Seventymm.com service review
By Aditya Mhatre at 25 March, 2009, 9:27 am
Image Source : Alootechie
I have been a paid Seventymm.com, an Indian online DVD rental service, subscriber for 3 months now and had actually signed up so that I could give a first hand review of their service. I thought it to be the fair thing to do after reviewing BigFlicks.com. Seventymm has received 90 crores in venture capital and is founded by Raghav Kher.
In the 3 months that I have been a subscriber, Seventymm.com went through a design change but unfortunately the website design went from bad to worse. The single most annoying thing about the website design is that a user cannot interact with the site until the entire page loads. A dark grey layer (an ajax IFrame) appears on the screen which disappears only when the page has been completely rendered and this “feature” is across the site making the website almost un-browsable. Also, a small but very annoying thing about seventymm.com website is that the cursor is by default focused on the search box even in the login page which forces the user to use the mouse to click on the login button and cannot submit the login details by hitting the Enter button.
Seventymm's annoying preload screen
Another thing that confused me was why does Seventymm have sections like “Fun Stuff” which includes forums, meet people, bollywood stories and another completely irrelavant section called “Gallery” which has a HotOrNot like feel to it. It does not require 90 crores to understand the basic objective of your service - It’s an online movie rental company and I see no reason for these sections. It negatively impacts the sites usability and user experience. The seventymm website design is anything but optimized to search the movie database and unnecessarily uses ajax technology. So the online experience at Seventymm.com is outright bad to put it mildly.
However, the offline service i.e the delivery part of Seventymm is an antithesis of the web experience. I got a SMS notification whenever they dispatched a movie or got the movie I had returned. I even received a call from them once saying that the movies I had queued up were not available in DVD format and asked me if i would be okay if they sent VCDs of the same movie. That was good customer service. However they have very limited support agents and I never managed to talk to anyone on the first attempt and always had to leave a message to get a call back from them.
To summarize my customer experience was below average due to the badly designed website which for an online company is completely unacceptable. Another reason I am switching back to Bigflicks is for its brick and mortar presence. There were times when I wanted to get a movie replaced and wished that there were shops I could walk into. There isn’t much of a difference in the service cost when compared to Bigflicks.
Final word: Bigflicks trumps Seventymm.
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Nice review. Just goes to show that over-engineering and poor design can have serious repercussions on the user experience. Unfortunately we also live in a world were mediocrity is tolerated (to a certain extent), and when failure happens lessons learned from mistakes were not necessarily identified. Instead, if this venture fails, management could simply blame it on some intangible/unrelated evidence, such as economic conditions or regulatory hurdles.
I have been at their mercy for last 1 year.
These guys really take you for a ride. First they call you up for discounts - then their person comes and takes a cheque for the full amount. Then when you demand your money back, they say it has already been adjusted.
Movies are old - they buy movie DVD/ CD only about 3-4 months after the DVDs come to the market (I heard their policy is to buy movies only less than Rs. 75/-)
And delivery is not all that great - they are closed on most holidays - so when you think you want to watch a movie during the holiday, it just is not available.
Most important is the fact they have NO refund policy. If they have overcharged you, they will give one month free as if giving you a tip and then say you are foolish enough not to accept it.
And it is a grave mistake calling them up complaining about anything - No one will ever call you back.
For all you know, spend that money on buying DVDs and sharing them with friends. That would be better, and you will be able to see movies within 6 months of release - or else, you can watch them with your grand children.
In case you are a movie buff and are considering seventymm because they claim to have a vast movie collection and would deliver movies right at your doorstep.. think again..
This is how their process
works..
1) You either call or get a call from seventymm. The person’s objective would not be to share as much information with you as possible so that you can make an informed decision. He/she would rather want to rush and somehow get you to the credit card step so that they can claim a new victim. They wouldn’t even tell you tariff structures properly.
2) So.. you sign up.. have your dvd player duly connected.. have bought some microwavable popcorn and prepare your wishlist of movies on their website. Now you give them a call to order one of these.. only to realize that ALL of them are in circulation (mind you.. you have a list of some ten movies and all in circulation!!) Anyways, you dont bother much and think that this a one time phenomenon.. but just go through the seventymm reviews on internet once and you will realize that people have been banging their heads to get movies of their choice.. but to no avails..
never mind.. your popcorn wont ditch you like seventymm so you can switch on the tv.. watch some movie on any channel and munch your popcorn along..
3) Even though you were not getting movies of your choice.. some movies that you had put in your wishlist just for the heck of it… to keep getting movies were pouring in pretty regularly.. and you were still happy thinking atleast this way you would broaden your horizons and start developing a taste for different genres. But seventymm wouldnt let you have even this share of fun..
first three/four movies would flow in pretty much on time and then presto.. some one switches you off at their office.. you keep calling to get a dvd picked and get another movie in return.. but the delivery guy never lands up.. he forgot the way to your house.. when you press the executive on phone hard, he/she tells you that the delivery guy came but your house was locked.. maybe you were at your house all through the day but for some reason your neighbor had locked you from outside!
4) Angry and frustrated you call and want to get your subscription terminated.. the customer rep cries buckets and buckets of crocodile tears to persuade you to continue giving all kinds of assurances (I am sure.. if given a chance he would not fail to tell you that the delivery guy will even board a rocket from moon to earth to get your movie delivered if it comes to that!).. you are a fool (please agree that you are.. why else did you sign up with seventymm in the first place) and so you agree to continue..
5) The same story continues..
6) You call up again to get your subscription cancelled.. this time doubly sure.. they finally cancel your subscription much to your relief.. but then you realize that they have conveniently forgotten about your security deposit refund.. now either keep calling them,, or go to consumer court.. or forgive them and believe that ultimately market forces will wipe them out and your revenge would be complete…
Gentleman,
1. I have few movies in my que since very very long and when ever i called for delivery they are not avaliable with you and r always under circulation. (Refer my call on12th & 13th November)
2. Since the call center has been shift too bangalore its creating lots n lots of problems. The employees (MOHAN & AYESHA) are phatetic and really really frustrating. They dont have the accent to speak with indian and mumbaites. all are “Aiyo Aiyo”.
3. I dont have too much time to write and explain my worst bad experiences with 70mm instead i am requesting to arrange for refund of my money, confirm me the refund amount and cancel my sevrvice IMMEIDATELY so as to avoid any legal procedure.
4. YOUR NAME IS GETTING SPOILED FOR THE SERVICES, DVD ETC YOU ARE PROVIDING. PLEASE STOP FOOLING AAM JANTA. CHECK YOUR REVIEWS ON OTHER WEBSITES.
5.DVD quality you provide is with scracthes and they are packed carelessly.
Friends, dont ever use seventymm. They are cheating their subscribers. I am currently using seventymm and having a frustrating experience.
If you call the customer care, guess what, they wont even care. Do you know why. Because you have already paid the fees.
All they want is your registration fees and once you have paid, you will be luckey if you get the DVDs. And by the time you have seen a few good movies that you really wanted to see, your registration period is already over. And you will be sitting fuming over the money lost.
My experience with Seventy mm is apathetic. its a totally unprofessional management,. The quality of flicks are bad and people do not act on complaints they just close it on their own without talking to the clients. ITS A GREAT CONNING OF THEIR OWN SERVICE RECORDS.
Guys beileve me Big flicks are far superior, in my entire sopcial circle i have told just do not buy seventy mm they are TOTALLY USELESS