswered, despite their instructions in their Help Centre.

Curious, why are you guys so defensive of a company with NO customer service and no proven track record? You seem to be very complacent when it comes to purchases and money matters.

said by palbri:

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Curious, why are you guys so defensive of a company with NO customer service and no proven track record? You seem to be very complacent when it comes to purchases and money matters.

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I've been a zip member for about three months and all was well until the last month. Suddenly I'm not receiving my movies which they are indicating they have shipped. If I send them an email, I get and automated reply saying basically that if I'm not getting my movies I should send them an email.

We call that an infinite loop.

If I call their 800 number during business hours ( a number posted no where on the site) I get the "we are closed" message even though I am calling during the open hours as stated in the message. If I call their local 613 number (another number posted no where on the site), I get a message saying "our customer service reps are unavailable" and telling me to send an email.

Now I do understand the concept of growth and cutting people some slack, but it is not appropriate to do so in a situation where you are being charged for a monthly service and the other party is not performing. It is also important, I believe, to make some noise about this as a warning to others. Obviously their are some issues here since multiple people are reporting service failures and there are no means available to achieve any meaningful communication with the company.

Savant, I am concerned about your stance on the Zip front. Pardon my asking but do you have any direct or indirect association with them? Do you, a family member or a friend work with them in any way? I'm not meaning to impugn your integrity, but I'm puzzled by your attitude. Given the circumstances with the non-existent customer service, I would find it hard to defend the service and tell people to "cut them some slack." In fact, I'd be embarrassed to find my self shilling for them when they won't even answer their phone.

Cheers,

Mike

reply to Savant
What you fail to understand is that we pay for a service and have been sold a certain service level. And, when we don't receive that service level, we continue to pay. That is the problem. Plus, call that phone number sometime. They don't offer phone support and their email support is pathetic at best.

reply to crazycatz
No more aggravation: I cancelled their service!! After over a month without any disks being reported as received or shipped, I managed to cancel online...and my credit card company backed me up.
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"Canada is a good model for where the world needs to go in the 21st century" -- US Pres. Bill Clinton, Aug. 5, 2004, Toronto ON.

I’ve canceled my membership mid August because too many movies were going missing. Over 2 months approximately 10 DVDs never arrived. It seemed sometimes I was doing more missing DVD paperwork than watching movies. After dong the paperwork and faxing the missing DVD report back to them I and canceled my membership. A few weeks later they charged my Visa account $115.00 for the missing DVDs. Customer service tells me it’s all a mistake and will credit my Visa, but that was 32 days ago, many emails and a few phone calls ago.

A warning to all if a DVD(s) goes missing no matter what the reason; either because of Canada Post; or someone at Zip.ca puts a few DVDs in their backpack, or it falls in a black hole, you’re still financially responsible.

reply to crazycatz
I've been a zip.ca member since August.

My first month of membership was fine. Always got the DVDs on time, the first few were even shipped ExpressPost.

However,the second month has been a nightmare. There are 4 DVDs that were shipped which I never received. This basically prevents me from receiving any further DVDs since all the lost ones are in my "Titles I Currently Have Out" list.

I've contacted Customer Service through that email system they have set up and they sent me this form which I had to fill out fax back to them. The form basically certifies that I never received the DVDs in question, and informs me that they will conduct an investigation, etc.

Three weeks have passed and I still haven't heard from them despite several emails I sent asking them to follow up. To top it off, the lost DVDs are still in my "Titles I Have Out" list.

The least they can do while they investigate is clear up my list and ship other DVDs. After all, I am paying a monthly fee for this.

From reading the other comments about the same problem, I'm starting to think it's just their way of dealing with people who go through many DVDs per month. In my first month, I received and watched over 30 DVDs, which comes out to less than a dollar each. They don't make much money off people like me.

I plan on cancelling at the end of this month and not re-subscribing until they implement a delivery confirmation system. To avoid them charging me for the lost DVDs, I will have my credit card company block out any attempted charges from Zip.ca

The concept is great, but quality-wise, they are far from being the Canadian Netflix.

Sorry to bump an old topic, I just wanted to get the word out there. Although lots of members experience no problems at all, there are lots who do. Beware.

reply to crazycatz
I was thinking of getting a membership but now with all the negative comments and experiences I'm not so sure. Seems like they're going through a lot of growing pains and it's better to wait. Word of mouth is not too good that's for sure.
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Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking. - Airplane! (1980)