...and yet another disgruntled Netflix user.
Written: Feb 26 '03
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Netflix is not all bad. They have an extensive inventory of DVDs, carrying many titles that you will not find at your local video stores: for example, the mini-series “I Claudius,” which was the reason I signed up with Netflix in the first place.
Ummm......I was going to list all the good things about Netflix, but I am afraid that the last thing I mentioned was the only good thing I can think of.
Cost.
I signed up for the $19.95 plan, which means the I have three DVDs signed out to me. I am charged $21.25, because for some unknown reason Netflix collects sales tax, although they have no presence in the state of Florida. My DVDs come from Duluth, Georgia. On average, each DVD cost me $2.00 to rent, plus a trip to the Post Office when I return them.
I can rent DVDs locally for about $3.50 at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video and $1.00 at Albertson’s. I can keep these DVDs for three to five days (one day for new releases at Albertson’s), whereas, I usually return Netflix DVDs the next day because of the mail delay factor. I am able to do this marathon video viewing because I am retired. Chances are that Netflix DVDs might cost others somewhat more than $2.00 each if they have other demands on their time.
Shipping
Shipping is the downfall of Netflix. Whereas some DVDs travel the distance from Florida to Georgia in two days time, other DVDs take more than a week before their arrival. On one occasion, two DVDs were mailed at the same time. One arrived two days later, but the other went missing. I reported it lost, but it surfaced two weeks later. Where was it all that time? Who knows. So far I have had only one DVD that was lost forever.
Last Saturday morning, I mailed three DVDs to Netflix. As of today, Wednesday, they are missing. They should have arrived at Netflix on Monday or Tuesday. I decided to report them as lost, although I was hesitant to do so for so many at one time. The website refused to list one of them as lost because it said not enough time had elapsed since it was sent out (all three were sent by Netflix and then returned by me on the same dates), but I was able to list two of the DVDs as lost. Instead of immediately sending me the next DVDs on my queue, Netflix said they would select the next DVDs on Thursday. This delay has never happened before. Usually, when a DVD has been returned or reported lost or damaged, a replacement is sent IMMEDIATELY.
Am I now on a blacklist or something because two DVDs were lost at the same time? They don’t know about the third one yet. I sent Netflix an e-mail inquiring about the delay, but so far I have not received the courtesy of a reply. 3:00 p.m.: I have just checked my Netflix queue, and although I have not yet received a reply to my e-mail, I see that they have set up two new selections to be sent to me, hopefully today. So perhaps my e-mail did some good. 7:00 p.m.: Alas, only one DVD was sent out today, but one is better than none.
Condition of DVDs
Unless a DVD happens to be a new release, it is usually in less than acceptable condition when it arrives in the mail: i.e. fingerprints, peanut butter, smears, scrapes. Most require cleaning before they can be played without skipping or freezing, but I have had only one DVD that could not be cleaned up enough to play properly, and another arrived almost broken in two. These damaged DVDs were promptly replaced, even before they were returned by me.
The Netflix Search Engine
The website is easy to understand and navigate. The search engine is forgiving, and even if you are unsure of the name of a movie or a person, if you have at least part of it right, it will usually turn up on the results. The result page will list any movie or person that has the word, or even part of a word, that was entered into the search query.
Your Queue
You must establish a list of movies you wish to view. This is your queue. Movies are sent in the order they are listed unless they are not available at the time. My major complaint with the queue is that to rearrange the order, you must individually re-number the movies. All new choices are automatically put at the end of the list, so to view a new choice immediately, you must change its assigned number at the end of the list, for example, number 76, to number 1, and at the same time change the existing number 1 to number 76. But say you really want to see that old number 1 sometime soon. Well, make that number 2 and make number 2 number 76. You see the problem? I wish I could rearrange my queue with a drag and drop method, by dragging a new choice to the top of the list to become number 1, then the existing number 1 would automatically become 2, 2 would become 3, 3 would become 4......much simpler. If you only have about 10 movies in your queue, this current system would be no problem. Unfortunately, I usually have about 100 movies in my queue.
If a movie is not available now, it is listed as a short wait, long wait, or very long wait. Lately, there are more and more movies on the wait list. As of last week, out of 86 movies on my queue, 23 were on a wait list. That is not a very good situation.
Movie Rating
I also have a problem with the rating system. Let’s say that you see that a movie is listed showing that it is rated at 4.3 stars, which would make it well above average. If you click on the movie and carefully look at the particulars, you will see that 2376 people rated it as only 3.2 stars. However, Netflix says that they think you will give it 4.3 stars because in the past you have given similar movies a higher rating. In my opinion, that is a bad system. Unless you look at the fine details, you have no idea how other people have rated movies It took me a while to discover this odd rating system.
The more movies you rate, the more that Netflix will think they know about your taste in movies. They will suggest movies they think you will be interested in. Sometimes you will get good suggestions, but they have really gone off the deep end on a few occasions.
Likes and Dislikes
I will probably remain a member of Netflix for the time being. I like their selection of movies, their free shipping, and their prompt replacement (usually) of damaged and lost DVDs.
I don’t like the stress of wondering if DVDs will arrive safely and what will happen if too many are lost... and how many lost are too many lost? I don’t like the line on the page of “Lost DVDs” that says “I would like to pay for this DVD.” If I wanted to pay for a DVD, I would buy it from Deep Discount DVDs, as I have for most of my library. If I wanted a DVD to own, I certainly wouldn’t purloin a peanut buttered, fingerprinted, scraped DVD from Netflix.
In closing, I would say that most of the problems with Netflix are the result of the USPS and inadequate shipping methods..... but that doesn't solve the problem of lost DVDs.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
patsyv
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Member: Pat
Location: Florida
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 194 members
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