Netflix users, please read

[obfusciatrist]

I’ve been a long-time Netflix user (about a year now) and have generally been happy with them.

Except for one thing. Early on, the showed an impressive inability to actually get the discs from their location to my mailbox. This concerned me and I spoke with them. I thought the situation had been taken care of. Until now.

Today, I received an email from them that essentially calls me a thief. That email, and my response, follow.

I didn’t put this in the Pit because I am not ranting here (though I rant in my response), I am just wanting to give a warning out to other Netflix users who may have had delivery problems in the past (several of my friends had problems concurrent with me).

If this is inappropriate, I leave it to the moderators to close it, or move it to the proper forum.

Their email:

Dear [Me],

We are sending this message in an ongoing effort to improve our service and protect our customers’ interests, by continuing to provide large inventories of titles for our Unlimited Rental Service.

While performing routine account maintenance, we discovered multiple lost titles against your account.

According to our records, you have reported the following discs as lost in the mail:

Movie Title\Date Declared Lost
My Fair Lady: Premiere Collection\25-NOV-2000
Dinosaur Valley Girls\30-SEP-2000 [Don’t ask]
Bottle Rocket\30-SEP-2000
Mumford\31-JUL-2000
The Man Who Knew Too Much\25-JUN-2000
Stuart Little\15-JUN-2000
Fahrenheit 451\22-MAY-2000
Maltese Falcon\22-MAY-2000
Fahrenheit 451\07-MAY-2000
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer\25-APR-2000
A Clockwork Orange\25-APR-2000
October Sky: Collector’s Edition\25-APR-2000

Given the unusually high number of discs unaccounted for, it appears that your shipping address is located in a high-risk area for our merchandise. As we are concerned about future shipments to your address, we feel it is in Netflix’s best interest to place your Unlimited Rental account on hold.

We hope that by being alerted of this situation, you may be encouraged to locate the problem in your area and recover any additional mail that may have been compromised. If you are able to locate any of the titles that have been marked as lost on your account, or have additional information that would aid us in the recovery of our merchandise, please let us know. Disc shipments will be suspended until the merchandiseis either paid for or returned to Netflix. At that time, we would be willing to reconsider our decision, cancel any investigations that may have been initiated and reactivate your account.

If you would like to reactivate your account by paying for the lost merchandise, please contact our Customer Service department at 1-888-638-3549. The replacement price for lost discs will be the current Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP).

We appreciate your past patronage and understanding in this matter.

To contact customer service, please visit us at
http://www.netflix.com/service?nfso=27148909
Regards,

[Corporate Flak]
Loss Prevention
Netflix.com

My response:

Mr. Ramsey

Most of these losses happened in a relatively short timeframe. At the time, I discussed this with your customer service people.

I shared with them the observation that many of the mailing labels on discs I WAS receiving were partially smeared, apparently by whatever machinery was putting the lables on the envelope.

The response from customer service at that time was that this was a known problem and it was being worked on. I no longer have this correspondence, but it was in early June last year.

The concern I expressed at the time was that so few disks were getting through to me that eventually you would no longer believe I wasn’t receiving them. If the problem hadn’t cleared up (as it mostly did, the dates of loss evidence this) I was preparing to cancel my membership.

Conversations with friends (who do not live in the immediate area) confirmed that they too were having similar problems. (I do still have some of these emails.)

I will not be held responsible for any of the missing disks and I can emphatically say that none of the deliveries have been “compromised” (as you so eupemistically say) after delivery. If the deliveries are being “compromised” it is either on your end or within the USPS. As evidence of this I offer the fact that disks you send to me (via USPS) occassionally disappear while disks I send to you (via USPS) never do.

Now, I am sure you would never be so gauche as to directly say that you think I am stealing your discs. That leaves four distinct stages where delivery may be “compromised”.

1. Netflix outbound
2. USPS
3. My mailbox
4. Me (who, I am sure we agree, is an unimpeachable victim in this)
5. My mailbox
6. USPS
7. Netflix inbound

People stealing from (oops, I’m sorry, “compromising”) mailbox would be just as likely to steal outgoing mail as incoming. Same with the fine employees of the USPS. Your people who handle incoming returns can’t be blamed as they get everything I send to you.

My analysis seems to indicate that the problem is either in your distribution methods (perhaps your databases have been “compromised”; could I review your SAS 70?) or I am a thief.

And while I know you have no reason to believe this, I know DAMNED well I am not a thief (oops, did it again, “compromiser”).

I am not going to tolerate you holding this suspension over my head in a futile effort to avoid a loss write-off. I feel I have been a good customer for Netflix, and through my recommendations to friends a good representative. If you want, you may feel free to CANCEL my membership and pursue recovery from whomever you like, or you can return me to being full-status customer while pursuing your recovery elsewhere. I don’t care which and will leave it up to you.

But accept this as notice that any attempt to recover losses from me personally will be fought to the full extent of my abilities.

Alex Stroup

PS: I have blind copies all acquaintances of mine with Netflix subscriptions so that they may be aware of the risks (of insult, if nothing else) they are taking.

PPS: Farenheit 451 is not such a good movie that anybody would want TWO copies of it.

[Montfort]

I joined Netflix about a month ago, and have only reported one disc lost. Of course, it came in the mail the following day.

My only issue with Netflix is one of geography. They’re on the Left Coast. I’m in Maryland. Thus, it takes a few days for things to get from here to there (and vice versa). No big gripe, I’m just spoiled by a .com shipper of mine being in New Jersey and getting two-day service from them.

Thanks for the information, though. I’ll keep it in mind as I continue to use this service.

[rundogrun]

My one lost disc experience worked out fine. I thought I was going to get accused of theft, but actually got a form reply that said to the effect “thanks for letting us know of the problem…we’ll send out a new disk…let us know if the other shows up.”…which it did about a week later.

But your situation is much worse. If you ask me, it sounds like the problem is USPS related, probably local to you. Each disk has a barcode, so if any were returned as undeliverable, Netflix would be able to credit your account. Hence, the smeared labels should have found their way back home. Since Netflix uses those screaming yellow envelopes, they’re pretty easy to pick out if you know what to look for. The fact that you seem to be a victim here (as opposed to a problem on a larger, national scale) would indicate to me that is local, either your mail person or someone who might have access to your mailbox (not sure what your living arrangements are…apartment, house, two-family house, etc.).

Too bad about the problem. My biggest gripe is that shortly after I signed up, they took away the option to send out the next disk when you put one in the mail to go back. I basically get around this by automatically clicking on the “I sent it back 3 days ago” option, which results in them immediately shipping out next selection.

Good luck!

[Aglarond]

I’ve been using Netflix for about a year now, but have not had nearly the bad experience you have. I’ve had two lost in the mail, and on the second one I figured out why. As you know, the big yellow perferated part just tears off. Well, I got that part, and not the cd or return portion. Luckily, Netflix received it a couple of days later as undeliverable and resent it out. Sorry to hear about your troubles, but it sounds to me like someone or some ones at your local USPS branch are either thieves or incompetant.

[Aglarond]

I should mention that I actually have no idea how the post office works internally. I don’t really know how much incompetance or thievery can actually come into play. It’s just a guess.