The Netflix scam is out - This really REALLY pisses me off.

Sean Michael said:
A large percentage of Blockbuster profit over the years has come from late fees. (Personally, I'll never forget the $15 late fee for "Hideous Kinky"--and I never got around to watching the damn movie!)

Blockbuster burned a lot of bridges with its late fee policies. I won't go back.
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Thanks for the info, Sean. Now, I can understand why everyone's slamming Blockbuster. :beer:
 
Damn that suckss guys!!

I get rental movies for free!! hurrayy!

I got a friend that works in Blockbuster..and he can get me free rentals somehow...only 2 movies..but hey its better than gettin raped for money from Netflix and Blockbuster.

I hope u guys settle ur issues.
 
I won't argue that what they are doing is irritating. But evil? That's stretching it.

I do ask though, would you rather the company fail and then you don't have the service at all?
 
I quit Netflix years ago b/c they started needlessly slowing on receiving and sending my movies out. I joined them again b/c my local mom and pop video store closed down.

You can't beat the selection at Netflix but in the last couple months they have started taking longer to register that they have received my movies, etc etc. I am going to stick with Netflix until it becomes a rip off for me, I did send their Customer Support a complaint however tonight...

But my one friend has Blockbuster online and he says they dont send him his movies in order of his queue, so that would kinda suck too in my opinion.
 
A lawsuit was filed and the dude won. It's what forced them to hide this little practice in their terms and conditions. The thing that really disturbed me is if you go to the website "hackingnetflix.com" and read all of the comments you find out just how calculated Netflix's little scam is. Every single heavy renter experiences the slowdown at about the same time (after 3 months of the service). You can hear their little software program clicking into action: "Beep beep boop... heavy renter -- must pretend like we're receiving movies later." The exact same thing happened to me and I can't help but feel like I went on a date with Netflix, got drunk, and was slipped a ruffie. The next thing you know I'm in a bathtub full of ice and a note to call 911.
 
Just another lame excuse for lawyers to pocket more money......
My thoughts about the guy in the first article...... He's probably just ripping and returning. Unfortunately I know a guy that does this. Who has time to really sit down and watch more than 20 movies a month????
Especially if one or two of them is a Peter Jackson flick! :cheesy:
 
Hello, has everyone neglected to take notice of the earlier post about getting a FREE Library card and then getting FREE Movies. You guys are paying for a service which you can get for free. Now in my book that's just being dumb and the Blockbusters and Netflixs of this world deserve to get your money.
 
I always wanted to have a restaurant with a buffet "All you can eat for $2.95"

And then, when the customer goes back up for seconds, tell him "Sorry, sir. That was all you could eat for $2.95."

:grin:
 
Just for the record, I'm the biggest Netflix fan out there. I subscribe at the 4 at a time/ $25 tier.

Do I think this sucks? Sure. But I did my homework ahead of time; Netflix never really made a secret of this practice. As memory serves, they need it to hit $2 per rental (ie: 12.5 DVDs per month for me) before they make any profit.

And I am OK with this, for the most part.

Maybe because I turn to Netflix for the stuff that I can't get locally (Toledo is NOT known for having great Mom & Pop video stores), so most of it is always available without a wait. I rarely go for the newer titles, but then, "Cinderella Man" has been sitting at the top of my queue for 2 months!

If you're into catalog titles, it's a whole lot of hoopla over nothing. If you want newer stuff, then yeah, it's a big deal.

Just my opinion. But dammit, I LOVE Netflix!

David Kuznicki
Production Mananger, WGTE-TV30
 
Sirius_Doggy said:
My thoughts about the guy in the first article...... He's probably just ripping and returning...Who has time to really sit down and watch more than 20 movies a month????
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My thoughts exactly.
 
Not only is this 100% percent true but after the first class action lawsuit they went right back to doing their selective "avid renter" policy of slowing down mailings to people who returned movies too quickly.

I spoke to a Netflix rep and all he could say was "You're still getting a great deal." and he tried to dupe me into believing that they were actually sending them out as fast as they could. Even though it took 5-7 days for me to receive anything. I LIVE in Queens and their distribution center is in QUEENS! It makes no sense...

While Blockbuster has notoriously sucked ass for a long time (and I never thought I'd defend them) but to the people speaking of their self-censored videos...this does not apply to their web-based site and actually I don't believe that is in practice anymore.

Go support your mom and pop video stores.
 
I hope that everyone who is complaining here is also complaining to Netflix - that's the only way they'll either change their policy or be more forthright in describing how their service truly works.

Like many others have said, I thought I was just being paranoid. I even emailed Netflix about it and, of course, they babbled about their efforts to provide the best service, etc., etc. So, even though this may be in the fine print of the terms and conditions, they sure don't advertise this policy even when customers explicitly complain about changes in their efficiency.

And to the guy who calls those"dumb" who give money to companies when libraries offer films for free, I'd like to know if his local library has 50,000 titles? I check out movies from the huge downtown library in Chicago, and they probably don't have 10% of that volume. I'm sure they have the latest Ben Affleck flick though.
 
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I've been with Netflix since they started. I really loved the service until the last few months. EVERY and I mean EVERY new release that I have in my que has a "long" to "very long" wait. Why bother? I can just go to Blockbuster and pick it up as a guaranteed new release. Sure I have to make a 5 minute trip down the street, but at this point so what? It's worth it.

I joined BB online to see what their service was like and have been aggrevated at two things on there as well:
1) movies are not shipped in order. Really annoying if I have a small horror film at number one and a big release at number two... they will ship number 2 because chances are it is at a facility closer to me. I have it at number two for a reason!
2) MANY new releases have "long" to "very long" wait times. Again, why bother?

I have also noticed that the turn around on BB online isn't as fast as Netflix. I put them in the mail in the morning, they have them the next day, and day three I have new movies. Add another day (or two) to BB.

I really like on line renting because I am lazy... but I don't want to have to wait a week or two for new releases. I would expect BB on line to have some sort of guranteed in stock policy like their stores, but nope.

Both services have their merits, but I'm not really happy with either right now.

-Robert
 
Sirius_Doggy said:
Who has time to really sit down and watch more than 20 movies a month????
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I definitely do. And I work a full time job, run my own company, and have a social life besides watching movies at home, in the theater, and at film festivals. I just love movies, does't mean I wear an eye patch and have a peg leg.:rolleyes:
 
dustino said:
And to the guy who calls those"dumb" who give money to companies when libraries offer films for free, I'd like to know if his local library has 50,000 titles? I check out movies from the huge downtown library in Chicago, and they probably don't have 10% of that volume. I'm sure they have the latest Ben Affleck flick though.
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Hey Dustino,

Have you actually set foot in your library? Just asking because believe it or not if your "local" library (that's if you know where it is) doesn't have a movie title you'd like to see. Chances are the network of other libraries in and around your area will have the title you requested and you can then book said film and watch for free. The library I'm a member of have a vast inventory of DVD's (including Ben Afleck Flicks but do draw the line on PORN) You'd be a very very old man if you started watching them back to back now and exausted the list. And another great thing about libraries is they also have a vast inventory of books...Yeh man over 2,000,000 of the things in one building. Where was I going wrong, spending all that money in Borders on books when I could have spent it in Blockbuster or Netflixs instead, Oh the irony........

These global giants deserve your dumb ass money if your too lazy to wonder on down to your local library and utilise their free services. It's people like you who don't help the situation. If more people showed a hint of interest in a free service like your local library then maybe more investment would be forthcoming from the powers at be and maybe, just maybe one day your local will have an inventory of over 100,000 DVD's.
 
steadicamsteel said:
Hey Dustino,

Have you actually set foot in your library? Just asking because believe it or not if your "local" library (that's if you know where it is) doesn't have a movie title you'd like to see.
(Snip)
These global giants deserve your dumb ass money if your too lazy to wonder on down to your local library and utilise their free services. It's people like you who don't help the situation. If more people showed a hint of interest in a free service like your local library then maybe more investment would be forthcoming from the powers at be and maybe, just maybe one day your local will have an inventory of over 100,000 DVD's.
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Testy, testy!

But as a Netflix apologist, allow me to retort...

Yup, I'm at the library on a weekly basis; it's one of the joys of being a college student. We have a pretty good one downtown, even-- one of the best in the country. And I also utilize the university library.

But no, they don't have everything that I'm looking for. I went looking for "Knife in the Water" over the weekend, which is hardly an obsure film. No luck. No "Decalogue" either. Etc.

If you don't like Netflix's service, simply don't pay for it. If the library's working out for you, more power to you. But I think it's hardly fair to berate people for not renting from the library, and insinuating that he's part of a larger, undereducated mass.

David Kuznicki
Production Manager, WGTE-TV30
 
I agree the library is probably a good source for certain titles, but hardly everything under the sun. Once a library collection exists where I can sign out independent and foreign films then there won't be a need for services like Netflix, unfortunately that isn't the reality of the situation.

Obviously Netflix offers such a great selection and that is the draw for me, I don't usually rent "Dukes of Hazzard"-type movies, I want stuff I can't just go to the theater and see and they are a great resource, it's just unfortunate they apparently treat their best customers the worst.

Do they actually think they are getting their recommendations/support/word-of-mouth from Joe Blow that rents a half dozen mainstream titles a month, or from the fanatics that eat up films? They wouldn't be where they are now if it wasn't for the second group. I don't understand why everyone doesn't get the same shot at their library of movies, doesn't make sense to me.
 
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