1/5

posted Jan-05-2010

"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."

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1/5

posted Sep-28-2008

"This is our second time around with Netflix. The first time we subscribed, all was well for the first 3 months or so. Then, we started getting damaged DVDs. They weren't unplayable; they just kept getting stuck in certain spots and the only way to continue was to skip large sections of the movie. We'd report the problem and they'd send a new one - but that takes time. IMHO, they should have an internal quality control system and not rely on the consumer to do the work for them. So, we cancelled because of the frustration.

But we missed the convenience. So, we started our subscription again just 6 weeks ago. Of the 3 DVDs we've received, they have ALL had problems. We've cleaned the DVDs, cleaned our player just in case it was us (note that other DVDs play fine), but still the problem.

As a comparison, at the same time we renewed with Netflix, we also started a trial membership with Blockbuster. The movies we've received from BB have been fine...but it's still too early to tell if BB will be consistent, too.

At this point, I'm ready to cancel NetFlix again and just stick with BB for a while. If BB tanks, we'll cancel them both and start reading more :-)"

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1/5

posted Apr-22-2008

ResellerRatings.com TOP REVIEWER!

"Awful customer service. They have no way for customers to email them or submit a support question online. Their support section of their website is totally frustrating and only gives you canned FAQ answers, not real help.

You have to phone them for support and when you do, they are condescending and unhelpful.

I returned a damaged previously viewed DVD under their 'satisfaction guarantee' return policy. It was received back to them (I tracked it) but they never credited my credit card. So, I filed a dispute with my credit card company and now Netflix refuses to send me an more rentals, they've completely frozen my account, yet are still charging me for it."

This review was modified by mediahound on April 29 2008 05:28:59 PM

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1/5

posted Dec-07-2007

ResellerRatings.com TOP REVIEWER!

"This is a terrible company,they offer me a 2 week free trial yet charged my AMEX even after I cancelled my membership at the end of the 2nd week.I cancelled my membership because there is always a "short wait"or "long wait"to get new releases.It seems that the only movies you can get right away are : "gone with the wind" or "Mary Poppins"!!!"

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2/5

posted Sep-18-2007

"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."

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5/5

posted May-27-2007

"I have only been with Netflix for about 6 months, but so far they have far exceeded Blockbusters capability to provide me with entertainment. I pay $10 a month and watch 2 movies a week. It's all I need cause let's face it, you've gotta get out of the house sooner or later, right?

2 thumbs up for Netflix!"

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1/5

posted May-13-2007

"AVOID! Do not give these people your credit card info. I promise, you will regret it. I cancelled my membership last October, and they still keep charging my credit card. I have emailed them and phoned them; however, they continiue to charge my credit card every month (this is May 2007!). I have went through a bunch of hassle having to dispute the charge every month. "

This review was modified by troyEa on May 13 2007 11:08:09 AM

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1/5

posted Aug-10-2006

"They are good at first and then they start playing their throttle game. I have been a member several times and it always ends the same way. Their claims of unlimited rentals is a lie. They play games like not checking your movies in for several days, then posting processing for several more, then shipping in 4 days, etc. That is the way you will get limited after a couple months. Then to try to contact customer service is impossible, it doesn't exist. Like I said they are good at first but you will quickly be limited. "

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5/5

posted Jul-20-2006

"Frankly, handling an average of 1.4 million DVD's a day on behalf of 5 million customers [give or take], I don't see how Netflix could possibly have either the time or the means to insidiously pick and choose who does and who doesn't get preferential treatment on any given day, as has been suggested here by some . Chaos Theory - with plenty of help [let's be fair] from the US Postal Service - can surely feel much the same to a frustrated end-user as targeted malice? Sure, I've had the occasional unplayable disk, and the built-in 'throttle' of their 5-day-week can be a tad frustrating when the weekend rolls around and you have nothing to watch, but overall I've always found their service to be remarkably good and consistent over the 2 1/2 years that I've been a member.

Provided, that is, you just stay in your lane on that auto-piloted conveyor-belt of theirs! Try stepping outside the prescribed point-and-click routine by, say, ATTEMPTING TO CONTACT A 'REAL PERSON', and then you're suddenly lost in space - very much the stranger in a strange land, etc...... They only offer online Customer Service on their website [and even that requires you to jump through a couple of hoops], and it can be 2 or 3 days before you get a reply. I say 'reply', but it's often just a form letter, which - despite being perfectly friendly and polite - as often as not has nothing whatsoever to do with what you asked them. In fact the last time I tried to make contact, they not only completely ignored my question but also managed to erase everything except my sign-off "Thanks", so all I got back was a cheery : "You're welcome!". It felt more like "why are you wasting my time, Fool?" than "how can I help you, Valued Customer?". But finally, after 4 of these ghostships-that-pass-in-the-night exchanges they offered me a phone number [see below], and the issue was resolved 'face to face' in 30 seconds.

So, in conclusion, I'd say that despite the inevitable snafus of a high-volume business, they're still - rightfully and by majority-opinion - the only real game in town. HOWEVER, if you do ever find yourselves needing to resolve something that isn't addressed on their web site [and a lot actually is], I recommend that you save yourselves some time and aggravation by picking up the phone rather than trying to e-mail them. I'm sure they're not evil or vindictive, just overwhelmed and understaffed : victims of their own success, perhaps, like so many before them. Maybe they should just shut down enrollment for a while, and regroup? Oh, and one more question : How is it possible that they don't carry Bernardo Bertolucci's masterpiece 'The Conformist', whilst offering unlimited access to 'Deuce Bigolo : European Gigalo'? Got no reply from them on that one either.

Netflix Customer Service - 800 585 8131 / 800 638 3549 / 888 638 3549. "

This review was modified by Kartoffel on July 21 2006 10:22:06 AM

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3/5

posted Jun-03-2006

"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."

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1/5

posted Mar-23-2005

"The horror stories seem to be true. I did not read up on them before I started and it was really awesome for a month or two, I was getting 8-9 movies a week with 1 day turnarounds. We had just had a baby so we just laid back and watched movies until the honeymoon came to a screeching halt. Around Xmas the turnaround time went way downhill, I mean like 3-4 movies a week...maybe.
I called them and was told that blockbuster offered a similar product and that I was free to leave when I returned the movies I had.
The practice that I am experiencing is called 'throttling' and it is because in the world of 'unlimited' movies it is seen that someone getting as many movies as I do is not profitable. They should just come out and say that or give up.
No customer support responses and long wait times for new releases to the tune of 3 weeks+."

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1/5

posted Mar-07-2005

"After reading through all the other negative comments about NETFLIX, I see that I am not alone. The preferential treatment during the trial period and the purposeful degraded service thereafter. Since the trial, shipping takes 2-3 days instead of 1, check-in takes 2-3 days instead of 1. Unexplained shipping delays for items listed as available now. Even though you can recommend movies they don't offer, it appears to be an exercise in futility. Apparently they think providing an area to make recommendations is good enough, although they never act on it, nor respond. They don't offer any way to contact customer service; the have a suggestion area. I tried this, to complain about their service. No response. As far as selection, I don't think its as good as BlockBuster (a really excruciatingly slow mind-numbing service, it actually hurts), I found they don't offer Superbit DVDs nor a lot the directors cut, unrated versions I was looking for. I thought it was great during the trial, but it sucks big time now! I'll be cancelling after this month is done."

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1/5

posted Dec-03-2004

"I signed up with Netflix in January of 2004. For the first 8 months, I experienced great turn around times and had minimal problems with discs that weren't playable. I never received a wrong DVD. There were very few times when I would send a movie back in the Monday run of the post and then not get something back until Friday. However, as of a few months ago this has changed.

Turn around times: I drop three DVDs off Monday morning at the post box. (I found morning makes a difference). Thursday I am e-mailed the confirmation that they received my e-mail. Friday I am e-mailed the confirmation that my movie shipped. Saturday I get one or two movies. Never all three. By Monday, I have all three movies; Tuesday I return at least one to keep a steady rotation. There is a serious lag there. I am 12 miles from the Santa Ana distribution center.

I didn't gripe about price. I was still renting DVDs for far less than Blockbuster and Hollywood Video and I never had to deal with fighting over a new release. When the price went up I was cool, when it went down I was ok as well. Even though they charged me regular price for November when the new price should have taken affect.

Customer service: I have written 19 letters to Netflix. I submit them via the suggestion box. There is no other way to get a hold of them. Their customer service is the worst I have ever seen. Netflix neither cares for their customers or loyalty.

Netflix is a company that will soon find themselves in serious trouble. Wal-Mart is a joke IMHO (mostly because they don't accept master card because they don't want to pay the extra 15 cents per transaction -- yet it's ok that we pay their taxes!). I have been a member of Blockbuster for just under 2 weeks. So far so good.

I think that Netflix has more variety, but I cannot stand a company that flies by the seat of their pants with total disregard for their customers.

Luckily, in my business I can track down executives of Netflix and contact them directly. Perhaps I would be invading their space, but their customer service practices are shoddy to say the least.

Earlier this week I received an e-mail regarding a new member subscription. Within 12 hours, I was sent another e-mail by Netflix apologizing for the mistake. Apparently, they're quick to dig themselves out of a whole, but as long as they have thousands of members, who cares about one or two.

Unfortunately, for them, I live by the motto "treat your customers right they'll tell 4 or 5 people, Treat them wrong, they'll tell the world."

I truly hope that Netflix is blown out of the water by other competition. Blockbuster may not have the variety, but they were so quick to help me when I needed it. Just in case they were quick to help since I am a free trial user, I decided to use a friend's account who has been a member for 2 months, I asked three lame questions on a Sunday night, and I had a response by Monday mid-morning. I was even called by them because they needed clarification on one of my questions.

If I sound upset it is because poor customer service is worse than sending cracked DVDs (which I have had 8 cracked DVDs and 6 unplayable from Netflix in 6 months). Given their turn around time, I haven't got the patience for their poor quality control.

The good:
Netflix is great about missing DVDs. I had one that never made it to them and without question they knocked it off my list as a returned DVD. I commend them for that. Their site is also very easy to use. It has to be though because they have incompetent morons working for them.

"

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5/5

posted Oct-27-2004

"Netflix is still the best. I have never had a problem with delivery times. I live in a backwoods town hours from the nearest city and I receive my movies the next day. I've been using Netflix for three months and only once have I received a movie late.

Blockbuster is an evil company owned by fundamentalist religious people that edit the content of movies they don't agree with, or refuse to carry them. Same with Wal-Mart. "

This review was modified by eliza on November 08 2004 04:18:57 PM

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5/5

posted Oct-26-2004

"Netflix is still the best on the block. They are also the cheapest at the moment (after reducing their prices).

I have tried walmart blockbuster and gameznflix. Netflix wins hands down. Great turn around time and they have more TV series in stock than the other services.
"

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