Netflix sucks...

[dafoe]

requirement to get Delivery Confirmation. You are full of it. I sell CD's and other things on Ebay all of the time and I get Delivery Confirmation on EVERY thing. You can even put Delivery Confiramation on a letter that you send to your mom if you wanted to.

Then your postman is an idiot.
Delivery confirmation requires a 3/4th inch thick minimum on the package.
It was made this way to not be allowed on simple envelopes.
Look up the rules: www.usps.gov

I know most of the postal rules by heart, can even tell you the weight of a package and guess at the postage needed just by holding it in my hand, and rarely am I that far off. Blame that on a job I had years ago.

If you want to track a letter, it must go certified with return receipt, about $3.

Thank you! God, I'm sick of defending myself against ignorant comments. And please don't flame me- I said the comment was ignorant, not you.

With all due respect to all the forum members, do you honestly think that I want so badly to prove my point to a group of people I've never even met that I'm making things up? If you do, guess again.

This forum is a great one, and there are a lot of knowledgeable helpful people here. But it doesn't bother me if not one of them agrees with me. Not because I don't respect them, but because I strongly believe that Netflix is the sleaziest company I have ever done business with. At the end of the day, my conviction is more than enough for me.

Winifried hit the nail on the head. They are free to run thier business any way they want. They do not have the right to do so without full disclosure.

Let's say you work at a restaurant. Times are tough. You are really hurting for cash. You ask the restaurant manager for an advance and he agrees.

On the other hand let's say you you go into the office and take the money from the safe when no one's looking. That's stealing. See the difference?

An even better analogy would be: Your local gas company notices that they aren't making as much of a profit on unleaded gas as they were on super unleaded. Instead of raising the price of regular gas, they just water it down. I could go on, but you get the point. What Netflix is doing is wrong.

To address Lisa's analogy, airlines don't profit from delayed flights.

As far as the idea that the warehouses are understaffed. That's a valid theory. But, when you introduce the fact that they (Netflix) directly profits from the delay of shipments into the equation, your theory seems far less solid.

Besides, I don't think that it's reasonable to hold recieved movies for 72 business hours. If they are that understaffed, then they need to hire more employess.

You can come up with all the hypotheses you want. There are a million posiblites as to why my movies arrived on Tuesday at 6:30 am and were not checked in until AFTER my account was cancelled on Friday. My goal is to determine what the most likely explanation is. And the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that they intentionaly cheated me out of my last batch of movies.

This text was pulled directly from the Netflix site:

Free Shipping and Postage
Select your movies at sign-up and they should arrive in your mailbox within 1 to 3 business days via first class mail. We reach more than 80 percent of our subscribers with generally one-day delivery. After you finish watching a movie, simply put it in its pre-paid envelope and mail it back to us. As soon as we receive it, we'll send your next available movie. Shipping is always free both ways — no hidden charges.

The most relevant part is the next to last sentence: "As soon as we receive it, we'll send your next available movie."

Doesn't seem very ambiguous to me. It doesn't say "We will send your next availabe movie when we get around to it. It also doesn't say: " Your turnaround time will depend on your profitability.

This information was pulled from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online:

Main Entry: as soon as
Function: conjunction
: immediately at or shortly after the time that

Again this definition seems pretty clear. Based on Netflix promises, it would seem very reasonable to expect. the next available movie to be shipped within 24 hours.


Finally, to bugster:

:dafoe wrote:

Poor customer service is a byproduct of employee apathy or ignorance.


IMHO, poor customer service is most often caused by low wages, poor training and corporate culture. This may lead to "employee apathy or ignorance" but the root cause is usually the employer.

Couldn't agree with you more completely. But, at some point some of the blame has to fall on the employees. There probably isn't a person on this forum who hasn't worked with somebody that made doing nothing an art form. I once had a boss that spent almost her entire day going to the gym and shopping.

Some people are just lazy. Work ethic varies from person to person. Randy Moss is making millions of dollars per year and he openly admitted to taking plays off.

Look at McDonalds Thier employees allow them to make billions of dollars. Yet they barely pay them more than minimum wage. No doubt about it, they are being taken advantage of. Honestly, I'd be pretty resentful and a little bitter if I were making $7-$8 an hour working at McDonald's.

But, I would still bust my ass. Not for them, but for myself and for my co-workers that depend on me to carry my own weight. It's just the way I operate. It's the way I was raised . I had a paper route at 14 years old and I had my share of shitty jobs opver the next four or five years. I gave them all 100% So I don't think money has a lot to do with it.

[/quote]

[proxyx99]

I've read some of the (above) complaints about Netflix and wonder if any DVD rental service would ever make them happy. Seems that everyone wants new releases in bulk quantities delivered yesterday. Some of the posters must be running wholesale operations where the actual viewing of the movie is not the primary goal. I guess these guys bring a totally new meaning to the word "avid" when it comes to watching movies... sadly more in psychiatric context then any other.

[jimmalenko]

I have th BB movie pass and I rented 70 movies in one month. They didn't cancel my pass or stop me in any way from getting more movies. In fact I got to know the people working the counter so well when I came in we were on a first name reply with each other. I stopped the pass at day 29 just because I was running out of stuff to check out. When I told them to stop the pass they even tryied to talk me into keeping the pass. It was kind of funny on weekends when they would see me come in and out three times in one day.

Did you get to watch all 70 ?

[hech54]

It was kind of funny on weekends when they would see me come in and out three times in one day.

Not really. I see no humour in stealing (copying) from any rental place...whether they have wonderful or shitty customer service. And even IF said company does have shitty customer service...I blame the people who simply get their jollies copying movies just because they can.
I'll bet their friends sure are impressed though.....all those free movies and with mommy and daddy's name on the membership card.

[smearbrick1]

I find this forum completely interesting. Has anyone mentioned the fact that Netflix works with a completely different business model than Blockbuster. Yes, they rent movies for profit, but other than that, what do they have in common? Nothing. Netflix does not charge based on the volume of movies rented. They can do this because they are not paying 1500.00 a month on store front rent and 2000.00/month electric bills for hundreds of separate stores. Instead, they have a few distribution centers strategically placed around the country, and this, ultimately, cuts down on their (what would be ridiculous if they had several hundred retail stores) overhead. Figure, Netflix purchases several hundred copies of the most popular titles, maybe a thousand copies of the same disc. Of course, these are bought from a wholesaler. With a customer base like netflix has coupled with the monthly fees, they can be making profit on these newest releases within a matter of days. So, I don't believe, really, that Netflix has an issue with anyone. Netflix will be around for a while. Fortunately, they are one of the many companies that are beginning to truly embrace the web. Everyone else is just running to catch up.

[LisaB]

Sorry dafoe, but the phrase "as soon as" is poorly defined. I guess you take all the television commercials literally, too?

Lisa B.

[kjbrack]

I have th BB movie pass and I rented 70 movies in one month. They didn't cancel my pass or stop me in any way from getting more movies. In fact I got to know the people working the counter so well when I came in we were on a first name reply with each other. I stopped the pass at day 29 just because I was running out of stuff to check out. When I told them to stop the pass they even tryied to talk me into keeping the pass. It was kind of funny on weekends when they would see me come in and out three times in one day.

Did you get to watch all 70 ?

Yes in fact I did watch all of them. My job is shift work 48 on 72 off. I am a fireman.

[kjbrack]

It was kind of funny on weekends when they would see me come in and out three times in one day.

Not really. I see no humour in stealing (copying) from any rental place...whether they have wonderful or shitty customer service. And even IF said company does have shitty customer service...I blame the people who simply get their jollies copying movies just because they can.
I'll bet their friends sure are impressed though.....all those free movies and with mommy and daddy's name on the membership card.

Did I steal or copy them, no. I made back-ups, that’s the politically correct word now. Just think if something ever happened to the BB store like a fire or natural disaster. For a small fee I can restore their data. The number one rule in back-ups is keeping the back-up off location.


[b]
this is not legal -- be warned - moderators [/b]

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning.
/ Moderator BJ_M

[smilinpete]

"Winifred, I don't know why you say "they clearly delay"...Maybe they "can't" get every DVD out the next day, because there simply isn't the manpower to do all the processing. Not all the DVD's received can be processed that day, and instead of just randomly processing DVD's, they choose to first process the DVD's going to the most profitable customers...get it? NetFlix promises to get the next DVD's out there "as soon as possible"...and delayed DVD's doesn't disprove this promise. "

My experience is that they do clearly delay. The explanation that they cannot always process and ship a new dvd on the same day they receive the old one is often valid. However, I believe they process and then hold shipments to be released to the Postal Service in a day or two. I live 75 miles from a distribution center and all first class mail is delivered in this area on an overnight basis. If I mail a dvd back to Netflix by 6 PM, they report it received the next day over 90% of the time. From the day they report my new dvd shipped, I receive it in two days about 40% of the time, in three days about 40% of the time, and in one day less than 10% of the time.

[Treebeard]

It was kind of funny on weekends when they would see me come in and out three times in one day.

Not really. I see no humour in stealing (copying) from any rental place...whether they have wonderful or shitty customer service. And even IF said company does have shitty customer service...I blame the people who simply get their jollies copying movies just because they can.
I'll bet their friends sure are impressed though.....all those free movies and with mommy and daddy's name on the membership card.

Did I steal or copy them, no. I made back-ups, that’s the politically correct word now. Just think if something ever happened to the BB store like a fire or natural disaster. For a small fee I can restore their data. The number one rule in back-ups is keeping the back-up off location.

Thats the lamest piracy excuse I have ever heard.

[Supreme2k]

Backup is not simply a PC term. Don't mix somehing that (at this time) is ambiguous with something that is clearly illegal.

Might as well say, "I was worried about that Porsche being stolen from the dealer, so I hotwred it and took it home for safe-keeping."

[Treebeard]

I didnt think all that money was safe in my local bank so Im holding it for them now.

[winifreid]

smilinpete,
So what is your point? You say they do delay, but they have their reasons and they base it upon profitability.
As has been said, they do not qualify their promise to ship anpther DVD "as soon as" they receive the return. And there is no way to misinterprete this term or their promise. It does not mean as soon as it is profitable for us to do so. It means when they receive 1 dvd they ship the next one that day. The fact that they do this some of the time is a clear indication that it is possible.

Perhaps I should start another thread because I do not think Netflix sucks. I like their website and think they have the best selection available. They just shouldn't state that the rentals are unlimited, when they clearly are limited. If any of you think your defense of Netflix is in the companiy's best interest, you should follow your own logic. They do not want high volume customers like me and by complaining like I have I make it less likely that they will get more.

[kjbrack]

Ok I got a warning for saying the truth. Now I will say a lot more of the TRUTH and can you handle the truth.

How many of you law abiding people out there every done any of the following:

Copied a movie that a friend purchased
Brought software home from work and installed in on your home computer
Rented a movie and copied it
Ate one grape in the supermarket to see if they were sweet or sour
Recorded a song off the radio onto some form of re-playable media
Used a source and didn’t give credit for that source
Brought office supplies from work to home


Well all of these are stealing. So before you start throwing rocks remember you live in a glass house.

Yes I’m guilty of these major crimes. Where did I learn how to do the movies, right on this website. With your guides, tools, software downloads, discussions and forums. Now if I were selling my back-ups then yes I believe I have done something wrong.

[Treebeard]

Ok I got a warning for saying the truth. Now I will say a lot more of the TRUTH and can you handle the truth.

How many of you law abiding people out there every done any of the following:

Copied a movie that a friend purchased
Brought software home from work and installed in on your home computer
Rented a movie and copied it
Ate one grape in the supermarket to see if they were sweet or sour
Recorded a song off the radio onto some form of re-playable media
Used a source and didn’t give credit for that source
Brought office supplies from work to home


Well all of these are stealing. So before you start throwing rocks remember you live in a glass house.

Yes I’m guilty of these major crimes. Where did I learn how to do the movies, right on this website. With your guides, tools, software downloads, discussions and forums. Now if I were selling my back-ups then yes I believe I have done something wrong.

Its not the point if people have done these things, its the point of following the rules set forth in this forum. If illegal activity is openly accepted then that could lead to liability issues for baldrick and I dont think he wants that, I dont want it either b/c then this site would be shut down.

Whether you believe its okay is not the point, its whether baldrick thinks its okay.

[kilik777]

Ive experienced both the good and bad of netflix. First they were lightning fast then after about 3 months it slowed considerably. Now it seems they picked back up and i rarely get delays. Im in Austin and the distribution center is here also, so that might be why. I just assumed the delay was due to a much larger increase in customers over the past few months. I agree with how to get new releases. You must make sure they receive the returns on monday. I live in same city so i mail mine on saturdays. I have 5 out at a time and average between 40 - 45 a month. Im gonna definitely check out sugardvd. I sure wish netflix would get more music dvd's. They are definitely lacking.

[Supreme2k]

Ok I got a warning for saying the truth. Now I will say a lot more of the TRUTH and can you handle the truth.

Truth???
They should add a ban after that last thoughtful post

How many of you law abiding people out there every done any of the following:

Copied a movie that a friend purchased

Sure have! She purchased it for my birthday, so I backed up my DVD. :P

Brought software home from work and installed in on your home computer

Sure have! My work ordered it for my use, had it delivered there, then I picked it up, since I work from home.

Rented a movie and copied it

No

Ate one grape in the supermarket to see if they were sweet or sour

Yes, but I ended up buying a couple of pounds. Kind of like renting the DVD, then buying it once you've found that you like it. Plus, I usually buy produce from farmer's market, where they give free samples. :P

Recorded a song off the radio onto some form of re-playable media

Nah. Don't want they crappy DJ voiceovers ruining the song.

Used a source and didn’t give credit for that source

Couldn't if I wanted to. My professors wouldn't accept papers that way that way. It had to be MLA standard.

Brought office supplies from work to home

See the software answer.

Well all of these are stealing. So before you start throwing rocks remember you live in a glass house.

We're throwing them at your glass logic. Or should I say, at the hose you're using to blow smoke up our asses.

Yes I’m guilty of these major crimes. Where did I learn how to do the movies, right on this website. With your guides, tools, software downloads, discussions and forums. Now if I were selling my back-ups then yes I believe I have done something wrong.

You can learn to make rat poison on a site, but once you put it in a person's food, you're committin a crime. Take responsibility for your own actions. Don't blame the smoke shop for your drug habit because they sell rolling paper.

I guess it's alright to steal a Rolex from someone, as long as you don't sell it. (bad example, I know )

Just leave already. As you have found out, this isn't one of those sites, so your "truth" is not welcome here

[freestyler]

Just think if something ever happened to the BB store like a fire or natural disaster. For a small fee I can restore their data. The number one rule in back-ups is keeping the back-up off location.

Funniest piracy excuse I've heard yet!

[Supreme2k]

Thats the lamest piracy excuse I have ever heard.

Funniest piracy excuse I've heard yet!

I propose we start a new thread with a poll

[hech54]

Ok I got a warning for saying the truth. Now I will say a lot more of the TRUTH and can you handle the truth.

How many of you law abiding people out there every done any of the following:

Copied a movie that a friend purchased
Brought software home from work and installed in on your home computer
Rented a movie and copied it
Ate one grape in the supermarket to see if they were sweet or sour
Recorded a song off the radio onto some form of re-playable media
Used a source and didn’t give credit for that source
Brought office supplies from work to home


Well all of these are stealing. So before you start throwing rocks remember you live in a glass house.

Yes I’m guilty of these major crimes. Where did I learn how to do the movies, right on this website. With your guides, tools, software downloads, discussions and forums. Now if I were selling my back-ups then yes I believe I have done something wrong.
this is not legal -- be warned - moderators

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning.

A fireman with a Nascar avatar....the estimated brain power is staggering. I'm getting smarter by just reading these little nuggets of genius.

[Wetmonkey]

man i hussled a couple years ago turning out my netflix, back then it was roughly a five day turn around, now we have a distribution center in tempe and the turn around is 3 days.

[dafoe]

I've read some of the (above) complaints about Netflix and wonder if any DVD rental service would ever make them happy. Seems that everyone wants new releases in bulk quantities delivered yesterday. Some of the posters must be running wholesale operations where the actual viewing of the movie is not the primary goal. I guess these guys bring a totally new meaning to the word "avid" when it comes to watching movies... sadly more in psychiatric context then any other.

Wow! It's amazing to me that some people still don't get it!

The speed of delivery has nothing to do with- it's merely a symptom of the problem.

The whole point of my rant against Netflix is that they are cheating customers.

Do you know anybody that likes getting lied to and ripped off? I don't

For me it's the principal. That's it.

[skebenin]

I really don't think there is any conspiracy to rip off customers. I think it's just part and parcel of their business processes.

I joined netflix early on (March 2000 if memory serves). I've seen them change business process several times.

When I first joined, they'd let you notify them that you dropped a movie in the mail and they'd ship the next movie immediately - you didn't have to wait for them to get it back. The next movie could be on it's way as soon as you finished watching one. That was a good business process considering the slow delivery and returns at the time.

After a few months, they changed it so you couldn't click the 'I mailed it' button till at least 4 days after they'd shipped it to you. I suspect they had too many people abusing the 'I mailed it' feature, claiming they'd mailed it back when they actually hadn't. For most honest customers it had little impact. It generally took 3 or 4 days to get the disk in the first place, so you were only inconvenienced if you got a movie in two days, watched it that night, and mailed it back the next morning.

There were quite a few policy changes in that first year or so. Some of the changes were infuriating because they lowered their service levels and you had no say in the matter, but the simple truth of it is - you don't. You either accept the business processes or take your business elsewhere. The same thing is true today.

There are some reasonable explanations for the issues you've experienced. It doesn't have to be a conspiracy.

For example, they might delay shipping of a movie (or two) that isn't available at your local processing center simply to see if a copy will come back. Shipping a copy locally, even with a day delay, would be quicker service than shipping from the remote site (1 day delay, 1 day shipping versus no delay and 3 or 4 days shipping). The down side is it takes even longer if they don't get it back locally, but who's to say, on the whole, which provides overall better service.

Delays in checking disks back in also doesn't have to be a conspiracy. Processing center volumes are probably very spiky (I bet they get a lot more disks back on Tuesdays). They may simply have had unusually high volumes when you did the delivery receipt, resulting in processing delays. I've had disks returned around holidays take a couple of extra days to check in, and I thought nothing of it.

Heck, it might even be that your local processing center is understaffed, resulting in shitty processing, but only for customers of your processing center. If that's the case, people in your area might be well advised to bail, but it doesn't mean that netflix is trying to rip them off.

[indolikaa]

Ok I got a warning for saying the truth. Now I will say a lot more of the TRUTH and can you handle the truth.

Actually, no.

You got a warning for advocating/discussing warez. You admitted to copying rental DVDs.

It's not rocket science.

How many of you law abiding people out there every done any of the following:

1) Copied a movie that a friend purchased
2) Brought software home from work and installed in on your home computer
3) Rented a movie and copied it
4) Ate one grape in the supermarket to see if they were sweet or sour
5) Recorded a song off the radio onto some form of re-playable media
6) Used a source and didn’t give credit for that source
7) Brought office supplies from work to home

Wrong!

For your information, some software EULAs allow for people to install a copy on their work and home PCs. Also, larger organizations often purchase enough volume licenses to allow their employees the priviledge of using the software at home for the purpose of telecommuting.

And for the record, the produce manager at the local Ed's IGA Supermarket will not have you thrown to the ground and handcuffed if you dare try one of his grapes. If you're polite and ask, he'll even cut a pear in half and let you try the most recent shipment.

Do you think the rest of this group is going to be stupid enough to answer those questions? Are you needing these questions answered to settle your bruised ego, or is your goal to see people get yellow-carded? I mean, come on, do think we're all idiots?

Yes I’m guilty of these major crimes. Where did I learn how to do the movies, right on this website. With your guides, tools, software downloads, discussions and forums. Now if I were selling my back-ups then yes I believe I have done something wrong.

You admitted to copying rental DVDs. And then you tried to use one of the most lame-ass excuses I've ever read in my life for justifying your thievery. And now you're trying to paint the rest of us as cheats and liars.

You don't do your fellow public servants well, sir.

[sacajaweeda]

[indolikaa]

Oooh! Is that the Low-Carb STFU brew?

[sacajaweeda]

No, it's the super skunky extra strength full bodied flava. Only the best for my VideoHelp homies

[smilinpete]

smilinpete,
So what is your point? You say they do delay, but they have their reasons and they base it upon profitability.
As has been said, they do not qualify their promise to ship anpther DVD "as soon as" they receive the return. And there is no way to misinterprete this term or their promise. It does not mean as soon as it is profitable for us to do so. It means when they receive 1 dvd they ship the next one that day. The fact that they do this some of the time is a clear indication that it is possible.

Perhaps I should start another thread because I do not think Netflix sucks. I like their website and think they have the best selection available. They just shouldn't state that the rentals are unlimited, when they clearly are limited. If any of you think your defense of Netflix is in the companiy's best interest, you should follow your own logic. They do not want high volume customers like me and by complaining like I have I make it less likely that they will get more.

What's my point? I was just trying to say that my experience is that in addition to the unavoidable processing delays because of a finite work force, there are also deliberate delays. And like other posters, I find that this is at odds with their product claims.

And this just in: I shipped a movie back to them on Monday. They acknowledged receiving it at 9 AM on Tues. They reported shipping the new one at 4 PM today, Wednesday, and informed me that I can expect to receive it next Monday. I am 75 miles from their distribution center in a overnight delivery region for first class mail. One day going to Netflix, six days coming from Netflix.

[hech54]

What it boils down to is this:

All of the little whiners who are crying that they do not get their 10 DVD per day delivery from Netflix, Blockbuster or anyone else.....are a bunch of little thieves getting their jollies copying movies just because they can....period.

Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha

[dafoe]

What it boils down to is this:

All of the little whiners who are crying that they do not get their 10 DVD per day delivery from Netflix, Blockbuster or anyone else.....are a bunch of little thieves getting their jollies copying movies just because they can....period.

Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha

Do you work for the RIAA or what?

I am sick and tired of trying to explain what is obviously the crux of this issue. Some of you people just refuse to, or are incable of comprehending the REAL ISSUE- that Netflix is screwing people.

Do everybody a favor. Before you make another completely slanderous and irresponsible post such as this one, take the time to actually read what has been written.

Normally I would flame you for barging in here and calling everyone liars and thieves. But I've been banging my head against the wall for 3 days now. It's like talking to a wall! I just don't care anymore.

You people believe whatever you want to believe. I rest my case,