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December 20, 2005

More Netflix Woes

Maybe it was a mistake to broadcast how much money I was saving on DVD rental with the Netflix History Analyzer. Lately I have been noticing slower turnaround times and longer waits for movies in my queue, and then I read this in their Terms of Service:


In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those subscribers who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the shipment of their next available DVD occurs at least one business day following return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other subscribers. Other factors that may affect delivery times, include, but are not limited to, (i) the distance between the distribution center from which your DVD was shipped and your delivery address, (ii) the timing of your placement or adjustment of movies in your queue and (iii) circumstances impacting delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.

And then I found this:


Netflix “Throttling” Defined

Consumers will come across the term “throttling” when researching Netflix on the Internet.  In 2003, Netflix stated that it loses money on customers paying less than $2.00 per rental.  To counter this loss Netflix created an inventory allocation and delivery system that curbs users from paying less than $2.00 per rental.  Thus, frequent users will experience long shipping delays, especially for new releases.  The Netflix Turnaround Calculator is an example of throttling.



So I’ve been pegged a heavy user and they’re slowing me down. Damnit. I guess this is what the recent lawsuit was about. I had never had problems with service before so I didn’t really know what the fuss was about. I can understand that they have to make a profit, but why be so secretive? Why not take the “unlimited” off the label and say $17.99 for 8 movies a month? Or just make us pay a little more for *true* unlimited rentals. That would be totally understandable. But now I’m upset because I feel like I don’t want to do business with such a shady company. And I *love* Netflix.

* Filed by cynthia rockwell at 11:03 am under Just Movies
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