netflix "throttling" based on queue size?

[akrako1]

My Netflix turnaround time seemed to suffer once I moved over 100 movies in my queue. I would get a 4 day turnaround if I was lucky. I'd mail something back on monday, maybe wednesday they'd say they'd received it, then they'd say "will ship the next available..." until thursday, then estimate a delivery of saturday or monday - and I'd be lucky to get that sometimes. I just removed enough movies from my queue to get under 100, and my service speed has improved greatly! Back to 2-3 days turnaround. Has anyone else experienced this? To me this seems like a scenario where they would "throttle" someone (knowing that they've got 'em as a customer for a while..)

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I'm pushing the 500 item limit in the queue and my turn-around has always been great.
I've almost always got at least 1 NetFlix disc floating around the house at any given time.

[jimmalenko]

Has anyone else experienced this? To me this seems like a scenario where they would "throttle" someone (knowing that they've got 'em as a customer for a while..)

That depends.

Did you search the forums for similar topics before posting ? * rhetorical *

[smearbrick1]

Have you ever been "throttled" for not searching first? *rhetorical also*

[sacajaweeda]

Mail also tends to slow down to a crawl this time of year, what with all the crap people are sending each other for Christmas...

[lordsmurf]

My stance is still that, if you need more movies, get a bigger plan. With 8 at any given time, and you send them back when done, you'll never be out of movies. If that's too expensive, then learn to wait for the mail to do it's thing. There's no conspiracy.

I also dismiss baseless hypotheses. More of those blue bananas. If A and B happen, it does not necessary mean C is the outcome. While C probably happened, it may or may not at all be related to A or B or both. It may be because of D, E, F, Q, Z, whatever. That's bad science to just blindly assume A+B=C without any checks/balances on the equation.

[dynamix1]

I have had netflix a couple of years now and not really seen a slow down. I usually see 1-2 days from the return.

[Supreme2k]

Just my opinion, but my take on it is that the people who complain about "throttling" and such are upset that they don't get the maximum amount of rentals to burn. They're trying to beef up their DVD collection, and they believe that Netflix is hindering that.

You can argue the point until you're blue in the face (smurf excuded), but you will not convince me otherwise. It all amounts to rationalization.

[Faustus]

Friend of mine is still getting one week turn arounds. He used to get like 2 day turn around. Heck he can drive to the distro sites in an hour if he wanted.

He's getting screwed. Its hurt him more because hes on the 3 at a time plan and at any given time 1 is his movie, 1 for his wife, and one for their son. So he has to wait a week for something new to watch.

[rkr1958]

I'm getting around one week turnaournd ... I have the 3 at a time plan. Similar to Faustus's friend, I usually get one movie for myself, one for my wife and one for my 4 soon to be 5-year old. I'm satisified with it ... heck ... how many movies can you watch a week. I usaully wind up watching my movie by myself (a guy's type movie) and watching together my wife's movie. My son watches his for three or so nights in a row. Then we return the three ... two days to get the notice that they received them ... one or two days to get the news one. On second thought I guess we're getting three or four day turnaround. The other three days is when we actually watch the movies.

[sacajaweeda]

I have the 3-out plan from Blockbuster Video. Looking at my rental history, I've rented 156 movies since 04/09/2005. No complaints here.

[Guest]

I have the 3-out plan from Blockbuster Video. Looking at my rental history, I've rented 156 movies since 04/09/2005. No complaints here.

Blockbuster is good.

Things might speed up now

http://www.netflix.com/Settlement?mqso=60178549

[Xylob the Destroyer]

... heck ... how many movies can you watch a week...

that depends!
some of us have no life :P
figuring on one a night and 2 each day on the weekend, i could easily watch 9 movies/discs in a week. But as it is, I'm too cheap to step up from the 3-out plan.
I'm not anti-social, I'm asocial!

[Faustus]

... heck ... how many movies can you watch a week...

that depends!
some of us have no life :P
figuring on one a night and 2 each day on the weekend, i could easily watch 9 movies/discs in a week. But as it is, I'm too cheap to step up from the 3-out plan.
I'm not anti-social, I'm asocial!

The friend in question I'm talking about works at home. The answer is A LOT!

[dynamix1]

I'm possibly figuring that, how far are you from the distribution center. The address where I return mine is only 20 miles away. This could be a factor as well for me. If I drop mine at the post office i drop mine at the local box. I dropped one on sun night at the post office and just got one in the mail today.

[Guest]

... heck ... how many movies can you watch a week...

that depends!
some of us have no life :P
figuring on one a night and 2 each day on the weekend, i could easily watch 9 movies/discs in a week. But as it is, I'm too cheap to step up from the 3-out plan.
I'm not anti-social, I'm asocial!

The friend in question I'm talking about works at home. The answer is A LOT!

doesnt sound like too much woork is getting done at home.

[sacajaweeda]

I drop mine at the post office

That's what I do. As long as you beat the last pickup of the day you shave at least a day off by droopping it off instead of letting the letter carrier pick it up and walk around with it all day. I assume the people complaining about slow turnarounds or perceived delays are at least doing this much.

[Faustus]

doesnt sound like too much woork is getting done at home.

No. Not really actually. Hes the programmer/tech support department for a company thats kinda in one of those perpetual death phases. Not so little business as to die but not any growth.

Everyone works from home these days with VOIP phones and the entire company is like 4 people.

[NiteLite]

My Netflix turnaround time seemed to suffer once I moved over 100 movies in my queue.

akrako1, as you can see the mere mention that Netflix may not be the most honest upstanding business in the world gets a lot of people upset. Even to the point of "reporting" the thread. You would think that one would just skip the thread if it upset them so much....geez
Have you read the terms of agreement lately? Sometime back Netflix changed them. Now they can basically ship you when they want, how many they want, and check them back in when they want. Thats the terms you agree to now. Also lately the customer reps are stating these new terms instead of trying to blame the postal service all the time.
Everything you suspect they can do is true. However, I doubt that having 101 movies in queue would have a different effect than having 99 movies in queue. But who knows. For more info search, but not here, search google.
As you know 99% of businesses are out to maximize profits "anyway" they can.
Hope this helps your question.
NL

[akrako1]

thanks for the constructive reply NiteLite. I really don't understand why people got so upset - it is still a corporation - but people do love their corporations... I thought my question "has anybody else experienced this?" was innocent enough... guess what I experienced was just a coincidence.

[jimmalenko]

You would think that one would just skip the thread if it upset them so much....geez

Does the term "flogging a dead horse" mean anything to you ?

Being in Oz, I personally couldn't give two shits what Netflix does or does not do as it doesn't affect me. What I do take exception to is those so "ignorant" to not utilise the facilities of this site such as the forum search before posting to see if anyone else has experienced what they have experienced. 99% of the time you won't be the first, nor will you be the last.

As for reporting, the thing I don't get is why all the mere mortals here are so concerned about who reports whom and for what. It's for the moderators' and admin's benefit should they not be able to encompass every single post made. The mod checks the thread, and either gives the OK to it or locks it, and we all move on.

Back on topic, the same answer applies here as it does to every other Netflix thread - YES, they are slowing down your movies on purpose. It's been proven in a court of law, I believe. They are a business out to make a buck, and you are the consumer lining their shareholders' pockets. Those who rent more than "the average user" are not profitable. Either deal with it, or do business elsewhere.

[lordsmurf]

It's been proven in a court of law, I believe.

No. A settlement was made before court. From looking at the terms of the settlement, it's less of an admission of anything, and more of new oppotunity to regain customers or upgrade the accounts of existing ones. The only people getting money are the damned lawyers (which is ridiculous), and everybody else gets free 1-movie service for a month (which is adequate).

Nothing was ever proven one way or another. What they did was to change the terms of the agreement so that sniggly little complaints about throttling accounts would go away. As supreme2k stated, most of the complaints about this to date are from people that were not getting "help" to speedily "backup" the entire rental catalog for their home use.

Most people have no complaints, and enjoy their service as a convenient and cheaper service as compared to the old ways of Blockbuster and grocery stores.

[jimmalenko]

It's been proven in a court of law, I believe.

No. A settlement was made before court.

Thanks for the clarification, LS.

Looks like the zealots got me believing that out-of-court settlement was an admission of guilt

[Supreme2k]

akrako1, as you can see the mere mention that Netflix may not be the most honest upstanding business in the world gets a lot of people upset. Even to the point of "reporting" the thread. You would think that one would just skip the thread if it upset them so much....geez

No, you are incorrect.

How does one actually "skip" this thread? In jim's case, the Report thread actually belongs to him, so the report isn't so strange or egregious. If you lived next door to a police department, it would be your right, or rather, your civic duty to report anything that you find remotely distracting to the general public.
It is very irresponsible of you to suggest that he "skip" this thread. After the timeless effort that jim puts into this site to keep it running, he deserves better than a "move along". It is his obligation to report every thread that he sees fit, but there just isn't the time, man. Thankfully, there's steveryan and daamon who sublet the Report thread.

[Noahtuck]

[jimmalenko]

Thankfully, there's steveryan and daamon who sublet the Report thread.

... and they're late with their rent

[MackemX]

what he said

[Shadowmistress]

Ditto

[Super Warrior]

My Netflix turnaround time seemed to suffer once I moved over 100 movies in my queue. I would get a 4 day turnaround if I was lucky. I'd mail something back on monday, maybe wednesday they'd say they'd received it, then they'd say "will ship the next available..." until thursday, then estimate a delivery of saturday or monday - and I'd be lucky to get that sometimes. I just removed enough movies from my queue to get under 100, and my service speed has improved greatly! Back to 2-3 days turnaround. Has anyone else experienced this? To me this seems like a scenario where they would "throttle" someone (knowing that they've got 'em as a customer for a while..)

I love netflix. Been useing it a while and they've always given FAST arrivals/returns.Their DVD selection is AWESOME,very few things they don't have.

My only gripe with netflix? It suffers the fate of all mail around this time of year near christmas, SLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWW!

[Supreme2k]

That's why I do my one month a year Blockbuster deal. I'm mostly watching the holiday classics anyway, so selection isn't a big issue. Come January 7th or so, I'm back on Netflix for another 11 months.