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NetFlix lowers prices, but... (1 Viewer)

JohnRice

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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.
 

BrianAe

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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.
 

danak

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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
 

JohnRice

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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.
 

DonaldB

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There's fortunately been no change in my turnaround time since the price reduction: still a two-day travel each way.
 

JohnRice

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Well, it seems to be pretty much getting back to normal. Hopefully it will stay that way.
 

Dave Scarpa

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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.
 

JohnRice

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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?
 

Dave Scarpa

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We've Killed Bill

I'm probably slightly higher, maybe 18 titles a month. Could be they are slowing me Down.
 

JohnRice

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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.
 

JohnRice

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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.
 

Keith I

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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.
 

JohnRice

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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?
 

Paul_Medenwaldt

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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
 

Bryan Ri

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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.
 

Keith I

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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.
 

Keith I

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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).
-
 

JohnRice

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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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