I have no experience with Netflix personally, but someone at the Ryan Adams board posted this last month:
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Anybody else having problems with their Netflix recently? Here is a letter that Sarah and I wrote to Netflix about movie delays and damaged discs.
Thought you might like to read it. Should be good for a laugh.
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To whom it may concern:
I am ready to cancel my Netflix account. Over the past month and a half your service has been increasingly unsatisfactory. As little as three months ago I could put a DVD in the mail on a Tuesday and receive a new DVD on Thursday. Let me give you an example of how things are now: I placed the movie "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster" in the mail on Saturday. This movie was reported received by Netflix on Thursday, at which time I received an e-mail that morning telling me that the movie had been received and that the next DVD in queue would be shipped out that same day. Upon checking my queue Thursday evening, lo and behold, my movie was now scheduled to be shipped on Friday. When the movie was actually shipped I was given information that I should not expect to receive the DVD until the following Tuesday. A week and a half turnaround time is unacceptable... especially since we live less than 30 miles from the nearest distribution center. I could walk there and back quicker than I am scheduled to receive this title. This is increasingly becoming more and more of a problem.
The main reason that I upgraded my account to "5 movies at a time" was so that I would always have a movie to watch on any given day. This plan has been soundly defeated by Netflix's current situation. This weekend I should have had 5 movies to watch and yet, I only have 2.
During my twenty minute search for your customer service telephone number (very well hidden, indeed; well played), I stumbled across your “terms of use” page. Imagine my surprise when I read this:
"In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those subscribers who receive the most movies may experience next-day shipping and receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other
subscribers."
Pardon me? Let me get this straight: If I pay Netflix less money per month, I would receive my movies in a more timely fashion? Would it be more advantageous for me to receive fewer movies at a time and, thus, lower my monthly payment to Netflix in order to receive my discs more quickly? If this is so, let me know and I will be happy to tell all my friends who subscribe to Netflix to do the same. I do not understand why a subscriber who pays less money would receive preferential treatment over one who pays 3 times as much. Let’s play a little game, shall we? Theoretically, a single movie subscriber (with preferential treatment) could receive and return 3 movies within a week's time. Thus, I, a 5 movie subscriber could conceivably receive 15 movies within a week's time. Even if you wanted to play it by what Netflix charges me (3 times what a single movie subscriber pays), I should at least be able to receive 9 movies a week. It's just simple mathematics. As it currently stands, I feel lucky to receive 4. Does this seem right to you?
I understand that, on occasion, the movie at the top of my queue might not be available at the nearest distribution center, and, as a result, my turnaround time might be increased. If this is so, might I not, instead, receive the closest available movie? (I will not even go into the fact that you seem to have only limited copies of certain titles) I am aware that many of the films in my queue are of a more esoteric nature. But, if I wanted to rent a copy of "Monster-in-Law", which I'm sure is available in multiple copies at every Netflix distribution center, I would just go to the local video store. (As it stands now, I'm forced to go my local specialty video store anyway every Friday because I haven't received my movies from Netflix in a timely manner... this is costing me $40 a month just to be supplied with the same number of movies I should be receiving from Netflix every week)
As for the quality of discs received from Netflix, this too, has decreased over time. I understand how some discs might be damaged in the shipping process. Just last week, I received a disc that was completely broken in two. Clearly, this is not the fault of Netflix. What I fail to understand is why approximately 20% of our received discs are damaged to some degree (scratches, dirty discs, etc.). That works out to be about one disc out of five... I would like say that it works out to one disc per week but I rarely receive five discs in one week as stated above. It seems to me, that somewhere along the line, certain customers are not handling these discs in a proper fashion. For example, a disc that we received this week looked like someone had skipped it across the asphalt, rendering the last half of the film completely unwatchable. I just reported the disc as damaged and had quite a chuckle at the “automated” e-mail I received in response saying “We go to great lengths to ensure the movies you get will play without any problems but occasionally a few get through our inspections…” I do not believe for one minute that Netflix inspects every disc received. If that were true, I would not have half of the problems I am having, and I would, right this minute, be enjoying the last half of “Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris”. If that disc was inspected, kudos to you for hiring the blind.
There is nothing more frustrating than being an hour into a film and, just when everything is getting good, the discs begins to behave in an erratic manner. Should some penalty not be placed upon the customers who receive previously pristine discs and return them in a damaged fashion? I would like to point out that I take excellent care of the discs that I receive and send them back in the exact condition in which they arrived.
At this point, Netflix is on the verge of losing my business. I have been a loyal Netflix patron for over 2 years. I would like to go on record as saying that, initially, I was quite pleased with your service. I even went as far as to recommend your service to friends, who have since subscribed. Recently though, Netflix has increasingly disappointed me.
I would appreciate a timely response to this e-mail, and I would like my individual concerns addressed.
By the way, I tried to send this via the Netflix website but it would not allow me. Curious.
Thank you for your time.
What's he doing these days?
Great choices!
