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Netflicks
Kuzzle
Member Posts: 1,058
Does anyone here use it? I'm thinking about having my dad sign up so that I can actually watch some movies... The local video rental place sucks. A lot.
Anyway, just wondering what you guys' impressions of the service are. I knew a couple of people who used it, but one of them moved, and the other I only knew because she worked at the school, and she no longer works there.
Comments
I guess it would be the same kind of service that blockbuster does, with alowing only 3 movies out at one time. Once you mail those movies back they send you new ones. If you want to recieve movies constantly, you will have to keep your Que full. So if Netflicks provides the same style of service that blockbuster online does, then it would be good.
Okay, I'll try to give you the rundown on Netflixs as my family uses it (big city USA) and my Dad used to use it (rural USA).
Pay your $20 a month for 3 movies at a time. Advantages are you can hold on to a movie as long as you like and can repeat the process as fast as you like, no postage. With kids, being able to hold on to Stuart Little until your little ones have seen it 2 billion times is nice. You don't have to return all 3 at the same time, and can kind of rotate through movies once you get going. In the end, if I can cycle through 4 movies a month, I have saved money over renting from Blockbuster.
Disadvantage: Turnaround on the movies. If you live in or near a big city like me, turnaround is about 3-4 days tops (mail out 1-2 days, new movies received 1-2 days). However, if you live outside a major distribution point for Netflix, your turnaround can be much longer. For example, my Dad lives in Montana, his turnaround on movies was roughly 8 days, which means that unless he planned his movie watching and mailing pretty well, he didn't actually have movies many of the times he wanted to watch them.
Other notes: The number of movies available is great. You can literally find about any movie imaginable in their lists. I've never had a movie not come when expected. They have mainstream movies, TV series, TV miniseries, etc. The downside is that even though I can get the movies pretty quickly, I tend to forget to send them in until just before the weekend, which means I end up receiving them on Monday, so I go a weekend without any movies to watch. Being slightly disciplined about mailing them after watching could alleviate this problem.
If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them. Overall, I like it for my family's use, but my Dad just couldn't justify it.
I live in a tiny town in Alaska, so I'm sure the wait time would be kind of a bitch...
The number of movies available locally is rather pathetic, so I think it may be worth it just to be able to watch all the movies I couldn't get at the local video shop. I think I'm going to ask my dad to get it when he gets back to town tomorrow... Because if I ask him tomorrow, he might actually get around to it sometime next month. 
I'll just have to keep on him about it.
Oh, by the way, your post was quite informative, daeandor. Thank you.
The availability of movies is huge, and often find movies you would not in regular shops even. The one I am in has a bunch of old classics.
Naturally you rent them then burn, and rinse repeat.
I absolutely fricking love Netflix. I have been using it since the end of 04 and just recently upgrade from 3 movies at a time to 5 movies for an extra few dollars a month. I have watched every single James Bond, Voyager, Rambo, 3-Stooges, Clint Eastwood, Academy Award Best Picture Winning-movie out there thanks to Netflix. Only one movie I personally couldn't find and that was because it isn't on VHS yet.
I have 3 movies cycling through all the Star Trek DS9 seasons right now and another 2 just dedicated to movies I think I'd like based on recommendations. I get in about 6 DVDs a week if I watch them quick enough, and that is more than perfect for me.
The absolute best part is that if you lose a DVD, which I only thought I did once, or if one arrives too scratched to play(Which is Rare) Netflix doesn't ask any questions and immediately sends you the next on the list. They send you a replacement before you even get the scratched up one back to them even if you already have your full limit of DVDs out.
If you just like the new stuff stick to Pay Per View, if you are like me and want to see every A-Movie from the last 40 years and some of the best B-Movies get Netflix. Also good for TV-Shows like I mentioned before.
I started using Netflix a couple years back when the 3-at-a-time plan was $21.99/mos. Low and behold Netflix did something that was uncanny, unheard of, uncapatilistic! They dropped the price of the very same plan to $17.99. What?!?! A company LOWERING the price of their services? *gasp*
Anyway, I've been able to find just about EVERYTHING I've wanted on Netflix and if you don't find it request it and they will add it. Their service is terrific. I've received a couple bad disks that wouldn't play and all I had to do was notify them that the copy I got was bad and voila, they send out a new copy before you even send the old copy back. Just recently when I returned V for Vendetta my return got slowed down in the mail process and I informed them. They just took my word for it and sent my next movie out (V showed up in their offices about a week after I told them it was missing).
I've personally requested several anime titles that they've added to their lists. When I first started they didn't have Man Bites Dog on there and I requested it, poof it's on. One thing they beat Blockbuster hands down is the "no late fee" area. Blockbusters fine print for their online service is tricky. If you keep the movie from Blockbuster more than 14 days they charge you the cost of the movie. If you return the movie after they charge you for the cost they refund the cost minus I think it was a $1.25 fee. Yet Blockbuster Online claims "no late fees". With Netflix I've had movies out for a month and they couldn't have cared less. (note Blockbuster MAY have changed this policy since I last looked at it which was about the same time their commercials for their online, mail-order service came out)
They also check up with me weekly to make sure I am receiving movies on time (which for me is 1 day from when they ship it out). I can return and receive movies from Netflix with a 3 day turn-around so I love them. I think I have about 102 movies in my queue right now so running out isn't a worry.
"What is it I have against Microsoft, you ask? Well, you know how you feel when you wait for an MMO to come out and when it does you feel like you've paid to play it's beta test for another 6-9 months before anything even thinks of working the way it should? Being a network engineer you feel that way about anything Microsoft puts out."
My sister and her husband loved using Netflicks (and enjoyed a dropping of their price too I believe). They used theirs to increase their home movie collection. Three movies come in...three movies get burned...three movies get shipped out. They did not even bother watching some they got in, it was pretty much a factory. And their que was alway full. I liked the fact that you could adjust the que as well, so if you felt like changing your next round of movies, you could.
By the way nice of you to get Man Bites Dog added that was a pretty cool foreign movie, it ranks right up their with Run Lola Run and the Red Violen as movies that I love to watch that are not mainstream.
"It is easier to be cruel than wise. The road to wisdom is long and difficult... so most people just turn out to be assholes" Feng (Christopher Walken)
I can already guess why...
Winona Ryder is in both the movies.
Neptus - FFXI - Pandemonium
Neptus - WoW - Detheroc
You're thinking of Gamefly
"What is it I have against Microsoft, you ask? Well, you know how you feel when you wait for an MMO to come out and when it does you feel like you've paid to play it's beta test for another 6-9 months before anything even thinks of working the way it should? Being a network engineer you feel that way about anything Microsoft puts out."
we use it and so far I like it a lot. They have quite a bit of non-mainstream titles, but the really obscure stuff u might be out of luck.
But like I said, I'm happy, they have 99% of the titles I've searched for so far, and the ones they didn't were some not well-known documentaries.
-virtual tourist
want your game back?
You sound like you should just stick to Pay Per View. You will end up saving money, and it will be a lot faster and easier. The only problem with that is that you will only get to watch it once, unless it's on a day pass.
if he gets the 4, 5, or 6 movies at a time deal, I think he'll be fine as far as entertainment supply, and he can watch any of those as many times as he wishes.
-virtual tourist
want your game back?
Competition is lovely
Netflix's reduced price came about shortly after BlockBuster started its own version of online rental, as Netflix came first. Beat BB by a year or more.
I stopped subscribing oh in about January of this year due to financial issues and I watched every movie I had wanted to see - some couple hundred movies over a couple years. Thinking of subscribing again.
Also, I'm actually part of a class action lawsuit against Netflix. Go figure! Apparently when Netflix first advertised itself it said one day delievery or something and someone sued for false advertisement. Anyway as part of the settlement for people who subscribed within a certain time, people will be getting a month of upgraded service free. Netflix sent me the email a long time ago, I registered my opinion and then a couple months ago another email was sent saying settlement terms were modified and do I approve them. Netflix said in their first email that this is the only message you will get from us regarding this lawsuit. I think terms were accept offer, do nothing thereby forfeiting your right to file your own lawsuit or gain access to benefit, or decline whereby you can then pursue your own civil suit if desired. Now I'm just waiting for them to send an email for me to claim my one free month
. Unfortunately registeration is now closed so if you missed the email and were in the affected time there is nothing you can do
Overall I loved Netflix and had great experiences with them. Also they have a killer anime selection.
I refused to be a part of that lawsuit though I got the same email. In fact, I'd like to beat the crap out of the one who sued in the first place. This piece of S#&T abused the company by going through 9 or so movies a week and when Netflix was forced to make some slight changes to make sure that they were making more money than they were spending on envelopes so that they could keep OUR PRICES DOWN this loser starts a class action lawsuit against them that will cost Netflix millions of dollars. Then all the other retards out there joined in happily though most never rented movies fast enough to be affected by the new changes. This just gives Blockbuster, who used their monopoly to screw customers for the last 10-15 years, a better chance of overtaking Netflix.
You filed a lawsuit against Netflix and you are not certain about the terms? A judge could null the whole procedure if he or she suspected false introdictrination was a cause.
"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."
- Edward R. Murrow
You filed a lawsuit against Netflix and you are not certain about the terms? A judge could null the whole procedure if he or she suspected false introdictrination was a cause.
1. I actually owned Netflix stock at one point but the price was too varied every couple months so I sold it. yes I know about forecasting, stock analysis and market dividends. I also currently have several stock investments.
2. I've been subscribed to Netflix since December of 'O3 and was last billed on February '06. I've been a member for 2 years and been through the $21 to $23 to $18 price range and only stopped due to financial issues. I remember ordering lots of DVD's which did not arrive for about 3-5 days in the first year. Shipping only got better in the 2nd half of "05 for me where I started getting my DVD's in 1-3 days.
3. I DO plan on resubscribing at some point, probably once I get the free month and then stay subscribed from there.
4. Would I have originated a lawsuit against Netflix: No, I wouldn't. But I don't see how accepting the settlement which is a free month and will probably get me back into Netflix is a bad thing.
5. I can think of other reasons Netflix is suffering besides this lawsuit: BB offering its own online service (although inferior to Netflix's), more competition (hence their price drop).
Also I believe there is a lawsuit by BB or Netflix or Gametap over the "Queue" which I believe Netflix claims they copyrighted. Not sure but I'm pretty sure it involves Netflix.
6. I know enough about the terms. I know the differences in their original settlement offer and the new one they sent. I did read all the documentation and have it saved if I need to see it later.
7. Please tell me how I was "playing" Netflix, and why your're at it why you are so hate filled in your reply?
Here is the #1 disadvantage:Damaged discs.
I canceled my account because of this.For the last 4 months EVERY disc i received was damaged.It would stop and restart or just freeze.Some were even unplayable.
If you do use netflix buy a disc repairer.
Another suggestion:
If a holiday that falls on a Monday or Friday is coming up you better get your returns out WAAAY before that weekend.Ive put them in the wednsday before and not seen new disc for up to 10 days.The reason for this is that at a netflix facility they actually have trucks leave at midnight on sundays and thursdays to go to the next time zone's MAJOR USPS processing center.So if a holiday is coming up guess what?No mail on holidays right?Netflix employees dont work holidays either so that adds to the delay as well.
I know this because i used to work in the Atlanta facility.(btw netflix employees get free accounts)
The shipping isnt exactly free.Netflix is betting you wont return them as often as you would want to.But most people do.In other words they DONT want you to watch a lot of movies.They still get their money and dont have to pay for shipping.
The guy who owns Netflix is a former postmaster general.He knows EXACTLY how the system works and uses it to his advantage.
Want to ENJOY an mmo?
Dont start a guild and dont be a leader or volunteer to be coleader or captain.
Just play the damn game:)