On the left hand side of my blog if you scroll down a little bit, you'll see my Netflix Queue - at least the first 5 movies. That list really not changed much if at all in the last month to month and a half.
You would assume that I haven't been returning whatever movies I have out, but actually no - it isn't the case. I've been getting - albeit slowly - the movies that are lower in my queue.
I contacted Netflix and they just gave me this:
-----------------------------------------------
Dear Tony,Thanks for your message.We have the latest releases as soon as they are released by the studios every week. I'm sure that you will be happy with our selection as we have over 55,000 titles to choose from.Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee the availability of any of our titles. With No Due Dates, our inventory fluctuates constantly.If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.Thanks,Bonnee,Netflix Customer Service .
-----------------------------------------------
Rich sent me this link as I was about to reply to them: Frequent Netflix Renters Sent to the Back of the Line . I was curious about the Terms of Service they had anyhow so I decided to read it.
So, here's my reply to Netflix:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the reply.
It would have been more accurate I'm sure in my case had you mentioned your TOS
--------------------------------------------
We reserve the right to allocate and ship DVDs among our subscribers in any manner that we, in our sole and absolute discretion, determine...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 that (i) the shipment of their next available DVD occurs at least one business day following return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other subscribers. Other factors that may affect delivery times, include, but are not limited to, (i) the distance between the distribution center from which your DVD was shipped and your delivery address, (ii) the timing of your placement or adjustment of movies in your queue and (iii) circumstances impacting delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
----------------------------------------------
My question is this: if I cancel my account and then resubscribe later, can I expect to get movies any faster because of giving priority to members who receive the fewest DVDs?(i'm assuming new subscribers wouldn't be penalized right from the start). Maybe I'll just keep my accounts for 2 to 3 months at a time and then cancel and resubscribe. :)
It just seems silly that I can't get new releases for over a month with a service that I pay for each month when I can just drive down to local Blockbuster video and have the movie to be guaranteed in stock. I have no problem giving SOME priority for subscribers who only get a few movies a month, but this is ridiculous. I guess I'm make sure all of my friends read the fine print in the TOS before subscribing.
Thank you for your time, and don't forget that there was a question in there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll post whatever reply I get back here. Maybe I'll switch to Blockbuster's Online Service.
Here is the Netflix Terms of Use . Just be sure to read it before subscribing. If you don't rent much, it won't affect you much.
I'd be happy to just not be penalized for renting more than they'd like me to. When they say "Unlimited" they should probably mean that.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment