When we first started with Netflix, they were pretty fast. You send a disc back, it arrives at the nearest Netflix facility the next morning, they immediately send out your next disc, and it arrives the next business day. Pretty quick turn-around.
Lately, it seems to go like this: I send a couple discs back on a Friday or Saturday, I can see first thing Monday morning they’ve arrived, but they give me a “we expect to ship your next discs today” message. Then they wait. Then later in the day they say, “shipping Tuesday.” Then, on Tuesday, they wait, and wait, and wait until late Tuesday afternoon/early evening to ship the discs, at which point there’s a really good chance it won’t show up until Thursday.
So basically, I send a disc to them on Friday, and don’t get the next disc until the following Thursday. Huh?
I understand that in rare circumstances, they ship you a disc from a more distant shipping facility, but that’s not what I’m talking about.
Yes I’ve noticed this in Memphis as well. I used to send them both back on the same day but one may take almost a week to turn around. I even tried sending them both back in the same envelope since it says you can, but it didn’t make a difference. I rarely get the disk the day the email states I should expect it. It’s usually at least a day or two after.
I’ve noticed they’ve been sending out surveys to find out if we get them on the right day. I hope they fix this problem because I’m considering cancelling the account. I can usually get the same disks from the library on the day I go. It’s not like I order any rare movies.
In Australia one of the equivalent businesses is Quickflix. They have a feature that allows you to log on to your account and say that you have mailed DVDs, they rhen mail your next ones so that they cross in the mail. If I notify them tomorrow that I have returned whatever i watch tonight, they will send my next one by tomorrow afternoon.
You guys should campaign for a similar service. After all if Aussies can be trusted…
It seems to be an institutionalized problem with their service in which older account holders get somehow bumped in priority. Google “Netflix Slowdown” to see thousands of complaints, or even check the SDMB archives:
I had this problem last year when I was turning the movies over really fast and only ordering first-run just released movies. One month I got 12 movies; when I hit this number it really slowed down. It was about a week to get new ones back. They built a new warehouse in Boston and now I get them overnight; BUT, I’m ordering more TV movies and documentaries. In an old post on SD someone posted an algorithym that NetFlix was said to use to determine turnaround time and it was based on how fast you send them back. Someone sued them recently over this issue, the “unlimited” claim, and won. You can get a free month of more movies out. Big deal. I got it in my email. You had to be a member during a certain time period.
I had this problem a few weeks ago, in that I’d get the e-mail “For Tue: Hot Naked Bikini Sluts” and then Tuesday would come and go… and Wednesday… and I’d get it on Friday or Monday. So I wrote a pissed-off e-mail and suddenly I’m back to my original pretty snappy turnaround - sometimes it’s faster than others but it seems I’ve gotten bumped up. I wouldn’t mind so much except that it said to expect it on Tuesday, and so I did! I make plans around these things sometimes. Grr. But right now everything is flowing smoothly.
They used to receive my discs the day after I mailed them and send a new one out that same day. Now it is taking them over a week to acknowledge that they’ve gotten them, so I’ve been reporting them as missing when they hit the seven day mark. I hate doing that as they can put a hold on your account for it, but I am tired of going over a week with nothing new to watch.
I sent them an email just yesterday that basically said they need to take a look this particular facility, as I really don’t think that this is a problem with the post office (none of my other mail is ever held up like this). I also told them that if they continue to take this long to show my movies as received I was going to cancel my account, as I am not getting my money’s worth. Blockbuster Online may not have had as good a selection, but the turnaround was never this long. They also give you two free in-store rentals per month.
NetFlix used to do this, but too many losers abused it. Well, factually, NetFlix used to so this. I’m just guessing it was cancelled due to abuse. This all happened before they had a local warehouse for me, and it really did help increase turnaround time.
I’ve noticed a slow down as well, especially with the TV-related stuff. The 4th season of Enterprise was finally released this month and do you suppose Netflix has them available? Of course not. All 6 DVDs show their delivery status as “Very Long Wait” which translates to mean it could months before they get around to it. I got a free month at Blockbuster to try so I signed up yesterday and added the 4th season to my Queue…they all show as available. I canceled Blockbuster for slow delivery and lack of content once so this is just to get the Enterprise episodes I want.
Pretty sure I’ll get them Wednesday. Actually I was surprised to see “For Weds…” I would have expected “For Thurs…” and not been surprised when they CAME Weds, they usually are a day earlier than the email.
Maybe the Netflix shipping center is right down the street…
Dropped the movie in the mailbox on Monday. Received a message that my movie was received this morning, received a message that the next movie in my queue was being sent this afternoon for delivery tomorrow.
By the way, I forgot to mention I usually do NOT get new releases, however in this last batch of 2 discs, one was a “Simpsons Season 6” disc which is a new release.
One thing is, I’ve noticed, if you have a quick turnaround on movies, Netflix tends to slow down. They give priority to customers who rent fewer movies.
I usually get two-day turnaround from Netflix. During July, I was watching movies the same day they arrived and returning them the next day, so I was seeing six movies in a week on a three-out plan. I think I went through 24 movies in a month, which is pretty close to the theoretical maximum. The following month, I started to get three-day turnaround, so that they would receive my returns on Monday but ship the new ones out on Wednesday. I also got a few from distant warehouses. Now that I’m only seeing three movies a week, I’m back to the two-day turnaround. So they definitely seem to throttle heavy users.
I’ve had slow turnaround once or twice, but for the most part everything runs smoothly.
I put three DVDs in the mail on Saturday, got notification yesterday (Monday) that they had been received, and i got three new discs today (Tuesday). It doesn’t get any quicker than that.
If i started getting the slow turnaround problem on a regular basis, i’d probably quit the service.
Believe it or not, it can get quicker than that. One day shortly after we began with Netflix, I dropped a movie off at the local post office in time to make the noon pickup. The disc made it to the nearest Netflix shipping facility that same day, they turned around and shipped that same day, and I got the next disc the next day, about 23 hours later. Only happened once, but those guys can be fast when they want to.
Anyway, I’m glad it wasn’t just my imagination, and this slow turnaround is a real issue.
Next day turnaround is really impressive. I’d imagine you’d have to be in the same zip code as the local Netflix distribution center for that to work though.
I wouldn’t mind so much except that it said to expect it on Tuesday, and so I did! I make plans around these things sometimes. Grr. But right now everything is flowing smoothly.