The Bottom of the NetFlix Totem Pole

Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:40PM EDT

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I became a Netflix member in 2002, just a few months after the service began. Over the years I've let it wax and wane, but recently I've been watching again.*

Now, my family has a running joke about me... they say that I'm the only one in America who's never ordered a decent DVD from NetFlix. I'm starting to think that they might be right. I never see much of interest on the Netflix new release page, and I check fairly often.

Other Neftlix users tell me to simply use the search bar to search for the movies I want to see, but my already cluttered brain goes numb when faced with a blank movie search field. So for me, Neflix has been a place to turn for the obscure documentary and unattainable foreign films.

But, a guy named Frank Chavez got me thinking about my predicament again. Last month, he won a class action suit against NetFlix, and now he and others are eligble for a one-time, limited-time service upgrade. (After the two year fight Chavez was awarded $2,000 for his time, while the lawyers settled for their $2.5 million in fees, but that's another story.)

As I started poking around to find out more about the case, I stumbled across quite a few longtime users talking about being throttled  by Netflix. Throttling means that Netflix purposefully slows down its delivery of your DVD, or sends you a movie that is not the one you were expecting next from your queqe. Some suspect they do this to older members while trying to satisfy their newer trial members.

As a little experiment, I signed my husband up as a new member to see if he'd be presented with better choices of movies and/or better availability. Turns out that Wedding Crashers popped up on his choices; not mine but couldn't find any difference in any availability of the DVDs.

A comment and a question:

a) Overall, I'm a happy Netflix user. Yes, sometimes the movies take longer to get to me than one day, but Neflix has been great about letting me slide when disks break or get lost in shipping.

b) Now, about this throttling. I have no idea what to believe. Is Netflix really putting a newbie before me when it comes to getting that movie? Here's what Neflix says in its FAQ about delivery.

"We endeavor to ship to you the movies listed highest in your queue; however when availability is limited, we may ship you movies lower on your queue."

For more reading, see this week's Consumer Reports and ABC look at Neflix and its competitors.

Anyone else out there having their share of rental problems? Let me know.

*(Disclosure: My NetFlix account is a complimentary one.)

 

Comments on The Bottom of the NetFlix Totem Pole

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  • 2 Posted by sniranj2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:30PM EDT Report Abuse

    This article made me realize this is exactly what is happening to my Netflix subscription. I used to get about 4 to 6 movies (Signed up for 3at a time) every week. Nowadays it seems like get only 2 to a max of 3 moives every week. I asked my collegue at work who had subscribed at the same time, he too gave me the same story. I am wondering it may be because thier competitors are so bad they think they can get away with this. Well I will try to switch and see what happens.

  • 3 Posted by dubyac99 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    I rarely have any of the problems you desceribe, but 99% of what I have on my queue is old TV shows. Does this make a difference? The few times I get movies I always get all "now" movies within a day or two. Never longer than 2, and rarely longer than 1 day for that matter.

  • 4 Posted by robertstown2001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I thought it was just me. I freqeuntly use Netflx and have for years. I recently noticed that over 2/3 of the movies I have in my que suddenly are on a waiting perior. The sad part is most of them are old sitcoms like Gomer Pyle. I was relegated to sitcoms since their new releases were always on "short or long wait". Now the sitcoms are appearing as unavailable. I feel this is fraud on behalf of Neflix. This would be a perfect opportunity for a competitor to sweep up disgruntle Netlfix subscribers. I feel like cable customers before the dish came along. It us or nobody. Like it or leave it.

  • 5 Posted by hipposelect on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have been using Netflix for many years, and have never, not even once, experienced what you are talking about. In fact, I have always been amazed by their efficiency.

  • 6 Posted by etorres58 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have been using Netflix services since 1999, and I totally agree with Hipposelect's posting. Sure I don't always get the movies in the top of my queue, but is 10 years I've been getting them about 85% of the time. Perhaps people don't realized that you can't put a new release in your queue a day before it's releases and expect to get it on the next day. Netlix has a huge membership base so people need to be realistic to know not everyone is going to get the new releases all the time. I have been successful because I add new releases to my queue months before the actual release date.

  • 7 Posted by veiledbiz_lady on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    I love Netflix over driving to the store. BUT I visit Blockbuster's site to see the new release page because I too get a blank mind when looking for new movies. Netflix never has a good preview webpage. But they were always easier to get movie info and recommendations over the BBuster service. I had both then quit BB. Yes, I also experience Slow service sometimes. Then, I had Twilight on my wait list for awhile and it was in my mailbox that SATURDAY it was released. Not bad.

  • 8 Posted by mg_07860 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm going to fall in with Hipposelect and etorre. My wife and I have been netflix subscribers since maybe 2000, and have never experienced that. Like etorre, we often have new releases floating on our queue for months before the release date. There are only so many discs of each selection available, it makes sense to get on the line early. Also, I wonder if it isn't also an issue of selection at -and distance to- your nearest shipping facility. We moved in 2006 to Phoenix, and our ship/return transit time is now 1 day -whereas it was 2 days in northern NJ.

  • 9 Posted by gjsullivan135 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:09PM EDT Report Abuse

    I thought the shipping speed of my selections was an isolated incident due to my location (Charlotte, NC) but I see that it is a prevailing theme for NFLX. Overall, I am a satisfied customer (1 movie unlimited), though I was a more satisfied customer directly after I joined. It was once possible to see two or three movies each week using the 1 movie unlimited plan. Now I typically view 2x month. At $10/month, my breakeven is 3 movies (vs. renting at Blockbuster). Netflix has a great "account hold" policy. 90 days without being billed, provided you've returned all movies. You maintain your queue during the hold period. A great solution. I have to ask... have you considered calculating your Netflix costs? As I said, unless NFLX ships 3 movies in one month, Blockbuster is cheaper. And of course, the PUBLIC LIBRARY is always free.

  • 10 Posted by dmhodgy45 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I complained to Netflix via phone that I was not getting new released movies and I was told Netflix favored new customers and those who were on the one a month plan. I asked the Netflix person to define "SHORT WAIT" and "LONG WAIT". He said two days for short wait and a week for long wait. I told him I have had movies as short wait on my queue for six months. I was told that they now have over 6 million customers and cannot satisfy everyone.With this arrogance, it sounds like they do not have to satisfy anyone. Perhaps the answer is to resign at the end of the month and then sign up again a week later.Perhaps the new program at Blockbuster will wake them up.

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