Posted by beavis on 02/28/06 22:05

I don't have a particular dog in this fight, but I I did just cancel my
Netflix service this week. I've had it for about four months. The
first month, service was *fantastic* -- I got the DVDs I wanted,
including new releases, very quickly.

Starting midway through the second month, service came to a screeching
halt. I'd drop a two DVDs in an envelope on a Monday. One would be
"received" on Tuesday, and a new disc would be "Shipping Today" until
about Thursday when they finally sent it. The second disc that I had
mailed in -- IN THE SAME ENVELOPE, wasn't "received" until several days
after the other. Shipping for that disc's replacement didn't commence
until Monday -- a *week* after I sent the disc in.

This happened several times -- it was very obvious to me that they were
playing games with the "received" dates, since I use the same post
office Netflix does. I wasn't a particularly heavy user, but
artificial slowdowns were very obviously added to my shipments. Yes, I
was "throttled."

I'd also add that the first month was the *only* month where I received
any new releases. I've had three new releases sitting in the top of my
queue since early December, and I haven't received one of them. They
were still in my queue when I canceled yesterday.

I like the *idea* of Netflix, but the reality for me was disappointing
after the first month. Netflix, if you're listening, I'd happy pay the
same $18 monthly fee with a cap of 12 movies a month, but with
"Priority Availability and Shipping." I get my new releases, you get
to save money on postage to keep it viable, and everybody's happy.
(Similar to the $12 plan, just a bigger monthly cap.)

For me, for now, Netflix just doesn't work very well. But now that
I've gone through all the old movies I wanted to watch again, while the
new releases stayed unfulfilled in my queue, I'll spend the $18 at my
local video store.

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