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NetFlix lowers prices, but...

post #1 of 27
11/1/04 at 9:41am
Thread Starter 
Netflix recently lowered their regular plan price (3 out at a time) from $21.99 to $17.99. I had planned on possibly cancelling my membership until the price change. Unfortunately, now I'm almost positive I will cancel it, because as soon as the new price was announced, the turnaround increased significantly. Up to now, at least 8 and usually 9 times out of 10, when I sent a DVD back I had the replacement in 2 days. A lot of people won't get quite this fast a turnaround, but there is a warehouse just about 60 miles away from me. As soon as the lower price was announced, the turnaround changed to nearly 7 days. In fact, I have only received 1 DVD in the last week, which was in exchange for one I returned 10 days ago.

What seems to have happened is that they now waiit a day or 2 before saying they sent a new DVD, but the transit time for me has also increased from 1 day to an average of 4, which tells me they are logging out the DVDs and holding them for a couple more days.

So, after an 18% reduction in the plan cost, the turnaround has increased at least 3x. Has anyone else had this same experience? FWIW, the entire time I have been on NetFlix, I have used the same schedule, so I could tell if something changed. I do 3 movies a week and return one every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and everything has always been smooth.
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post #2 of 27
11/1/04 at 11:49am
Wow. Well, I cancelled Netflix after about 1 1/2 years but was thinking of rejoining. Turn around times for me have always been inconsistant but I think some of that is due to our local postal service. If I were you I'd wait another week or two and see what happens.

In any case, please post back with what you decide and what happens if you do stick with it for a little longer.
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post #3 of 27
11/1/04 at 2:43pm
Turnaround time is still pretty good for me, at 1-2 days, though some discs do take longer (like the first disc of the Star Wars Trilogy set)

Dana
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post #4 of 27
11/4/04 at 10:55am
Thread Starter 
It seems to have settled into a new timeline. Like I said, most of the time my turnaround used to generally be 2 days. 1 day for the movie to be returned, a new one shipped out that day and 1 day back. The only exceptions where when my next available movie came from a different warehouse, when it would generally be shipped the day after the previous one was returned and would take up to 3 days to arrive.

The new schedule seems to be, 1 day back (Netflix can't control the USPS after all) a new one shipped out the following day and 2 days back to me, which clearly indicates they are actually holding the shipment for a day. I don't have a problem if they stay with this turnaround. It still allows me to get 3 a week and if they did something to prevent that, the price reduction would be false.

At first it was looking like I would be pushing it to average 1.5 movies a week, which would actually amount to a significant price increase, but so far that has not ended up being the case.

BTW, I started going by a structured return schedule because I wanted to keep track of how much I rented and I didn't want to try to completely overdo it. they have to make money after all. 3 a week seemed pretty reasonable.
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post #5 of 27
11/5/04 at 8:50pm
There's fortunately been no change in my turnaround time since the price reduction: still a two-day travel each way.
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post #6 of 27
11/5/04 at 9:32pm
Thread Starter 
Well, it seems to be pretty much getting back to normal. Hopefully it will stay that way.
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post #7 of 27
11/7/04 at 10:05pm
How can you find out how close you are to the nearest warehouse?
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post #8 of 27
11/12/04 at 5:45am
Bill Absolutely I noticed this as soon as the price dropped I'm in the same boat as you close to a distribution point and I used to get the disks in a day. Now it takes them 3 days to check them in and two days to ship. Thanks for the value Netflix. I'll be exploring other alternatives.
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post #9 of 27
11/12/04 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 
Dave,



My service has returned to normal for a little while now. DVDs are pretty much having a 2 day turnaround. I am curious how many titles you go through in a month. They have always kind of had a threshold and I wonder if it is a little lower. I am getting about 13 titles a month, which is a good deal, so I will be staying.





And, who's Bill?
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post #10 of 27
11/12/04 at 9:49am
We've Killed Bill

I'm probably slightly higher, maybe 18 titles a month. Could be they are slowing me Down.
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post #11 of 27
11/12/04 at 10:06am
Thread Starter 
I guarantee you they are slowing you down. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't do it before. I wouldn't get down on them. At $1 per rental they are definitely losing money. Maybe you could find a middle ground.
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post #12 of 27
11/12/04 at 10:08am
Thread Starter 
BTW, the only change that has stayed is that they allow 3 days for titles to arrive when shipped from the local warehouse, even though they still take 1 day. This really has no impact on the service, though.
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post #13 of 27
12/6/04 at 4:51pm
my service has been good. I'm very happy not to have to deal with Blockbuster.
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post #14 of 27
12/7/04 at 3:12pm
It depends on the Post Office. I put two returns in the mail yesterday and I was shocked to see that Netflix received both of them today! This is from Hawai'i to California in less than 24 hours??? WOW!

I've had my share of surprisingly quick turnarounds and lengthier turnarounds. I've even had several lost discs. I attribute this to the Post Office.
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post #15 of 27
12/7/04 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
Wow. 1 Day from Hawaii to the mainland is impressive. I doubt you can totally bank on it, though. Just out of curiosity, did it go back to Southern or Northern Cal?
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post #16 of 27
12/8/04 at 1:19pm
Quote:
It depends on the Post Office. I put two returns in the mail yesterday and I was shocked to see that Netflix received both of them today! This is from Hawai'i to California in less than 24 hours??? WOW!


I'm not sure, but the Post Office may have a system setup to notify Netflix when they have a DVD in hand and ready to be returned. Which then gives Netflix the ability to ship out the next dvd on your list without actually having a returned dvd in thier hands.

Paul
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post #17 of 27
12/8/04 at 1:28pm
My turnaround has been absolutely disgraceful since they implemented the new price change. I've decided to cancel and go to Blockbuster. They havethe same deal for 17.49 a month, plus you get two free store rentals a month and also have the option of renting video games online as well.
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post #18 of 27
12/8/04 at 4:22pm
Quote:
Wow. 1 Day from Hawaii to the mainland is impressive. I doubt you can totally bank on it, though. Just out of curiosity, did it go back to Southern or Northern Cal?
San Jose. No, this is the first time this has happened and 95% of the time it takes 3-5 days to get to me, like normal 1st Class mail does. Same goes for the return. Sometimes it takes two days.

Quote:
I'm not sure, but the Post Office may have a system setup to notify Netflix when they have a DVD in hand and ready to be returned. Which then gives Netflix the ability to ship out the next dvd on your list without actually having a returned dvd in thier hands.
I don't know if it's the Post Office but I notice that Netflix's estimated time of arrival is now 2 to 3 days instead of 4 or 5. In fact, I just received my next two TODAY! Wow, now that IS worth saving $4 a month! (Update: My last disc arrived in four days.)

Here's an interesting thread:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=220185

Notice he says USPS notifies Blockbuster when they receive a disc. So it may well be true for Netflix.
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post #19 of 27
3/8/05 at 4:09am
Something funny just happened. I finished watching a rental, put it back in its envelope, sealed it, and looked at the return address and it said HONOLULU, HI 96820-0720. I haven't looked at the return label since my last post, so I don't know how long this has been happening.

First of all, it's going back to a PO Box in Honolulu (not San Jose anymore), so that might explain the quick turnaround time. However, the only big address in that zip code is the main Post Office next to the Airport where all mail ends up! Hmmm. Why would Netflix spend more postage to send it from Honolulu to San Jose? Or maybe there's a deal where the envelope just gets sent back with no extra postage, like a forwarding process.

I've still had good service. One title that Netflix said would take about 4-5 days (instead of the 2-3 days) to get to me but it got to me within their estimation. Maybe the longer it takes, it's coming from a different warehouse in CA. I know there's no warehouse in Honolulu because all return addresses on the sent-to-me envelopes say San Jose.

I also haven't had to wait long for "short wait" or "long wait" titles in my queue (except for Mr. 3000, which has been "long wait" since it was released).
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post #20 of 27
3/8/05 at 9:05am
Thread Starter 
All the outgoing envelopes have a return address of San Jose, even though that is not necessarily where they are coming from. My guess is there is a warehouse in Hawaii. The PO box is just that, a PO Box which is why it is at the post office. Most likely the discs are picked up each day, or even more likely, everything to that box is delevered to their location. The discs here in Colorado have a San Jose return address on the shipping envelope even though they come from and go back to Denver. They also go back to a PO Box.
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post #21 of 27
3/8/05 at 1:19pm
Actually I have not had any problems until Feb 2005. From Oct 2003 through Jan 2005, I have had a very consistent average of 2.3 days in each direction. Starting February 2005 it has been 3.1 days each direction. Hopefully this is just a temporary fluctuation in USPS performance.

However, it will have to get much worse than this before I'll consider Ballbuster.
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post #22 of 27
3/8/05 at 2:31pm
Ha Ha Ha! It just goes to show that what I've been saying in the "other" Netflix thread is 100% TRUE -- they make a conscious effort to either stall the turnaround for the discs, or send them out like lightning, depending on the person and the situation. Dave just said that he only started experiencing stalling problems in February 2005 ... but with me, that was the very first month I joined, and for a new customer like me they sped up the service so fast it made my head spin (and NOW they're stalling in March)!

Say what you will, but from everyone's experiences it's very clear that Netflix has the ability to move these turnarounds like either the tortoise or the hare.
It's not an accident.
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post #23 of 27
3/8/05 at 3:10pm
Quote:
Dave just said that he only started experiencing stalling problems in February 2005
Keep in mind this isn't necessarily a long-term issue -- there have been periodic fluctuations since 7/99 when I first started with Netflix. Nevertheless, since 1/1/2001 it has averaged out to right at $3.00 per rental from Netflix (this incorporates sales tax), which is much better than I could ever do renting locally -- not to mention selection...
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post #24 of 27
3/29/05 at 9:41am
I don't have problem with turn around time at all. If I return the movies monday I normally get the new one by wednesday. Unless it ships from different state (Usually not well known movies where they only buy so many copies. But popular movies are usually ship from the distribution center near my house).
I have about 60-70 movies on my queue and only 3 or 4 of these are short wait and the rest available now. Can't complain.
I have been a loyal fan of netflix since they started out. With $2.00 different from Blockbuster online pricing is not gonna make a dent in my pocket for me. With all the money they save me over the years from going to Blockbuster, it's just my way of saying thank you.

Blockbuster knows that they are loosing business to online rental that they have to come up with something quick. Make sure to read between the lines on their fine print how long does the price last. I don't even know if they have a distribution center in my area. I really think they are slowly killing their rental stores. The more successful their online becomes the faster their rental stores disappear. One door opens the other closes.
Any promotion that they have right now only gonna last for so long. (I heard they sent out coupons to you each month so you can redeem it at the local store) if they're not making money due to giveaway gifts and lower pricing, I don't think their stock holders will be happy.
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post #25 of 27
3/29/05 at 12:12pm
A few words about Blockbuster Online, since it was mentioned here.

I have been using BB Online since last summer. It had been pretty good for me. But during the last few weeks availabilty has really gotten poor. I have 22 movies in my queue and only 2 show as available. The rest are either short wait, long wait or very long wait. If they don't improve soon, I will probably cancel.
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post #26 of 27
4/4/05 at 5:40pm
I'm still having pretty good service from Netflix (the PO Box in Honolulu helps a lot, even though I'm still waiting for Finding Neverland but Elektra and Sideways are being shipped as I type this).

I also noticed that they brought back the 2-at-a-time unlimited rental plan for $14.99/month.

While I appreciate the fact that they are trying to allow people who rent less discs to have another choice, one thing about this doesn't satisfy me.

All other plans (3 to 8-at-a-time) have a $6/disc-at-a-time cost. 2-at-a-time for $14.99 is $7.50 (which is not proportional to the other plans). Of course, if you rent a lot in a month, that's still a very good deal.

Although understanding both sides of the fence (Netflix must make profit$), I would hope that their 2-at-a-time would be $11.99 and their 4-rentals-per-month (2-at-a-time) plan goes down to $9.99.

Since I am having less time to watch DVDs (but still enough a month to rent as a monthly plan), I would choose the 2-at-a-time plan.
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post #27 of 27
4/22/05 at 4:35am
Now they have created a 1-at-a-time unlimited rental plan for $9.99/month.
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