Review Of Netflix DVD Rental Service

Bigbird504 writes "If you haven't already heard of Netflix, they basically rent DVDs online... but for a price of $20/month. While many believe it isn't worth it, many others do feel its a good bargain. Afterall, you can take out 3 DVDs at a time. Best of all, there are no late fees on returns. You keep the DVD as long as you like, and return it when you are done. Its a pretty interesting concept, and may be well worth the money. Check out this review on Netflix."

In Canada dvdhype.com

[slippy51]

for those of you in Canada check out a similar service offered here at dvdhype.com [dvdhype.com]. I've been using the service for over a year now and I am very satisified with the service.

Tried it, and cancelled it...

[matthewcraig]

I used it for two months. Here's what I found:

- Their DVD selection was very impressive. Think Amazon.com.
- NetFlix provides a rating system that they use to generate rental suggestions.
- Customer service never responded to emails, but I did see changes possibly due to my suggestions.
- NetFlix took seven business days to deliver to Atlanta. (i.e. Needs an East Coast distribution center.)
- They charge state tax even without local presence.

Conclusion: A great deal if you live near Los Gatos, California!

Other alternatives..

[shankark]

Netflix [netflix.com] isn't the only one around. There's Rentmydvd.com [rentmydvd.com] which incidentally also has a branch in NY. There are some others that are small-scale like Cafedvd.com [cafedvd.com] that operate on a pay-per-DVD option. And back to Netflix and Rentmydvd.com, the thing I like about them is the flexibility they offer. You can, for instance, change your subscription for a particular month to a 2 DVDs a time if its finals time or you're really tight with your work. And you end up paying lesser.

All said and done, what's really needed is a lot more of the classics being converted to DVDs. Usually, if the movie has a DVD version, Netflix has them. Its the ones that don't that are hard to get. It'd be great if these folks would pursue bringing out DVD editions of these movies.

PS: There's also talk abt Netflix opening up shop elsewhere in the country.

Netflix will screw you when you cancel

[Brento]

I was a user for about a year, and I kept having problems with them losing movies. They would say they'd shipped the DVD, but it never arrived. After four of these, I got frustrated and cancelled.

The day I cancelled, I got a charge on my credit card for the full retail price of all four DVD's! Their service agreement hadn't said anything about this, and the "lost-dvd" page didn't say anything about it either. I called and called them, e-mailed, tried everything I could, but they wouldn't listen. I even offered to buy them the DVD's at my local Blockbuster (at less than 1/4 of the price they charged my card) but no luck.

Later, we found out that our mailman had been stealing things from everybody's mailboxes at our apartment complex. There still wasn't anything I could do about it, though.

RentMyDVD.com

[RedX]

When I first purchased my DVD player a year or so ago, I excitedly took advantage of the free Netflix trial that was included with the player. However, turn-around times were slow since they ship from the West Coast, and it was very rare to actually get a new release within the first couple of weeks of its release.

I then came across a similar company that, at that time, was fairly new to the DVD rental market, RentMyDVD.com [rentmydvd.com]. New releases seemed to be in stock much more often than with NetFlix, it was rare to have to wait longer than a week to see a new release. Better yet, they have a shipping center in San Francisco and one in New Jersey, meaning I could normally get a fresh batch of movies here in Ohio for each weekend. I stuck with RentMyDVD.com for 6 months or so and was fairly happy, eventually dropping them once I saw most of the movies that I wanted to see but didn't want to own.

The problem that DVD rental services as a whole face are scratched discs, and this is a glaring problem with the Netflix-types of long distance rental companies. It's frustrating enough to settle in for a night of movie watching only to have some bad skipping an hour into the movie. But when you rent locally, you can run down to the local store right away or the next day and have the problem correct. With NetFlix and RentMyDVD, they'll credit you with a free rental, but you're still waiting at least 3-4 days to have the problem rectified. For the most part, these companies do check to ensure that they're sending out unscratched movies, but I've had at least 5 movies ruined by having some pretty bad skipping right in the middle of a movie. For the most part these days, I spend a few bucks more and just buy the bulk of the movies I want to see, and use Half.com or Ebay to get rid of whatever I don't want to keep.

Re:NetFlix rocks

[Dreyfus]

NetFlix allows you to rate movies and then makes suggestions based on your ratings

If you want an automated movie rating system, I suggest Movielens [umn.edu]. Most of the time it does a pretty good job for me (although no matter what I do I can't seem to convince it I'm not a die hard sci-fi/fantasy fan).

Re:Netflix will screw you when you cancel

[Brento]

Uh, since you bought the DVD's I'd say it sounds an awful lot like you owned them; which means if the mailman was stealing, you should be able to get the police to return your stolen property, or sue the boy for the price of what he stole.

In theory, yeah - if I could only get Netflix to send me a receipt for my purchase. They simply charged my card, and they refused to put anything in writing as to why they charged my card. (I should have mentioned that in the original post!)

Nice commercial for NetFlix...

[NetJunkie]

If you don't plan to rent 5 DVDs per month check out www.dvdovernight.com. They charge by the rental ($4) instead of a monthly fee. They also rent porn.

East coast supporter

[Pedrito]

I and 4 of my family members are all members of Netflix. We all live on the East coast. I was the last to join of my family.

Now, I can't say much about the Anime fan who didn't like the service, but I rent mainly mainstream movies and have enjoyed the service immensly. My biggest problem was that I was always returning movies late. I also watch a lot of movies.

I've always gotten the 3 movies at the top of my list, so far. It's only been two months, but it's definitely saved me money. It only takes 2-3 days for my movies to get returned and another 2-3 days for the new ones to arrive.

I'm even thinking about upgrading my account to one that allows me to have even more out at a time.

The self-addressed, no stamp required, return envelopes are ingenius. It just can't be any easier.

Re:Mail-Renting

[Arthen]

Unfortunately the idea can't fly. In these weak iEconomic times it seems like another dot com idea claiming to make the most simple of things (renting a movie) simpler, would be discounted quickly if not ignored at all.

But the idea is already flying. According to Netflix [netflix.com] they've been in business since 1998 and currently have 500,000 subscribers. That's over $10 million a month in subscription revenue, assuming subscriptions average out to the $20/3-movie level. In fact, since there's only one lower level (2 movies a month at $14) but three upgrades available, they most likely average higher than that.

Of course, since Netflix is privately held, we don't know what their bottom line looks like. But they're also not exposed to anti-dot.com feeling in the stock markets.

I'd say that they're well past the point of a new dot.com idea with no proven business plan, and pretty well established. Will they last long-term? Who'd want to predict that? Of course, they're potentially vulnerable to rate hikes by the USPS [usps.com], but they've got plenty of allies to help them lobby against extreme ones, and I'm sure their number-crunchers have run plenty of scenarios to plan for higher postage costs.

Inquisition this, you science dinks! --The Tick

Re:NetFlix was good once upon a time...

[ericsante]

I agree when the service first started it was GREAT all the movies you WANTED on first shot, but as the userbase grew you would not get the 1st movie on your list it was more like 7 8 or 9 and forget about getting new releases...... ;)

I live on the east coast so delivery sometimes took as much as 8 working days. Also usmail lost 2 dvd's that I returned, no charge for the lost dvd's but they keep totals as how many rented / lost / returned on your acount...

Cost isn't $20

[blakestah]

Netflix tries real hard to get you in at $20/mo, but they offer an option at $12.50/month. You have to start at 3 movies/$20 though - and then manually downgrade.

For this price you can always rent 2 movies.

We live in SF, and probably watch 2 movies a week using netflix. Much more convenient than Blockbuster (which is only 1 mile away, but has wicked lines). The turnaround for movies is about 3 days from when we drop them in the mailbox. Netflix lists in our account when movies should arrive, and it is reasonably consistent.

So far, no hitches. Been using it 3 mo. I think in principle we could watch 15+ movies a month for this price, although we usually watch 6-8. I suspect we'll hit the wall of available and desireable content soon though.

Re:My personal review

[VAXman]

Unlike the reviewer, we're all the way in Boston, so turnaround time is much higher -- sometimes more than a week round-trip. This means that unlike the 45 movies he mentions, we can only fit seven or eight in a month, and that only if we watch right when they come

Learn to pipeline to get around the high latency of US mail. I live in Texas and also have about a one week round-trip time. But, you have three rental slots so you can make three-stage pipeline. That way, if you time things right, you will get a movie every 2 days, which is 15 per month.

I have noticed that the service has gotten much slower since September/October (presumably because of the anthrax scares?), and hasn't really recovered. Since then, I've had a number of very long waits (2+ weeks) for movies to ship.

Netflix DOES have East Coast distribution....

[Sleepy]

I just signed up with Netflix. I'm happy with the 3 movies for $20, HOWEVER I will probably downgrade to the "TWO FOR $13" option (check your prefs as this is not widely promoted onsite).

All of my return envelopes have Worcester, MASS on them (40 miles from here). The label is a sticker over a CA address, so I figure based on this and the comments here, the distribution center is new. It takes 2-3 days to get the movies returned. It takes 2-3 days to get the next movie.

Customer service has been VERY quick for me, although the only problems I've registered are mistakes in their database, etc. They need to automate that correcting-movie-details bit, like imdb.com has since it's a different group that actually fixes the db content.

They also need to automate requests for new movies (not go through CS). We should just be able to "vote", and see how many others have also voted on same title.

They seem to be trying, as people note they change according to requests. They just need to invest in their internal programming dept., so they can react faster to our requests (and do so with a lower head count in Customer Service).

Also, by focusing their new customers on the "3 movie plan", they lose people. The webpage with the "alternate" subscription plans REALLY needs to be more visible. A coworker of mine cancelled, but told me he would have stayed on had he known about the 2-movie option.

Anyways, if you DO sign up.. do so by going through an AFFILIATE, because those people get money or credits (at no cost to you). I signed up through a link on LINUXISO.ORG. I think they get $7 for referring me, which is great because I appreciate linuxiso.org's mirroring service.

Re:Tried it, and cancelled it...

[server_wench]

Something to be careful about is how you cancel. Doing it on the web site does not count, you have to call them for the cancellation to be effective. This requires reading some fine print on the site.

Re:NetFlix was good once upon a time...

[BillyZ]

I'll have been a member of netflix for 2 years come this march. I still think its a great and worthwile service. They way I look at it is price comparison. For $21.55 (4 movies out at a time) I average about 8 or 9 movies a month (sometimes more) which is less than $3 a rental. At local WalletBuster rental store a new release dvd is $4+ for 2 nights not to mention their raping of you for late charges. And the netflix selection still out matches ANY video store i have ever seen.

granted, there have been some changes recently that bother me, such as bonus disks being a seperate item from the movie disk... that bothers me, they used to ship them both in the same package but now you have to use two slots on your rental queue to get both the movie and the extras disk for those that come that way.

In regards to shipping, i live on the east coast as well and see 3-4 day shipping times on average, and if it's been longer than 3 days I mark it as late and they ship the next one on my list. I liked it better when you checked off the disk THE DAY you shipped it, not just when it turns up missing. but all in all I still really enjoy the service, but I am not a hard core movie watcher, my fiance and I watch probably 2 movies a week and we still pop into the WalletBuster outlet nearest us for the occasional new release and sudden urge rental.

all in all i give netflix 4 stars (I really like it)

Re:Netflix will screw you when you cancel

[tswinzig]

Later, we found out that our mailman had been stealing things from everybody's mailboxes at our apartment complex. There still wasn't anything I could do about it, though.

Actually, there's two things you can do about it. (1) The easiest would be to just chargeback the DVD's to Netflix, and put the onus on them to collect from the mailman, or (2) take the mailman to small claims court.

Netflix has a bad search engine

[panopticon]

Sometimes if you search for a director's name, only a handful of titles appear, when in fact there have potentially dozens by a director. Their database is screwy, and you need to use IMDB for better information. Also, it's difficult to find foreign films, since sometimes the titles of the movies are entered in either the foreign-language title or the english title, and never both.

In Australia www.dvdbuzz.com.au

[Stormie]

..and in Australia, you can try www.dvdbuzz.com.au [dvdbuzz.com.au]. I just signed up, currently waiting to get my cc verified then the movies will be on their way! Costs $A39 a month, so pretty much the same as Netflix.

Re:My personal review

[Ringthane]

When I first started with NetFlix, there was an East Coast hub -- my first few movies with them went to a return address in Newburgh, NY. All of a sudden, they all started going to California and the turn-around time went from 2 days to 7-10 days...

I'm still with NetFlix (I'm still grand-fathered for 4 movies out at a time), but it's far less of a bargain than when I started...

-Ringthane

Re:My personal review

[Snotnose]

I've been a Netflix customer since October, 1999 according to their web page. That would be the same month I got my DVD player. I love Netflix. Over the years I've seen the waiting lists for some movies get longer, and the turnaround grow a bit, but it still beats the local video store. They have 2 main advantages: You can hang on to 4 movies (with my plan) until you get around to watching them. I don't know about you, but my wife and I usually decide to watch a video about 7 PM on a friday night. Forget any decent selection at the video store. Second, their selection is awesome. Typically, if they don't carry something a bit of digging will show it's not on DVD yet.

Even if you live in Afganistan, you should be able to get a 2 week turnaround. That's 8 movies a month for $20. Still a good deal. If the turnaround is too long just supplement Netflix with the local Blockbuster.

Like the reviewer I live in San Diego. Turnaround is usually 4-6 days with the occasional flyer of an extra day or two. If you watch your queue you'll notice a lot of your flyers are caused by them trying to get your number 1 movie. What they're doing I don't know, and I can't remember the status line they show (trying to fulfill your wishes, or something). I can live with that. I didn't notice any slowdown after 9/11, nor during the holidays.

I mainly use their queue as a "things I want to see" list. Every week I go to IMDB [imdb.com] to learn this week's DVD releases. Those I want to see get popped into my rental queue. When I mail a movie in I hop over to Netflix, check what's available, and re-order my queue so I always know what's coming next. I've currently got 39 items, from Sex and the City at number 1 (long wait, sigh), Requiem for a Dream and Family Man at 2 and 3 respectively (they're next), all the way to Josie and the Pussycats down at number 39. I don't expect to ever see Josie, but it's a desparation movie.

Once in a while something happens (like sweeps week) that cause my wife and I to watch lots of movies. If we drain our Netflix movies we just run to Blockbuster, rent something, then I take it off my Netflix queue. No big deal. But between Tivo and Netflix we've usually got something to watch.

When you get a movie you get a plastic envelope with a barcode on it, I assume this identifies the movies. Like a blockhead, I've occasionally forgotten to put the disk in the plastic envelope before putting it into the mailer. No problem, I just send them email saying "um, I messed up, expect this movie to arrive naked Real Soon Now". Hasn't been a problem yet, I think I've done this twice in 3 years. When I've had a problem playing a movies it's always been something like Matrix, that my old DVD player just doesn't want to deal with.

What can they do to improve? Their new releases page sucks. It's got just about every movie that's come out in the last year, and the popular ones from years before. It's tough to find things that came out this month. Second, my wife and I will sometimes sit on a movie for weeks until we get around to watching it. If we knew someone else was waiting for it we'd be more motivated to watch and return it. As it is, oh well. Be nice if they could keep track of whether my wife or I ordered a movie. Solve a lot of "who ordered that turkey?" accusations. Also help a lot when looking for the next movie I want sent, I try to keep 1 for me, 1 for her, and 2 for both of us available. A 1 line comment in my queue would be great, something like "wife's friend recommended it" or "Angelina flashes her tits about 40 minutes in" would help a lot.

Highly recommended.

Netflix

[Tinkerin]

I subscribed for almost two years and really liked the service. Then 2 DVD's never arrived in the mail and after notifying Netflix of that, the trouble started. First they where very nice about it and simply listed the DVDs as lost but then my monthly rate increased $5 /month. After learning that some friends that live 20 miles away (they referred me to Netflix) never got the rate increase I realized that Netflix passes along the risk with using US mail to the "problem area" consumers by raising rates. Six months later another DVD never arrived and Netflix put me on "hold" status until I sent in the "lost" DVD's implying that I received them but intentionally never returned them. After their refusing to initiate an inquiry with the US Postal Service, I had to cancel service or continue to pay the monthly fee but never receiving any more DVD's

Up to that point, I was really satisified with Netflix, after that I realized that they were only willing to do business if the consumer was willing to assume all the risks involved. Typical corporate attitude.

Re:DivX Renting

[jbezdek]

Actually you can rent DivX movies online. DivX.com links to several companies that are offering DivX rentals. Check out the DivX Showcase [divx.com] page.

The rentals are offered using a system developed by DivXNetworks.

:bez