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.  

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...

I just recently had a trial membership with this company. I figured hey, two free weeks, I can handle that. So I signed up and ordered my movies and they arrived within 4 day in a 1-day shipping distance. One of the movies did not work. After my two weeks was up, I went to cancel my membership. Upon doing so they offered me another two weeks and I took them up on their offer. I kept the same movies because I did not have a chance to watch one of them. After the next two weeks was up, I went to cancel again, and they offered another two weeks. So I was like okay, if they are going to keep giving me free rentals then I will keep taking them, right? WRONG. I got a bill on my credit card 4 days later for 20 dollars. I called and explained the situation and they said they would issue a refund. The next day I sent the movies back. 2 days later I recieved an email confirming that they recieved the movies and I would not be billed. A week and a half later I got another email from them. They said that they had not recieved my dvd's back and they were going to charge me 20 dollars per dvd. Seems a little funny that they can't even keep up with there own system enough to know that have already recieved something. I have had nothing but headaches with this company and would not recommend using them to anyone.

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.

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.

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've been with them for almost 4 years and the service is just keep getting better. It looks like they. I live on the east coast and I use to mail to CA. Now couple months ago I notice that the mailing address in in Worcester Mass which is about couple hours from me and today I just notice that the mailing address is only an hour away from me. I got the movie so fast. I don't even go to blockbuster anymore. If you get damaged disc or it didn't get to you ontime. Go online and report the problem they send out the new one out right way.  
If they keep them their service. I'll be their member for life.

November 23, 2002  
Last week I signed up for Netflix 2-weeks-for-free DVD movie rental trial membership. I was provided with enough personal space to add, list, or remove, an unlimited number of titles of movies I wanted to see. I browsed through their extensive (thousands) and very descriptive film catalog, picked out six titles and placed them into my personal "queue" space, where I rearranged them in my order of preference.  
 
Next day, I received a Netflix email advising me that three* DVDs had been shipped. Two days later, I had them in my mailbox. I viewed the first one, placed it in the postage-paid return envelope provided, and mailed it off. One the NEXT DAY Netflix, by email, acknowledged receipt of my return, and advised me that another one had been shipped.  
*Maximum number of DVDs I can have AT ONE TIME during the free trial.  
 
Obviously, with this kind of Netflix performance record, my ongoing membership will be assured, and I plan to keep about 50 films in my "queue." The main reasons why I think that Netflix is a super deal for fim buffs:  
 
1) Never a late fee, and I can keep the movies as long as I want. I send one back, I get the next one on my list promply.  
2) All two-way postage for shipping is paid by Netflix.  
3) Flat, $19.95 monthly fee, regardless of how many films I rent.  
4) Many thousands of DVDs to choose from.  
5) Extensive descriptions of all listings.  
 
If that's not enough, what 's really neat about the service is that "Recommendations" thing: While I am browsing their site, they present me with movie titles I can rate as either "not interested" or I can give one , two, three, four, or five stars to a title. Based on the movies I rate, they present me with choices that they think I would like to consider for viewing. The more ratings I make over weeks and months, the more accurate are their suggestions. Super.

The best service. I live in Denver, CO and haven't had a problem with them. I Have been a customer since May 2002, receive 4 DVDs at once and I can assure you that I always have a movie waiting to be seen. I had a couple of broken discs, and as soon as I reported them, they immediately sent replacements. Their selection is huge, and there's nothing better than having the movie for as many days as I want and not having to worry with leaving my home because I have to return it before the deadline. I love Netflix!

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?  

One of the best services online!  
I have a membership more then a year watching 2-3 movies every week. Have couple of times broken disks, but replacement was sent very promptly. Never had a problem with them. Before (approx) December 2001 they sent disks from CA and I'm in MD so "complete cycle" (shipment-watching-shipment-sending new) was about 10 days. Now they have branch 5 miles from my apartment "complete cycle" takes 3-4 days.  

I have been a member since June 26th 2002. Service has been perfect with no complaints. If a movie wasn't played for any reason a couple minutes later they send me a new copy of the disk while I return the defective one. I love the ratings system and all is perfect.

This review was modified by its author, aviationwiz, on 8/28/02 3:29 PM.

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.

I have been a very satisfied customer since June 2001 with roughly 40-50 movies rented. Caveat: we live only 10-20 miles from Netflix so USPS delivery is fast. We have never had any of the issues others have reported. We watch 1-2 movies on the weekend, put them in the mailbox on Monday and receive 2 new ones by Thursday or Friday (we are signed up for the 2-movie option at $14/month).  
 
The only issue we have ever had was when a movie was sent, we didn't receive it, and about a week later Netflix showed it as being received by them. Their explanation was that USPS failed to deliver it. The same moveie was immediately sent out to us again and this time we received it.  
 
The selection is outstanding; we don't mind waiting a little while for the newest releases, we always have enough movies on hand from Netflix to keep us busy watching, a good-size queue eliminates the indecision at the video store of what we should get today and always has some movies available for immediate shipment, deliveries and receipts are fast and reliable with excellent email notification. In other words, in our experience Netflix is one of the very best vendors out there. We have recommended them to numerous friends and relatives, who are now also using them and are thrilled as we are.  
 
The major Netflix advantages: no trips to the video store, no late fees, great selection, and overall significantly less expensive than our local boutique video store (one that carries a wide variety of movies).  
 
Now before you sign up, you should definitely think about how USPS is going to work for you. If San Jose to your location takes 3-5 days each way, then Netflix is probably not for you unless they establish a local presence. This is not a Netflix issue but a choice they made (wisely, I think) to rely to USPS for cheap mailing.

The netflix strategy is very flawed. The claim is that you can rent movies and keep them as long as you want without incurring late charges. This supposedly gives netflix a competitive edge over your local video rental outlet.  
 
This is an attempt to prey on ignorance. Common sense should set in and tell you that in order to get any value at all you need to open that envelope immediately, watch the movie, and then have it the mailbox the next morning. So how long do you really have each movie? Half a day? How often are you without a movie at all? Most of the time?  
 
Lets look at the numbers. If you want to have 2 movies every weekend then that means 2 new movies must arrive every week. A very generous estimate (assuming you don't live next door to netflix) is that it takes 2 weeks for a movie to be returned to netflix and the replacement to arrive back at your door. If it takes 2 weeks round trip for one movie and 2 movies need to arrive every week, then how many movies do you need out to keep this pattern in effect? Six. As an example, say you get two movies during the week and watch them over the weekend. Return them on monday and the next 2 movies will arrive in 2 weeks or later sometime during the week. Keep those for that weekend's viewing and the pattern continues. There is no 6 movie plan advertised, the 8 movie plan is $40.  
 
How does that compare to blockbuster video? Rent two movies every weekend guaranteed for $32 a month. Keep the movies all weekend and into the next week if you want! Considering the diligence it takes to extract any sort of value out of the netflix plan, it does no good to argue about late fees.