I have tons of HD-DVD's in my queue at Netflix and almost all of them show Short Wait, Long Wait, Very Long Wait.

Heck Blood Diamond is still showing Very Long Wait for me and I've had it in my queue prior to it being released.

How's everyone else's queue for HD-DVD's?

yep getting that way for me as well.... its getting to a point where new movies that are on the xbox marketplace i get them there and remove the hd-dvd's from my queue.

pretty much every hd-dvd in my queue shows some sort of wait. this is one reason when ms goes to a subscription i will probably drop netflix and move there (even if they lack a few studios still)

I seem to be getting them even when they say wait. I got knocked up yesterday and it had long wait.

I'm the same way.

I've not been able to get Blood Diamond and I too have had it queued since before release.

A Scanner Darkly is the same way for me, although most of the time it's only saying short wait.

This past Tuesday Next became a long wait.

I don't mind waiting, but the first two titles have been at the top of by queue for two months now.

Glad I saw this thread - I was considering re-signing with Netflix and apparently nothing has changed since my last stint with them.

I've also noticed that they are starting to ship to me from all over, even one from California warehouse. My turn-around times have gone from 1 day to 3 or 4 and almost all HD-DVD's are in a wait queue.

I'm pretty close to canceling and trying to come up with another way.

Here is my queue:

Knocked Up Comedy Very Long Wait
Next Thrillers Long Wait
Alexander: Theatrical Cut Action & Adventure Very Long Wait
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Children & Family Long Wait
Blood Diamond Action & Adventure Very Long Wait
The Condemned (BD) Action & Adventure Very Long Wait
Heroes: Season 1: Disc 2 Television Short Wait

Same here. Blood Diamond has yet to arrive in my mailbox, sitting there since prior to the release. (And I'm sure that when I finally get it in 2009, the disc won't be able to play... another problem I've been having with Netflix on some titles.)

I did get Last Starfighter last week which was a big surprise, but I've gotten to the point that if I'm even remotely interested in buying the title, I just go ahead and do so... it saves me trouble and aggrivation in the long run!

..All the while the Netflix CEO talking about how that isn't that much demand for hi-def discs just keeps ringing in my ears...

Same here...Netflix is getting much worse since the inception of HD.

You guys are probably renting too much and NF is now throttling you.

Google "throttle" and "Netflix" for information. It stinks but most online rental joints do this.

I've rented 8 movies from my netflix queue in the last two months, due to the huge turn-arounds they've implemented and waits.

I could have purchased 2 or 3 for the same amount of money I gave them..

You guys are probably renting too much and NF is now throttling you
Nah, I dont think that is the problem. I rent stuff and usually keep it a few days before sending back and i am experiencing the same issues. I live in So Cal and have had a couple come from out of state too. Perhaps they are downsizing?

short waits are ok with me, seems like every short wait i have really isnt a wait at all, just move them to your top and they get sent out immediately, long waits, now thats another issue

We sent in a movie last week (9/17) and it still hasn't hit their database. We reported it missing this morning. We were on the 2 at a time and it was impossible to view more that 2 movies per week because of the slow shipping. We changed it to 1 out at a time. Everything in our queue is short or long wait. I see our relationship with Netflix coming to an end very soon if this keeps up.

I've posted this in many threads. Keep your netflix account open, but suspend it. Then open a blockbuster account. Use the direct links stickied above to add to your q. Continue to use your blockbuster account until they start to throttle you. I have not been throttled yet by blockbuster. Once they start to throttle you, reactivate your netflix.

Both of these companies apparently value their new customers more than their old ones. By switching periodically between the two you can make sure that you will continue to receive movies. If you switch near the end of your monthly cycle, you won't lose much money at all.

Real world example:
I had blood diamond in my netflix q for several months, along with TMNT and a few other titles.

I switched to blockbuster. I received both blood diamong and TMNT right away. TMNT had just been released.

Just this week I received the last starfighter just after it came out.

I have continued to receive the titles I want for several weeks, even one's that had a long wait. Once things bottleneck, I will go back to netflix.


Another thing I recommend is renting the standard def. dvd to see if you like the movie, then purchasing it in HD.

According to my friend, he has a short list and all are hd or br. He says he gets them on time, and is convinced that those of us who rent sd dvd's get to wait because Netflix have the choice to send sd dvd's further down the list. He always seems to get hd new releases the day of release.

Glad I saw this thread - I was considering re-signing with Netflix and apparently nothing has changed since my last stint with them.

+1

I am using up my 40 free rentals I got with MIR with my PJ at Blockbuster and planned on going back to Netflix. Not anymore.

I've noticed some waits on HD-DVD stuff too. Took me quite a while to get TNMT and Hot Fuzz on HD. I know they weren't throttling me because I'd get other SD stuff quickly with out any problems. I think they are just falling behind the curve of HD-DVD adoption and have too few disks right now.

I'm on one-at-a-time, and I literally have no wait at all for HD DVD.

They receive one, the next one ships the next day.

Don't quit NetFlix, your only alternative is BluBuster, and they will really hose you: Blockbuster BD Bias (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=913373&highlight=blockbuster)

I've never had a problem getting a new release the day it comes out, I just make sure whenever I want a new release it's at the top of my queue. For other stuff, I tend to get it, even when it's a long wait after 1-2 tries with it at the top of the queue. I guess I'm just lucky.

I took all SD DVD's out of my queue and have been able to get all HD DVD's in a timely manner, usually with a day or two delay.

I haven't rented an SD at netflix in 4 months, all HD or BD. Yet I still have huge wait-lists on all my titles (even heroes discs)..

I received my first 2 HD-DVD rentals on time, and my next 3 are scheduled to arrive today. Hopefully they do, but I'll probably have trouble finding time to watch 3 movies per week now that the Fall TV schedule has started.

FWIW, with I believe Detroit as my local center, out of 127 titles, 35 or so of which are HD-DVD, I have exactly one short wait. Everything else lists now. I've never had them send anything but the top movie (unless I move one at the last moment). The one short wait is blood diamond. (Discs 2-7 of Heroes are all listed as now).

Throttling is ridiculous, especially since it's been proven that if your Q is empty and you just dump one or two at a time, the movies are always immediately available. It's a shame they are fooling good customers into believing they have to wait a month or more for new releases.

How's everyone else's queue for HD-DVD's?

I've never had to wait for a single HD-DVD from them. I've only rented about a dozen but all of them were available "Now". I understand this is unusual.

That's the reason I bought an HD-DVD player. So many titles I had been renting were immediately available on HD-DVD. I've only rented one that was a BD exclusive so far.

I'm getting all formats (Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD) without any delay - with the exception of Blood Diamond. Something's up with that film for everyone. I actually called their customer service number yesterday to ask them why it's been at the top of my queue for 3 months. She indicated they probably did not receive/buy enough HD copies (Blu-ray availability is in the same boat on this film as HD DVD).

Same problems here. Blood diamond, bourne identity, and the first m atrix all have long or very long waits and they have been in my queue since before their release. Also it always takes them one day to receive my movies. So i sent two on friday so they would ship 2 on monday for me. And I shipped two of them on monday so they would wend 2 tuesday. I had 4 new releases on the top of my que and they sent NONE OF THEM. Also they didnt register as receiving any of them on monday. This is getting old...

Yes I havent had any issues at all and got knocked up from the yesterday. I have been with them for over a year

I just signed up for gameznflix.com since I want to rent HD DVD / DVD / 360 games / Wii games (no PS3 yet). Aside from the site being a little buggy I've heard good things.

Netflix and Gamefly were going to be my next choice though.

You guys are probably renting too much and NF is now throttling you.

Google "throttle" and "Netflix" for information. It stinks but most online rental joints do this.

You beat me to it.

In my queue, which is 90% HD DVDs, almost everything is "Available Now". I think it has partly to do with where your nearest mailing center is, but mostly on how much you rent. Currently, I'm on a 1-at-a-time plan, so I don't think they'll throttle me.

If you are on the 3-at-a-time plan and are constantly receiving/returning movies, Netflix will put a stop to it (I found this out the hard way). Blockbuster does the same thing, but in my experience, they aren't as aggressive with the throttling.

I just signed up for gameznflix.com since I want to rent HD DVD / DVD / 360 games / Wii games (no PS3 yet). Aside from the site being a little buggy I've heard good things.

Netflix and Gamefly were going to be my next choice though.

I have the 3-at-a-time plan with them. The movies and games ship pretty quickly (ship from KY and I'm in IL), but their selection isn't so hot, and I don't really get new releases very often. My queue is mostly older movies and 360 games I missed out on. But for $12.75/month, it's hard to complain too much.

I have the 3-at-a-time plan with them. The movies and games ship pretty quickly (ship from KY and I'm in IL), but their selection isn't so hot, and I don't really get new releases very often. My queue is mostly older movies and 360 games I missed out on. But for $12.75/month, it's hard to complain too much.

Good to know. Their site is acting up right now and I called. They said they are working on it.

But I too am in the same boat, there's a ton of games I still haven't even tried, like Crackdown, Viva Pinhata & Earth Defense Force (360) to Red Steel, Cooking Mama & Mario Party 8 (Wii) and HD DVDs I started adding a few. If the selection doesn't get better I'll just cancel and subscribe to Netflix for the movie side of things.

I've had standard dvd's sent to me twice, so far. It's supposed to pick "HD" every time I add a movie to my queue, but it's messed up a couple times. Kind of frustrating, I need to look into manually adding the HD DVD. I usually just have to click "add" and it picks it for me. Blah.

Yeah, it seems to be much worse the last few weeks. Maybe that is good news though. More people must be requesting HD DVD. Here is an image the first dozen or so movies in my queue. Notice how many have waits.

http://www.rmwhome.com/Imagescurrent/netflixqueue.jpg

Yep, I have been waiting for Black Snake Moan since it was released.
I may just buy it already.

The delays for Netflix HD DVDs is unacceptable, I have found it's gotten much worse since Blockbuster's announcement. Unfortunately, there are really no alternatives...

We received Knocked Up on day and date of the release. Watched it last night and returned today.

Bensons that is because you must have just timed your return right... go ahead and try to rent it again, I am sure it will be weeks before you get it.

All I have to say is Blood Diamond, 3 months and STILL on a very long wait!!!!!!
WTF

According to my friend, he has a short list and all are hd or br. He says he gets them on time, and is convinced that those of us who rent sd dvd's get to wait because Netflix have the choice to send sd dvd's further down the list. He always seems to get hd new releases the day of release.

I keep both in my queue, and have never seen Netflix ship a SD-DVD in preference to a HD-DVD unless the #1 was on "longwait", and the SD was in #2 position. No real surprise or pattern to that.

Throttling is a system that has rules, people just do not know what the rules are. The rules are actually reasonable, given the money you pay. It works like this (based on my experience, carefully observed and documented):


New users have a preference in the queue. (observed by many, though what makes you a new user is not exactly known. 1 month? 2 months? :confused:)
If you rent 4 movies or less per month for each "x at a time" you have, you will not be throttled.
Users that are throttled are placed at lower priority to receive any wait listed movie, and will receive all types of movies with a slower response.


I have found everyone who fails to receive new releases at #1 in their queue within two or three returns are throttled. They are throttled because they exceed the 4x a month rule. At a cost of about $1.41 per rental on a 3 at a time plan, 4x a month, that is a very reasonable fee. If you demand being able to rent more than that, pay the next level "x at a time" fee of about $6 and enjoy 4 more movies a month. If you are throttled, it is your fault for not self-limiting your rental rate.

I have a friend who uses a similar system for Game Fly, he only list the two titles he wants and he seems to get them. I am going to give that a shot but I really do watch a lot of SD dvds... I think it may just be better practice to keep my list shorter and keep a separate "to be seen list" offline.

All I have to say is Blood Diamond, 3 months and STILL on a very long wait!!!!!!
WTF

The description of "short wait" or "long wait" has nothing to do with how long you must wait. This is a description of how long the queue is; not your position in the queue. I regularly receive movies that are listed as "long wait" just prior to shipping.

Riblet very informative post. Thanks!

I have a friend who uses a similar system for Game Fly, he only list the two titles he wants and he seems to get them. I am going to give that a shot but I really do watch a lot of SD dvds... I think it may just be better practice to keep my list shorter and keep a separate "to be seen list" offline.

I can not remember a time where I had fewer than 30 movies in my queue, and have no problems at all promptly receiving movies that are at the top of my queue. Sometimes the #1 or #2 are skipped once, and rarely twice before shipping. And I maintain a mix of HD-DVDs and SD-DVDs.

Riblet very informative post. Thanks!

You are welcome, I hope others try the experiment and report on their success. I forgot to mention that I have been a continuous Netflix user for many, many years at the three-at-a-time rate (was four at a time for the first six months or so). And I forgot to report that it takes 6 weeks to become un-throttled by limiting yourself to 3~4 at a time. Of course, that is normal while throttled. :rolleyes:

Good to know. Their site is acting up right now and I called. They said they are working on it.

But I too am in the same boat, there's a ton of games I still haven't even tried, like Crackdown, Viva Pinhata & Earth Defense Force (360) to Red Steel, Cooking Mama & Mario Party 8 (Wii) and HD DVDs I started adding a few. If the selection doesn't get better I'll just cancel and subscribe to Netflix for the movie side of things.

GnF is tolerable if it's your secondary mail rental service and use it for older movies/games, but I wouldn't use it as a primary. Their availability is very unreliable, i.e. someone appears to be available, but I don't get it.

If you are close to a GameFly shipping center (and you don't mind pay more per month), their selection and inventory is much better than GnF. The problem I had with GF is that it would take me 7-10 days from when I mailed back a game to get a new one. The "FastReturn" is dependent on the post office scanning the envelope, and by my experience, that would work maybe 20% of the time, but that's a big YMMV.

Throttling is a system that has rules, people just do not know what the rules are. The rules are actually reasonable, given the money you pay. It works like this (based on my experience, carefully observed and documented):


New users have a preference in the queue. (observed by many, though what makes you a new user is not exactly known. 1 month? 2 months? :confused:)
If you rent 4 movies or less per month for each "x at a time" you have, you will not be throttled.
Users that are throttled are placed at lower priority to receive any wait listed movie, and will receive all types of movies with a slower response.


I have found everyone who fails to receive new releases at #1 in their queue within two or three returns are throttled. They are throttled because they exceed the 4x a month rule. At a cost of about $1.41 per rental on a 3 at a time plan, 4x a month, that is a very reasonable fee. If you demand being able to rent more than that, pay the next level "x at a time" fee of about $6 and enjoy 4 more movies a month. If you are throttled, it is your fault for not self-limiting your rental rate.

OK.. I agree that I am getting a really good deal for the number of movies I get and the price I pay. I have no problems with that part and do mind being throttled.

However, your last comment is not a fair statement. No where in my agreement with Netflix did they tell me they would hold back (throttle) sending me movies once I received x number. I have the 3 at a time (unlimited) and I do not interpret that to be 3 per month. Why am I at fault for expecting more than 3 movies per month?

All they have to do is be honest with me so I know the rules and I can adjust around those rules. Is that too much to ask?

i have absolutely no problems renting hd-dvd's or sd-dvd's for that matter. i have the rent 3 at a time with no issues at all. i got death proof immediately after its release.

then again, im here in nyc, so im sure its a geographical issue.

I am in NYC as well still waiting for Deathproof

I am seeing very long wait for Hannibal Rising ever since it was released!

I had an intresting conversation with customer service about all my HD DVD disc being Long Wait or Very Long wait. Here is what he said, take it for what its worth.

1. Their new word for "throttling" is being "prioritized". If you try to talk to him about being "throttled", you will not get far.

2. He looked at my account and said my average cost per disc was $1.10 and at that rate I was not being "prioritized".

3 He said basicly the issue is that the demand exceeds their supply. He also said that they were not allowed to buy more than 10% of the production run, (at their normal discounted cost). After 6 weeks they are allowed to buy more (but at a higher cost). These sound like disk that BB, CC, Target return because they did not sell.

4. He also said people tend to keep popular HD DVD titles longer. I told him a lot of people hold on to them after they have been watched, and try to time the return so they can get new releases on the release date, otherwise it can take months to get a title. Also if you return them too quickly, you get "throttled". He said that just hurts everbody. I told him if people did not try to out quess their "priorization", people would never get a new release.

I only rent HD DVD and at the rate they are available, there is know way I'm being "prioritized".

My best quess is that not enough HD DVD's are being manufactured to meet the demand that Netflix has.

He did credit me with a months service, so I quess the call was worth it.

I have the 3 at a time (unlimited) and I do not interpret that to be 3 per month. Why am I at fault for expecting more than 3 movies per month?

3 at a time X 4 movies a month = 12 movies per month :o


And you are right that if they simply published their rules, people would be less likely to have issues with the system. The problem with publishing their rules is that fewer people would become throttled, meaning a slightly higher rental rate, meaning the throttling level would need to be lowered until the rental rate went down. In other words, people like me whom hang at the limit would get fewer movies. I can hit 13 or 14 movies in a month some of the time and still not become throttled as it is.

Many would be happy to know this though, but I understand the logic of not publishing it... I will be more selective moving forward, I am pretty sure I am not throttled far exceeding my "limit". Thanks for the great info.

So if I sign up for Netflix do I have to enter into a long-term contract? Like for a year? Or can I just pay month-to-month and cancel if I'm not happy with the service?

So if I sign up for Netflix do I have to enter into a long-term contract? Like for a year? Or can I just pay month-to-month and cancel if I'm not happy with the service?

You can go month to month.

I have a friend who uses a similar system for Game Fly, he only list the two titles he wants and he seems to get them. I am going to give that a shot but I really do watch a lot of SD dvds... I think it may just be better practice to keep my list shorter and keep a separate "to be seen list" offline.
I tried that with BlockBuster last week for a BD title... the result was that they took a full week (no joke) to send out one disc. Netflix may skip over some of my HD discs, but at least they send something out so I'm never without a movie for more than a day.

I haven't had a lot of issues with throttling, but then I actually pay for a higher usage plan. I got a couple of those 'wait' HD-DVD's lately without actually waiting (surprisingly) I think because I haven't rented an HD-DVD in a couple weeks, so it might be throttling per format or per 'newness' also. Someone who only rents new releases might be 'prioritized' away from new releases only.

Anyway, whatever Netflix's problems, they are still a godsend in my eyes.

Throttling is a system that has rules, people just do not know what the rules are. The rules are actually reasonable, given the money you pay. It works like this (based on my experience, carefully observed and documented):

New users have a preference in the queue. (observed by many, though what makes you a new user is not exactly known. 1 month? 2 months? :confused:)
If you rent 4 movies or less per month for each "x at a time" you have, you will not be throttled.
Users that are throttled are placed at lower priority to receive any wait listed movie, and will receive all types of movies with a slower response.I have found everyone who fails to receive new releases at #1 in their queue within two or three returns are throttled. They are throttled because they exceed the 4x a month rule. At a cost of about $1.41 per rental on a 3 at a time plan, 4x a month, that is a very reasonable fee. If you demand being able to rent more than that, pay the next level "x at a time" fee of about $6 and enjoy 4 more movies a month. If you are throttled, it is your fault for not self-limiting your rental rate.I pretty much agree with your analysis, but it does create a catch-22 situation. If I self limit so I am not throttled, then it reduces the available disc that Netflix has to ship to other customers. For example I receive 3 disk on Monday, and watch all by Tuesday. I hold all 3 until Friday so they are received by Monday, and I get new releases, and I'm not throttled. However, those 3 disc have not been available for other customers for the entire week!! As more and more people try to "work" the system to get new releases, the service gets progressively worse. Netflix needs to understand this and come up with something better than the current throttling scheme. Maybe a 3 a week plan, which is what they are attempting, but just not stated.

I just got notification that "Knocked Up" is shipping out to me today. This morning, it was listed as "Very Long Wait".

How odd.

Here is my queue in Columbia MO (They just opened a shipping center here so I think this is why most of these are available; that and I really could care less about the absolute newest titles....incidentally, I put in blood diamond after this and it shows up as a short wait.

After one month with netflix, I'm starting to get the Blockbuster effect.

Top requests not shipping. I bet a bunch of people flipped to netflix after the BB rules change. They have a short time to correct their issue before I ...

BEFORE I RANT some more since I really don't have a rental alternative. :mad:

I opened a BBB complaint about it. Here is Netflix's response..

Dear *****,

Thank you for the opportunity to address Mr. ***** concerns. We appreciate the time taken by Mr. ***** to provide his feedback and comments. Providing the best Unlimited Rental Service possible and addressing customer inquiries are our top priorities. We are continually striving to improve our subscription service and all feedback and suggestions we receive are carefully reviewed.

I am very sorry to hear about the delays Mr. ***** feels he is experiencing with his Netflix shipments.

Regarding Mr. ***** "throttling" inquiry, in order to offer a fair and balanced service to all of our members, we do give priority regarding the processing of shipments and allocating inventory to members who receive fewest DVDs each month. This is not to say that movies will not ship the same day or that certain customers will not receive new releases.

In our unlimited plans, we do not establish a monthly limit on the number of DVDs a customer can rent. As a result of their viewing habits and our operational practices, the actual number of DVDs a customer rents in any month may vary, and they may experience differentiated service during the course of their membership. The type of differentiated service a customer may experience may include (i) the shipment of the next available DVD occurring at least one business day following the return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery taking longer, as the shipments may not be processed from a local distribution center and (iii) the movies they receive coming from lower in the queue. For example, the next available DVD may not ship until at least one business day following our receipt of their returned movie.

This does not usually occur unless the top choices are not available from the closest distribution center or the number of shipments to be processed by their nearest distribution center on that day has been exceeded. When one or both of these factors apply the DVD will likely ship on the next business day and may come from an alternate distribution center.

We are sorry if we have not met Mr. ***** expectations regarding how the service should work. Please keep in mind that there are no guarantees on how many movies a customer will receive. Below is an excerpt from the Netflix Terms of Use addressing the issue of how many rentals a customer can receive a month:

The Number of DVDs You Can Rent
"A large majority of our subscribers rent between 2-11 movies per month. The number of DVDs that you rent will vary based on a number of factors (See "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" below). We provide a number of different subscription plans to accommodate a variety of movie watching preferences. Click on the "Your Account" link, located at the top of the pages of the Netflix Web site and see "View Membership Terms" for details on the various plans we offer. In our unlimited plans, we do not establish a monthly limit on the number of DVDs you can rent, however, the actual number of DVDs you rent in any month will vary based on a number of factors (See "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" below). You may modify your plan in the Membership section of "Your Account" if your current plan is not satisfying your movie watching needs."

I have extensively reviewed Mr. **** account. Our records indicate that we have shipped 53 movies since May 28, 2007 which indicates that he has been receiving approximately 10 movies a month. Of these 53 discs, approximately four discs have shipped from a different distribution center other than the center closest to Mr. ****. This is roughly 7.5% of discs being shipped from alternative distribution centers which resulted in these titles being shipped the next business day after receipt of a return. As I explained above, this will usually occur when the top choices are not available from Mr. **** closest distribution center or the number of shipments to be processed by his nearest distribution center on that day has been exceeded.

I am also sorry that Mr. **** has been unable to receive titles highest in his Queue, specifically new releases in a High Definition or Blu-ray format. Please keep in mind, new release titles are always in high demand.

Please allow me to explain that with no due dates or late fees, our stock fluctuates constantly. Our web site displays stock statuses next to each title to provide customers with an estimation of a title's availability. Due to the constant fluctuation of our inventory, this information should only be used as approximations of availability. Please note that all expected "wait" designations are simply estimated according to overall demand and are not specific to each individual customer. In other words, a title that is flagged "short wait," may nevertheless ship to the customer immediately upon receipt of their DVD rental. There are overall estimated "short wait", "long wait" and "very long wait" status designations, but these do not indicate the exact position in regards to receiving a particular title. I apologize for any inconvenience this wait may have caused Mr. **** as we do always strive to deliver a top choice quickly to all members.

As I mentioned above, the stock statuses offered on the web site are to be used as estimations of availability and do not reflect Mr. ****s specific wait time for the title. Titles do not have to change to "available now" or even "short wait" before being shipped. If Mr. **** is interested in receiving the new release titles in a timely manner, I would suggest the following steps to receive these titles the week that they are released on DVD:

1. Add the titles to his Queue well in advance of their DVD release dates.

2. Shortly before a title is released, it will be removed from the Saved section and added to the bottom of Mr. **** Queue. As soon as this happens, he needs to move the title to the very top of his Queue (before it releases on DVD).

3. Return his films so that they are received on the Monday morning prior to the release date. Since we try to process the new releases prior to their release date, our inventory of movies releasing any given week are usually most available on Monday mornings.

While following the outlined steps will not guarantee Mr. ***** will receive the new releases in a timely manner, it should improve his chances. Unfortunately for those titles which he is not able to receive on the week of their release, there can be long wait times before a copy becomes available.

If Mr. ***** has any further questions with the operational procedures regarding shipping or availability, this information is available in the Netflix Terms of Use. Please keep in mind Mr. ****** was required to agree to the Terms of Use prior to activating his account.

Mr. ****** account records do not indicate any unusual delays or shipping patterns and our records indicate that the service is working properly. Due to the fact that Mr. ***** movies are shipping in accordance with our terms we will not refund his monthly subscription fees at this time.

If either Mr. ***** or you have any further questions or comments please feel free to contact me. I can be reached at (503) 207-9047 and I am available Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm (Pacific Standard Time).

Sincerely,

Elena Mukhin
Netflix, Inc

You guys are probably renting too much and NF is now throttling you.

Google "throttle" and "Netflix" for information. It stinks but most online rental joints do this.


Yeah, Blockbuster was REALLY bad about this even with SD-DVD's. Towards the end I had to start going in and filing a report saying ("Returned the DVD but it still shows--blah blah blah") to get them to send more faster.

Average wait was 3 days to get them and 3-5 to show them as received. We finally canceled because it just wasn't worth the hassle anymore.

Plan: 2 at a time unlimited

Routine:

Receive two movies on Wednesday or Thursday.
Watch movies on Friday or Saturday
Mail back movies on Monday.

I have used this pattern now for about 5 weeks. I watch two movies per week or 8 movies per month. I pay $14.95. Cost per movie is $1.86. I don't think I should be lower priority. However, most of my movies are short wait, long wait, or very long waits.

I like living in the under populated midwest.

Here is my routine:

Watch movies on Saturday and Sunday.
Mail back Monday.
Receive new Wednesday.
Repeat.

If I really wanted to I could mail them back thursday and get another set on Saturday!

No one in IA must have netflix and my distro is just mailing me all the movies!:D

I opened a BBB complaint about it. Here is Netflix's response..

Dear *****,

Thank you for the opportunity to address Mr. ***** concerns. We appreciate the time taken by Mr. ***** to provide his feedback and comments. Providing the best Unlimited Rental Service possible and addressing customer inquiries are our top priorities. We are continually striving to improve our subscription service and all feedback and suggestions we receive are carefully reviewed.

I am very sorry to hear about the delays Mr. ***** feels he is experiencing with his Netflix shipments.

Regarding Mr. ***** "throttling" inquiry, in order to offer a fair and balanced service to all of our members, we do give priority regarding the processing of shipments and allocating inventory to members who receive fewest DVDs each month. This is not to say that movies will not ship the same day or that certain customers will not receive new releases.

In our unlimited plans, we do not establish a monthly limit on the number of DVDs a customer can rent. As a result of their viewing habits and our operational practices, the actual number of DVDs a customer rents in any month may vary, and they may experience differentiated service during the course of their membership. The type of differentiated service a customer may experience may include (i) the shipment of the next available DVD occurring at least one business day following the return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery taking longer, as the shipments may not be processed from a local distribution center and (iii) the movies they receive coming from lower in the queue. For example, the next available DVD may not ship until at least one business day following our receipt of their returned movie.

This does not usually occur unless the top choices are not available from the closest distribution center or the number of shipments to be processed by their nearest distribution center on that day has been exceeded. When one or both of these factors apply the DVD will likely ship on the next business day and may come from an alternate distribution center.

We are sorry if we have not met Mr. ***** expectations regarding how the service should work. Please keep in mind that there are no guarantees on how many movies a customer will receive. Below is an excerpt from the Netflix Terms of Use addressing the issue of how many rentals a customer can receive a month:

The Number of DVDs You Can Rent
"A large majority of our subscribers rent between 2-11 movies per month. The number of DVDs that you rent will vary based on a number of factors (See "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" below). We provide a number of different subscription plans to accommodate a variety of movie watching preferences. Click on the "Your Account" link, located at the top of the pages of the Netflix Web site and see "View Membership Terms" for details on the various plans we offer. In our unlimited plans, we do not establish a monthly limit on the number of DVDs you can rent, however, the actual number of DVDs you rent in any month will vary based on a number of factors (See "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" below). You may modify your plan in the Membership section of "Your Account" if your current plan is not satisfying your movie watching needs."

I have extensively reviewed Mr. **** account. Our records indicate that we have shipped 53 movies since May 28, 2007 which indicates that he has been receiving approximately 10 movies a month. Of these 53 discs, approximately four discs have shipped from a different distribution center other than the center closest to Mr. ****. This is roughly 7.5% of discs being shipped from alternative distribution centers which resulted in these titles being shipped the next business day after receipt of a return. As I explained above, this will usually occur when the top choices are not available from Mr. **** closest distribution center or the number of shipments to be processed by his nearest distribution center on that day has been exceeded.

I am also sorry that Mr. **** has been unable to receive titles highest in his Queue, specifically new releases in a High Definition or Blu-ray format. Please keep in mind, new release titles are always in high demand.

Please allow me to explain that with no due dates or late fees, our stock fluctuates constantly. Our web site displays stock statuses next to each title to provide customers with an estimation of a title's availability. Due to the constant fluctuation of our inventory, this information should only be used as approximations of availability. Please note that all expected "wait" designations are simply estimated according to overall demand and are not specific to each individual customer. In other words, a title that is flagged "short wait," may nevertheless ship to the customer immediately upon receipt of their DVD rental. There are overall estimated "short wait", "long wait" and "very long wait" status designations, but these do not indicate the exact position in regards to receiving a particular title. I apologize for any inconvenience this wait may have caused Mr. **** as we do always strive to deliver a top choice quickly to all members.

As I mentioned above, the stock statuses offered on the web site are to be used as estimations of availability and do not reflect Mr. ****s specific wait time for the title. Titles do not have to change to "available now" or even "short wait" before being shipped. If Mr. **** is interested in receiving the new release titles in a timely manner, I would suggest the following steps to receive these titles the week that they are released on DVD:

1. Add the titles to his Queue well in advance of their DVD release dates.

2. Shortly before a title is released, it will be removed from the Saved section and added to the bottom of Mr. **** Queue. As soon as this happens, he needs to move the title to the very top of his Queue (before it releases on DVD).

3. Return his films so that they are received on the Monday morning prior to the release date. Since we try to process the new releases prior to their release date, our inventory of movies releasing any given week are usually most available on Monday mornings.

While following the outlined steps will not guarantee Mr. ***** will receive the new releases in a timely manner, it should improve his chances. Unfortunately for those titles which he is not able to receive on the week of their release, there can be long wait times before a copy becomes available.

If Mr. ***** has any further questions with the operational procedures regarding shipping or availability, this information is available in the Netflix Terms of Use. Please keep in mind Mr. ****** was required to agree to the Terms of Use prior to activating his account.

Mr. ****** account records do not indicate any unusual delays or shipping patterns and our records indicate that the service is working properly. Due to the fact that Mr. ***** movies are shipping in accordance with our terms we will not refund his monthly subscription fees at this time.

If either Mr. ***** or you have any further questions or comments please feel free to contact me. I can be reached at (503) 207-9047 and I am available Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm (Pacific Standard Time).

Sincerely,

Elena Mukhin
Netflix, Inc

I agree with Netflix here if all the facts in that letter are correct. Quit complaining.

I've been a Netflix subscriber since around June, and I have to admit, I'm about ready to jump ship. I'm a school teacher, so over the summer I watched a lot of movies (easily enough to trigger their throttling alarms, I'm sure). Over the past two months, though, since school is back in session, I can really only watch movies on the weekends, and only occasional weekends at that.

I'm on the 3-at-a-time plan. For the first couple months of my Netflix service, turnaround was about two weekdays. (I'd send a movie back on Wednesday, for example, and get a new movie on Friday.) Over the past month or so, even though I'm only watching 1-2 per week (and many weeks with no movies watched), my turnaround is 3-7 weekdays. I live in Central California with two nearby distribution centers (West Sacramento and San Jose), both of which are easily 1 mail day away.

While everything I sent back during the first 2 months of service was consistenly received by Netflix the next business day, now about 50% of my returns take 2-3 days before Netflix acknowledges receiving them. In addition, about 50% of my movies now ship from distant locales -- Santa Ana, CA, Portland, OR, or even Greensboro, NC. In all of these cases, they add an extra day ("This movie will ship on the next business day.") to boot.

I really don't mind being sent movies lower in my queue (after all, they're in my queue because I want to watch them!), but the games they're playing to lengthen the turnaround times are getting on my nerves. Yeah, the terms of service allows it, but how do they expect people to react when they offer a completely different service during the first two months than they do after that? I liken it to subscribing to to a wine-of-the-month club that starts sending you Thunderbird and Cisco three months in.

I picked Deliverance on HD-DVD two days ago. It said "Short Wait" and it shipped today. I haven't had any problems other than one movie changed from "Long Wait" to "Unknown" for some reason. Perhaps that was a mistake.

Yep I got the other location treatment... although now I am being more careful, which is really ridiculous considering this has always been there selling point. I watch DVDs on my hour and a half (3 HR roundtrip) commute everyday. So I can easily rip through a decent amount of discs depending on content.

Its a miracle! Blood Diamond on HD DVD is finally showing up as being available in my queue. Once I return Deathproof it should be my next rental. About time. Its only taken several months to get it.

I sure hope Netflix stocked up on more HD DVD's for this holiday season...there are a lot of people who are new to HD DVD now..and I bet a good chunk either are NetFlix users(DVD/BR) or want to try a rental option instead of having to buy all the disks...

I just rejoined netflix after a 3 month break and tried to add the Heroes Season 1 disc set to my Queue, but 'DVD' is the only option available. It even lists the set in the 'HD DVD' genre and says available in 'HD DVD', but I can't switch the set to 'HD DVD' in the 'Format' column in my Queue. Am I missing something here? Any suggestions?

but I can't switch the set to 'HD DVD' in the 'Format' column in my Queue. Am I missing something here? Any suggestions?http://www.netflix.com/FormatPreferences

i dont usually mind waiting a long time as there are plenty more that i like to watch that will come sooner.

I just re-joined myself and was pretty pleased with my initial shipments. 300 and Transformers were at the top of my queue and were shipped the next day with no problem. 3rd in the queue was License to Wed. I signed up on the 2-at-a-time (unlimited) plan and, yesterday, upgraded to 3-at-a-time. License to Wed was showing 'very long wait' just yesterday but today it was 'short wait' and I just looked and it is being shipped out today. Pretty quick to go from 'very long wait' to being shipped in one day. I know it's only temporary since I'm a new customer, been through that before. It's all roses at the beginning of the service then slowly deteriorates.

I'm happy with netflix service. I usually send my movies back on saturday so that I can get new releases (that come out on tuesday) on Monday.

For ex: I mailed my movie back on saturday and on Monday netflix shipped me I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

This way I always get new releases right away.

Well I canceled my subscription tonight. I've had both Transformers and Next added in my queue before their release around 6 weeks ago. They've been sitting at the top since then, along with 4 other movies with short/long waits. The only movies that have been shipping are the movies that are 7th and beyond in my queue.

I called customer service and was told the reason my movies are not shipping is because they are "High-Def Blu-ray" format, and if I change them to "Dolby Digital" format I might get them sooner. Well first thing, that's not a viable solution to the problem, and second, an audio format has nothing to do with the format of a disc. Don't these people go through training? So I asked the CSR to cancel my account since there was no time frame as to when those movies would actually ship. The CSR didn't hesitate to cancel my account, and seemed routine for her. Looks as though Netflix isn't concerned about keeping their current customers.

So I'm trying out Blockbuster right now, and hopefully they're a little better at sending out these semi-new releases I've been waiting for. I would probably switch back if I knew I wouldn't have any problems getting new releases within around 3 weeks or so. I wouldn't mind waiting even if they sent it from a facility in another state.

For the people that switch between Netflix and Blockbuster, how long have you waited before you've switched back to Netflix?

Thanks,
Matt

The CSR didn't hesitate to cancel my account, and seemed routine for her.

Probably just flipped you off through the phone and called you a name in her native language and then went to the next call.

I was with BB for about a year and when a movie wasnt available at the local shipping center they would ship the next movie in Que, Netflix however will ship from a center across the country making the wait a day or two longer. I think I prefer BB in the regard that at least I`ll have something to watch.

I pretty much agree with your analysis, but it does create a catch-22 situation. If I self limit so I am not throttled, then it reduces the available disc that Netflix has to ship to other customers. For example I receive 3 disk on Monday, and watch all by Tuesday. I hold all 3 until Friday so they are received by Monday, and I get new releases, and I'm not throttled. However, those 3 disc have not been available for other customers for the entire week!! As more and more people try to "work" the system to get new releases, the service gets progressively worse. Netflix needs to understand this and come up with something better than the current throttling scheme. Maybe a 3 a week plan, which is what they are attempting, but just not stated.

I don't think your analysis about there being fewer movies available to ship to other customers is quite right. If you return the three movies sooner, they will end up shipping you three more movies sooner. Thus, the total number of movies available to be rented by others is the same in either case.

With new releases though, there can be a problem of a limited number of copies not getting cycled as fast. Personally, when renting SD disks at say BB, I just don't worry about watching a flick as soon as it is available. I will have the same attitude renting HD DVD - if I don't see a movie for a month or longer after it comes out, that is just fine with me.

Note that I do not have children hassling me to get them as soon as they come out. But if I did, I might think that having to wait a few weeks would teach them a good lesson in patience.

What Netflix cares about is how much they spend on postage. I have just bought a Toshiba A3 (driving my Sony HS51) and am probably going to sign up for two at a time. I doubt that I will be watching more than two movies a week and combined with laziness that should keep me from being throttled.

The formula to avoid being throttled seems pretty simple - if you watch X movies a week, get the X movies at a time plan (note that this isn't exact as the typical month has 4.2 weeks, but it is close enough).

ISP's also throttle customers who download too much stuff, and they won't tell you what the limit is either.

From my perspective, 8 HD DVD's a month for $14 is a pretty good deal at $1.75 a rental.

Regardless of throttling, there are going to burps and hiccups along the way as the new formats are adopted and Netflix tries to properly anticipate demand. Hey, I remember the day when the TV repairman wasn't a stranger in my parents house. I remember the day I was thrilled to find out there was a place I could rent laser disks near where I lived. I appreciate the joy of being older and not having been trained to need even more immediate gratification while I was growing up. Imagine having to go to a theater or watch the Monday Night Movie on TV in order to catch a flick.

As an earlier poster said, I am also a school teacher. However, lately, I have been getting all of the new releases on my list and, becuase of my recent A2 purchase, have added HDs to my list. There are some titles I have been waiting on, the Grindhouse pics, for example, and there were a couple of weeks that I did not get anything. But in general, Netflix still fits my lifestyle, and has cut down on my overall DVD purchases....