Netflix (1 Viewer)

[KyleC]

Does anyone have a free month coupon or code? Does a free month exist? All I keep seeing is 2 weeks. I would love to try out this service but 2 weeks seems awful short. Any info is appreciated.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

I've never seen more than the "free two week" offer. If you rent movies on a regular basis, go ahead and cave and try it out...get your 2 free weeks, then pay for one month. I was a member a long time ago when there were only two distribution hubs, and you got 4 titles out at a time for $20...I started not renting many movies...so I felt I was wasting my money and cancelled. It was a great service though.

 

[JamesGL]

Walmart DVD has a ONE MONTH free coupon.
It is also $1 cheaper than Netflix if you become a paying customer.

I had NETFLIX, now WALMART DVD and I am very happy with it.
Their turnaround is a lot faster, their new releases have a much shorter wait than NETFLIX and most of all, if you have questions, there is an 800 that you can call.

Also, NETFLIX have this "shipping status" where a DVD can sit for days before it actually leaves, Walmart don't play this game to limit the number you can rent. This seems to happen when they find out you return the DVDs "too fast".

 

[TonyD]

I LIVE NEAR PHILLY, NOt sure were ocean county is, but my netflix turn around is usually 2 or 3 days.

thats right, sometimes 2 days from putting my dvd in the mail. two days later i get the next dvd in my cart.
there is a hub in southeastern pa.

 

[KyleC]

Tony I live 40 mins north of AC or 15 mins north of Long Beach Island.

I wanted to try Netflix because they seem to be the only place that had TV shows for rent (didn't check walmart). For instance I saw that Netflix had the whole first season of Farscape. I'd also like to rent Voyager since I know I don't want to buy it.

 

[JamesGL]

Walmart also has TV series.
I just finished 24 (Kiefer Sutherland) Season 2 set and finally all caught up with The Sopranos.

I was okay with Netflix but since my turnaround was 'fast'(I usually return the next day), they started limiting the number I can get by putting my next DVD in "shipping" status and it will be like that for days at a time.
I posted this in another forum and they said the same thing, that they do that.
I guess they need to in order to make money but at least, they should disclose that.

 

[Dick White]

Well, there goes my intention to give them a try again. I used them when they first started up and you could rent individual DVDs. When they went to the monthly plan, I did a free trial for a month and then dropped it because of slow turnaround (they didn't have multiple distribution centers then and we were on opposite coasts). They have since fixed the distribution problem and then implemented several changes aimed a limiting how many rentals you can do in a month (new definition of "unlimited"). And now they are artificially inducing slow turnarounds to boot? Sigh.

 

[Mathew Shelby]

I would like to give my recommendation for the Walmart rental service. It would be nice if I could pop into the local store to return/rent new DVDs. I have had 2 DVDs get lost in the mail in the 6 months I have been with them and they will expedite them out to you-no questions asked.

 

[Chris_Morris]

Blockbuster is preparing to roll-out a program like this nationwide. ~$25 a month, and you pick up and return at the store, no late fees.


Chris

 

[Chris Pags]

I've been a netflix member for almost a year now and can reccomend it pretty much without reservations. Selection is fantastic. Site is easy to use and informative. Discs are generally in good shape. Customer service was fine on the two occasions I've had problems. I'm located pretty close to the Queens distribution center and I average about a dozen movies a month - in the last month I've watched fifteen. That's about as many as I can/care to watch in that much time. Can't say how this compares to Walmart's service as I haven't tried it and I'm not in a rush to either. Why fix it if it's not broken?

 

[Aurel Savin]

Ditto, to what Chris said above. I live next to the Flushing, Queens center as well and can average about 12-15 movies a month. Turnaround is 2 days for a movie ...

For the 4 months I have been a member, no problems so far.

 

[DanielKellmii]

I have been a member for 4 years. I am in South Florida, so originally, the turnaround was about 7 business days. There is a new distribution facility now, and the turnaround is now much faster. I get a mix of new movies and old movies, so the "shipping status" issuer has never come up. But I don't think I have every watched more than 10 movies in a month. It has been great for my kids. Now I don't have to buy Alladin II. I rent it, they watch it 50 times, and I send it back. That way, I just buy the good ones like Fantasia 2000 and Ice Age.

 

[Steve_Ch]

I've been a Netflix customer off and on pretty much since they started the business a number of years ago. I've been through all kinds of promotions and plan changes, and just recently (2 months ago) "re-sign" up after about a 9 months absence.
In the SF Bay, my turn around has NEVER been more than 3 days (drop off at mail box and get a movie 2 days later. One thing I like about Netflix is my experience there was never any hassle to replace "bad" or "missing" DVDs. One time I forgot to change my address after I moved (I have my mail forwarded), all 3 DVDs were "lost", and they just sent me 3 replacement right away.
I looked into Walmart a few months ago, but they did not appear to have nearly as many off the beaten path DVDs as Netflix, may be that's changed, but I think if one's interested in off beaten path DVDs, Netflix may still be a better choice.

 

[JohnRice]

NetFlix really is a good deal. I know they will slow your shipping if you get excessive, but that doesn't seem to happen until you are regularly receiving about 17-20 titles a month on the basic plan. Come on, we're talking $1 a disc at that point. It costs them half that much just for postage two ways. If you want more, upgrade your membership.

I think they still have the best selection out there and you can just sign up for a few months at a time, which is what I do. It's not a long term commitment.


Regarding the Blockbuster plan, I did that about 18 months ago. I thought it was national then, but now that I think of it, the flyers and signs for it were always really crappy ones printed on a laser printer, so it must have been a trial thing. If you want volume, that can be a good way to go, but remember you are choosing from an infinitely smaller selection than the online guys.

 

[Chris_Morris]

I heard about this plan on the Clark Howard radio show. He said it had been test marketed for awhile, and the BB was about to roll it out nationwide. The only thing I could find on their website was the video game deal.


Chris

 

[Rick Guynn]

James, do you work for WalMart or something? I think this may be the first time I have heard this 'version' of NetFlix service.

I have been using them for about a year-and-a-half, and have never had had this problem. I am grandfathered in on the two-out $15 program with unlimited rentals (the current two-out limits you to 4 rentals a month). I do fast-turnarounds and usually do 8-10 discs a month. I am pretty certain they are not actually making money on me at this rate, and yet I have never had a movie sit in the 'waiting to be shipped' area for more than a few hours. I put a disc in the mail, and I get the next one two days later. The only way it could be faster is if I sent it same-day shipping through the post office...

Based on many other people I have talked to and posts I have read, my experience is the norm and not the exception.

RG

 

[Chris_Morris]

Actually there was a guy who did a study on Netflix and found at one time that they were slowing down volume users, and changing the availability of some movies depending on your usage. From about July of last year, through December I had the same problems, many out of stock movies (even more obscure ones), and long shipping times (would be marked as shipping early one day, not actually ship until late the next day). Since they opened a few more distribution centers though, things have changed. Movies always ship within hours now of being placed in "Shipping" status. It also seems that they are letting the regional centers purchase new movies. It used to be that new release would take 4-5 days to arrive (on the week that the movie is released) which would indicate for me that they were shipped from the San Jose center, now however, new releases get here as fast as others (I have Runaway Jury marked as shipping today, it will most likely get here Wed, Thur at the latest).

But, like the study done, the times the service was worse, I was on the 5-out plan. As soon as I went back to the three out plan, things got better. Next month I'm going to switch back to the 5-out plan. We'll see if the improvements remain.


Chris

 

[Chris_Morris]

Here's the article testing Netflix:

DVD-Rent-Test


and here's an old post on HTF about the BB plan, this is the one Clark Howard was talking about:

BB Freedom Pass

Chris

 

[JohnRice]

Thanks for posting a link to that NetFlix analysis Chris. I was probably overstating how many movies NetFlix lets you get in a month before slowing you down. I think it's been about 18 months since the last time I was signed up with them, so I really can't remember at what point they seem to slow you down.

I do know, when I was signed up with them in the early days (maybe 5 years ago) they actually locked my account for a few days due to my high number of rentals. From what I can tell from others, they don't seem to balk if you are in the 12 movies a month range on the 3 out plan. 5 per month would be getting too expensive to me.

 

[JamesGL]

Rick,

No, I don't work for Walmart and to be honest, I really don't like how they take over the mom and pops store in our area but their service is much better than Netflix from my experience.