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Anyone here use Netflix?

Jovian9

Jovian9

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 19, 2003
1,970
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Planet Zebes
I just signed up for a 2-week trial for Netflix (the one-movie-at-a-time-unlimited account). I do tend to rent quite a few DVD's and had heard great things about Netflix. Well, I do not like it so far. I signed up on Monday and put a Lumiere Bros. DVD as my top selection. Netflix stated that it was available and would ship on Tuesday. Yesterday evening came and it finally updated and stated it could not ship on Tuesday, and would ship on Wednesday. Well, it did ship today (Wednesday) but it states that it will not arrive until "on or around Saturday December 24th, 2005".
Everything you hear and read (and commercials) states that this is usually a 2 business day thing. Yet it is going to take 5 business days to get my first DVD. I could understand it taking 5 days if I was shipping a DVD back, they had to process the return, and then they were shipping me a DVD.....but this is my first order.
Does anyone here use Netflix? If so, is the service typically like this? I thought I'd be able to get 3 or 4 DVD's in a 2-week period, but I'll be lucky if I get 2. It is not worth it for me if I'm only getting around one movie a week. My trial ends in 12 days so I'd like to know if this is typical of them.
Thanks!
 
I know countless millions (well, dozens) of people who use Netflix and get their movies very promptly. Your delay sounds like the exception, not the rule.
 
Doctor Q said:
I know countless millions (well, dozens) of people who use Netflix and get their movies very promptly. Your delay sounds like the exception, not the rule.
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I would use the two week trial to see what the performance is like. Don't bash it before it's even started.

Honestly when you open an account, I wouldn't expect the things to ship quite as quickly.

The turnaround for me is generally two days, sometimes three. That is, I drop a movie in the mailbox monday morn., I get the next one on Wednesday, sometimes Thursday. It's almost always before the expected delivery date in the emails.

Now, if you're off in a remote area, it may take longer. But that's life--pizza delivery and internet take longer in remote areas too, but commutes to work don't. Can't help you with that tradeoff.

BTW, my father in law seems to go through 6-7 movies per week. He has them in a cycle, watches one per night by the time he's through three, the next one is there. So I'm pretty sure you'll be okay in the end.
 
I've been a Netflix user for about a month. The movies show up mind-bogglingly quickly. But I'm also about a 1 - 1.5 hour drive from the nearest processing center, so that probably helps. Generally I get a shipment notice and get the movie the next day. At least I have so far with the 10 movies we've gotten so far..
 
I do. And I love it. NetFlix makes cable TV irrelevant for me :D Yes, the turnaround is usually 2-3 days as other posters stated. With three movies a time, that means a movie a day, literally. NetFlix rocks!
 
I've been using it for years now. It's awesome. The delay was most likely because the Lumiere Bros. DVD isn't that abundant. They may have had to ship it from a different center than the closest one. This happens with rare DVDs.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I definitely feel better about it now. But I AM trying this out so that I can get a lot of the more "rare" DVD's and watch them.....which Blockbuster never carries. So hopefully this isn't the case with all of them. I do appreciate the feedback.
 
I switched to Netflix after Blockbuster and their online service pissed me off for the last time.

I've only had it for a month, but I like it so far. I haven't received any unplayable discs, it only takes a day for them to get here, and Netflix's website is just so much nicer...
 
From what I've seen, NetFlix movies come in about a day (2 hours from New York City), and are very rarely scratched. When my friend signed up for his trial, he commented that he had really slow service for a while as well. You can always call up and yell at them, I hear they're actually quite receptive and will go out on limbs to keep account holders. :D
 
OutThere said:
I hear they're actually quite receptive and will go out on limbs to keep account holders. :D
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From what I hear they are just sqeaking by financialy. They will bend over backwards to meet your requests. I've had it for a few months now and they a extremely prompt with the goods. There has been a few instances where I had to wait a little longer (see extra day) but those were more of indie films and not the most common main stream stuff.
I'm sure yours are running a little behind due to the limited supply of the title you requested. Next time maybe try something a little more main stream for testing purposes. I love renting series with the service. Never watched "Six Feet Under" so I'm getting my fill now, next it will be Nip/Tuck. Just a thought.:p
 
I love netflix. The one thing I would complain about is getting scratched discs. They're not just glitchy, my Sony DVD player refuses to play them (although my mac plays them pretty well ;) ) You can get replacements online if your disc is scratched, but its still annoying.

Average ship time here is about 2 days.
 
I used to have blockbuster but it definitly takes at least a good day or two longer for movies plus I had problems with scratched discs so I switch to nexflix about 2 weeks ago and haven't looked back. I absolutly love this service!!!
 
Thanks to Netflix I haven't been in a Blockbuster since 2000 and I certainly don't miss it AT ALL. Netflix is the way to go. :D
 
ANything to not have to step foot in a Blockbuster. I get depressed just thinking about the 'walk of shame' around the wall of 'new releases'. Ugh.
 
i've been on NF for a few years now, the service has gotten worse and worse. I live about 20 miles from the SoCal distro center.

In the beginning, 1 day to get to me, 1 day to get back.

For the last 6 months or so, i have a "mandatory" 1 day wait after they receive a movie... basically, they dont ship my next movie til the next day. My ship time is now 2 days to get to and from. Basically, i used to get an average of 6 movies a week, now im lucky to even get 3.

Of course, if you dont plan on watching the amount of movies i do, then this wont affect you.
 
Netflix

My service has been consistent for years...it takes 2 days either way. I've never received an unplayable disc, except one that came broken in half. I have had two or three discs that were lost in the mail, but they eventually made it back to them. NF was great about it, they just send out a new movie and don't charge for the lost one. (If it happens too often, I think they will.)

It's a great service, especially if going to Blockbuster angers you as much as it does me...irrational anger, I just don't like the place.
 
In general, like the others said, they'll receive the DVD the day after you send it, and often ship you the next one the same day, so it takes about two days to replace a DVD. There are exceptions, where it won't ship until the next day. And there are times when the movie at the top of your queue will have a "short wait" status, but then ship to you after an extra day's delay.

I think part of the issue is that they don't have every movie at every distribution center. It doesn't pay to keep many copies of some of the less popular DVDs, so the one on your list might not be at the local warehouse. So it sometimes takes longer to get to you.

In my opinion, Netflix is just a bridge between take-home video rentals and true video-on-demand. The only drawback of Netflix is the mailing.
 
I have another question about the Netflix process.
Here is where I stand:
I signed up last Monday the 19th and did not receive my movie until Friday the 23rd. I shipped it back on Monday the 26th and it just updated to show that Netflix received it today, the 28th.....so around a 1 week process for 1 movie. Many have stated here that d/t this being a rare movie it could take longer. So that's fine.
My question is how often do you not actually receive the movie that is next in your queue? The DVD I have next is Bodysong. It states that it is available now (while some others state there are short waits and long waits). Netflix originally stated that they would ship Bodysong today, but now it has updated to a different DVD shipping tomorrow. It skipped Bodysong and went to the next DVD in my queue even though Bodysong is available. Does this happen often?
Sorry for the constant questioning, I just want to be sure I like this service before I pay my first months membership.
 
I expect to be signing up soon. I have heard nothing but good about the service.

I gave up on Blockbuster back in the VHS tape days. Haven't been in one since.

I'm brand new here, having been a "lurker" for a wee bit. Glad to know you all. well, virtually at least. :rolleyes:
 
FrankBlack said:
I expect to be signing up soon. I have heard nothing but good about the service.

I gave up on Blockbuster back in the VHS tape days. Haven't been in one since.

I'm brand new here, having been a "lurker" for a wee bit. Glad to know you all. well, virtually at least. :rolleyes:
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Welcome to MacRumors FrankBlack. I am new to Netflix and trying to learn as much about it as I can. Feel free to post here or PM me if you have any questions.
 
I've "known" FrankBlack for awhile now. We both bounced around a couple of other forums for a few years before I settled here...and I'm hoping he'll find MacRumors to his liking as well.

He's a good guy; I think he'll fit in well.

Allow me to add my welcome, Frank. :cool:
 
I don't use Netflix but I watched the CEO talking on the Charlie Rose show. Before him, Charlie was speaking with Walt Mossberg from the WSJ. Very interesting interviews. That is all.

When asked about the threat from iTMS and downloadable videos, the Netflix CEO skirted around the issue and talked about the 'forces of freedom' paradigm and how they are investing in technology now to introduce a DVD download service in the near future.

Netflix currently has 4 million subscribers but they are on target goal of 20 million subscribers by 2010.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​
 
We've had it since we got our first DVD player, some time ago. My father has certainly added some questionable movies to the queue at times. The remake of Debbie Does Dallas, and currently, there's "Womb Raider" :eek:
Also, if you decide to keep it, check out the app Netflix Freak. Really handy :D
 
I'm currently in my free trial, and I have to say I love it. The movies arrive very quickly and I no longer have to deal with the local movie store. The way the site is structured kind of reminds me of iTMS.
 
Hi Folks, thanks for the welcomes. (waves at Tom Veil)

I work in a large institution, and we have mailboxes inside the buildings. The mailboxes have transparent front doors, and on Monday and tuesday mornings, you can spot a lot of the now-familiar Netflix envelopes in the mailboxes.

Again, people I know who use this service have only good things to say about it. The nearest distribution center is only 45 miles away. As already noted, this probably has a bearing on the speed of the service.

Thanks for that invite Jovian. I may take you up on that, as I usually have dumb questions.
 
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