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I've been a member since the summer of 2004... before they even had a facility in Hawaii. I used to have a 3 day turn around for my discs to come from San Jose. For the most part, I've been happy with the service, and it's my only entertainment option since I cancelled cable over 2 years ago.
But for the last several weeks, they haven't been sending me the discs I want. I've been consistently getting the 2nd or 3rd item on my queue, even though my #1 is listed as 'available now'. I'm getting really irritated (probably far more than I should be). I want to complain to someone, but there's no customer service number that I can find on their webpage.
Stupid stupid Netflix!!!! I just want the next Alias disc. Is that too much to ask??
posted
They did that to me before. I miss netflix soooooooooooo much I wouldn't even mind them sending me the wrong film. I just miss getting films. Ohhhhhhhhhh Netflix! I can't have you back until I get a proper job. Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I definitely enjoy Netflix, particularly for the Dave Chapelle, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, etc. specials that nobody else I know enjoys (or in the case of Luna 9, is old enough to watch). Am I alone in the universe in enjoying those guys? What, just because somebody says a swearword, makes a dick joke, or a racial joke, all of a sudden it´s ¨oh, that´s not politically correct¨? Man, whatever.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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They always send me the first thing on my queue. Then again, my queue is rarely more than one item long.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Now that I'm on maternity leave I'm netflixing my little heart out. Baby wants to fuss and nurse from 7 to 9 PM? No problem! I've got Grey's Anatomy season 2 disk 4 cued up and ready!
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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OK, pooka, I gotta ask -- what's a netflix person and why is that worrisome? Am I one? Is that bad?
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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It sounds like your a heavy user maui babe and you are being throttled. I was part of the class action lawsuit that had to do with the netflix throttling policy. I won a whole month free on the service. Woohoo. It's now a part of the netflix terms of service that you agree to when you sign up. Heavy users have a lower priority for receiving their preferred films, particularly if the movies being requested are popular films. There's no set time limit on when throttling will begin for heavy usage customers, people usually just start to notice that turn around times are taking longer and they aren't getting their first pick right away anymore.
You can complain to netflix, but it may or may not do any good because it is a part of the terms and conditions that users are now required to agree to when they sign up.
Oh, and I'm sorry, the class action suit was not "won" it was settled. I'm with blockbuster online now. I really enjoy the exchange in store feature, and they don't use throttling, and the price is comparable.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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When I had Netflix for some time back in 2005 I experienced the same problem. Since the issue largely involved mutli-disc items like tv shows, I learned not to put the entire series on the queue but only the number of discs of the show that would've been shipped to me. After I received them or are they were shipped I would add and move more discs of the series to the top of the queue. This seemed to sidestep the issue but I can't believe customers are still experiencing this problem! I thought "throttling" meant Netflix not merely giving heavy-usage customers the same turn around rate, not Netflix deliberately sending material of out order.
Posts: 722 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I'm going back on Netflix when we return to the States (about two weeks now. Hurrah.)
The throttling policy is obnoxious, but Blockbuster's history is such that I can't deal with them in good conscience.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Well, clearly the issue is your taste in entertainment, then, and not customer service. Not that at all.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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We stopped getting netflix when we would consistently get discs mangled beyond readability, has this issue been resolved at all? maybe that was in the dark ages before people realized that the disks are not, in fact, coasters or knife sharpeners.
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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In the 4 years I've been using Netflix, I've had very few damaged discs... maybe 2-3? It certainly hasn't been a major issue for me.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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Being throttled doesn't necessarily mean a delay in delivery, although that can often be included. It can simply mean not getting your first couple of choices on your list. It's a real pain.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Well, customer service didn't mention that I'm being throttled (although I wouldn't expect them to) and based on my usage, I don't think it's likely.
I received an email asking if I was satisfied with my customer service experience and I replied that I wasn't, but I wasn't able to specify my issues. I got the impression that I'll be asked to follow up later concerning it. I hope they do. I've had good experiences with them in the past.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I was with blockbuster online for over a year and a half, and I loved it. $17.99 a month for 3 out at a time and unlimited in-store exchanges. I got through a whole season of House and Lost in a months time, watching 2 or 3 episodes of each a day. Then they pretty much doubled their prices over a six-month span. Worse yet, they about halved the frequency with which they sent me movies in the mail. I canceled and thought about Netflix, but then I found out about the Total Access pass at blockbuster. It limits selection a bit, but for about 22 bucks a month I can go to the blockbuster just down the street from me anytime I feel like and get whatever I want. Only one out at a time, but my busier schedule only allows for me to watch a movie about once every day or two now, so it's perfect.
Posts: 1286 | Registered: Dec 2005
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We use netflix (and gamefly, for that matter) and love them both. We've yet to get a damaged disk. We also like the "if you tear the envelope, just put two in one that you didn't tear" policy. That, and when disks never get to us, we're very happy that they don't immediately assume we've just kept it or something. I suppose they do have a 'limit' on just how many times you can report that, though. But it's just happened to us twice, so I figure we're fine.
Also, gamefly is cool in the sense that you have a 'keep it' option for games you rent from them. And often, the keep it price is less than what you'd pay for a used game at Gamestop or EB Games (same store now, I know). And they'll send you the case and booklet without charging you for shipping. We've only kept one game so far, and the case and booklet were in perfect condition. Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Gameful sort of sucked for me. They sent me 2 faulty games. Instead of sending the game I wanted, they sent another one and it didn't even work. Then I had to wait a million years to get the game I wanted, only for me to cancel the account because i didn't get it after a week. Now I finally got the game and I wonder, should i give it back and risk being retrocharged? It would be the decent thing to dom but I want to play it first.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Mangled discs: We have only received a handful of disks that had to go back because of damage. If you report a disc damaged, they don't even wait to get it back before shipping a new one so I appreciate that. We do get a number of discs that need cleaning. If you're having trouble with reading discs, get a CD/DVD cleaner and try that first. It fixes 99% of our problem discs. (I'd say we use the cleaner 3-4 times a month.)
Throttling: I've never had a delay in shipping due to heavy use and I haven't had much trouble with my first choice failing to come. This may be because I tend to request less popular and older discs.
Blockbuster: I can't stand them as a company and I think their service sucks. We tried them free just to compare and their turnaround times, even during a free trial period where they should have been trying to get my business, were several days. As for being able to go in the stores to get a movie, the last time I was in a Blockbuster store they basically only had video games and a few new releases. There's nothing I want to see there.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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I called customer service last week. They told me that if I really wanted one specific disk and nothing else to ship, I needed to remove everything else from my queue and just have that one. I have my discs divided between myself and my 2 daughters, but since my older daughter left for college last fall, I "turned off" her queue. So I reactivated her queue, deleted all the movies she had selected, and put Alias Season 3 disc 4 on the queue all by itself. That was last Friday. I just got an email about 30 minutes ago telling me that the disc has shipped and should be there tomorrow.
Throughout this whole week (and the week before, when I had it at the top of my own queue), the availablity status has been either "available now" or "short wait". HMPHF!
Well, at least it's on its way. Of course, with my luck lately, the disc will probably be damaged and unplayable.
Okay, I'll stop being a curmudgeon now.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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Is Netflix trying to be better? I usually get throttled, but not recently, and today I got this:
quote:We're Sorry Your DVD Was Delayed
Dear kat,
As you may have heard, our shipping system was unexpectedly down for most of Monday. We should have shipped you a DVD but were unable to. Your DVD was shipped today, Tuesday, March 25th, instead.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We will issue a 5% credit to your account in the next few days. You don't need to do anything. The credit will be automatically applied to your next billing statement.
Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.
posted
I just got that same email, too. I was grumpy because I reported one as damaged and so the replacement was supposed to go out Monday, but didn't go till Tuesday. Now I'm all excited about the 90 cent credit! Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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If I hadn't had a bunch of more important things to do at that point, I would have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau with Gamefly.
I had a very large problem with games "getting lost in the mail". Over the 5 months I used them, around a third of the games (4 out of 13) either never showed up to me or were not marked as returned. Keep in mind, they were shipping from Pittsburg to center city Philadelphia.
Also, I caught them lying to me, which they then lied about. They claim to offer a service that, when a return package is marked as recieved by the post office, they will count it as recieved and ship out the next game. However, when one of my games I mailed from one of the main post office branches - which I checked with to make sure that they would scan it as recieved and transmit this to Gamefly - wasn't showing up as returned for over a week, I sent them an email about it. I got a response telling me that it had been scanned by the post office but that it hadn't reached their warehouse yet. I replied with a question about, if it were scanned in, why weren't they following their policy of sending out the next game. I got a response that said that the previous email was a mistake and the game was never scanned in. When I asked how that could have happened, they said that some post offices don't have the correct equipment.
I can't recommend not joining Gamefly enough. They're not reliable or honest. You're better off renting from a local store.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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The Netflix outage on Monday was in the national news. I saw it on MSNBC. Their server was down from 7am PT until late in the evening here.
I didn't get the email, but I didn't have any discs scheduled to ship on Monday, so I wasn't really affected by it. Except I couldn't watch instantly for a short time.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I sent a disc in Friday and was annoyed that they didn't get it Monday until I got the e-mail this morning. I guess I missed that news story. Oh well, not a big deal. I caught up on some reading last night instead. Probably better for me. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Do you usually get discs on Monday? I never do. The discs I mail in on Friday get credited on Monday and I'll get the next one on Tuesday. I assumed the service center wasn't open on weekends, but maybe it's just the one in Honolulu where I usually get my discs from.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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No, they're not open on weekends so I never get discs on Monday -- but if I put something in the mail on Friday or Saturday *they* get it and I get a new one Tuesday.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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I guess I was throttled for the first time last week. I've had Netflix since November, and I've never had a problem, no matter how many discs I watch a week (I'm on the 3 at a time going down to 2 a time to save money) and usually watch at least a half dozen a week. Last week they said Michael Clayton was all ready to go but I was sent something else instead, but they sent MC out the next day anyways so, I didn't have time to be annoyed by it. On the other hand, the Long Wait for it in my queue only took three days, so I'm not upset at all.
I've yet to really have a big problem with Netflix, and I like their expanding library of movies you can watch off their website.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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