Online DVD rental websites are popping out of the woodwork since Netflix began the industry back in 1999. Soon other big names in the movie rental world jumped onto the online bandwagon and little guys started sprouting up as well. The question is, how well do the newer companies do compared to the ones who started the phenomena? We decided to check out GreenCine when doing our online DVD rental comparisons for the answer to that question. Here's the scoop...
What's New?
- Plans Starting At $9.99 Per Month
- GreenCine Guru Movie Reviews
- Member's Discussion Forums
Star Reviews' Favorite Feature:
We really like the movie reviews and the discussion forums available on the GreenCine website. It's so much easier to rent the right movies when you can get insight from real people who have already watched them. Was that blockbuster hit really appropriate for the entire family? Were the critics too harsh on the latest new release? These GreenCine features can help you sort the truth from the biased opinions.
The GreenCine Experience:
Upon hitting the GreenCine website the first thing we noticed was that there was no mention of a free trial. Only one other online DVD rental service we checked into did not offer a trial, and we hadn't been too impressed. We decided, however, to move forward with an open mind before deciding whether or not the lack of a free trial should be enough to deter potential customers from using the service.
We do have to give GreenCine credit for the fact that their site was easy to navigate. Movies are broken down by genre, new releases and Top 15 lists. You can also read articles and interviews about your favorite flicks.
Signing up with GreenCine is nice easy. It's the standard multi-step enrollment form and submission of your shipping and payment details. Once you're a member, add the movies you want to rent to your list and GreenCine will send them to you via first-class mail in the order you decide.
What makes GreenCine different (besides the "community" feel of the site) is the fact that it offers a nice selection of indie films and hard-to-find titles. If you're looking for a cult classic or an independent hit only known to selective circles, GreenCine is probably the best place to find it.
We did run into a few GreenCine customers who had said they didn't receive movies as quickly as they would have liked (waiting months for some titles) and when we asked GreenCine about this, they said it was hard to control how fast movies shipped out due to the fact that the members who currently have those movies out don't have to have them back by a specific date. Because GreenCine is smaller and doesn't have dozens of copies of each of its titles, you might find the wait to be a bit longer than you expected for popular films.
Green Cine Features:
- More than 50,000 titles to choose from.
- Great selection of new releases, cult classics, independent films and foreign titles to choose from.
- Free shipping.
- No due dates or late fees.
- 6 different member plans to choose from.
Green Cine Pricing:
- 1 out at a time for $9.95 per month.
- 2 out at a time for $14.95 per month.
- 3 out at a time for $21.95 per month.
- 4 out at a time for $27.95 per month.
- 5 out at a time for $33.95 per month.
- 8 out at a time for $49.95 per month.
Green Cine Customer Service:
GreenCine offers customer service via email. They aren't exactly lightning fast (our reply took two business days) but they did get back to us, which is more than I can say for some of the competition. We'd have liked to see faster email support or a phone number, but the interactive GreenCine community does make up for this somewhat.
Upside:
Caters to the "indie" and foreign film niche, competitive pricing, community atmosphere.
Downside:
No phone support. No free trial.