Ping: Netflix subscribers
 

Any of you experienced this phenomenon?

Any particular thoughts or opinions about the practice?

I've heard this on a number of forum (especially Straight Dope Message Board). It's quite a common complaint.

Agree with the main gripes of folks about false advertising as far as "unlimited" rentals. I've often considered signing up for netflix, but after reading this I've changed my mind.

They should institute varrying levels of payment based on how many movies you plan to rent a month.

3-5 movies = $10 / month
6-10 movies = 17 / month
11-20 movies = $25 / month

and so on.

I usually get them and send them back that same day. I get around 24 a month with the unlimited two at a time.

I've been doing 5 a month for about a year (before that, it was 8 a month for about a year I think.). I've never had this happen for me. I'm usually very good at getting them, watching them and sending them back right away.

I watched about 3 seasons of Star Trek Voyager in about 2 weeks because they send them to me so fast. I've seen a lot of TV series thanks to them. As for "very long wait" DVDs, it's usually hit or miss with me. Sometimes I get them right away, sometimes I wait awhile.

So the short answer would be no, I'm sure I've gotten as many as 30 in one month.

Of course, that might be due to me paying to get 5 a month, maybe not.

We use blockbuster online, not netflix, but have never had any problems with delayed shipping or anything. Of course we (me) are awful about remembering to return movies - they usually sit around for 3-5 days after we watch them before they actually get into the mailbox. But overall we love the service, and the coupons we get as part of the plan which end up paying for the service each month in free rentals...

I do get the odd delay here and there... it's pretty annoying. I watch a pretty heavy number of movies per month.

I am a subscriber and it has happened to me. But overall, it is still worth it. The convenience of having movies in your mailbox and ordering just 5 or 6 movies in a month still makes it worth it. Plus they have a good selection that is easy to select through.

My roomate and i have that, and we find we never get what we request...we have a nice long que up and we usually get movies we have at like 400...dissapointing

I love this.


So, he gets an extra DVD for 1 month and his lawyers get 2.5 million in cash.

Huh. That's never happened to us...I keep up with our queue and we always get the movies in order, or at least the highest ranked available one if the first one isn't available...

I have been with NetFlix for over a year and the one thing I have noticed, I am on 3 at a time, is that I can get up to 3 delivered a week, but even they arrive on monday and I get them out tuesday, I will not get any more for a week. Even so It works out to about $2 per disc over the month and it is very convenient

That's odd. I used to be on four at a time and got 12 per week usually.

That must of been before the slow-down.

They now hold your movie for 2 days.

So, even if you live next door their is still a 4 day turn around at netflix. And if you figure in the lost 2 days on the weekend you are looking at an average of 5 days per movie.


Your next turn around would look like this.


This averages you receiving a new movie every 5 days.


Although, if I remember correctly, way back when, NetFlix used to receive and send movies on the same day a couple of years ago for me. Now I get that "Shipping on date" message in my Que. I don't know if this 1 day turn around was because I was on my trial period, or if something has changed in the last couple of years at Netflix.

Now days I always get the "Shipping on message" in my Que.

And, if you are like me you also need to add 1 day to get your movie to the Post Office. If I go to the Post Office and mail my movie NetFlix receives it the next day. However, if I put it in my mailbox it takes 2 days for NetFlix to receive it.

This means I average a new DVD every 6 days.

I am currently on the 5-Disc program and am very happy.

Now if you want to get in another NetFlix arguement can someone please explain there variable Tax B.S. I am paying every month. I have no idea how this is legal to base your tax amount on the DVDs you rent every month and not on the price you pay?

I bet NetFlix is keeping the extra tax money they are charging you for each dvd you rent. I don't have a problem paying a tax on my membership $.$$, but I don't understand the extra tax I have to pay for the number of DVDs I rent.


If my sales tax is 7.4% and my membership fee is $29.99 a month it seems that my total fee should be a fixed $32.21 per month. No mater how much I use it, or don't. That is the way every other monthly membership works, so why is NetFlix different?

It's not different for me. I've paid $31.79 per month since I went up to 5 a month several months ago.

WOW TN has ridiculus taxes, but they don't do that to me.

I pay a highwayman's taxes in sales tax on the monthly rental fee, but not that other stuff.

31.79 for a mere 5 DVDs a month? That crazy high compared to blockblusters version of netflix

Meant 5 out at one time.

Do you go through 5 quickly...with BB we have three out at a time for 17.99...works great for us when it all comes down to it

I used to. I still do, mostly, but my WoW guild added a thrid night of raiding, so that's one less night to watch DVDs.

I use netflix, three at a time, have never had a complaint. It actually seems like they turn around our movies faster than the post office could allow. I think it's a great company.

I actually canceled my account b/c of this. I started at the 3 at a time plan for several months, then the delays became to the point where I would watch my DVD's(usually TV series that took me 2 days to watch 1 DVD) and by the time I had send in my 3rd one I still had a 3 or 4 day wait to get the new one. When I started I never saw this.

I chalked it up to an increase in their demand and took out the 5 at a time plan to protect against this. I saw that I no longer experienced the waiting anymore. In fact, I was getting the DVD's as fast as old, but didn't dare go back down to 3 at a time and "cross them again." Then on months(like vaction time, etc.) where I was watching more than I did I would get stupid things, like disks from series I hadn't even started watching. For example:

I was watching Star Trek Voyager, in season 4 I think. Every DVD was listed as available. Then out of the blue instead of getting the next DVD on my list I got DVD's hundreds down in my queue. Like Dark Angle, Season 1: Disk 2. Babylon Five Season 1: Disk 1.

Just things out of the blue like that would halt what I was watching and send me things that just pissed me off. After this happened several times, always on months when I was watching things awful fast I finally cut the fat and went back to my local blockbuster.

I've seen an increase in the queue wait times of newly released movies, but I haven't seen an increase in it taking longer to get the movies thru the mail. In the past I would get new releases immediately, now I occasionally get a new release immediately but most of the time I'm getting put on the wait list for a couple weeks and they just send me something else on my list. It doesn't bother me too much since there are lots of movies on my want to see list and I don't really care if I see them when they first get released or 2 weeks later.

I don't think I have gone through this. It wouldn't be a problem as long as they put it on the website. Hiding it is bad mojo.

We often have 490-500 DVDs in the queue and would be pleased to receive any of them, so we never have our heart set on getting #1 next. We know we will eventually get it and that's fine.

I've had 3 at a time since June and NEVER had this problem.. While I may not watch quite as many as some folks, I do the TV thing and would watch a disc in usually two days, send it back, and have the new dvd two days later (one day to get to them, one day to get back to me)... so I have never had this problem or anything close to it.. and I've never not gotten the top item on my list...

One way I've found to get movies back quicker is to line up the white movie thing so the UPC shows up in that little slot on the back side of the envelope. I've had times when it's showed up as 'IN' the same day I put the movies in the mailbox.

I know next to nothing about NetFlix, but I'd imagine this depends heavily on the quality of your local NetFlix distribution center.

I have a friend in the same zip code, and often what is a wait for him is available for me. I don't really mind that discrepency (since I don't race through my movies, it's pretty rare to get something more than 2 or 3 deep in my queue), but I am annoyed with the slower turnaround Iwashere described above.

I also don't like their desceptive advertising. I had cancelled them for a while, and would get emails from time to time to come back for x-price, but I had to really dig on their site to find what deal that price corresponded to, and it often wasn't as good a deal as it sounded in the ad.

one thing they have improved is the ability to cancel your membership right on the site - I had to call the last time, and it was difficult to get a live rep to make it happen for me.

overall, I still like them, but I would really like to see them improve some of their shady practices

Am I the only one that would much rather have the all you can rent in-store option? I hated having to wait several days for my DVDs to make their way to me throught the mail. With Blockbusters 2 at a time instore option I was able to get 7 videos this past weekend.

I haven't experienced the slow turnaround yet. They received the movies today and sent my new ones out today (one was Saw 2, a new release that I just added a few days ago.)

I just started a free trial with Netflix and am interested in learning how the whole process works. It seems that movies will typically take a day to get to me because I am very close to the nearest distribution center. I plan to keep track of when I receive/send out movies to get some idea as to the speed of the whole process.

Enjoy your free Trial period as you will be put in the front of the line for everything.


I am on a 5-Disc program and now I never see same day shipping. In on Monday and out on Tuesday, never the same day? Or, in on Friday and then out 3 days later on Monday.

Anyone know if Blockbuster works on Saturday?

There are approximately 2 video stores within a 5 mile range of my house. I can walk to my mailbox. I'd rather go with Netflix.

So you have never seen this?


It sounds like they give themselves 3 days to get your movie shipped out, before they try to send you another selection.

Personally I think you are full of Sh*t with this statement; But, you do realize that the unlimited 2 at time plan is the Worst plan NetFlix currently offers?

2 at a time for $14.99
3 at a time for $16.99 -->only $2 to go up to the next plan
4 at a time for $23.99
5 at a time for $29.99
6 at a time for $35.99
7 at a time for $41.99
7 at a time for $47.99

All the other plans cost you 7 or 6 dollars to add an extra disc, while going from 2 to 3 discs out at a time only cost you $2.00.


So, if you are not just making these thing up, you must be P.T. Barnums best friend. And, I will give you 1 Canadian quarter for 3 US dimes. :)

I have the two at a time plan and am happy with it. I watch as many DVD's a month as I want, so spending $2 more would be a waste for me. I probably go through anywhere from 6-10 disks a month and always have a very fast turn around (mail out on Monday, new disk here on Wed).

not that it's a huge deal, but the 3 at a time plan is actually $3 more. $17.99.

Where are you getting your info?


This info can be found by going to your account under the change membership page.

well, this is VERY interesting...why the fuck would they have different rates?

8 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $47.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 8 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $47.99.

7 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $41.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 7 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $41.99.

6 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $35.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 6 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $35.99.

5 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $29.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 5 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $29.99.

4 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $23.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 4 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $23.99.

3 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $17.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 3 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $17.99.
You are currently on this plan:
2 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $14.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 2 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $14.99.

2 at-a-time (4 a month) for $11.99
Up to 4 rentals a month - up to 2 movies out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $11.99. Learn More.

1 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $9.99
Unlimited rentals - up to 1 movie out at a time for a flat monthly fee of $9.99.

$16.99 a month for 3 at a time for me as well. That's weird...

well, I'm sending those mofos an email. that doesn't make sense to me at all.

$17.99 for me as well.

WOW, everything else looks to be exactly the same.

Are you in a variable tax rate state? If you look up in this thread will you will see me complaining about have to pay extra taxes on the amount of DVDs I rent each monthand not just a flat tax. I wonder if this has anything to do with it.


I just saw that the new tax rate did not start untill the first of the year. My bill increased $1.35

I'm in a NO tax state.

I'm in a tax everything state.

But the tax is reflected in what I am actually charged each month ~$16. And why would all the other rates be the same?

Oh well... Fact is Monday they received my movies that were sent back on Saturday, Tuesday I received the next 2 in my queue, Wednesday, they received those 2, and 2 more are gonna be coming to me today.

It's been that way ever since I joined NetFlix. I have no problem with the 2 at a time plan with that kind of turnaround, especially since I take them to the post office the same day I get them.

The post office would cut a day off my turn around time alone, but that would kill the ease of use feature for me.

You are able to get more DVDs with your 2 Disc program than I am getting with my 5 disc program in a month. That just sucks.

Do you ever see a "shipping on date" in your Que? Not that the Disc has shipped, but that the Disc will be ship out tomorrow. I see this almost everytime and that costs me another day right there.

Maybe the NetFlix center in Denver just plain sucks.

I've seen that on occasion, but never really looked into why. I used to be on four at a time and could get anywhere from 10-12 a week, so that's why I cut down to the two at a time plan.

My post office is also only a couple blocks away too, so that helps.