I’ve been a subscriber to Netflix for about a year and a half now. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this service, Netflix is a mail-based DVD rental service. You maintain a list of DVDs you want to rent, and they send 'em to you with a return mail envelope. After you watch the movie, you put it in the envelope and send it back.
When I first started Netflix, average turn around time was about 5 business days. About 3 months ago, I noticed it was getting really slow - it took up to two weeks from the time I put a movie in my mailbox to get the next one!
Lately, something’s changed.
In the past two weeks, Netflix and/or the post office has been in a MAJOR hurry. I’m talking 3 day turnaround time. Yup, that’s right - I put a movie in my mailbox on Monday. Got an email yesterday that Netflix had recieved it, and was sending out the next movie in my rental queue. The damn thing showed up today.
Is it the post office (I’m in Colorado)? Is it Netflix? Has anyone else noticed fast service lately? I’m LIKING this!
Yeah, well, I’m missing a DVD. It’s not the first that’s been lost. Last time I reported a lost DVD they threatened to cancel. I’m debating whether to report this one lost or not.
Missing, as in you can’t find it, or missing as in it never arrived? I’ve had three DVDs go missing. Two were supposedly sent, but I never received them. One I sent back, and they have no record of receiving it. They haven’t given me any trouble about any of them.
You know, I noticed the same thing a couple of weeks ago and wondered what the big change was.
Then I noticed that there are now several different return addresses on the Netflix mailers. Whereas before, all the movies were shipped to and from California, now it appears that they’ve opened processing centers in Georgia and Michigan as well.
I imagine this accounts for the MUCH better turnaround time.
There’s a new service coming online with the USPS that includes additional barcodes on mailing labels. These barcodes are scanned at all sorts of points in the mailing process for tracking. Netflix looks like an early adopter - they’re mailing your next DVD before they’ve actually received it at their center.
The availabilty of this is probably limited by your local post office’s equipment.
How do I know this? I’m processing some of that data for them.
I liked NetFlix - for awhile…but the delievery time started to get tiresome. I would send a disc back and by the time they got it and sent the next one out, it was 7-10 days, and I am only in Nevada - not all that far from San Diego (shipping site).
So I cancelled and opted for digital cable instead. For the same price, almost all of the films I wanted to rent have been shown recently on Sundance, IFC and some of the other premium channels.
I won’t say I will never go back to NetFlix, but the increased speed of delivery is certainly a major plus point!
My problem with NetFlix was mostly with my wife. I grew tired of the “we must watch these three DVDs that have been sitting around for two months TONIGHT” argument.
Athena–probably to get their money’s worth, which is the biggesst reason I cancelled after the free trial. I have nothing but praise for Netflix, but the problem is on my end–I don’t always have time/desire/etc. to watch $20 worth of movies in a month.
Never received. I think this is my fourth never-received, with one that was sent back and not received by Netflix. Also had one sent to me cracked; don’t know if they’ll ‘blame’ me for that too.
Dooku, we’ve had that same ‘argument’. Especially hard when we want to watch adult (R-rated) movies. By the time the Little Odds are in bed, we’re to tired to start a movie.
What ElwoodCuse said. Three months later, and I’m basically paying $60 to force myself to watch Hannibal, Princess Mononoke, and Sharky’s Machine. :rolleyes:
The alternative to Netflix in my area is Blockbuster. Besides the fact that they have a weak selection, they edit movies and won’t admit it, and getting widescreen copies of anything is damn near impossible, it’s staffed with idiot teenyboppers who think of work as a social occasion instead of a job.
It was not at all uncommon to walk into Blockbuster, find 10 people in line and one geeky-looking teenager working the till. Meanwhile, there were a pack of Blockbuster shirt-clad teenyboppers standing outside the store smoking or in the back room laughing and giggling.
I’ll pay $30/month just to not have to go to BB, no problem. When you add in great selection, no late fees, and no edited movies, it’s a no-brainer for me.
Unfortunately in my quick search of the internet, all I could find was this reference to Blockbuster’s practives. I know it’s been talked about on these message boards before, though, with better links. Dopers? Can anyone post some links?
OK…the film was Showgirls and yes, I know it was a turkey, but in the passing years, it has taken on camp status.
At any rate, MGM was forced to cut about 10 minutes out of the film before Blockbuster would agree to rent it in their “family oriented” stores (that was their quote).
That’s when I got angry at Blockbuster…I mean, either say, “NO” or rent it with the R rating. Their strong-arming MGM into cutting the film (MGM was desperate to try to get their money back out of this bomb) was pure censorship by the biggest video rental chain monopoly.
I don’t know if they have done that to other films since then, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
I was a very early adopter of Netflix and I’ve always had around a 3-day turnaround. I’ve frequently had two day turnaround (mail out on Monday, next disc in my mail on Wednesday).
But then I live in the Bay Area, so I’m close to them.
My problem with them has been lost discs. Over the first 12 discs they mailed me, only 6 made it to my mail box. Over the first six months of my membership about 15 discs total went missing. Been a long time, though, since I lost a disc.
I calculated it recently, and so far this year Netflix has cost me $3.72 per movie viewed.