Netflix has gone downhill

[Bobodude]

I had been a Netflix subscriber for about 5 years on the same 3 disks at a time plan.  Never had a complaint.  Disks arrived on a average of every 6 or so days.  Then about 3 months ago something drastic happened.  All of a sudden some of my selections in my que turned to "short wait" then more turned to "long waits".  The delivery times started getting longer and longer until it reached a point where I hadn't gotten a disk in 16 days. I had selections in my que since October of last year and they were labeled as "short waits" By Nexflix's own description, a short wait is about 7 to 14 days. Obviously that was a crock. I am not alone. Netflix has been accused of "thottling" their heavy users by 1000,s of users. There was a class action suit ia few years back for the same thing, "throttling", but the suit was dismissed. I can only surmise that cost cutting has effected Netflix's ability to provide even the new releases in a timely manner. It is really a shame to have brought down such a great service to the point of uselessness.  I tried talking to a customer service rep but they have their talking points and just blew me off as a whiner in a rude manner.  Another call got me the same response, so they have trained the first liners to blame the customer for his selections and proclaim that Netflix is the best thing since sliced bread. I had enough and cancelled my long time association. Now I am with Blockbuster with better turnover times and the ability to return mail discs to their store and pick up 3 more. But I understand even they are on the ropes. Could the studios be behind this situation? Sure, they would rather you buy than rent. They even hold selections from rent for at least a month onece they have been released at Best Buy. Go figure. Corparate greed at it's best......

[dpalmi]

I've been very happy with my Netflix subscription.  I am on the 2 discs at one time plan.  Movies almost always come 2 days after I return one in the mail.  And I have a TivoHD so I am able to stream thousands of movies instantly.  Only if I pick a new release is there any kind of delay....

Dan #2

[reho33]

Get an X-Box so you can get movies on demand, no physical media.

[dpalmi]

FYI - for those that may not know, TivoHD can stream/VOD from Netflix, Blockbuster and Amazon.

 

Dan #2

[Bobodude]

Thanks guys for the recommendations, but I have Hughes Net for a internet connection (another possible rant) and even with the 1 MB service, it is sometimes slower than dialup plus we have a bandwith limit of 375 mb per day. If you go over it, you get "suspended" for 24 hrs and only get the bandwith that is left over from everybody else on the network.   It's the only thing I can get out here in rural Nevada,k so on demand is out.  Some users who are close to a distribution site get better service than those that aren't. I am 60 miles south of Reno, my distribution site, but to no avail.  I have gotten disks from Hawaii and as far as Florida. Want to talk about low on disks?

[StatFreak]

As you've already noted, this type of throttling has plagued NetFlix users for years, although some have escaped it. I would have joined five years ago if it had not been for this issue, and even though they seemed to get better for a time (according to online reviews and reports), I'm not at all surprised to hear of your issues.

Consider that this was an inherent flaw in their business model that no one anticipated when the service was started: the more a customer uses the service, the less profit the company makes.

So the question became: how do we keep up our profit margin while appearing to remain competitively priced? The only answer was throttling, which eventually grew into an art form of its own. They mark selections as being on a wait list when they are actually available. They take an extra 24-48 hours to indicate that they have received your most recent returns and blame the post office. They ship product from increasingly distant warehouses -- even when available locally, and they blame the customer when he or she complains. (This tactic should never have been implemented.)

At the end of the day, they have to take in a certain dollar amount for each DVD sent out or they lose money. One online site dedicated to bashing them calculated that the dollar figure was $2 per disc. I cannot verify this figure as being accurate, but it seems realistic.

I think that the physical delivery service model of NetFlix has had its day and will die off within the next few years as rentals move to electronic delivery. If they keep up with the changes demanded of them, NetFlix will survive. If not, then they won't. For the individual customer, the only choice is to request fewer discs per month or abandon the service and move to electronic delivery.

No amount of complaining is going to get a company to provide a service that loses money.

Consider all of this my personal opinion. 

SF

[KirkLasVegas]

I dont know if I agree....
The Mrs. KirkLasvegas uses them all the time.She drops one in the mailbox and the NEXT MORNING I get a E-mail message they got the DVD back and another one is scheduled for "XXday" usually a 2 day wait and its there in the mailbox.
But the real magic is the Samsung Blu-Ray players we have that stream video. We use the hell out of them, they look good in 1080I on my 55" Vizio LCD flatpanel in the master bedroom.
The "Depot" is in Las Vegas so I am sure that helps.They ask us all the time how they are doing in sending time as well as picture quality of the streaming service.
So far..so good......

Kirk

[Bobodude]

I did drop my plan down to 1 disk at a time in the last week, but I did not see any movement what so ever. Actually I would be happy to pay $2 a disk if I could get what I want when I want it.  Renting from a store is a problem as my nearest Blockbuster is 18 miles away and electronic deliviery will be a problem for a majority that do not have internet or have minium service.  It would be interesting to interview ex-Netflix employees and get their take on how things really work at Netflix. As customers cancel in droves, the profit margin will slip into a spiral that can do nothing but get worse.

[Bobodude]

A small addendum to my rant. I take my 3 Blockbuster online movies back to the store to trade in for 3 in store selections, which are included in my plan. Low and behold, the three top picks on my que, 2012, Time Travelers Wife and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are in stock and with a quanity of about 30 each! Now my que says LONG WAITS for all of them. How can this be? One little blockbuster store in a dinky town of Gardnerville, Nevada has 30 copies of 2012 and the damn online inventory is ZIP. Even Blockbuster has the same setup as Netflix. Holy Shit, sounds like a conspiricy to me. OK lets game the system a bit. I'll get my next 3 online and proptly take them down to the store and get 3 more instore, burn the bajesus out of those and start the whole thing over again. If I'm quick, I just might get 18 to 20 a month. Just like old times. Whoopie.