Dan1boy

I can't win. I switch back and forth, year after year, between BBO and Netflix because of the underhanded way these companies operate. What other choices do I have? Really none. Now, I'm back with the latter.

My question is: what possible reason would they have to hold a shipping disc another day? In other words, I get notified that a disc has been returned, but the next one in my queue doesn't go out same day -- it's shipping "Tomorrow" or "Thursday" etc. Back when I signed up again, they'd turn around and ship out the next available right away (same day received.) Now that I'm "hooked" -- I get 2nd rate service. BTW, I rent/receive no more than 3 a week (12 a month) -- that's not considered "excessive" is it? Seems pretty normal to me. Aaargh. Thanks for letting me vent. Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Chew

It's a known issue and has been discussed before. The bottom line is: waiting a day to ship something out to you almost guarantees you won't be getting more than one rotation per week. They're doing this intentionally now so people don't get 6 discs a week on the "3 out" plan (or 8 out on the 4, etc). I think the "rent as many movies as you want" has been removed from their site too.

BigDan

According to Netflix, there are two possible reasons they would hold a shipment until the next day.

1. When the disc is being mailed from a distant shipping facility

or more commonly:

2. When the customer is prioritized as a heavier renter.

What level of rentals makes one a heavier renter depends on a number of factors, apparently, including which is your local shipping center and also which day of the week the disc you've last returned has been received by them.

The theory is that each facility has a limited number of discs they can process and ship in any given day but that, on many days (especially those early in the week), the volume of discs they should ship out exceeds the number of discs they can ship out.

Because of that, they have to prioritize somehow. Netflix has chosen to prioritize based on how often a given customer turns over discs over a given period. If you're a heavier renter compared to other renters your shipping center services, you're put toward the end of the line and you shipments generally are put off until the next day.

In reality, no one can tell you whether 12 discs a month is a high number of discs since your priority at your shipping center would depend on how you compared to the rest of the renters at that shipping facility.

Because of that, a person who rents 12 discs a month at one facility might be throttled while a person who rents 12 discs a month at a different facility might not.

And because shipping volume is apparently different on different days of the week, a person who is throttled on Mondays and Tuesdays might not be on Thursdays and Fridays.

jonjj7

Its called "throttling" and as BigDan posted above Netflix freely admits to doing it. I just started experiencing the same thing, but I don't usually watch more than 3 movies a week anyways so it isn't that big of a deal. The practice is still a little shady.

Dan1boy

Thanks for all the informative posts guys.

I suppose what upsets me is how amazing the service is for the first month or two. Then, it slowly begins to disintegrate until it becomes an annoyance. It is a bit shady and it is a somewhat of a bait and switch tactic, but what can I do? Ah well, there's more important things in life to fret over anyway, right?

kitkat

I hear you - I was pretty pissed off & frustrated when it started happening to me. That was also before they started admitting it. Mostly, I'm over it. At least they admit it now, and I do, after all, want them to stay in business. I miss the level of service I used to receive, but I'm the whole I am happy with what I've got, and it is a fair deal. The alternative, of course, is not to give them my business, but I hate Blockbuster and I'm way too lazy to rent movies at a B&M, so this works for me, and I've learned how to work the system. YMMV, and it helps if you have a fast post office.

Funk

I was a member of Netflix way back in 1998. I cancelled once too many discs got lost in the mail (according to them.) A few weeks ago, I decided to give them a try again.

Signed up on a Friday for a 14-day free trial. Had a bunch of stuff in my queue. Two discs were supposed to ship that day. Later on in the afternoon, the discs changed to 'shipping next day' or something. Which meant Monday. There goes 3 days of my 14-day trial.

Got my two discs the following Wednesday. Watched them and returned them on Saturday. They said they didn't get them back until Tuesday even though the distro center is very close to me. OK, fine. They sent me another 2 discs. One was scratched beyond playability.

Needless to say, I cancelled on the last day of the free trial. Thumbs down. I'll stick to my local library. $1.50 per title (not per disc) per week and they give you a refund if the disc doesn't play. They also have frequent rent 1 get one free deals. Not as big a selection, obviously, but much less of a hassle.

kitkat

In the last ninety days I've paid $1.43 per rental to Netflix, including tax. They show up at my door, and I don't have to run an errand to return them when I'm done. It's been no hassle at all.

Funk

Well obviously everyone is different but since:
1. the library is on my way to and from work
2. my family goes to the library at least once a week
3. I can rent any DVD in the county system via the local branch
4. my library isn't known to throttle people who rent too much
it's better for *me* than Netflix. YMMV.

duse

You have to pay to get movies from your library? That's crazy. I thought libraries were free, you just had to get them back before they were due, or you would accrue a fee. Our library has around 3,300 Dvds, and you get them for a week, up to three weeks if nobody's requested them.

My problem w/ Netflix is the opposite. I live in the same town as my shipping facility. I sent back a movie on Wednesday (2.1.06) and they still have not received it yet?! I reported it as lost. I also sent back a movie yesterday, and they have not received it yet, either. If it's not in by tomorrow, it's going to be lost as well. It's approximately 2 miles from the Post Office to the shipping facility, and I'm pretty sure that the P.O. Box that they actually use is located in the Post Office I sent it from. Maybe the person who they send to the P.O. to get the movies car ran out of gas.

Tracer Bullet

DVDs aren't free, libraries don't get enough funding to stock everything a user might want, libraries aren't Blockbuster, DVDs go "missing" more often than books.

Take you pick.

kneijst1

I feel your pain. I would switch back and forth between Netflix and BB a lot, but they all have my 2-3 credit cards on file and my email addresses. I don't mind paying the $19/month after taxes for movies a month anymore now though. I dont mind only getting 3 movies a week (I average about 4 though), but I just wish they would send me newer releases. Every 2-3 weeks now they will give me 1 new release (all new releases have short/long/very long waits), but when I first start a netflix account, I always got all the new movies.

Overall, I HATE BB. I hate what they do to the movie business, but I dont want to thread crap so I'll stop there. I was hoping Netflix would be this great company that would put BB to shame, but apparently they don't like us heavy renters (or people that like to watch new releases... god forbid!!).

Argh... Looks like I'll be switching over to BB for a couple months, as there are a lot of new movies coming out soon that I want to see...

duse

Yea, they are down here if you live in the county. If not, it's something like $55 a year, but you don't pay unless you're late, than it's .75 a day or something like that. Some libararies do get funding, and the .75 a day you pay buys more dvds. Also, they carry many Criterions, which are not always at Blockbusters or Hollywood Video type stores (131 as of today). They have 3,338 dvds in stock. Not everything, but Netflix pretty much rounds it out. Very few go "missing" anymore.

I guess I did not realize how good I have it.