View Single Post - Anyone use Netflix?

Cleem · Rated PG-13

I've been using Netflix for about 3 years now and overall I would say that I have been happy with their service. I would give them a 92.5% overall rating.

I use the one-at-a-time plan ($8.99+tax/month), which means that I order a DVD, watch it, and they do not send me another one until it arrives in their warehouse. I have some positive experiences that I wouldn't mind sharing. Once a family member was borrowing a Netflix DVD of mine and lost it; I reported the problem to Netflix and they promptly shipped me the next one in my queue (but did record the mishap; I believe if enough marks accumulate on your account, they either suspend or terminate service). The turn around time has been either one day (ie, put the DVD in the mailbox, they receive it and ship out the next one the next day) or two days, depending on where I was shipping the DVD from. Another thing I love about Netflix is the rating system that not only gives recommendations, but also correlates to other Netflix customers, and when they write reviews you can see how alike your movie preferences are. So when someone says "I think this movie was terrible!" and they are 95% similar to you, you may want to consider picking a different film. Netflix also usually includes three movie aficionado reviews (with a quick blurb, an out-of-five rating, and a link to the full review) along with the laundry list of user reviews with the most popular reviews stickied to the top.

I wouldn't give the service a full 100% rating for the following two reasons. The first is a personal one which you may very well never encounter. I would estimate that approximately 3-5% of the DVDs I have received over the years have been significantly scratched to the point where I was unable to play them or even navigate to the root menu. It is a rare problem but seemed to occur most frequently with older, popular DVDs, at least in my experience. The second reason has to do with their policy with giving gift certificates to friends. What was not clear to me at the time, at perhaps it is my fault for my ignorance, is that once the free months have expired for the receiver of the gift, any subsequent months are charged on the gift giver's account. So I was getting charged double each month and eventually called to ask what was going on. I am just not a fan of recurring subscriptions so I would dock some points off for that. I should note however that I told them about the problem, and perhaps it was because the gift receiver did not order any DVDs outside of the free months, but they completely and promptly refunded my money.

With regard to Blu ray, well I do not own a Blu ray player, however Netflix has an entire section dedicated to Blue ray movies. I am not sure if that link will work for a guest to Netflix, but I hope it does. I tried to determine how many Blu Ray movies Netflix has, but was unsuccessful. The list does seem pretty extensive, however, with many big name movies, both new and old.

As far as in comparison to Blockbuster Online, I really can't compare them. The only thing I know about Blockbuster, which may or may not be a big selling point for you, is that I believe you can return the disks directly to a local store and pick your next one off the shelf if you would really want your next movie immediately. Good luck in your choice. Wave