Warning Pinoy Movie Lovers – Do not subscribe to www.filipinomovierentals.com!

I am usually easy to please.  I try to be fair in all my dealings, be it personal or professional.  I normally shell out money if I believe I am in the wrong.  This past summer, I was late for a party and I know that I was speeding way above the speed limit.  When I got caught, I was fined $400.00 USD – no need to contest, I paid the fine.  I knew I was in the wrong and I paid the price.

However, when you know that you are being ripped off – you just don’t sit back and say, ‘Go ahead, rip me off and I will gladly pay you!’.  I hate it when people rip me off.  Just like I said, I try to be fair in all my dealings and I expect other people to be fair with me.

I am Filipino as you may already know.  I love Filipino movies, and most specially the classic ones in Black and White. The movies they show on Sine Siete on Channel 7 in the afternoons when I was a child growing up in the Philippines.  I miss the Gloria Romero flicks and the Chichay comedies.  I have been looking for the time when these movies will be released on DVD.  I keep checking www.sampaguitapictures.com to make sure that I be the first one to own such classics.  I constantly search the internet to find out if the films have been released on DVD.

Well, alas!  I found a website similar to Netflix  but it primarily marketed Filipino Movies.  Their advertising listed the Black and White movies I had been wanting to have!!  So, with no question, I signed up for $19.95 a month.  I told myself, it will be worth it!  I wanted to reminisce and remember my childhood by watching the films I used to adore.    They listed Hong Kong Holiday, Bilanggong Birhen, etc etc.  I immediately placed them on my queue just like in Netflix but since they didn’t have enough at that time (Only four movies are classics), I put other Tagalog movies on my queue as well.  The Piolo Pascual movies, and the Sharonian fan that I am, the classics of the megastar as well.

Week by week, I will receive the recent movies instead of the Black and White movies eventhough those classic films are first in the order of my queue and my queue will get re-ordered to put the black and white films at the bottom.  I let it go for a couple of months and realized, I never really received any of the black and white films.  I contacted them and I was advised that it is because the movies haven’t been released yet.  They gave me a couple of dates that made me think that maybe I can still wait.  After a couple of months, the same thing – no black and white movies.

First, it was false advertising.    Cancellation is not all that easy.  There are no phone numbers on the website to speak to a human being.    Next, it takes them a week to mail you one DVD, which in two months, I was only able to rent  6 DVD’s.  I figured out that they only have one hub in Texas where all the DVD’s come from.  It takes 4-5 days for their DVD’s to reach me – another 4-5 days for the return of the DVD’s to reach them.

So, I decided to cancel.  At the time I cancelled, I had movies in my queue that they shipped to me.  Two of them in fact.  Their website states, you must return  outstanding DVD’s within seven (7) days otherwise you will be charged $29.95 per DVD.  Okay, I agree with that policy in the hopes that they understand shipping from Texas to New Jersey takes 4-5 days (excluding weekends) so I thought, the most recently shipped DVD’s would be given the chance to be returned after seven days!  As soon as I received the DVD’s I promptly returned them the next business day – which was a Monday.  They only received one DVD and I was told that another DVD outstanding will cost me $29.95.

I sent them an email (again, no phone number to reach anyone) stating that both DVD’s were returned at the same time and that they should allow time for it to reach them.    The second DVD was received about three days later.  What did they do?  They charged my credit card.  $29.95 is not all that much but unreasonable.  They shipped the DVD back to me stating that I now own the DVD.  I tried to fight it but it was considered my fault for not following their policy as stated on their website.  How could they have expected me to return the DVD’s within seven days when they shipped two DVD’s to me the day that I cancelled?  By the time it reached me, it  was already 4-5 days in the  policy -  then, they expected it to be received back in 2 days and if not, charge me??

I only found a number for the company, MEGASTAR ENTERTAINMENT, after I reported them to the Better Business Bureau which didn’t help much either because BBB in Dallas, didn’t follow up as well and just closed my complaint with a note ‘RESOLVED’.  How could they  consider it resolved?  Until now, no response from my follow up emails to BBB.  Oh well!  I guess lesson learned.

To make the long story short,  STAY AWAY  from www.filipinomovierentals.com!

If you want Filipino movies – classic  or new ones – - rent it on Netflix!  They have it – - they have excellent customer service and serves from multiple locations that can get their DVD’s delivered to you in 1 day!!  If you value your money, go NETFLIX!