Beware! QwikFliks Online DVD Rental Service Is a Scam

QwikFliks (qwikfliks.com) is an poorly spelled, outrageously shady online DVD movie rental service that is not only incompetent, but it will try to scam you.  AVOID at all costs.  If this company was the size of Netflix (a reputable and recommended service), it would have had several class-action lawsuits by now.  My experience:

I only subscribed to this cheap, rip-off DVD rental service because they claimed to have a rare, out-of-print DVD that no other rental service has (Black Like Me), and it was designated as "Available," so I did a minimal 2-at-a-time, 4 rentals/month plan and put the film at the top of my queue. I was filling out my queue with alternatives when I saw that 2 movies had suddenly been marked as "Shipped," only 5 minutes into the process, not giving me time to even order the queue properly. OK, annoying, but not crooked. Then I noticed that the movie I really wanted was not one of the two "Shipped" and suddenly had a "wait".  Hmmm.

The site claims that shipping time is 1-2 days for Southern California (I'm just outside of LA), and usually 3 days for most others, although they allow for 4-6 days to the Midwest and the East.  It took a good 5-6 days for me to get my movies.  I sent the first one back after keeping it for a week. Coincidentally, I returned a Netflix DVD in the same manner (through a mailbox at my job, which I've used for a year without incident) at the same time. Netflix received their movie a day later.  A week went by before I emailed QwikFliks to see why they hadn't sent another film. Their much touted (touted by themselves, that is) customer service reps responded (after 2 days) that they never received it and even said that they can't control theft within their company(!).  They "graciously" said that they'd ship the next DVD in my queue.  I made sure to check the availability of Black Like Me before I emailed QwikFliks, and it was again "Available".  After they decided it was time to ship the next DVD, it suddenly had another "wait".  Yeah, right.

So, I received (after another 5 days or so) another movie that I didn't really want.  By this time, I knew that if I kept my subscription, I would just keep paying month after month hoping that one day the one movie I wanted would be shipped (knowing that it will never be available), so I decided to cut my losses and cancel.  Now, QwikFliks has a policy that they must physically have the DVDs in their possession before you can cancel or else they'll charge you (A GOOD SIGN TO RUN AWAY).  If you try to cancel before they get this message:

So, it you try to cancel before they've received the movies, they'll automatically charge you the full price of the DVDs.  With Netflix or Blockbuster's online rental service, they'll give you at least 7 days after you cancel to return the movies.  Of course, no one would agree to pay full price for these movies, but since QwikFliks takes so long to report receiving movies (that is, if they don't "lose" them) and since they make a habit of reporting DVDs as "shipped" days before they actually ship them (Note above where they state "Delete all the titles in your QwikList right now so we do not send you more."), they intentionally create a small window of opportunity for you to cancel legitimately.  They plan on getting you to pay either the full price of the movies OR forcing you to pay for another month's subscription because they didn't receive (or rather, they didn't report receiving) the movies before the end of your month.  This is how QwikFliks tries to squeeze extra money out of you.

Realizing this, I wrote to make sure that their theft-related delay would not affect my ability to cancel, since by the time I received the next DVD and returned it, I would likely have been on the plan for over a month and into the next billing cycle. When I mentioned canceling, their tone changed and they put the blame on me, saying that I should be careful where I mail their movies.  After much coaxing, I got them to promise in writing to refund my money:

Then, days later, when they acknowledged receipt of the movies, I went back to cancel my account online, and -- surprise, surprise -- I was blocked from even accessing my account.  So basically they wanted me to pay for a online DVD subscription that I couldn't use even I wanted to.  Of course, even thought they received the movies, it was a few days beyond the end of my month's membership, so they tried to charge me for that other month.  But I called my credit card company and notified them that this was a fraudulent charge, so I did not have to pay for the month that I did not use. 

After my experience, I did some research on QwikFliks and found a few ex-customers who had similar problems at http://www.dvdrr.com/reviews/QwikFliks.html.  Apparently, the company makes a habit of touting movies as "available" until it comes time to ship.  I'm sure that they never even had Black Like Me or many other titles they use to boost their proclaimed inventory. And they intentionally delay shipment and reporting of receipt because it's in their best interest if you don't get the DVDs back to them before you cancel (and you WILL cancel).  If this were a company as big as Netflix, they'd have a dozen class-action lawsuits by now.  Don't be fooled.