It sounds pretty good in theory. A self-serve kiosk with new-release DVDs inside for rent at the bargain basement price of $2.99 a night. All you need to do is swipe your credit card and pick your flick. But then comes the whole returning thing…
That $2.99 is a nightly fee, so if you don’t get around to returning the film, you’ll end up paying $2.99 each night you hang onto it. That can wind up costing you a pretty penny. The good news is that if you don’t return it within 14 days, the movie is yours to keep for $36, which is automatically charged to your credit card. Coupl ethat with the original $3 renatl fee, and you’re looking at almost $40 for a disc that would cost you anywhere between $15 and $30 in stores.
What’s more, the nightly fee is only charged when you return the movie, so if you reach 13 nights before you return it, you may as well just keep it – it’ll be cheaper for you.
Having said all that though, there is a lot of potential here – not only is your first rental free, but they also have “Free oovie Wednesdays” where you can grab a disc for nothing on a Wednesday. If you’re diligent in watching and returning your discs, this could be a great way to enjoy free films.
There are 80 kiosks now in NSW and Victoria, and the company plans on expanding that number to over 1000 over the next two years. But for me, I think I’ll stick with options like iTunes, Foxtel and the upcoming Xbox movies option to get my entertainment on…
[oovie]
attila
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 1:23 PMHow is this “risk” any different from a DVD store, which charges late fees on a daily basis?
astrogirl
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 1:48 PMThat is what I was going to say too. A new release DVD from a rental store would incur the same if not more charges for being kept out extra nights. My local one charges pretty much the full rental price for overnight late fees. That’s $7/night! At least with the DVD store they sometimes ring you and remind you that you have it out!
Adam
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 2:57 PMnot only do they remind you, you can usually pay a much smaller fee than what they come up with.. i used to always pay about 50% of the actual fee..
ben
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 5:34 PMAnybody interested in researching dvd machines as a possible business investment would do well to contact some existing owners and find out if the support offered by the company is what is promised
g
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 12:46 AMI did a research and I have one in operational.
Sutter
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 3:01 PMI’ve got one of these in the Supermarket near my place. Very handy.
attila
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 3:19 PMI have their competitor – InstantDVD (sp?) near me. I don’t use it much as I am a blu-ray snob now, but have used it occasionally and found it to be great.
Ian
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 5:14 PMHi movie lovers,
As a co-founder of oovie (formerly Instant DVD) I thought I’d add a few comments. Glad to hear most people enjoy our service. We’re confident we offer the best value rentals at the most convenient locations. We offer:
- Free Wednesdays, every wednesday
- 1st rental free, for every customer “DVD123″
- 2-for-1 rental Promo Code in every email receipt
- you can return to any oovie machine
- $2.99 is great value for a new release DVD rental
- you get to keep the DVD after 14 days (rather than just pay late fees and have to give the DVD back to the video store)
- when you rent we send you an email with what you rented, when it is due back and how much you paid.
- if you want you can reserve online in advance
I hope you enjoy your free movies. And we’re always open to feedback to how we can improve our service.
Regards
Ian
sue lovegove
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:01 PMhey ian i own a supermarket and had one of your guys out to look at suitability. despite our eligibility, reckons we cant get one for 12months.
whats that all about? We are keen and ready to go.
sue
Grant
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 7:00 PMHow do they stop someone from renting a movie, keeping the disc and returning the case empty? Or exchanging the real disc with a blank one or, worse, Dude Where’s My Car?
Grant
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 10:42 PMJust read on their site that the discs are tagged. Sounds good! Though it’s probably a bit of a gamble whether you’ll get a readable disc or a scratched one, with your only option in the latter case calling their hotline.
Mark Giles
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 7:49 PMYou guys haven’t heard of RedRoom DVD? They’ve been around for at least 2 years… and are awesome
matt
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 10:34 AMdo they do blurays? if not… DO BLURAYS!!
sounds awesome! and I think the fee structure is completely reasonable!
if you don’t have the organisational skills to return it after the one night, I think you have bigger problems than being another $3 out of pocket!
only issue would be is if they are in shopping centers and stuff that have worse opening hours than your dvd rental place.
Adam Jeffery
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 4:21 PMI used to use redroom, and they charge you the same price, but you have to watch it quickly and return it within 6 hours. Which is annoying if you rent it in the evening and have to go back to return it late at night to stop any extra fees. with oovie you just return it before 7pm the next day which is great.
Steven
Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 9:20 PMI rent from RedRoomDVD and yes you can get a cheaper rental if you return it within 6hrs but you can keep it overnight for $4.95 or get 3 for $9.90. I think they even do $2 movies on Tuesdays!
Elly Hart
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 9:31 AMRedRoomDVD is great for its 24-hour convenience, but their lack of older selections is really annoying! I mean, how can movie rental place be called a movie rental place when they don’t even have The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
Marco
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 8:49 PMDoes anyone have experience with DVDZONE24? They have kiosks in NSW, not sure about the other states.
Pankaj Shah
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 11:26 PMHi Guys,
Its nice to see, hows our technology is advancing. Now-a-days we have more option for everything. As per DVD Kiosks, We have too many options all over Australia. Recently I rented a DVD from DVZONE 24 kiosk installed in IGA, Abbotsford. Though they provide the same service like other kiosk, such as $2.95 for new release and DVD is urs if u rented for more than 14 days. But they have a good range of collection of DVDs, from new to old release. I found this kiosk more interactive than other kiosks which is great.
gilbert
Friday, October 1, 2010 at 10:33 PMDVDZone24….I think this is the most decent DVD kiosk in Australian Market right now.
RedBox franchise asking price is about 200k++, Oovie can’t be franchised as it is owned by Hoyts and i think Woolies. DVDZone24 is affordable and a good business if you are keen to start onto DVD Renting/Selling Market. I am about to do it myself.
And i disagree about the back catalogue comment…The kiosk can hold about 300 DVDs and can contain old movies not only new releases. However, most in the rental market of course prefer new releases as this is how it makes money.
gilbert
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 10:07 PMDVDZone24 is about to open at IGA-North Sydney..
Gary
Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 2:27 PMThese automated DVD vending units sound ok but can be very limited when it come to availability of new titles and have no real back catalouge.
It is good to know there is still an old fashioned DVD rental store that has kept prices way down. How does this sound – Monday all movies & games 2 for $4 – Tues & Thurs any 3 for $6.95 – Wednesday any movie or game for 95c and the Weekends are just as good. Civic Video Eight Mile Plains Brisbane is the place to rent- and the late fees are cheap too!!!
SQueeZe
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 4:15 PMThis will sound a bit weird, but I use this as a way to pay for movies that I have downloaded. I download heaps of films in various formats, often 720p BR rips. If I like the film, next time I am at the supermarket when I pass the oovie machine, I rent the films that I have watched and then put them straight back into the machine.
That way I pay 1/2 the price of iTunes (and often better quality), and have no restrictions on what I can play it on.
I’m not saying it makes my bit-torrenting legal, but it is the best way I can think of for rewarding movies studios who produce content that I want to watch on my terms (I never keep movies I have downloaded).
Colin
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 3:15 PMIt’s still called theft no matter how you try to justify it!
Alan
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 3:13 PMI rented a movie and returned it the next day, they have charged me $36 plus the $3 rental. wouldn’t you know it now they don’t answer my Emails (I got tired of phoning after 40 minuets on hold) better to rent elsewhere where they don’t have your credit card to help themselves
Colin
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 3:12 PMYou cant beat the old tried and tested video store. I never pay full late fees, they will always cut a deal (much lower than the $40 suggested) – most of the video stores are mum and dad stores and offer the FULL service.At a vending machine the range of titles available is hopeless and they NEVER stock enough of the latest releases. Quite often we have to wait a week or two before the latest releases are available. Video stores usually carry over 10000 titles! Most video stores rent at between $1-$4.
Brett
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 11:59 PMI have to admit these kiosks are handy when you’re away from home. My only gripe is that they’re often not up to date with the latest releases (I’ve found a title was unavailable almost two weeks after its release). The no blueray thing rules it out when I’m at home.
Gil
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 11:16 PMIf you have tried DVDZone24, they offer Blu-Rays.
Joe
Friday, March 23, 2012 at 10:20 PMJust be careful!! I returned two dvd and only one was recorded as returned and the other was never recorded by the machine but took it happily and I never thought or worrying about it, consider the machine already taken it nor did I know it was returned successfully or not. Later I get a email stating you can passed the 14 days period and you can now keep the DVD? Umm what dvd? Oovie.. this is fraud and someone really got to double check if it is in the system physically and not just a reliance of a machine! I wondered how many times it was rented out already after me..