djbrown

Haven't seen this posted, and found it pretty interesting. Are they really getting over 25,000 copies of newer released titles?

And more importantly (I moved to rentmydvd.com in March), is there service any better? With the new distribution site in Texas for RMD on hold, shipping times aren't an issue between the two...


http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...rdList=Netflix

bmarquardt

After being a member with them for about 6 months back in late '00 and early 01, I signed up with them again in November '01. No "released to ship" delays plus all of the new releases (top 50 rentals for the week) are always available to rent "NOW" (with a few exceptions). On that end, they have really improved.

However, I have had FIVE lost discs in my first two months my second time around with them, as the were never delivered to my mailbox. My first go around I did not have one lost disc with about 100 rentals. This is more than likely postal related, though? <Shrug>

Only real negative is that they got rid of the "Delayed/Mailed It Back" function to free up another slot in your queue.

My opinion, overall? Netflix is great, except for the five lost DVDs I had in a two-month period.

Lurker1999

Incidentally I had a period of several months where I didn't rent from netflix at all so I guess I must have been passed over for the price increases. Does anyone else here still pay $20 for 4 discs out at a time or have they slowly been going back and catching those as people rent again?

Sparrow

I may have to give them another try. I stopped using their store when all the new releases took 2+ months to finally arrive.

mia_kelley

To me this article read like a promo piece for NETFLIX. Things have gotten better since they laid off thousands late last year, but they're far from perfect from where I stand. They still make NO allowances for shipping to the south and east coast. That means that west coast customers of Netflix are getting a lot more for their money than everyone else. But, what I want to know is...when will there be an online DVD rental company that caters to people who are more interested in art & foreign titles than the latest Hollywood blockbuster new release.

journeywoman

I have been a member since 01-30-00 and payed $15.95 per month until 10-30-00. It went up to $19.95 + tax and has stayed there since.

My current program allows me to have up to 4 movies out at a time.

I noticed that they have changed the 'delayed shipment' to 'lost in mail' and increased the delay to six days.

The other new thing to me is the ability to buy any DVD you rent for $20. That would have been pretty good back when you got all the discs in a multi-disk set

When I first joined, my goal was to turn around as many movies as possible each month. Now, I view it more as a great insurance policy against late fees! I don't think any rental company should be legally able to charge more in late fees than the price of the DVD.

Astrofan

I started online renting about two years ago with Netflix. I dropped them when they went from 4 out at a time to 3 out (at $20). I also found they weren't good at keeping titles in stock. My tastes run from eclectic to new release; so it wasn't just that I was looking for the hot new titles.

I then began with Rentmydvd about 10 months ago and was happy for a few months, but then again came the no title in stock problem. I wrote them about this 3 times, only to see it get worse.

I switched back to Netflix this month and every title, but one, that was N/A from Rentmydvd they had. I hope that this situation continues because I hate renting from video stores. Being able to buy at at great prices (thanks to this web site's info) and renting titles online that I don't want to own, is pure heaven for me.

You've got to be a dummy to stand in line to rent from a video store. IMHO of course!

David

d2cheer

I stopped using them twice now, I was a member for about 6 months both times. Shipping became really slowwwwww....
and return time for them to get them back was also slow(not really their problem I know). The main thing was it seems like every DVD I wanted was always out. The only reason to use them for me was to watch the obscure stuff that I couldn't find anywhere else, but it was always on long wait. So I dumped them. I am better off buying what I want to see then ebaying it off if I don't like it.

DWilson

If you're a fanatic about DVDs, and, like myself, can't afford every title out there (maybe not even a third of them), you almost have to rent from a couple of sources just to cover yourself. I don't have a huge problem with Netflix, -there may be one title one my list at any one time that sits a while, but for the most part, I get what I want within a week of when I want it. I wish they'd kept the "delayed in the mail" feature, but people will abuse that, and we all end up paying for it. DVD Overnight is one of the few that will pick up the "second issue" of a title (for example, they have the "Groundhog Day: Special Edition", while everyone else just carries the first bare-bones version. They're also the only one who still counts two-disc sets as one rental (I'll always go there in that situation). Number Slate is great for obscure titles (they're the only one carrying Anchor Bay, and there's a lot of cult titles that are forever "Out" on Netflix (anything from Criterion) that'll you'll get a lot quicker from Slate. On the other hand, there's an awful lot of stuff they DON'T have, too. My "Wish List", -which leans to "smaller" titles, - has 114 items, and maybe 8 are currently "in stock". RMD, -which I dealt with very happily for a while, -became a problem a few months back (which became apparent when they stopped listing each week's "new releases"), -and is essentially out of the picture for me.