Who uses these services? Which do you use, or have you used? What do you like/not like about them?

I use Netflix and love it, though I suspended my account until Sept. 30th because I wasn't watching any movies in the summer. Turnaround time is usually 3 days (drop it in the mail, they get it the next, receive new one on the third day).

Blockbuster's service used to be cheaper, but they caved recently and raised the price to be comparable to Netflix.

We've had several discussions about Netflix, but in typical HM Forum fashion, they usually occurred off-topic in another thread and may be difficult to dig up.

I used Netflix for a while... but their turnaround time was just too long for me.

Switched to Blockbuster 'cause their price was lower, but their turnaround time was even longer. Also, seems like their stock wasn't as large--the movies I wanted to see were never available.

Finally canceled them all, and am back to renting through the B&M, especially since we were getting DVDs and letting them sit for weeks before finally watching them. Now that I'm local again, and around friends/family, I have less time for movie watching. (Though you'd never know it from all my posts in the movie review thread. LOL). I hate dishing out $4 per rental, it breaks my heart, but it's just easier. Also, I am trying to wean myself off that glowing, flickering screen in my living room. Most movies are nothing but crap anyway. Here are my general thoughts, applicable to both Netflix & Blockbuster:

Con: Turnaround. Unlike Sman, I have never experienced the 3-day turnaround. It's always been more like 5-7 days, sometimes longer.

Pro: Convenience. They arrive at your doorstep. For a lazy person like myself, it's great. Also, here in G-castle, the closest big video store is H-town. So it's kinda a pain in the tuckus to go out just to rent a video.

Con: New Releases. You can't get them for weeks and weeks--usually.

Pro: Selection. If you like older films or more rare flicks, the online places have a bigger selection, unlike video stores that have limited space. For example, I can't find "The Last Supper" with Cameron Diaz in my video store, but Netflix offers it.

Pro/Con: Cost. If you watch a lot of movies--and are scheduled so that you can see them pretty much as soon as they arrive and get them in the mail the next day--the online services will save you money. But if it takes you a few days to get around to viewing the DVDs, you'll either just break even or lose money (compared to B&M renting).

Con: Disk quality. We experienced a heck of a lot more scratching and non-playing disks through online services than at the B&M. It frustrated the heck out of DH. And then we had to wait another 5 days to get another copy of the movie.

If you're thinking about signing up, I'd say give it a trial run for a few months. Fortunately, a lot of these services offer trial periods, and you don't have to sign a contract, so you can cancel after a few months if it doesn't work for you.

Here's my 2 cents:

I've been a member of Netflix for a year now. Of that time, I've only experienced 1 scratched/unplayable DVD. I returned it and they sent me a new one.

I have it down to a science, as to when you return a DVD, and they'll send you a new release. All new releases come out on Tuesdays. Netflix will mail the new release to you on the day before (Monday), since you obviously wouldn't get it until Tuesday anyway. If you mail a DVD to Netflix on Friday/Saturday, they will have it by Monday and you can get the newly released DVD by Tuesday/Wednesday, depending on when they send it out.

I have two new releases arriving in my mailbox today: 1) Sin City and 2) The Wedding Date (yes, this is a chick flick, and I'm proud to say I love chick flicks! )

I've been very pleased with Netflix, but as peacefrog said, unless you watch movies a lot (probably 2-3 movies/week), chances are you're not getting your money's worth.

I use Netflix and generally love it. But lately many of the DVDs they have sent me have been so scratched that they wouldn't play in my DVD player right. They've been around long enough now that their stock is aging, and IMO they need to start paying a little more attention to Quality Control.

Did you see The Notebook?


Noah and Allie

Heather, we have discussed the Notebook..... and no other chick flick comes close! It's already on my christmas list!

I forget who I've already had certain conversations with. Der.

What's "the B&M"? Some kind of baked beans store?

"Brick & Mortar"

Ha! I had the same question. Took me a while to figure it out. Only my answer was B!tch&Moan, but it didn't make sense. Now what's DH? Designated Hottie, Dorky Hubby, Dashing Heartthrob, or just initials?

"Dear Husband," though sometimes it can mean "Damn Husband," too. LOL

I use Blockbuster online and I love it!
My *only* complaint is the recent change of the monthly fee from $14.99 a month to $17.99 a month. To sweeten the deal they offer a coupon for a free previously viewed DVD. You also get 2 coupons for free in store rentals each month.

2 year Netflix user...

no complaints.

I have Blockbuster Online. My kids seem to have misplaced two of the initial three movies I received :-(

Anybody know how I will have to deal with this if I can't find them?

The honest and less expensive way would be to go out and buy the movies yourself and ship them back, minus the packaging, etc.

The dishonest and free way is to tell them you never received them, they can't charge the customer for this. I think all the DVD-mailed rental companies ship regular postal snail service to save loads of money. DVDs are cheap to replace for them since they buy in bulk, so there is no since in shipping insured in their eyes!

Good Luck!!

This is old news, but Walmart's DVD rental service was bought out by Netflix since they could not compete. Even though Walmart was the least expensive.

I'm not a big fan of Blockbuster, but I have not heard to much info about Netflix.
I'm thinking of joining one soon!

You can often juke the Netflix very long/long wait list on a hot movie by dumping everything in your queue and making that movie your only choice. When it shows as "shipping today" then add your list back. Save the links to the other movies in your bookmark folder and use them to restock the queue.

I just reactivated my account after being on hold for about six months. I had a couple movies at "long wait" or worse. As soon as I started the account again, I mysteriously was able to get the "long wait" movies shipped to me.

I've always suspected that Netflix catered to their new account holders to get them hooked on the service. In the past, the more movies I watched, the slower the turnaround time.

Actually Sman, you should've received an e-mail from Netflix about a class action suit that was filed against them. Although I received it in November, so if your account was on hold, you may not have received it. Anyway, the lawsuit alleges that Netflix failed to provide "unlimited" DVD rentals and "one day delivery" as promised in its marketing materials. Details of the lawsuit are here.

Now I get 1 month of free rentals.

When I started w/ Netflix they still only had the one distribution center in CA so I got used to lengthy USPS turnaround times. When they finally opened the Gaith pikpak I was in flick heaven for a while w/ return today - ship tomorrow - receive the day after. Then it started to get mysteriously slow at times...like 2 movies showing as shipping the same day but one/both taking 2-4 days to arrive. Decided to try Block's delivery svc (even worse) and wound up using both for a month after Netflix offered a freebie when I tried to cxl.

The class action letter came as a nice surprise but all told, for the convenience, selection and at less'n a buck a pop, Netflix has been a pretty good deal.

I've been a member of Netflix for about 4 months now. When I first started receiving movies it was always within a day like they promised. I noticed that the movies were coming from a distribution center here in Louisville. Recently it's been as many as 5 days for a flick to arrive and they're coming from Arizona

'Throttling' Angers Netflix Heavy Renters

SAN FRANCISCO - Manuel Villanueva realizes he has been getting a pretty good deal since he signed up for Netflix Inc.'s online DVD rental service 2 1/2 years ago, but he still feels shortchanged. That's because the $17.99 monthly fee that he pays to rent up to three DVDs at a time would amount to an even bigger bargain if the company didn't penalize him for returning his movies so quickly.

Netflix typically sends about 13 movies per month to Villanueva's home in Warren, Mich. — down from the 18 to 22 DVDs he once received before the company's automated system identified him as a heavy renter and began delaying his shipments to protect its profits.

The same Netflix formula also shoves Villanueva to the back of the line for the most-wanted DVDs, so the service can send those popular flicks to new subscribers and infrequent renters.

The little-known practice, called "throttling" by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns.

"I wouldn't have a problem with it if they didn't advertise `unlimited rentals,'" Villanueva said. "The fact is that they go out of their way to make sure you don't go over whatever secret limit they have set up for your account."

Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix didn't publicly acknowledge it differentiates among customers until revising its "terms of use" in January 2005 — four months after a San Francisco subscriber filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company had deceptively promised one-day delivery of most DVDs.

"In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service," Netflix's revised policy now reads. The statement specifically warns that heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices.

Few customers have complained about this "fairness algorithm," according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

"We have unbelievably high customer satisfaction ratings," Hastings said during a recent interview. "Most of our customers feel like Netflix is an incredible value."

The service's rapid growth supports his thesis. Netflix added nearly 1.6 million customers last year, giving it 4.2 million subscribers through December. During the final three months of 2005, just 4 percent of its customers canceled the service, the lowest rate in the company's six-year history.

After collecting consumer opinions about the Web's 40 largest retailers last year, Ann Arbor, Mich., research firm ForeSeeResults rated Netflix as "the cream of the crop in customer satisfaction."

Once considered a passing fancy, Netflix has changed the way many households rent movies and spawned several copycats, including a mail service from Blockbuster Inc.

Netflix's most popular rental plan lets subscribers check out up to three DVDs at a time for $17.99 per month. After watching a movie, customers return the DVD in a postage-paid envelope. Netflix then sends out the next available DVD on the customer's online wish list.

Because everyone pays a flat fee, Netflix makes more money from customers who only watch four or five DVDs per month. Customers who quickly return their movies in order to get more erode the company's profit margin because each DVD sent out and returned costs 78 cents in postage alone.

Although Netflix consistently promoted its service as the DVD equivalent of an all-you-can eat smorgasbord, some heavy renters began to suspect they were being treated differently two or three years ago.

To prove the point, one customer even set up a Web site — http://www.dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com — to show that the service listed different wait times for DVDs requested by subscribers living in the same household.

Netflix's throttling techniques have also prompted incensed customers to share their outrage in online forums such as http://www.hackingnetflix.com.

"Netflix isn't well within its rights to throttle users," complained a customer identified as "annoyed" in a posting on the site. "They say unlimited rentals. They are liars."

Hastings said the company has no specified limit on rentals, but "`unlimited' doesn't mean you should expect to get 10,000 a month."

In its terms of use, Netflix says most subscribers check out two to 11 DVDs per month.

Management has previously acknowledged to analysts that it risks losing money on a relatively small percentage of frequent renters. The risk has increased since Netflix reduced the price of its most popular subscription plan by $4 per month in 2004 and the U.S. Postal Service recently raised first-class mailing costs by 2 cents.

Netflix's approach has paid off so far. The company has been profitable in each of the past three years, a trend its management expects to continue in 2006 with projected earnings of at least $29 million on revenue of $960 million. Netflix's stock price has more than tripled since its 2002 initial public offering.

A September 2004 lawsuit cast a spotlight on the throttling issue. The complaint, filed by Frank Chavez on behalf of all Netflix subscribers before Jan. 15, 2005, said the company had developed a sophisticated formula to slow down DVD deliveries to frequent renters and ensure quicker shipments of the most popular movies to its infrequent — and most profitable — renters to keep them happy.

Netflix denied the allegations, but eventually revised its terms of use to acknowledge its different treatment of frequent renters.

Without acknowledging wrongdoing, the company agreed to provide a one-month rental upgrade and pay Chavez's attorneys $2.5 million, but the settlement sparked protests that prompted the two sides to reconsider. A hearing on a revised settlement proposal is scheduled for Feb. 22 in San Francisco Superior Court.

Netflix subscribers such as Nathaniel Irons didn't believe the company was purposely delaying some DVD shipments until he read the revised terms of use.

Irons, 28, of Seattle, has no plans to cancel his service because he figures he is still getting a good value from the eight movies he typically receives each month.

"My own personal experience has not been bad," he said, "but (the throttling) is certainly annoying when it happens."

That explains why I never can seem to get them to give me more than one set of DVDs a week. Their turn-around has slowed down a lot! And what this $17.99 stuff? I'm paying $20.99 a month for 3 at a time service.

Are they ripping me off (probably a dumb question, I know)?