I am thinking about quitting Netflix. I know that sounds far out, but
Netflix does this thing with people that rent "too many" DVD's according to
what I am finding out. My DVD delivery started to slow way down, just like
the other people's experiences I am pasting below, so I did some "searches"
to find out what is going on.....anyway, here is the pasted stuff that jives
with my experiences PERFECTLY. From what I understand they look at last months rental history to see what they will allow the shipping dept to send you for THIS month. Last month (my first whole month with Netflix) I managed, by making special drives to the post office, to rent 24 DVDs. This month I can't hardly get any, in the last week I barely got 2....they just cut me off at the ankles. I did a google search and came up with the following...
onewaypockets
(Pasted stuff below)
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March 26, 2004
Well, I am in the same boat. I have been an on-again/off-again member of
Netflix since around 2000. They are simply a classic bait and switch
company. New sign up, everything is hunky-dory, fast turnover and excellent
availablity. Be with them for about three months and you are treated like an
old tired spouse. Just going through the motions. Turn around slows and
absolutely no availability of new releases. Even though Netflix is the big
boy around they are primed to be overtaken like Kmart by Walmart (whose dvd
service is just as bad). Maybe Amazon should give it a try.
Anyways I am still with Netflix. Why, I don't know. Maybe that is their
M.O., they know fools like me will just stick around no matter what but they
are on their last leg with me.
Michael T.
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March 23, 2004
Only started using Nexflix about 2 months ago. I noticed that I could
probably get around 6 movies per week. Fast shipping and turn around rate.
Now it seems like I can only get 3 movies a week if I am lucky. Not to
mention that I had 2 discs that were unplayable and one that was snapped in
half.
What I don't understand is if I send back 3 movies on Friday they will have
them by monday. Yet they won't ship anything out until Tue or Wed.
I am going to cancel my account soon. It was good the first month but it has
gone way down since then.
Jason
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March 16, 2004
I signed up for Netflix about two months ago. At first I got my DVDs twice a
week, Wednesday and Saturday. All the DVDs looked new and played perfectly.
New releases were all "Available Now." Netflix seemed like the best thing
ever!
After a couple of weeks I started to get more and more severely scratched
and damaged DVDs. I figured this was just the luck of the draw. One day, one
DVDs out of the three I dropped in the mailbox together didn't get there
until until the next day. Oh well, luck of the draw. A week later all three
DVDs I mailed back showed up a day late. Five weeks in, 1 out of 4 DVDs was
unplayable and shipping time had mysteriously increased. Last week a DVD
"shipping today" took two days to ship... and three days to arrive... and
was broken in half when it did. Today the DVDs I mailed 4 days ago arrived,
but the outgoing DVDs aren't even scheduled to ship until tomorrow.
At this point, I'm going to take advantage of their billing policy and up my
plan to 8 at a time on the second day of the billing month, then cancel
three weeks later. Unfortunately I hear Wal-Mart pulls the same sandbagging,
chiseling tactics so it may be back to Hollywood Video for me.
--
Bert
February 2, 2004
The stories read with respect to NetFlix are exactly what I have
experienced. The free trial period produces quick turn around times as if on
a run away train going down hill. However, after the trial period ends, the
poor little train that "thinks it can" learns it is up hill all the way and
soon runs out of steam. So does NetFlix! The life expectancy of a human
being is 76 years. The quality of life expectancy of NetFlix is two weeks.
Ed
Is Netflix All That?
November 2003
You've seen the comical ads on TV, you've picked up the ticket-stub shaped
flyers in Best Buy, and you probably already know a friend, relative or
co-worker who uses it. What I am talking about is Netflix, the DVD-by-mail
order service where you can "Rent up to 3 DVD's at a time for $20.00 a
month, keep them as long as you want, no late fees, ever !!" This part is
true, however, Netflix is not as great at the ads make it out to be.
I subscribed to Netflix over a year ago and was immediately impressed with
the quantity of movies and the quality of the service. I found out there was
a distribution center 45 minutes away from my house, so shipping would be a
next day turnaround. In fact, I was amazed when I got an email with a TDS of
8:00am notifying me that Netflix had received a movie that I'd sent back
8:00pm the night earlier, via regular mail. Two hours later, I got another
e-mail stating that the next movie in my queue would be shipped that
afternoon, --and there it was in my mailbox by noon the following day. I
thought that Netflix was all that, and then some. During the ensuing weeks I
incessantly raved to Jericho about how wonderful Netflix was and nagged him
to sign up for the service himself and get Attrition listed as a referrer.
He refused to sign up; citing that going to the mailbox would expose him to
excessive sunlight, but he did agree to sign up the site as a referrer,
which I will talk about later.
For the next 3 months I was in total bliss with the service. I was getting a
new movie every day to every other day, depending on when I watched them,
but I did not go more than 2 days without a little red envelope in my
mailbox. -- Then I began to notice that my early morning receipt notices
were coming in the afternoon and the next available movie was being shipped
the following morning. This didn't slow me down much, but a few weeks later,
the movies were taking an extra day to ship, arrive, and acknowledge. Then I
observed that despite my normal shipping habits and attempts to time the
turnaround, some movies weren't shipped out to me until Friday or Saturday
afternoon (meaning I wouldn't get them until Monday or Tuesday) and movies I
returned on a Thursday or Friday, weren't confirmed until late Saturday or
sometimes even Monday morning. Now, just so you're with me, neither I nor
the distribution center changed locations, yet the shipping time seemed to
have doubled and even tripled after about 10 months into the service.
Sadly, that isn't the only "fluke". I would sometimes return two movies at
once, but one movie would be confirmed in the morning and the other in the
evening, or the next day. Then on one occasion, I simultaneously returned
two disks (in the same mailbox) one of which was received the next day, but
the other disk never arrived. As of this writing, I am doing the math on
three movies I recently returned: "A Man Apart" was returned on 30 October,
"Catch Me if You Can" on 31 October, and "28 Days Later" on 1 November. An
8:00am e-mail this morning confirmed the receipt of the last two, but "A Man
Apart" has not yet been confirmed*. If a disk is not received either by the
customer or Netflix within 6 days of the shipping date, the customer can
"Report a Shipping Problem", however, if Netflix believes that the renter
reports an excessive number of disks missing in a certain timeframe (which
is up to their discretion), then the customer's account is charged for that
disk, which can be as much as $30. Of course we all know that DVD's run new
about $17, and previously viewed copies can go for as little as $7. So why
does Netflix want to charge you 2-4 times the markup for a disk that has in
all likelihood been viewed previously?
It took me several months to experience the poor customer service that
Netflix is rumored to have for their older customers, especially those like
me who tend to receive and return 3-5 movies per week. Since they pay for
shipping both ways, at that rate, half the standard membership fee is eaten
up in shipping cost alone. So, it makes sense to lengthen the turnaround
time for movies to lower that overhead. Jericho however, got to experience
their service (or lack thereof) first hand on his initial dealings with the
company. While trying to set up the referrer plan membership, he encountered
technical difficulties which were clearly on Netflix's end. After trying
repeatedly to contact them, Netflix finally responded that the problem was
on his end, and not with them. Again, after subsequent attempts to fix their
technical problem and get guidance from the company, neither of which
worked, he gave up. I'm no businesswoman but I know that's not the way to
treat a potential client or business partner.
Now, is Netflix any good? It can be, however, you have to know how to "work
the system" and for some people, that is just too much work to rent movies.
In order to get the value equivalent to a B&M video store, you have to view
and return at least 5 DVD's or more per month. This can be easily done,
depending on your location and the types of movies you request. Although I
have not experienced it myself, many customers complain about the
availability of new releases, stating they have to wait days or weeks before
Netflix has a recently released selection to ship. There have been reports
that Netflix gives priority to new releases to newer customers, something
that the company denies. I've had a few new movies listed as having a "short
wait" but only for a couple days after release. For the most part, the newer
movies I've requested are usually available, but it seems they take longer
than they should to get to me in the mail.
In order to get a better grade of service, they will frequently request that
you upgrade your service; e.g. 5 DVD's for $30 or 8 for $40. Ummm.....no.
Why give them more money to slow down more DVD's? In order for the upgrade
to be worth it, you will still have to process a certain number of disks per
month, which will cause the service to slow down again, but now you'll pay
more for the priviledge. Moreover, if you see fewer than 5-7 movies per
month (depending on your plan), you're paying more per movie than you would
if you'd rented them at a store. There is an economy plan (4 disks per month
for $13.95), but Netflix hardly ever promotes that. Many customers don't
even know about it.
OK, to be fair, there are some pure benefits to having a Netflix
subscription, such as the number of titles, which currently number 15,000+.
That is more than what you will find at the local video store (or non-local
store for that matter). This can be a compelling point for people (myself
included) who enjoy foreign, older, or independent films. For the New Year,
I resolved to see the AFI's 100 Greatest Films, even though this would not
only be time consuming (finding and watching the movies), but expensive as
well. (I'd still be paying $3-$4 for these "classics"). Most people balk at
having to pay the same price for an older move as they would for a newer
one. However, Netflix has these movies centrally located (they have compiled
a feature dedicated to the AFI's 100) and I couldn't rent them cheaper
retail. The same with foreign and Indie movies, which even if you found a
place that carried them, would be limited in selection, therefore requiring
you to either search for them, or forego seeing them. The company's foreign
language selection is impressive, extending beyond Spanish and French, to
Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Chinese, and Russian, and even Polish films.
Netflix also has a decent category of Independent movies, which helped me to
discover and enjoy this underappreciated class of film. And I'd be remiss if
I didn't state that they carry a fair selection of concerts, music videos,
documentaries, anime, and TV shows. This can come in handy for people who've
discovered a TV show in its 3rd Season and want to catch up on the previous
two, but who don't necessarily want to wait for syndication or to buy the
boxed set.
Will I stay with Netflix? I don't know. The service is becoming
progressively and suspiciously slower and my movies are turning up MIA. I do
like the selection, but that sole benefit is not enough to outweigh the
downturn of service, especially when I know that they can do better. What
Netflix needs, and I hear they are soon to be getting, is competition.
Walmart is offering a mail order DVD rental service that is similar to
Netflix, at a slightly lower price. (3 disks for $18.76 or 4 disks for
$21.94), which may be a persuasive reason to switch. However, let me caution
that it's still in its infancy and only has 7 shipping centers (Netflix has
20), but they could expand their shipping operations to their existing
retail locations. Until then, Wal-Mart's limited shipping adds a
considerable amount of wait time, and new releases are hard to come by (but
they do have hentai anime). Blockbuster's answer is Film Caddy which charges
$19.95, and ships from Arizona. They have little in the way of anime and
only 1 rental plan.
Well, I don't know what my future with Netflix will be (especially if they
try to charge me 30 bucks for a flick I returned (and didn't even like)).
What I do know is that eventually their poor customer service will catch up
with them, and with the prospective competition and dawning of electronic
movie distribution, Netflix may just flicker off the net.
*Note: Netlfix did notify me that they received "A Man Apart". (It took 6
days to "arrive". The distribution center I returned it to is located 33
miles from my home).
Czarina
Grade: A for selection. C- for service.
Czarina'a Caustic Comment or Captious Compliment: Netflix ain't all that.
7/26/04
I first heard about Netflix when I was living in California in 1999,
however, I didn't have a DVD player. When I relocated to Cleveland, OH in
2000, Netflix was getting popular but I knew that the nearest shipping
center to me was in Chicago.
In Fall 2003, Netflix opened shipping center in Cleveland. I immediately
signed up for 3 at a time plan. In the first 2 weeks of the free trial
period, I rented 8 DVDs. I was astounded. What followed was 3 months of
efficiency. I work at home. I would watch movies during my lunch and during
breaks. I would mail the DVD back if finished the next day at the Post
office. They would receive it the next day.
I knew it was too good to be true. Finally they started slowing down, even
though I would mail it via Post office, it would take 2-3 days to get to
Netflix. Likewise, the movies Netflix would mail to me would take 2-3 days
to get to me where I was living in the same city as the shipping center. I
did a "Netflix complaints" search on google.com one day and found out that
this was COMMON practice by Netflix. It starts out fast and quick, but when
Netflix realizes that they aren't making money on you, they start slowing
down receiving and shipping on certain customers.
I have friends scattered across the USA (California, NYC, Boston MA). All
major markets for Netflix. They complain similarly to how Netflix started
out quick for them and then slowed down dramatically for them.
7/20/2004
Hello,
I guess my story is the same as everyone else's, but I just needed to blow
off some steam.
I am on the 3 movie subscription. When I started the service, the movies
were coming faster than I could watch them. I would send them in one day and
they would receive them the next and send out the new one the same day. That
was a 3 day turnaround. Great I thought. Most of the movies were new
releases and they were being shipped on a Monday so I would get them on
Tuesday, the same day as they were released on DVD. It sure beat going to
Blockbuster when they opened on Tuesday morning just to assure myself I
would get a copy of a new release. Well I guess I made the mistake of
getting too many movies sent to me because all of a sudden the new releases
started showing Long Wait. Now I am more interested in seeing the new
releases so my querie did not contain many older titles but the few I had in
there were always available Now. After getting about 20 movies the second
month, I noticed a distinct slowdown in the time they reported receiving the
movies I sent and the time it took for them to send a new one. And I
couldn't believe the 4th of July weekend they didn't function from Thursday
evening until Tuesday morning. I wish I had them kind of hours.
Anyway as with most other comments I have heard here, the service has gone
downhill and I am seriously considering going back to my old ways and
returning to Blockbuster. I understand they have a pass you can but for
about $25. a month that lets you take out 2 movies at a time with no return
date. I like that and if I don't see some improvement in the Netflix
service, I will return to Blockbuster.
I wonder if any of the people from Netflix read these comments. Maybe they
would get off their ass and improve the service or at least stop lying and
purposely slowing down what could be a great service.
Steve
Closed Thread
Results 1 to 30 of 174
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I can only assume you have watched all 24 DVDs, but would it be so naive of Netflix to think that high-usage customers were copying their DVDs and therefore costing Netflix money ?
If in doubt, Google it.
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i too have noticed a slow down in delivery speed with my netflix, used to be so fast. I have gone out and gotten that Blockbuster moviepass thing and that was the greatest thing until the store started to get saturated and now it's almost impossible sometimes to get a popular movie. if the one copy of the movie you want is out, there is no idea when it'll come back. I still have netflix because of the huge selection of indie and older movies. The blockbuster i will probably still keep because i drive by it everyday. anyways, it's cheaper than going to the movies all the time. just my 2 cents.
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Obviously they dont want you to have too many movies per month, this simply isn't economical for them. I used to rent from Movietrak.co.uk at £13.99 (GBP) a month. At first I would get maybe 15 disks a month (receiving, watching and returning the same day...), but this slowed to maybe 8 or 9.
If you work out the average "high street" rental charge (at maybe £2.75 (GBP) a day) 15 x £2.75 = £41.25. Even at the minimum amount I was receiving ( 8 x £2.75 = £22.00 per month) they were not making a great deal of money from me...
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You know, I've been a Netflix member for about 8 months. The one thing they DO have going for them is their selection. I used them mostly to sample some of the TV-episode boxsets (that my local Blockbuster never bothered to get) before I bought 'em. Also noticed a slowdown in turnaround over the last few months. My distro center is Worcester, MA, about 100 miles west of the Boston area. But what used to be about 2 days turnaround (on average) has slowed to about 4 days. I will admit that I do return all 3 at once usually within 2 days of receipt. Yes, I have received a few badly scratched and even gorged (!!!) disks but always got a replacement. Also have gotten Netflix-labelled disks that say, "For Rental Only (LOTR: ROTK is one)."
Could get a BB MoviePass as the store is right across the street, but I've heard of them knocking people off that for renting too many! Considering how lousy their non-new-release DVD selection is, anyhow, I'm not gonna bother. Want a new release they have 100 copies of, great, but something old they may have only on an 80's- or early-90's-vintage (probably worn) VHS.Like a flea circus at a dog show!
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Twenty-two bucks a month. Golly, you're really getting fucked over something fierce. How can you put up with that kind of abuse?
"There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon." -- Raoul Duke
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Has anyone found other services of this type beside Netflix, Wal-Mart & Blockbuster? Came across one called "Numberslate" which has interesting rental method called "Circles." You join a circle for a DVD title and it gets mailed from one customer to the next . It's stated as being for $9.95 a month but I have to, in addition, buy 60¢ stamps from the P.O. & fill out mailing labels to mail them on?? The FAQ states that you reuse the envelope, put a new label over the old one and a stamp over the old one! Would that mean for a popular "circled" title, there might be 15 layers of labels/stamps on the envelope??? Seems to much trouble to me.
Anyway: http://www.numberslate.com/ns?intro&Like a flea circus at a dog show!
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Guys, can fu*ken Netflix and do what I did. Join your local BlockBuster and for 25.99 a month you can rent up to 2 movies at a time. You just return them when you want and then exchange for 2 more. If I go every day and rent two movies , that 60 dvds a month. I am a happy camper. It works out for me b/c there is a BB local to me and every day when I come home from work, I then just return those 2 dvd movies I rented last night. All in all I am happy. Shit sometimes I dunno what I even want to rent. Selection is not netflix, but screw the media mail serivice by USPS and Netflix slow ass delivery time.
As the same experience you guys had with Netflix, I did have as well. No regrets.
Also I think Blockbuster is also doing online rentals. I have not looked to much into it. I am happy with 26.00 a month 2 movies out at a time.
Peace*New Mac user*, been PC user 4 life
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Originally Posted by Madz*New Mac user*, been PC user 4 life
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Originally Posted by RegalIf in doubt, Google it.
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The average cost to rent a movie around here is $4. So if you devide that into the Netfix $20 charge... that is 5 movies a month if I went out and rented them.
But, I would have to go out... spend time picking out a movie... that takes about a half hour then, I'd have to return it in 5 days.
Why bother, even at a snalls pace... I can rent more movies thorough Netflix and not have to bother with the time it takes to rent them local.
Every other day (or so) I get a new movie in the mail. I do find I have a better chance of getting new movies and classics than I do trying to get them local.
Now, when they didn't have a local dist center, yeah I tried it and canceled cause it took so long. With the new dist an hour away... it great.Don't give in to DVD2ONE, that leads to the dark side.
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Originally Posted by freestyler
As soon as your collection gets big enough you will cease your netflix subscription because you won't need them anymore. This costs them money.
I find it hard to believe that people can claim to consistantly watch in excess of 30 DVDs a month and they're not copying them.If in doubt, Google it.
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jimmalenko Wrote:
I find it hard to believe that people can claim to consistantly watch in excess of 30 DVDs a month and they're not copying them.
Simple, that's 2 hours a day. We (the consumer) watch more than 2 hours of TV a day, so if you cut out regular TV and slip in a movie, it's not hard to rack up that many movies.
I find myself watching 1 movie every 2 days on average. Owned or rented.Don't give in to DVD2ONE, that leads to the dark side.
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Originally Posted by Regal
I'm not completely against BB, I usually get the big new releases there on Tuesdays since Netflix isn't really as convenient as BB in that regard. Just I like some other interesting "favorites" to use for the freebie rental on the Rewards Gold membership.Like a flea circus at a dog show!
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Originally Posted by Marco33
I don't have that sort of time after sport, surfing porn, etc etc.If in doubt, Google it.
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We do 2, sometime 4 "movies" a day during the summer with the Freedom Pass. Not just 4 hour extended Return of the King, but the 20 minute Bob the Builder and so forth.
We still keep Netflix running, for selection. We mail out the movies, they get them the next day, then we get our new movies on the third day. We've had it for over a year, and haven't suffered the "Frequent Renter Curse" yet.
They were even gracious enough to extend our service for free when the new mailman stoppped delivering them to us because he thought that when we left them for him to pick up, we were actually refusing them
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Come on now, I have to agree. 6 movies every week for several months? I just recently rejoined Netflix and even when I was renting alot of series I was happy to watch 3 discs one weeks and 3 the next. If I could I would return them the same week and frequently have the new ones that same week. Did it for about a year and like the previous poster, never had Frequent Renter Curse
. I've gone back because I like mainly indie and anime, something that chains stores like BB don't carry much of, at least not here. I've still been returning movies fairly quickly and have not seen any slowdown.
Keep in mind that their service is mainly promoting the convenience to rent a movie, watch it at your leisure and return it when you finally "remember" wihtout having to get slapped with an $2 late fee that somehow turns into $10 for one late day, not watch 3 movies today, return them tomorrow and have the next selections the following day.
You can't expect the turnaround time to be exactly the same all the time. There were plenty of times when I mailed all 3 back and they would receive 2 first and the next one the following day. Within the same city I live in I'll mail something out one day and it usually arrives the next day but sometime it won't arrive until a few days later, it happens. I also wonder if you read their terms and conditions. For one thing if the next title in your selection is not available they will wait a couple of days to see if it becomes available and if not then send you the next selection.
I'd like to know what you do to watch that many movies evey week. I usually only work about 40 hours if overtime is not necesary and even so I have other things I want to do or watch on TV.
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Originally Posted by BullworthIf in doubt, Google it.
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I've been a Netflix user, off and on, for years. I have noticed in the past, that for the first 2 months, they treat you like royalty. Once that 2 month period is over, the turn around time and selection availability deminishs.
However, in this my most recent subscription, I have the 8 out plan. I've had it for about 4 months now and I haven't noticed any slow downs in the turn around time or the selection availabilty.
I'm about 1 hr away from their SJ distribution center. Generally, When I receive 8 in the mail, I'll just keep one or two for viewing--depending on if the wife or kids has an interest in any of the titles I receive, and I'll send the other DVDs back the same day. (I like having a variety of DVDs to choose from on the 8 out plan, it not because I like copying the DVDs.).
Netflix mails me about 120 DVD each month on my current 8-out plan. I haven't had any problem with them delaying my shipments in the last 4 months.
Back in the early days when I first begin using netflix, they had a bad habit delaying shipments and trying to bill your credit cards for DVDs that were lost the mail. Come to find out, many Postal workers were stealing the DVDs!
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Originally Posted by Madz
How can you concentrate of the vision and sound of the dvd if you have an <insert browser here> window over the top ?
I think you are taking Windows' multi-tasking capabilities to a new levelIf in doubt, Google it.
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Originally Posted by anubis13If in doubt, Google it.
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Originally Posted by anubis13
On a side note: I'm thinking of trying this GreenCine since they have a nice selection of anime, indy, import & cult titles.
http://www.greencine.comLike a flea circus at a dog show!
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[quote="freestyler"]
Originally Posted by jimmalenko
I would enroll them in summer school, but both of them are almost straight "A" students, and did not qualify for summer school. Summer school, in the area where I live, is reserved for students that get a "C" or worse in a class and need some reinforcement in the subject.
Since they still have several weeks left of vacation and now the NETFLIX movies have slowed to a crawl, I have broken down just today and "upped" my membership to the "8-out" level to have more movies on hand. Their vacation time is fleeting, and these movies are a reward for all of their hard work during the last school year. I will cut it back when school starts....well maybe I will wait a tad longer until "Dad" here gets some of his Jazz DVD's (not available elsewhere) arrive. Funny how my e-mail got bombarded with offers to increase my membership to the "8-out at a time" just about the same time as the movies mailed out to me slowed to a crawl. Guess Netflix got their way.
(BTW, I don't let my kids lay on the couch all day watching movies and eating ice cream....they also go to the park almost everyday, swim, take tennis lessons, and Karate lessons )
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