NEtflix has fast shipping and a good selection of movies. Only thing I am not happy about is that they are raising their prices.

This review was modified by its author, roadrashtx, on 4/25/04 2:16 PM.

very satisfied with this company. Fast shipping, same day shipped out the movies as they received the ones i returned back. No complaints at all. Will refer all my friends to them. Good work Netflix~ The free returing is amazing! How did they manage to do that? Oh well, anyways, their service is better than most of the online stores, trust me, i am working for this industry for a long while and i know...

Been a member for more than 3 years. Great concept, and generally good performance. Excellant local distribution network.  
 
The only negative which other people have also noted:  
 
The company prioritizes new customers:  
- Older customers will see less "available" movies  
- Older customers movies take longer to turnaround  
 
For various reasons I have upgraded and downgraded my account to different movies rental levels over the last few years. Every time I upgrade I suddenly see my movies turnaround 2/3 days quicker per movie and I see almost all movies as available. After about a month it suddenly reverts back to slower turnaround and less available movies.  
 
Now this may well be good business to impress the new customers/upgraders but as a long term user it makes me feel like a 2nd class customer.

Great service I have almost never had a problem with it. The only drawback from this service is that sometimes I get DVD's in very bad condition. This is somthing that can be said for all "rental" companies. So all in all one of the best services on the net.

I live in San Jose, use Netflix since 2/2002.  
It seems like they do have priority for new customers and  
treat old ones like trash.  
First 3 months I got any new release immediately.  
Afterwards, "all of a sudde" I got at the end of any line:  
have to wait for months for any new release.  
Also, about 3 months ago, "all of a sudden", started having  
"shipping problems": regulary, 1 movie a month is "lost" on return.  
It seems like I am being punished for using Netflix too effectively:  
I used to watch 3 movies every week - they don't like it.  
I hate to think they do it on purpose,  
because they suggest for paying for "lost" movies,  
which I don't do yet.  
Anyway, if they try to put a "hold" or charge me extra,  
I will cancel it. Wish they had a competition, do they?  

So I have been a member of netflix on and off for the last 4 years. I didn't have a problem with them until the last 6 months when it took over a week for my movies to get checked in. I live 2 miles from the post office in the zip code on the address label. I go to the post office to return the movies. Don't tell me it takes a week for them to get turned in. Not only that I put all my movies in 1 large manila envelope and they only checked in half of them (Im on the 8 out at a time plan). I searched high and low for the phone number, and they told me "well maybe you only put in some of the movies" and that was after waiting on hold for over 20 minutes.  
The service hasn't gotten any better either. I also am a membmer of blockbuster.com and I get movies from them much faster, if blockbuster only had more plans to choose from.

Pros: Exhaustive selection of DVDs  
Eliminates video store hassle(s)  
 
Cons: THROTTLING  
Damaged disc policy  
Horrible customer service  
Did I mention Throttling?  
 
Bottom Line: Netflix is best for the casual viewer who is willing to make sacrifices for convenience.  
 
I have been a customer of Netflix for a little less than a year now and the experience has been tumultuous. The best way to describe my experience is to divide it into three epochs.  
 
The Halcyon Days:  
I decided to give Netflix in 2005 as I was tired of the limited selection at the local video store and rising costs of rentals. As I live near the San Jose distribution center I figured I had nothing to lose. By the end of the trial I was hooked. No longer did I have to spend a half hour driving to and from the video store. Nor did I have to deal with poor selection of anything besides a new release. And on top of that, I was saving money overall due to the amount of rentals I have a month. After several months of satisfication with the 3-at-a-time plan, I decided to increase my subscription to 5 moveis at a time. But the good times would not last.  
 
Throttled!  
At first I was unconcerned that it was taking awhile for certain new releases to arrive. Who cares if it takes a little longer to get Revenge of the Sith when I have a ton of other great films to watch. But the delay on new releases soon began to expand and more films were on the long wait of my queue. I knew something was rotten in the state of Denmark when Skeleton Key took 2 months to get. In fact, any new release was now a 2 month wait guaranteed for me. I knew Netflix had a policy of throttling but I figured I was not outside of the normal bounds of renting. I subscribed to 5 films at a time and it took me roughly a week to view all of them. But when I mailed them at the same time it would show that they were recieved on different days. Furthermore the turnaround used to be 2-3 days as I lived 10 miles for the distribution center. Now it was 5 for some reason. Enraged I complained to customer service via email and recieved a response that thanked me for the feedback but said (I do not exaggerate heere) that Netflix recieves too many emails so they can't respond to them. Needless to say I dropped my subscription from 5 at a time to 2.  
 
The Present:  
Well I still use Netflix as I detest Blockbuster and the local video store is quite small. But now I simply use Netflix for more obscure or older films. Ultimately if you're looking for a video store replacement it all depends on what type of film viewer you are. If you're a film aficianado and view a lot of movies then Netflix is not for you. If you're a casual viewer and looking for something primarily out of convenience (or only rent less popular films)then Netflix is great.

Been with netflix for 3 months now and I am generally satisfied with their service. I do have a few concerns. During my trial period, my turnaround time was instantaneous and I got 2 new releases the day they were released. NOw, however, my turnaround time is 3-4 days each way significantly limiting the number of movies I rent per month. Additionally, the new releases are always "very long wait" and I end up going to blockbuster to rent them anyway. I wrote them about this and they sent me some generic excuse about waiting list and demand, but I put the movies on my cue when they are released at the box office and wait for them to get a release date and I STILL don't get ANY popular new releases.  
 
So the overall service is OK at best, customer service SUCKS and realize that it gets a little worse over time.

They do not disclose this anywhere outside of the tos but they limit the number of computers allowed to do instant play to 4 computers and 4 devices. This means if you have trouble with a computer and need to reinstall the os you just lost a license. Not a problem you say just reclaim the license. According to netflix that is not possible. The only option is to wait for 1 year for the license to autmatically free up. They have no ability to do this simple task that itunes has been able to do for years now. Get a clue netflix before someone sues you over this. If my computers are stolen what options would i be left with?

As long as their service is working, it works well. The problem is that they advertise "Unlimited" rentals, but if you actually try to take them up on the offer, they'll throttle your account and start shipping DVDs days late, or from other states.  
 
Their customer service is essentially useless. It appears they have about the same access to your account as you would have on www.netflix.com. If you so much as attempt to complain, you'll get form letters back, but nothing of value.

they ship your rentals fast in the first couple of months of memberhip. after that they start lagging. i signed up for "UNLIMITED" "3 out a a time" plan. but, by delaying my rentals, they actually limited me to 9 DVD's a month.

I cancelled Netflix and switched to http://www.rent-a-flic.com, they have so far had way better service, shipping and are cheaper.

There have been quite a few concerns with NetFlix lately, and I’d like to spend a moment describing my situation.  
 
I signed up for their free 2-week trial period in mid-September of 2003. I placed 3 dvd’s in my cart (all new releases) and received confirmation that they had shipped 4 hours later. I received all 3 days the following day. I watched all 3 over the week and popped them back in the mail on Monday. They received them on Tuesday and sent my next 3 out the same day (Tuesday). Again, I received these the following day (Wednesday). I watched them and returned them on Thursday, they received them on Friday and sent my next 3 out. It goes on like this until the end of my trial period.  
 
Almost as soon as my card was charged for the first month of being a paying customer, I started to notice that my DVD’s were taking an unusually long time to arrive at NetFlix’s facility. When I mean unusual, I mean that the shipping address on the pacakage is less than 100 miles away and were taking 3+ days to “arrive” at NetFlix. At first, I didn’t think anything of it thinking it was just backlog from the mail. However, the same thing happened again on the next round of DVD’s. They took 4 days to arrive and 3 days to get back. I e-mailed Netflix customer support and received a copy and pasted message about how the USPS is slow and that DVD’s take time. I knew that was a load of crap, but figured I was still getting more DVD’s per month than I was from Blockbuster or Hasting’s. Then, out of the blue, I didn’t receive 3 DVD’s that I placed in my cart. After waiting 6 WORKING DAYS, I contacted NetFlix customer support about the issue. I received the exact same e-mail that I received previously about the shipping problem. I replied back to them stating my frustrations and that I was thinking about canceling if they could not offer me a viable explanation as to why my DVD’s take forever to show up now. To my surprise, I got a human response after I pressured them. The surprise came in the form of the response I received, however. They told me that I should try another address to ship my DVD’s to. What do they want me to do? Move? Why should I move because of their mistakes? Don’t you think it’s a little convenient that 3 different DVD’s from most likely 3 different facilities are “lost” in the mail because I live someplace I shouldn’t? Whatever. I reported the DVD’s as lost and cancelled right then and there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will not get charged, but if I do, I will file a fraudulent complaint with my bank. I’m going back to Wal-Mart DVD rentals, none of this ever happened.  

It's a scam. I signed up for a two week trial, and only later found out that the catch was a limited number of movies I can rent at a time. In my case it was only three movies.  
I typed in the movies I wanted and about a week later (I'm on the East Coast) received them. I watched one movie, sent it back. Watched another one, set it back. A week and a half since I mailed my first movie I went to check my account, and they showed that movie as "out". So, my trial period was nearing the end, and according to NetFlix I had 3 movies out. Since I couldn't rent anything else I cancell the account.  
10 minutes after my phone call (to cancel the account) I get a confirmation e-mail where they ask me to mail back the 1 movie that I have not returned yet. The fact that they didn't mention other two movies tells me that they received them, but didn't update my account to keep me from renting more movies !  
That is a very good but unfair and unethical way of controlling how many movies people are allowed to rent. I ighly doubt that NetFlix is going to let anyone rent more than 4 - 5 movies a month, so it's $4 - 5 per movie which is about the same as you pay in Blockbuster.  
Of course there's no such thing as "No late fees", you have to pay monthly fee of $20 and ther's a limited number of movies you can rent.  
Right now they are running free trials, so register, rent the movies you want, watch them, and cancel your trials.

Unlike the glowing reviews below, I am not happy with Netflix. I have been a subscriber for over 6 months. I am really frosted about their ability to deliver new releases. They don't even list popular new releases in their "New Release" section. For example, the newly released Terminator, Transformers II, and GI Joe Cobra are not listed, even though they are available and you can put them in the Que if you search over the specific title. But then these movies are listed as "very long wait", which means "never". It took me over a month to get the new Terminator release, even though it was the only movie in my Q. For old TV re-runs these guys are great, but for recent releases, forget it. I am going to BB to see how they are. The CS agents are friendly, but give you the BS two-step when it comes to trying to get an availablility date. Also, as other have mentioned, the surface quality of most of the DVDs is marginal, as they recycle too few DVDs for too many customers.