| Author |
Message |
    
ReallyTrying
Citizen
Username: Reallytrying
Post Number: 305
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:10 pm: |     |
We've been renting a lot of movies lately, but I almost always limit our selections to one-week, not two-day rentals, because I seem to have a lot of trouble returning them on time. So, last time I was in Blockbuster, I noticed their $25/month deal. But I won't do it: I hate Blockbuster and the ***** you 'tude of so many of the clerks in the SO store.
SO now I'm considering Netflix. $20/month gets you unlimited DVDs (but with a limit of 3 at any one time), free shipping, choice of 18,000 titles. I figure we'd have to see approx. 5 per month to make that money worthwhile.
Anyone use this? What do you say? |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 2103
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:15 pm: | |
I have it & really like it. I'm probably their dream customer - I keep movies out for a month sometimes until I get around to watching them. If you regularly rent, it's a great deal. I find that when I mail a movie back, it never takes more than 1 or 2 days before they get it & ship out the next one.
The "free trial" is a bit of a myth; by the time you receive & watch your movies, you've pretty much used up your 1 free week. And Dave had posted a problem getting rid of his membership a while back. But, I like it. I just consider the $21.95 a month as money I piddle away. Sometimes I get my money's worth, sometimes I don't. |
ReallyTrying
Citizen
Username: Reallytrying
Post Number: 307
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:17 pm: | |
Thanks, g. Right now , the trial is for two weeks, and the monthly fee is $19.95. I think I'll try it.
But if anyone else has anything to say, I'm still interested. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2480
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:20 pm: | |
Netflix is fantastic. You think about the movies you want only every so often, you line them up on a web page, and the movies roll into your mailbox. When you feel like watching one, you take a look at what you've received and say, "Oh yeah, I've always meant to see this one." I've been a customer for about two years now. I have upgraded and downgraded my membership a few times, depending on how much I watch.
You might save money, and you might instead watch more movies. Either way, it's a good deal. And you might spend less time channel surfing.
One problem is my list is growing faster than I can keep up. It's about 30 or 40 movies long now.
I also use Netflix to watch old seasons of The Sopranos and Sex And The City, since I don't get HBO. I don't mind being behind the times.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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kmk
Citizen
Username: Kmk
Post Number: 270
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:20 pm: | |
Absolutely love it. Had it for a year....fast turn around. 2 movies for the kids and one for the grown-ups at all times!
Love the brit-com TV series, foriegn films, and never tire of old musicals! |
Marc
Citizen
Username: Bautisma
Post Number: 155
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:29 pm: | |
After experiencing the same problems at Blockbuster (Not the one in SO), I decided to get Netflix on a friends recommendation. I've had it for about a year and think the service is great.
On their website they keep a personalized queue. Whenever you return a movie, they ship out the top movie on your queue.
The 5 per month to make it worthwhile is assuming that you never pay a late fee at blockbuster. |
SoOrLady
Citizen
Username: Soorlady
Post Number: 460
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:45 pm: | |
Netflix is great. We've used this service over a year and twice a movie we returned was either not received or not credited to our account. Another time, they sent us the wrong movie (but in the right jacket) One click on their customer service button and problems solved.. no questions. |
kellybean
Citizen
Username: Kellybean
Post Number: 33
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 3:27 pm: | |
LOVE Netflix!!!! Have been a member for 2 or 3 years. It is so much better than blockbuster and late fees. even a few movies over the years have been lost in the mail and they don't penalize you. we are catching up on season 2 of the SHEILD right now. (great series!!!) |
ReallyTrying
Citizen
Username: Reallytrying
Post Number: 308
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 3:36 pm: | |
Marc and kellybean, you hit on one other thing about BB rentals, and that's the late fees. Having paid way too many, I'm now insane about getting movies back on time.
Well, thanks, everybody. I signed up. |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 1018
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 3:50 pm: | |
Never tried the service but owned the stock for a while. Judging by the comments here maybe its time to buy it again. |
ashear
Citizen
Username: Ashear
Post Number: 1079
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 4:15 pm: | |
Also love it. kmk - which brit series. I'm always looking for new stuff for the queue and we've run out of sex&city and sopranos for now. (Tried the office but found it annoying) |
kmk
Citizen
Username: Kmk
Post Number: 272
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 4:25 pm: | |
ashear - The Avengers, Monty Python, The Black Adder, anything from BBC, all the Agatha Christie mysteries, Herculd Poirot, etc! |
microgem
Citizen
Username: Microgem
Post Number: 27
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 7:54 am: | |
I had Netflix a few years ago when they were first around and the movies came from California. Back then I loved the service and had no complaints, but the turnover time was too slow and we cancelled.
Last year a friend let me know they now have a distribution site in NJ, so once the movies are shipped we get them in 1-2 days now.
I love the service. They have a huge library of DVDs and have never not found something I was looking for. It's great that I can set up a long queue of movies and my next movie will automatically ship once one is returned. I can even add movies that are in the theater now and they go onto a list of awaiting releases. Once they come out on DVD they move up the queue.
I find it's most cost effect over the summer when I watch less TV and rent more movies. Still it's worth the price when I rent less because of the convience it offers. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 488
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 9:32 am: | |
We ADORE netflix. We upgraded to the 5-at-a-time plan. I drop 'em off in the mailbox at the train station. I put the not yet out's in our queue.
Seems like we get new movies 2 days after mailing in the old ones!
One thing I really like is that they have a really deep list on foreign stuff and old BBC things, as well as documentaries. For example, I started watching this series in like the '80s -- House of Cards -- and never saw the end. They had the whole thing! I just watched it and loved it.
Too, our kid got interested in the Picture of Dorian Gray after seeing an illusion to it in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I was able to rent some artsy series of Oscar Wilde plays on netflix. And they have a "recommendations feature" kinda like amazon, and search, and film critics' picks.
I hope never to use BlockBuster or any movie store ever again. Too much hassle, too expensive, too routinely unsatisfying (inventory). |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 489
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 9:35 am: | |
Plus, twice movies got lost in the mail. I noted it online and got no charge. Once, a movie came damaged. Same thing -- no charge, no questions. |
El Duderino
Citizen
Username: El_duderino
Post Number: 14
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 10:06 am: | |
NYTimes piece...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/movies/19NETF.html |
bak
Citizen
Username: Bak
Post Number: 445
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 10:11 am: | |
After getting TiVo, we cancelled because TiVo had plenty for us to watch, but eventually we signed up again (no fee) for $14.95/month for up to 2 movies at a time.
They have always had good customer service and a good delivery history. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2487
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 10:13 am: | |
Good article, and how timely!
I lost all five of my Netflix DVD's once. I marked them as lost and paid the fees, which were only $20 each. Later I found them and returned them and got my money back. Actually, I kept one because I liked it so much. Not sure if they'd take kindly to it if you "bought" from them this way habitually.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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G Whiz
Citizen
Username: Deborahg
Post Number: 816
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 12:09 pm: | |
we also love netflix...members for over a year, no complaints. Especially great if you have small kids who like to watch horrific movies (Thomas the Tank Engine, Teletubbies) over and over and over for awhile and then lose interest. No late fees and you don't have to buy the damn things. We also get 2 for kids and 1 for adults on average. We've got Lost in Translation for tonight, yay!
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botulismo
Citizen
Username: Botulismo
Post Number: 118
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 4:26 pm: | |
Two thumbs up - Great selection and quick turnaround on dvd's. It seems like we are barely mailing out the ones we have seen when we get the next batch of requests.
Netflix is also great for those people who are perpetually late. |
ligeti
Citizen
Username: Ligeti
Post Number: 111
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 5:34 pm: | |
I'm also seriously considering NetFlix...I have just absolutely HAD it with the poor DVD selection at the video store downtown (but very nice people) and Blockbuster in SO (rude, arrogant "clerks", I carry a knife if I have to go in that place).
I really wish I could give my business to the Mplwd. video store...but their selection is about as expansive as Target's. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2547
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 5:35 pm: | |
Try it, ligeti! What have you got to lose? You can always cancel if you don't like it.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
|
ReallyTrying
Citizen
Username: Reallytrying
Post Number: 318
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 11:38 am: | |
Not that I want to hijack this thread (after all, I started it), but it's the people and service at Blockbuster who got me to thinking about Netflix. The attitudes, the mumbling, the rudeness, the too-loud audio, the piles and piles of movies waiting to be shelved... it made me crazy. I haven't been to the store in town for years; they never seemed to have what I want. |
Jason & John
Citizen
Username: Johnh91011
Post Number: 119
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 2:58 pm: | |
Just joined Netflix and we are really impressed with the turnaround time and service. Blockbuster's $25.00/month deal still means you have to drive there, park, deal with the "tude etc. Netflix gets around all these problems
Walmart has a service similar to Netflix for about the same price. Their selection is much less extensive. |
Ignatius J
Citizen
Username: Ignatius_j
Post Number: 178
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 9:21 pm: | |
Gaaah!!! Netflix stock was up four and a half points today!!! Damn!!! |
Phil
Citizen
Username: Barleyrooty
Post Number: 767
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 11:52 pm: | |
I had a good experience with Netflix but eventually (after a year or so) ran into one problem, and I've heard that others have to. You end up with 4 (or 5) movies that you want to watch but never quite get around to. So they sit, and sit, and sit, and suddenly you realize what you just paid for 4 movies that you think you "should" want to see but actually don't care about. In the end it's just stealth late-fees again and we cancelled. Now we have On-Demand. It doesn't have the latest stuff but what do I care? (Eventually it does!)
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Brian O'Leary
Citizen
Username: Brianoleary
Post Number: 1547
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, April 1, 2004 - 10:16 am: | |
A couple of years ago I had to read about 500 10-Ks for a research project (don't try that at home!). Viacom, which owns Blockbuster, actually broke out the money received for rentals and late fees at Blockbuster. With total revenues of about $4 billion, Blockbuster's late fees were something like $800 million (20%). If that's not an argument for something other than Blockbuster, I am not sure what is. |
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