Going back to Netflix

[j_garcia]

They bought Movielink maybe a month ago.

 

[darien87]

They bought Movielink maybe a month ago.

Well, if they own Movielink, it should be included in the membership.

 

[Alamar]

I think both BB and NetFlix are hit or miss.

For example during my trial period NetFlix did a pretty good job. However when they started getting $ out of me their service went to heck. Several times I had 9 [yes 9!!] day turn around times even though I watched the movies the night that I got them and sent them back the next morning.

With BB on the other hand I was generally able to physically get more movies, more quickly than I could actually watch with their in-store-returns.

BTW: I liked NetFlix's site better for ordering, managing a wife queue & my queue separately, etc. NetFlix won that battle hands-down.

To play Devil's Advocate though I had a friend that lives 5 minutes away from me and he had NO problems compared to my 7-9 day turnarounds. If he got a movie on Monday and watched it quickly he would have another by Thursday or Friday.

With BB changed policies I'm not really sure what I'm going to do ....

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Nine days??!! Wow.... that's a bad turnaround time!! Do you live in a place where mail is still delivered by pony express?? HeHe

I've settled into a routine, and my service has since been excellent. This is how I manage my Netflix account, which has improved the service. I have the 3@home plan, and I only attempt to get 3/week out of the plan. All I ask from netflix is that I have 3 fresh titles ready to go for every Friday movie night.

One thing to look out for is the origination of the shipment. Every once in a blue moon, a movie will take 2-3 days to ship because it was sent from BFE. When that movie arrives....pitch the envelope because you don't want to return return it 2-3 days back to BFE. I mail all 3 movies in the same envelope (making sure it's the local return address) every saturday morning, and my new movies typically arrive by Tue or Wed. If I watch a movie early, I hang onto it until Saturday morning.

Since I've done this, the service has worked like clockwork.

 

[darien87]

With BB on the other hand I was generally able to physically get more movies, more quickly than I could actually watch with their in-store-returns.

Blockbuster was generally working out great for me. I noticed that with Netflix and BB a lot of the new releases are immediately on a wait. But with BB, I could usually go into a store and get a new release there. Netflix doesn't give you that option.

I liked BB better, but I refuse to pay more for the service I already had.

 

[Alamar]

Nine days??!! Wow.... that's a bad turnaround time!! Do you live in a place where mail is still delivered by pony express?? HeHe

Honestly I think that I was being uber throttled. I knew a guy that lived 5-10 minutes away from me that got his movies twice as quickly as I did.

At the end I was joking that I'd get to see my movie after the postman was done.

Every once in a blue moon, a movie will take 2-3 days to ship because it was sent from BFE.

I'll ask the newb question: What is a BFE?

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Honestly I think that I was being uber throttled. I knew a guy that lived 5-10 minutes away from me that got his movies twice as quickly as I did.

At the end I was joking that I'd get to see my movie after the postman was done.



I'll ask the newb question: What is a BFE?

Bum Fuc#ed Egypt

 

[jake5717]

BFE = Far away

I like BB because when you return your online rentals to the store it get checked back in when they scan it so you could have a movie in 2 days.

 

[WmAx]

I have used Netflix for almost 3 years. It works excellent, so long as you follow the unwritten rule of not renting and returning too many movies in a given time period. I am careful to, at least most of the time, only cycle the number of movies on my plan once a week, or less. I have used everything from the 3 at a time to the 8 at a time plan. If I, for example, exceed this rule continuously for 1 month or more, it results in a gradual throttle of my service. Eventually, it becomes pathetic and slow. It took over 2 years of experimenting; and this happened every time I broke the rule. It takes some time(about a month or so) of following the rule to get the service back up to speed, or so it seems. Now, following the above always resulted in exceedingly quick service and having movies almost always available(as opposed to throttling the service and in addition causing many movies to be suddenly listed as 'short wait'). I currently use the 6 at a time plan. Assuming 4 weeks in a month, it costs me slightly under $1.60 per movie. A good deal if you ask me.

-Chris

 

[darien87]

I have used Netflix for almost 3 years. It works excellent, so long as you follow the unwritten rule of not renting and returning too many movies in a given time period. I am careful to, at least most of the time, only cycle the number of movies on my plan once a week, or less. I have used everything from the 3 at a time to the 8 at a time plan. If I, for example, exceed this rule continuously for 1 month or more, it results in a gradual throttle of my service. Eventually, it becomes pathetic and slow. It took over 2 years of experimenting; and this happened every time I broke the rule. It takes some time(about a month or so) of following the rule to get the service back up to speed, or so it seems. Now, following the above always resulted in exceedingly quick service and having movies almost always available(as opposed to throttling the service and in addition causing many movies to be suddenly listed as 'short wait'). I currently use the 6 at a time plan. Assuming 4 weeks in a month, it costs me slightly under $1.60 per movie. A good deal if you ask me.

-Chris

Now that pisses me off. I tend to try and watch my movies immediately, because I want to get my money's worth. Like I said, when I initially joined, I had to decide if it was really worth it for me, because at the time I was only renting about one movie a month or so. So to pay $15 a month, I need to make sure that I watch more than $15 worth of movies for it to make sense. If I notice all my movies going on a wait, I probably just quit Netflix altogether.

 

[WmAx]

Now that pisses me off. I tend to try and watch my movies immediately, because I want to get my money's worth. Like I said, when I initially joined, I had to decide if it was really worth it for me, because at the time I was only renting about one movie a month or so. So to pay $15 a month, I need to make sure that I watch more than $15 worth of movies for it to make sense. If I notice all my movies going on a wait, I probably just quit Netflix altogether.

I was upset as well, at first. Then I stepped back and realized that it is impossible for them to cycle more movies. Right now, I'm at about $1.60 per movie if you break it down. In this cost, they have to ship to and from. That is about half the price I paid right there. So, they have a little over $0.80 left to pay for the product, pay employees and run distribution centers. How can they give you more movies on a constant basis if they are to stay in business?

However, it does upset me that they still call the plans 'unlimited'. They are certainly not unlimited based on the evidence so far. I would be happy if they would disclose the actual limits instead of the deceptive game they play, for what I am assuming, is for marketing purposes.

-Chris

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Yep....

Don't rent more than your "X"@home plan number, and you'll get good service.

I mean c'mon.....think about it. If you have the 3@home plan, you rent 3/week(not a single one more)......... you'll still average 12-15/month depending on the month for a $15/mo fee

 

[jcsprankle]

I was upset as well, at first. Then I stepped back and realized that it is impossible for them to cycle more movies. Right now, I'm at about $1.60 per movie if you break it down. In this cost, they have to ship to and from. That is about half the price I paid right there. So, they have a little over $0.80 left to pay for the product, pay employees and run distribution centers. How can they give you more movies on a constant basis if they are to stay in business?

However, it does upset me that they still call the plans 'unlimited'. They are certainly not unlimited based on the evidence so far. I would be happy if they would disclose the actual limits instead of the deceptive game they play, for what I am assuming, is for marketing purposes.

-Chris

That "unlimited" is the key. It really isn't unlimited because when you push the limits, they throttle you. By very definition, it is NOT unlimited. In fact, it is very limited and they (apparently) take steps to keep it limited. You have compromised to make it fit your lifestlye...more power to you. But, it is slightly underhanded and it pisses me off too.

I am a BB customer and I joined the 2@time plan about a year ago for $14.99. I checked today and my plan is called "Total Access Premium", which includes unlimited returns to the store. As a new customer, one would pay $21.99 for the same plan. I haven't received any notice that they are raising my rates but we'll see. This particular plan works fine for me because my wife and I watch about two movies each weekend. But, if my rates were raised, I would switch to Netflix in a second.

 

[darien87]

That "unlimited" is the key. It really isn't unlimited because when you push the limits, they throttle you. By very definition, it is NOT unlimited. In fact, it is very limited and they (apparently) take steps to keep it limited. You have compromised to make it fit your lifestlye...more power to you. But, it is slightly underhanded and it pisses me off too.

I am a BB customer and I joined the 2@time plan about a year ago for $14.99. I checked today and my plan is called "Total Access Premium", which includes unlimited returns to the store. As a new customer, one would pay $21.99 for the same plan. I haven't received any notice that they are raising my rates but we'll see. This particular plan works fine for me because my wife and I watch about two movies each weekend. But, if my rates were raised, I would switch to Netflix in a second.

Lucky you. I wonder if Blockbuster is using the rate hike as a way of getting rid of people like me, who they feel were "abusing" the system. But being able to get more movies for the same amount of money was the entire reason I switched from Netflix in the first place.

I used to hardly ever rent movies, but now with high movie ticket prices, and the fact that I like my home theater better than the movie theaters, (other than the large screen), I rent a lot more. It's just a hassle to go to the theater anymore. It just sucks that these companies suck you in with the promise of getting as many movies as you can possibly watch in a month, when it just isn't true.

 

[jcsprankle]

Lucky you. I wonder if Blockbuster is using the rate hike as a way of getting rid of people like me, who they feel were "abusing" the system. But being able to get more movies for the same amount of money was the entire reason I switched from Netflix in the first place.

If that turns out to be true, I think it's a deplorable business practice. A while back, we all heard about Best Buy and the practices they employed to cater to certain customers they felt were "worthy" and discourage others.

If BB or Netflix wants to set a limit on the number of movies one can rent in a month, fine. But then don't say "unlimited". Throttling and rate hikes are disgraceful practices, in my opinion.

 

[Alamar]

As "sue happy" as we are in the US I wonder if there will be any legal pressure for NetFlix & BB to disclose what policies that they have with throttleing?

While many people would throw a fit over it I would personally prefer a pricing model of X cents per rental and you have 1 month to return the rental [or you're charged another rental fee].

This would take care of a lot of issues but then the sexy marketing term of "unlimited" wouldn't apply any more and I suspect both BB & NetFlix prefer the sexy marketing aspect as opposed to dealing in a more straightforward manner.

 

[jimfitz]

I have 3 Blockbuster stores within three miles of my house. The closest is a couple blocks away. I have the $9.99 plan for one movie at a time and two free movies with return to the store. I can also rent movies for $1.99 from the store. Is this plan going up in price? I just got it last month.

Well Blockbuster worked great during the free trial, but recently it has become a hassle. So, I just signed up for the Netflix free trial. I got the $8.99 plan for unlimited rentals, one at a time. I'll keep both plans for a few weeks and then decide which one to dump.

 

[darien87]

Well, I think the Netflix throttling may have begun. There is a facility about 2 miles from my house. They say they shipped a movie to me on Friday, but it wasn't in my mailbox on Saturday. No way that should take more than a day to get to me.

 

[Adam]

Well, I think the Netflix throttling may have begun. There is a facility about 2 miles from my house. They say they shipped a movie to me on Friday, but it wasn't in my mailbox on Saturday. No way that should take more than a day to get to me.

Could be the post office, too. Either way, too bad that you didn't get the movie on Saturday. I've been there...it's disappointing to not have it for the weekend.

I just reactivated my account after about three months, and in that time, Netflix put in a facility in my town. So, I'll have to see if they start throttling me - they started to do it before because I had such quick turnaround times.