Netflix "wait" status problem

[JohnnyBob]

I've had a Netflix account for several years to rent movies on DVD via the U.S. mail. In general it has worked fine. Now I'm having problems getting them to ship anything, because everything in my queue is in some kind of "wait" status. Even if I add new movies to the queue that are available "now", they change to a "wait" status after a couple of days.

I've talked to one of their customer reps about this problem and got nowhere. Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Or is it just me?

I suspect that it may have to do with lowering their inventory of DVD movies as a cost cutting measure, so there just isn't enough to meet demand, especially newer movies. In any case I'll have little incentive to continue my account with them unless they start sending me movies again.

[jimmalenko]

I think they're intentionally limiting your supply of movies

[JohnnyBob]

I think they're intentionally limiting your supply of movies

I think so too. It's probably some kind of X# of movies in 30 days, after which their "wait" status kicks in. But the customer service rep wouldn't admit to it, and wouldn't do anything about it. In the past whenever there was a problem they would always ship me a free movie, but not this time. I wonder what can be done, if anything...?

[manono]

I'm about ready to jump ship. In the last 6 weeks or so I've received very few movies. This week I've received nothing. 6 weeks ago almost all the movies in my queue were available; for most of the time since then very few or none (none at all this week) have been available. And I don't even go for Hollywood's latest and greatest. For the most part they're classic films out for years on DVD.

[usually_quiet]

This is bad news. I was considering opening a Netflix account in the event I drop cable.

I found this link using Google: http://www.manuelsweb.com/netflix.htm It's old and I can't verify its even true, but contains a possible explanation for long wait times.

It includes a link to a wait calculator: http://www.manuelsweb.com/netflixcalculator.htm

[MOVIEGEEK]

Don't feel bad,Blockbuster does the same thing.
All of my selections(DVD and Blu-ray) say "short wait" or "long wait".

[jagabo]

I'm on the one-at-a-time "unlimited" plan and a new disc is always shipped the same day they receive the disc I shipped back. Shipping always takes 1 day to get from me to them, 1 day to get from them to me. I mail a disc Monday, they get it Tuesday and ship out the next disc, I get it on Wednesday. I watch it Wednesday, put it in the mail on Thursday and get a new disc on Saturday. Watch that over the weekend, put it in the mail on Monday. Almost everything in my queue is available "now". There's one video that has a "long wait" and one not yet released. I only get regular DVDs, no Blu-ray.

In recent memory, I had to wait about 2 months for Slumdog Millionaire, a month for Australia.

I really subscribe for the online streaming though.

[handyguy]

I don't have any waits on my NF account. They are really busy these days, business is way up.

Did you try Instant viewing?

[jameshgross]

I have been a Netflix user for many years. I have never had a problem. (5 at once plan)
What I have noticed is that if you queue up the most popular videos then your wait time can be quite long.
Netflix customer server is first rate as far I i am concered.

[j1d10t]

I've been a Netflix customer for about 9 years, and never had any problems with wait times.

[lordsmurf]

If you want something that is stocked low, or is very popular, you may end up having to wait for it, while others get it. Simple as that.

I never had issues with Netflix, aside from the sometimes-broken disc.

Manuel was a fucktard. There is a difference between "unlimited service" and "abuse of service". He was part of a group of people who expected the impossible. He cried, he whined, and in the end it did nothing. If you are a "high volume" renter, preference goes to other lower-volume renters. This is fair. Greed is not supported by the system.

[JohnnyBob]

Well, like I said, I've been a Netflix customer for several years with no big complaints, always on the unlimited 3 out at a time plan. Occasionally a DVD arrives cracked or unplayable, but it's rare. I've never had a DVD permanently lost in the mail, and just a few were late to arrive. Mail service has been good, normally a 24 hour turnaround both ways. I'm not a complainer and seldom contact them with complaints. In short, if someone were keeping track, I've been a model customer with few problems over the years.

Also I haven't changed my rental habits, but just this past couple of weeks all of the movies in my queue changed to a "wait" status. I've noticed a trend in that direction in recent weeks/months, but they were still shipping movies to me OK, even some on "wait" status. Now they've stopped shipping anything. It doesn't make sense because some are old movies that should be available anytime. I'm familiar with the new/old movie availability differences. Even if I add another movie to my queue that is available "now", it switches to a "wait" status within a couple of days.

Like I said, the customer rep on the telephone was unsympathetic and offered no solution. She wouldn't admit to any such problem and wouldn't do anything about it. My only thought at this point is to call them again and talk to a different customer rep.

From the replies in this thread, some videohelp members are having this same problem with Netflix, while some others aren't experiencing any problem. Hopefully someone knows a solution...

[lordsmurf]

In some cases -- I ran into this too -- the older items were stocked so low, that loss/theft by customers meant the title was unavailable. I know this happened to several rare DVDs. I gave up on about 5-6 titles myself.

I stopped using Netflix when Redbox came out, and Amazon became such a good deal on new/used box sets. Local mom-and-pop video store pretty good, too.

[videobread]

I've had similar problems with Netflix. When their system detects that you are getting "too many" DVD's you get on their s**t list. The simple fix is to drop Neflix for a few month. When you start again you have a new slate.

[JohnnyBob]

I am having problems with my Netflix queue now, so when I reorder it, the new order won't stick. Also if I click on the little arrow at left to move something to top of queue, it doesn't work - goes to the Browse webpage instead. I talking to a customer service rep on the phone and she said these are authentic issues, and they're working on them. So I believe the Netflix system is screwed up in general, and the symptoms I'm having about "wait" status could be part of it. The customer service rep's only suggestion was to update my javascript, which is of course not possible, indicating that her tech expertise was very low. Javascript is a language, and can't be updated.

[jimmalenko]

She might have been talking about your version of java:
http://www.java.com/getjava/

[lordsmurf]

, indicating that her tech expertise was very low.

Hence being the lady that answer the phone.

[JohnnyBob]

She might have been talking about your version of java:
http://www.java.com/getjava/

Confusion of the words javascript and java are common among tech newbies. They're not the same thing. Yes, I suppose she could have made a slip of the tongue, but more likely she just had no tech expertise. In other words, she didn't know what she was talking about. She was, however, smart enough to inform me that the Netflix queue system was screwed up, but I knew that already.

[jimmalenko]

She might have been talking about your version of java:
http://www.java.com/getjava/

Confusion of the words javascript and java are common among tech newbies.

Depends if they read it word for word from the tech support manual

[cal_tony]

Been with Netflix for over 5 years and it's been quite awhile since I've seen any complaints on this site.

My comment re. recent service changes is that for the last 2 weeks I've been getting Saturday service. Not deliveries on Saturday but shipments on Saturday. The other thing I noticed is that lately when they ship me a disk from out of my local service area, they send an extra disk to compensate for the extra time it takes for the shipment. Maybe their just test marketing these new procedures, but in my area the service seems to be improving.

Tony

[JohnnyBob]

I haven't seen any Saturday shipping yet but, like cal-tony, noticed the extra disc when shipping from afar. I guess the "throttling" criticism finally had an effect.

Well, after 0 discs were shipped to me on Friday, they've mailed me 3 movies today from near the top of my queue -- which were all "wait", some "very long wait". So sometimes the "wait" vs "now" queue label means nothing. I've noticed this before. Sometimes they dip to the bottom of my queue and only select "now" movies, or 0 (zero) if there are no "now"s. Other times (like today) they select from the top of my queue and disregard the "wait" status labels. It's not predictable. Maybe it pays to complain a lot (?).

[Des]

I wonder if they might be consolidating fullfillment centers where you live to help save costs.
I'm in NJ and pretty much it takes them one day to receive my return and one day to ship out my replacement. SO if I mail a disk back monday, I will have my next disk in que arrive by wednesday, on rare occassions thursday.
I have the 2 out unlimited plan.
My rental habists are all over the map: new/old/obscure/foreign/animated/TV/stupid/etc. and my viewing turn-around can be anywhere from one day to 1 month. 3 or 4 days is typical for me.

Otherwise in 5 years I've never had a problem except when my credit card has expired and I didn't realize it or I get a disk that is bad. Then there was the early Stan Laurel collection where one of the disks was completely blank, they sent me a new one (perhaps) and that was blank too. Haven't tried again for it.

--dES

[Seeker47]

Longtime 3-at-once plan here, not much to complain about.

I do wonder if you get a relative assigned priority according to how long a "Wait" title has been at the top of your Queue, vs. how long so listed by others ? (Also about whether they in fact penalize those deemed to have "too heavy" usage. And how would you go about proving that ?)

[midnightjack]

I've had problems with them in recent months,too.
New movies,even older titles newly released,are almost always immediately 'short wait' or worse.
I had to wait for Mannix for weeks(not exactly a new show there),but got True Blood the day the discs came out.
Rarer titles,like the James Burke series The Day the Universe Changed are impossible to get.
Everyone wants the new stuff,so this makes sense,but it sure as hell is frustrating.
Anime titles are never bought in enough quantity,either.
It can take weeks and sometimes months to get some of them.
Netflix added almost 1.9 million new subscribers over the last year or so and I don't think they have increased the number of discs purchased to make up for it.
They used to throttle heavy users accounts,but after the public got wind of it,they knocked that off.
It is a simple matter of supply and demand. They aren't getting enough of the supply for their new level of demand.
If I put old titles in my queue,they are sent almost the day before I put them in the damn thing,because they have plenty of copies in stock.
In the end,they are just too cheap or stupid or both to up their order numbers on the new releases.
Calling to complain is a pain(10 minutes or more of your life wasted to get a pat on the head),and you'll notice they don't have an e-mail address any where on the site to send complaints to.
I am owed three titles right now. They used to say your next title will ship Tuesday,etc.(depending on what the next day is),now it just says "We will send your next available DVD as soon as possible."
They really don't care if you think you aren't getting enough movies sent out to you.
Unfortunately,with Blockbuster threatening bankruptcy,they have even less competition.
I hear Redbox is making them sweat,though. Maybe that will make them step up their game,but I sincerely doubt it.

[freebird73717]

https://forum.videohelp.com/images/guides/p1971108/netflix.flv

[spiritdancer]

I had the wait problem too. I wanted to get lots of Christmas videos and i noticed almost all the good ones were on wait or long wait status. I was on the 2 disk out at a time plan. I decided to upgrade temporarily to the highest plan which is the four disk out at a time plan so i could get a lot of Christmas videos at once before the holiday. Then I noticed that i had no wait or long waits statuses anymore. But i have also not received any of those videos either so maybe they are still delayed. So it seems maybe higher paying users get priority over smaller plans. Not really fair if you ask me. But maybe that is a perk of a higher plan.

On another note, i know netflix's business plan was to be a streaming video company from the beginning and the mail thing was just an interim solution until the technology caught up. And the technology is catching up really fast so knowing how quickly things are going to change , i mean almost very new dvd player and game system and set-top anything now steams netflix movies as well as computers.

So i think really they are phasing out their dvd business knowing that by this time next year everyone will be streaming, They will probably have it but make it more and more expensive to do video by mail to discourage the use. I plan to get a blueray with netflix soon myself and it will be better for everyone. With streaming everyone can get the same movie at the same time.

So I think this complaint is really temporary. one year at most.

[jman98]

Netflix is known for treating its customers so that some are "more equal than others" if you know what I mean. Higher paying customers get higher priority on videos. People who return a lot of films frequently get subjected to waits. I have a 3 disc at a time plan and I have found that if I return 1 or 2 discs a week I can pretty much get anything I want sent to me immediately. If I start doing a lot of 3 discs a week returns, I start having to wait on stuff. Others have tested and found similar results.

EVERYBODY is not going to stream. How can you even think that? I know people who STILL have freakin' dial up access in the USA. Those people aren't streaming anything. Many of Netflix's movies are not even available via streaming if you look at films other than Hollywood movies made in the past few years. Streaming is somewhat inferior to watching on DVD and very inferior (no HD) to watching on BluRay. Some people will simply prefer the higher quality of discs. The fact that you don't feel that way does not mean that everybody feels the same way you do.

Netflix's biggest upcoming problem is that they had something like a 5 year deal with some company for their films where basically the company gave away the streaming rights for next to nothing as they saw no value in it. Netflix will very soon have to negotiate a new and much more expensive agreement with that company. Other companies will probably raise their fees as their individual contracts expire in the upcoming years. Even streamers are going to be paying more for the service.

[jagabo]

I'm still on the one disc at a time plan and still usually go through 2 discs a week as I described earlier in this thread. I watch several hours a week via streaming too.