exConn

First post here...

Just bought my first DVD player and hooked it up. I bought Shrek at the same time and have now seen it about 5 times (yes, I have kids).

Any thoughts on Netflix? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Anything I need to know about renting DVD's online?

Apologies if this post doesn't belong here. I did a search for "netflix" and didn't see anything and wasn't sure which forum to post to.

-exConn

Adboy151

You might want to cruise over the 'Store' Forum and check out some the thoughts and opinions on NetFlix and other online DVD renters...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=7

Oh, and welcome to the forum...

Shay

There is a lot mixed opinions on netflix. I really like them and have not had any problems with them, but many people have had issues with them.

Merin

I see by your location that you live on the East Coast; Netflix is based in CA & with the Anthrax scare it could take a while for discs to get to you and back. They have really slowed down their check-in & check-out times as well, so add on another couple days for each procedure.

I bet you can tell how I feel about them currently.

exConn

Thanks for the info gang...

I guess maybe I should just give it a trial run and see how it works out...

-exConn

Mazinger

I'm in the east coast and so far have had no problems with Netflix.

Just give it a try for a couple of months and then decide.

TomMiller

I like them. They have a huge selection, and I can usually rent enough films per month to make them cheaper than Blockbuster/Hollywood. They are particularly good for classic/foreign films. Their weakness lately has been in stocking the more obscure recently released titles. They also are occasionally slow in shipping, but I still get enough films per month to make them a decent deal.

POWERBOMB

If you visit any Best Buy they currently have either free or reduced trial offers for Netflix.

Eric S

I'm on one of their older plans that I don't know if the plan is still available, but I get 8 DVDs for $34.9?+tax a month. Averages out to just about $2 a movie, is hassle-free, and it's easier to get movies on release day there than at the B&M rental places, provided you plan ahead.

CheapBastid

I got a coupon with my dvd player that was going to expire in December, so I decided to try them.

I was pleasantly surprised.

I had heard many a rant on how badly they sucked (poor customer service response time, poor shipping time, price hikes) but my first month was pretty flawless. I even got Swordfish shipped to me the day it came out.

The 'free month' was a free month on the 3 out plan. I had planned on canceling it before the month was out, but lost track of time and missed my opportunity. I requested to be downgraded to a 2 out plan the first day of my 2nd month, but was told that it would go into effect the following month (meaning I would have to pay for a month on the 3 out plan).

I was a bit upset, as the web interface didn't allow you to downgrade during the free month, and I downgraded the first day I had the option to, so I sent them an e-mail about it.

They responded to my e-mail within the hour, made the adjustment to my account, and credited me the difference.

I'm going to hang out with Netflix for another month and see if all this good service is an aberration, or if they're actually a decent company.

*** Edited to Addd ***
Well the month came to an end and I was somewhat relieved to cancel my membership. Being a CheapBastid is tough as I was frantically trying to fit in movies as they arrived so I could get them out in the first mail pickup (to minimise ship time and maximize the number of movies for the dollar).

When I called in to cancel I was asked:

"Would you be willing to keep your membership if I reduce the price on your 2 out plan?"

"Um... yeah, I guess"

"OK, tomorrow (your first day of the new month) you'll be charged $7.95 for the 2 out plan. If you decide to stay with us following that, the price will go up."

I'm a HappyBastid!

At that price I can watch a movie a week for less than $2 each. The CSR also mentioned that they are considering a 1-out plan.

mr_peepers

You can no longer declare DVDs as delayed in the mail on the Netflix site. You can declare them lost in the mail, however. Interesting.

jackr

They have a very interesting program out for free trial. Problem is at the end they automatically charge you. If you don't cancel the day before the end of the trial you get hit for 21.25 each month until you figure it out. Try and get it cancelled, its not easy.
After three years of doing dealings on the net this is the first time I have gotten screwed, count my blessings.
I think an organization that behaves like this should be ashamed and out of business. Beware everything indicated as free is not.

mr_peepers

Well, yeah, of course they charge you once your free trial month is up. That's how they make money. That's how AOL makes money. That's how every online service with a free trial plan makes money.

sm8680

In essence you didn't get screwed. You got a free months worth or rentals. Unfortunately you didn't cancel prior to or on your last day of that free billing cycle. If you did you wouldn't have been charged for the next billing cycle. What do you think they'd give you another free month or allow you to continue to use their services without paying. If you didn't get a FREE ride they'd of billed you the first day you signed up. I'm not a big netflick fan but your bashing of them is unwarranted.

jackr

You are making the assumption that I used their service. I didn't because they didn't have anything of interest within the window of time. My fault and taste.
"Bashing them being unwarranted" maybe you should look up the definition of "trial". My point is that they assume that you are going forward rather than checking. I tried them and din't use it.
Guess if the automatic fee unless you mark the date down doesn't bother you, just let it go.

Lateralus

I live on the East Coast, and it takes a good 5-6 days for the movies to be shipped. I used to be able to say after 3 days that the movies were late and they would send me new rentals, however, I can no longer do that. I really like the netflix service but I have a feeling that I am going to drop their service soon.

I remember the good old days when they used to ship out of Harrisburg and a rental would take 2 days to get here, now they take at least 6 days. This would make a round trip rental go from 4 days to 12 days, I'm not very happy with that.

Lateralus

I don't want to sound like I'm defending Jackr but Netflix does not tell you its policy on the free trial till after you sign up. They should have a page before you sign up that states you have to agree with their policy in order to start the trial. I had this happen to me once and I did not appreciate it, so I can tell where Jackr is coming from. However, I am smart enough to learn from my mistakes and it won't happen again.

They do have this under their "Customer Service" link:

Billing and Pricing
I only wanted the free trial. Why have I been billed?

If you cancel before the end of your free trial there is no charge. If you do not cancel during your free trial you become a paying member. There are no commitments and you can cancel at anytime. To check your Netflix billing history, go to Your Billing History in Your Account. If you need additional information or assistance regarding the charge, please contact Customer Service.

mr_peepers

I'm not the biggest fan of Netflix (I think it is insane that they have eliminated the Already Mailed Back feature and now make no allowances for shipping time), but it's a pretty simple thing to remember when you signed up for a free trial. It's not Netflix's job to remind you to cancel. Duh, they're in it to make money, not help you out....

nekobus

Which is exactly why they eliminated the "delayed in mail/already mailed in back" feature.

It was great because "already mailed in back" was a way to smooth out the increasing processing/shipping delays. We live two states from Netflix and it now takes 5-7 days for a movie to be returned into their system. It used to take 2-3 days.

This feature enabled you to watch extra movies each month. On the 3 movie plan, you could have 1 extra movie out using the "delayed in the mail" function. On the higher level plans, you could have even more movies "delayed". However, they now want people to sign up for a higher level of service to have more movies out at a time.

If you do report a title as temporarily lost, the next queued up title will ship in a couple of days. However, I love this new statement on their site:

"If the quantity of lost discs reported by a customer becomes excessive, however, we will place the account under review and notify the customer via email."

This is the straw that broke the camel's back for us. The processing delays in both shipping and receiving discs are slowly increasing for us and the elimination of their "already mailed it back" feature is bad news. We've been members for a long time and have worked through almost all the titles we couldn't find locally. We sent back our last disc back last week and as soon as they process it, we are canceling the service.

sm8680

Free trial membership is just that. Its free for 30 days. If you don't cancel prior to the ending free trial membership and your into the next months worth of rentals your then charged.

No offense I don't have a problem with people taking advantage of the free trial memberships. But when you criticize due to being billed for the next billing cycle when your using their services whose fault is that. Do you really THINK that netfok should email you and state. Hey your free rental period is about to expire; Please continue or cancel your membership. Lets be real their a business and they are in it to make money. They want you to continue on and by you taking advantage of the free month and then canceling on them they are taking a loss. I do believe that on their site they say if you cancel prior to the next months billing you

Ok rolling eyes and rolling a rock. gulp gulp... need a beer here.

From netflick site plan as day!!
Q: What precisely does "monthly" billing mean?

A: Your flat monthly membership fee (plus tax) is automatically billed on the monthly anniversary of your first charge. You can find a record of your billing history by clicking Your Billing History in Your Account. And remember, your subscription service includes unlimited rentals with no due dates or late fees!
If you've signed up using a promotional offer that entitled you to a free trial period, your monthly billing date will be the day following the expiration of your free trial.

mia_kelley

Now that the Already Mailed Back function is gone, has anyone out there been threatened yet by Netflix for declaring too many DVDs as lost? I know that they used to have a negative record with the California Better Business Bureau, and I wonder now if you could declare their business practices as unfair and discriminatory. They make absolute NO allowances for location and therefor a customer in Cali can conceivably get twice for their money as a customer on the east coast. Sounds pretty unfair to me.

Mia

nekobus

You are given the opportunity to leave comments as part of a customer survey when you cancel. I listed the elimination of the "delayed in the mail" feature and increasing processing times as my reasons for leaving.

sracer

Well something must've happened at NetFlix over the past week. I'm on the 3-out plan, and had 2 that were recorded as returned, and I had one in-hand. They then mailed out 3 discs. That makes a total of 4 out! Their discs were taking 3-4 days to get to me, now the last 2 took only 2 days.

I wonder what happened. Did enough people drop NetFlix that the load dropped or did they hire extra people for the holidays?

Lemondrop

Netflix.com
Rumor has it Netflix.com just laid off a bunch...
When: Dec 14 2001 12:00AM
Company: Netflix.com
Points: 124

Thats from F***edcompany.com . I cancelled my account a while back because ship times were getting slow and because I had several movies on my list for 2 or 3 months that they never would ship . The only way I could get a new movie was to report a movie as delayed or missing as soon as the new movie released .

postermen

The point some of you are missing about canceling is that you CAN NOT cancel your account during the free trial period. I tried several times, but was unable to. This too was the only time I have been really screwed by an online company. STAY AWAY FROM NETFLIX!!!!