Netflix - Not bad! Qwikster - uh, never mind...

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"a friend of mine has a theory that when you initially join, they are very timely about sending you your discs. once the romance is over, even before you're ready for it to end, they take long & longer to send you anything on time."
I've also suspected this!

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:28 (twenty years ago)

It's true. There are tons of testimonials including some from Netflix employees that basically attest to it. Plus they do some snazzy stuff to ensure that you CAN'T rent more than a certain number of movies a month and they slow down your returns and deliveries to ensure that. It's pretty lame.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:32 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to make a documentary expose' on them.

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:36 (twenty years ago)

i just signed on a couple weeks ago. First two weeks free. sent something out, got a new one two days later. we're now about 3 weeks in (paying now) and they're taking a day longer to ARRIVE at the netflix facility, and a day longer to arrive at my house. wtf?

anyone experience the same with blockbuster?

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:39 (twenty years ago)

(xpost)Haha well they just got sued about it so you might not be the only one.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha! That's my email in the middle saying "maybe it was alex"!

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:39 (twenty years ago)

You should maybe edit out your wife's e-mail address!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:40 (twenty years ago)

Uh not to be rude, but SAYING that you get UNLIMITED movies and then RIGGING your system to PREVENT people from getting as many movies as they want is a damn good reason to sue someone IMO.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:40 (twenty years ago)

Movies that I've done multiple searches for on Netflix without success do occasionally end up being made available, though.
I still rent from the local shops, too. I'm probably spending a lot on movie rentals monthly.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:42 (twenty years ago)

Uh not to be rude, but SAYING that you get UNLIMITED movies and then RIGGING your system to PREVENT people from getting as many movies as they want is a damn good reason to sue someone IMO.

Sign the thing!

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:42 (twenty years ago)

btw, that is rude Alex.

;)

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:43 (twenty years ago)

I think I had to sign it a month ago. I don't really care about getting one extra movies out at a time for a month. What a lame settlement.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:44 (twenty years ago)

So...it wasn't you.

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:44 (twenty years ago)

Hah you don't think I would have told you I was SUING Netflix, Adam.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:48 (twenty years ago)

You seemed so angry about it at the time, it seemed like you could have.

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:48 (twenty years ago)

Oh I'm still angry about it, but I'm also lazy and I'd rather just rent something from the local video store than find a lawyer and do something about it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:50 (twenty years ago)

http://netflixunderground.blogspot.com/2005/03/how-to-get-revenge-on-netflix.html

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:45 (twenty years ago)

http://www.hackingnetflix.com/

Apparently cancelling then re-activating your account has worked for some people. Netflix throttles for long-time heavy users, but it saves your queue in case you re-join.

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Netflix - Bad!

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:56 (twenty years ago)

well, in the terms of use they have what amounts to an admission that they will throttle heavy users:

In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those subscribers who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the shipment of their next available DVD occurs at least one business day following return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other subscribers.

my free trial just ended, and i'm one of those watch the day they arrive and send right back types, so we'll see what happens. but as long as they actually send movies when they claim to, they'll still be a leg up on greencine. (who i quit because they just stopped sending me the movies they checked out on my account. really weird.)

― Matt B. (Matt B.), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:22 (twenty years ago)

I called and had a 15 minute conversation with Netflix customer support today. He basically blamed their software and pointed out that I still was getting a pretty good deal. I pointed out that if it was such a great deal then why wasn't it the deal I got the first 5-6 months I had Netflix. He politely told me I could quit the service if I didn't like it. I told I had no intention of quitting the service, but every intention of calling every day my movies were bumped to the next day for shipping.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 30 January 2006 21:27 (twenty years ago)

Note: it's actually kind of annoying doing this so I may not, but whatever.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 30 January 2006 21:27 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

You know, the throttling is certainly annoying, but I'm still getting my money's worth so I'm sticking with Netflix until I find a better alternative. What makes it really aggrivating is the underhanded way they're handling it on all fronts.

― inert false cat (sleep), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:28 (twenty years ago)

Yeah that is the most obnoxious part of the whole thing.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:31 (twenty years ago)

Well that and the fact that I got TWO movies this week, because they decided to pretend that half of what I sent got lost. I mean that was fucking obnoxious too.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:32 (twenty years ago)

I've had enough w/Netflix.

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:33 (twenty years ago)

Yeah the problem is that the best alternatives are either too appalling to consider (Blockbuster) or supposedly not much better (Greencine).

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

xpost
Exactly Alex, that's my biggest problem.

mon: i send back ratcatcher and l'avventura simultaneously
tue: they say "we just received ratcatcher" and send the next movie
wed: nothing
thu: nothing
fri: "we just received l'avventura"

Bullshit. Stop being so fucking slimy and implying it's the postal service's fault. Throttling is in the press, it's (finally) in the terms of service, just tell me you received my movie and the next one is shipping in two days or whatever.

― inert false cat (sleep), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:36 (twenty years ago)

You guys are cute.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:37 (twenty years ago)

I realized how much better Reel's selection is (especially with Criterion things that are out of print), plus I can augment it with the pretty impressive selection at Berkeley library. I go out with the DVD vultures every Saturday morning to check the new arrivals. Whenever I see them swarming, I always assume they're after the same stuff I am but I overheard the weirdo next to me snatch up a disc and mutter in awe under his breath "hmmm...Dan Ackroyd!".

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:37 (twenty years ago)

I've seen most of the Criterion things which are out of print and most of the other out of print stuff I couldn't care less about anyway. And the video stores with comparable selections to Netflix are far flung from my house so I couldn't head over there anyway. I should hit up the library though.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:50 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I just discovered a new branch of my county's library really close to my apartment. Their selection isn't very big, but it's well-chosen. I still need Netflix for most things though.

― inert false cat (sleep), Friday, 17 February 2006 19:57 (twenty years ago)

i talked to netflix today about how slowly i've been getting movies, and they totally denied throttling and blamed it on the postal service (surprise surprise). she said she'd send out the next disc on my list even though they hadn't yet processed my last returned disc (which should have gotten to them three days ago)...as if she was doing me a big favor.

was reading a bit similar companies, and i'm feeling like i'm pretty much stuck with netflix if i want my mailed dvds. i wonder how much i can muster up the energy to harrass customer service.

― Juulia (julesbdules), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

I'm about to embark upon GREEN CINE. I'll spare you the details of my Netflix displeasure but just say it was similar to most of your frustration and I'm not even a big candidate for the throttling.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:22 (twenty years ago)

Mr. Shasta, let me know how Greencine works out.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:31 (twenty years ago)

why is blockbuster such an apallin alternative to netflix? two free store rental coupons should be able to cover shippin gaps if it's at all like netflix...is it?

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:35 (twenty years ago)

My reasons for hating Blockbuster are both corporate (I find their one world-one video store model gross) and cultural (I find their practice of editing their films and focusing on "family" fare grotesque.) I should probably hate Netflix for the some of the same reasons now, but my loathing of Blockbuster is much longer standing and entirely inflexible.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:40 (twenty years ago)

Greencine are good (local!)people, but I'm think I'm soured on postal DVD services for a while. Do let us know how it works out, Mr. Shasta.

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

I've been having problems with this too and I don't even go through like 5 movies a month lately, I've been too busy. But sho nuff I send in a movie and it takes like a week before they acknowledge and send something else. Sometimes there will be a two day lag between acknowledgement and the sending-another-one message. Are thye just throttling EVERYONE now?

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:50 (twenty years ago)

Jaymc's a pretty good candidate for a throttling, wouldn't you say?

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:53 (twenty years ago)

i've been a two month member now, and this happens to me on and off, but it doesnt take THAT long, maybe an extra day for them to recieve it, and an extra in shipping. usually 1-2 days longer than when i first signed on... ugh./

xpost

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:53 (twenty years ago)

My relationship with Netflix has gone the way all but the most special love affairs tend to go.

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:55 (twenty years ago)

I've found someone else and she's more honest and well, cheap.

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:01 (twenty years ago)

Ours have been prompt lately - received the day after we send them back and the next movie to us within 2 days. But ours are processed out of Spokane, which I would guess doesn't get as much traffic as the service centers for more populated areas. The one movie that took far too long to get was Worst Witch, probably because they only have one copy of the abysmal thing.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:02 (twenty years ago)

Hahahaha oh my god you netflixed the Worst Witch too??? The Tim Curry song extravaganza is possibly the strangest thing that has ever--EVER--been put to film.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:09 (twenty years ago)

Netflix has been really fast for us lately after an extended period of slow-as-Christmas. All three of us have periods when we are slow to turn discs around, so I guess we're not marked for throttling, but the last three weeks, we've been burnin' through the queue.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:15 (twenty years ago)

After The Worst Witch you need to get Return to Oz and watch the most fucked-up thing Disney has ever made.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:17 (twenty years ago)

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:18 (twenty years ago)

But I have noticed that our service is starting to slow down after 7 months, especially since the shipping facility is in Indy and I know mail only takes one day to get there.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:18 (twenty years ago)

I LOVE Return To Oz!

― Codename: Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:19 (twenty years ago)

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