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New Netflix Member looking for advice...

Old 04-08-02, 09:31 AM
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New Netflix Member looking for advice...

I signed up with Netflix last night. Anyone have an advice? Would you like to share your good and bad experiences? Have any suggestions about what movies to rent?

Thanks in advance.
Old 04-08-02, 10:58 AM
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Re: New Netflix Member looking for advice...

Originally posted by BigDogBK
Have any suggestions about what movies to rent?

Something you haven't seen yet, but have been wanting to see.
Old 04-08-02, 05:21 PM
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Re: New Netflix Member looking for advice...

Originally posted by BigDogBK
I signed up with Netflix last night. Anyone have an advice? Would you like to share your good and bad experiences? Have any suggestions about what movies to rent?

Thanks in advance.
I've been a netflix member for over two years now and have been mostly happy with them.
If they would open an east coast distribution center (as has been rumored) they would get even better for me.

I try to rent a mix of hollywood big time films and indies, throw in a few foriegn and there you go.

Netflix is good for renting something that you probably would never see at your local video store. Or...would see, but never spend the four bucks to try it.

I almost look at netflix like it's free movies, since the charge just shows up on my CC every month, and I'm never pulling cash out of my pocket to rent movies.

I've maybe rented from a video store twice in the past year.

My DVD watching consists of probably 60% netflix films and 40% DVD's that I buy and own.
Old 04-08-02, 11:55 PM
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Start rating movies. Once you get 50 or so see what their recommendations are. I have over 1100 rated and they are getting pretty much dead on w/ the predicted rating. Sill a couple of anonmolies here and there though...
Old 04-11-02, 02:15 PM
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1) If the number 1 film in your queue is out of stock, they will wait for it to come in before shipping you a new one. This can delay your shipping, but also increases the chances that you will get a high demand film. So make your choice with eyes open. I personally have "very long wait" films in the top ten positions of my queue. Having ten doesn't slow shipment down anymore than having one, and I occasionally get one sent to me. It isn't like I am running out of films to watch anyway.

2) They aren't that great when it comes to the availability of new releases. This is the strong suit of brick and mortar stores. If you can wait a couple months, you will eventually get your new releases, but if you are in a hurry, your local store is a better bet.

3) Their strength is in hard to find films, foreign films, and older films. Their available catalogue here beats anything you will find in a local store, or in any other single online rental company. This is why I have rented from them for 2.5 years.

4) Their catalogue, as big as it is, isn't complete. So supplementing from other retailers may be necessary. I recall that I have been frustrated by their refusal to stock The Wicker Man. Then I found the film at Hollywood Video of all places. If you supplement from other online rentals, I have found that numberslate complements Netflix the best. Numberslate tends to do a great job in stocking the films from companies that Netflix is slow in buying, such as Criterion and Anchor Bay titles.

5) They are erratic in terms of how fast they turn films around. Keep an eye on how many films you rent, on average, during a month. Too many people seem to leave Netflix because they aren't able to rent 50 films a month for their 20 bucks. Netflix is much more reliable than most other rental companies in terms of consistency in being able to rent films. You will find that many people complain about them, and then come back after testing the competition. They aren't perfect, but they are more than worth the rental fee, IMO.

Tom
Old 04-11-02, 08:02 PM
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I would suggest that you keep a "larger" number of movies on your queue...maybe about 50 or so...that way you don't have the problem of having everything listed as unavailable.
Old 04-12-02, 11:38 AM
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Do they have multiple shipping hubs?

I love being in a 1 day mail service zone. I get everything the next day after they send it out, so I get to watch that many more discs.
Old 04-21-02, 05:43 AM
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Being a mail carrier, I noticed the other day that the return envelope for one of my customers using Netflix had a Mass. address on it.
Do they ship from there also?
Do they now have an east coast hub?
Old 04-21-02, 09:52 AM
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I'm one of the one's who left Netflix because of their slow turn-around time. In the beginning it was pretty speedy, but starting last fall (I'm sure due in part to 9/11 and anthrax) it seemed to take more than two weeks. I never wanted to do 50 DVDs a month, but it would have been nice if it hadn't taken 5 days to get to me, 5 days to get back to California, and then 2-3 to get new titles. And there was the one shipment of three discs that arrived cracked. I dutifully reported this and returned them, but got a nasty e-mail about how I needed to return the cracked discs two days later.

I switched over to DVDOvernight. The prices are a little higher, and their catalogue isn't quite as big, and I noticed their "Every 8th rental free" just became "Every 10th rental," but I always get my discs two days later, and their customer service is great.
Old 04-21-02, 01:15 PM
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Originally posted by youtoo
Being a mail carrier, I noticed the other day that the return envelope for one of my customers using Netflix had a Mass. address on it.
Do they ship from there also?
Do they now have an east coast hub?
I just got an order shipped from Flushing, NY. I live on the Island so I get my movies pretty fast

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