Posted by Bill's News on 11/28/05 19:20

jallen99@cox.net wrote:
> Is anyone else having this problem?
>
> I subscribe to Netflix primarily for the new releases. I can get the
> new releases in the first week without having to drive over to BB or
> Hollywood, risk missing to get them, and then have to worry about
> returning the disks. It's not a money issue, but naturally I do get
> a
> better deal with them than I do with those other corporations.
>
> I've been a member since 2001 and I love this service. There were
> minor hiccups during the first year, but so far they have been
> excellent.
>
> However, last month I noticed that some releases on Netflix were
> getting moved to a week after their actual release date (i.e. if DVD
> was releases on 11Oct, Netflix didn't have it until 18 Oct). This
> was
> not cause for alarm to me though but just a symptom.
>
> This month, particularly during the past two weeks (and may affect
> this week as well), I've noticed that new releases that I have in my
> queue were getting slapped with the "Long Wait" and even the dreaded
> "Very Long Wait". This happened for all the new releases of 15 Nov
> 2005, and for "War of the Worlds" for 22 Nov. This is despite the
> fact that a) I added these films about 6 months ago, b) they were at
> the top of my current queue, and c) I had open spaces ready for them
> to be shipped.
>
> I don't know if this is a new trend as a cost saver so they don't
> have
> to have so many copies of new releases available the first week, or
> if
> they are just having some temporary shipping problems.
>
> If it's a temporary issue of shipping or anything else like that,
> then
> no problem. I don't find this a cause of alarm, and can wait out the
> minor hassle this may cause - if only temporary.
>
> But if this IS a new trend to cost cut, then I may find myself
> dropping one of my favorite on-line services and perhaps going back
> to the dreaded corporate rental services (begging on my knees).
>
> I hope it's not a new trend, but as I said, I use Netflix primarily
> as
> getting new releases and if they are not able to keep up with the
> demand (like they have so surpremely done for the past 4 years I've
> been a member), then I must consider breaking ties with this
> excellent
> service.
>
> Has this happened to anyone else? (For reference, I live in the
> Washington, DC area. My Netflix service center has been
> Gaithersburg,
> MD since it opened in 2002.)

Looking back over my rental history, I get 3 to 6 discs a week (about
18 per month).
Sometimes it appears that NetFlix manipulates to their business model,
but that still comes out to about $1 per disc and I never have to get
off my fat butt and drive anywhere, and pay more than twice the price
to do so after scouring the shelves for anything watchable.

So far I've only had one NF disc that was unplayable, even after
washing the peanut butter off ;-) And they shipped a replacement the
next day, before I had even gotten the damaged disc into the mail.

As to new releases, three of the four queued which are due out
tomorrow, have been marked as shipping tomorrow (Tuesday). The only
oddity here is that this is the first I recall them not being shipped
on Monday? (but let's give them slack for recovering from the
holiday). And there seems to be little one can do to predict which
will be the short or long week. For example, all three discs were
back to NF at least by last Wed - before the 4 day weekend - yet none
was shipped then and none today? Might have been nice to have had a
few lower on the queue discs over the holiday to keep the youngsters
enthralled ;-)

Still, its way better than the alternatives.

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