all you can rent dvds for 20 a month - MODIFIED

[jwong]

I just decided to try this last week... I'm only planning on doing the free trial and then quitting, but I'm pretty impressed. They titles they sent me were here the next day (of course, I'm in Arizona so pretty close to the CA distrib center). Plus, try going to Blockbuster and finding something like the Seven Samurai Criterion edition in DVD. They just don't have that stuff, unless your Blockbuster is a lot better than mine. Also got some concert DVDs I wanted to check out. The price isn't amazing, but the selection is pretty darn good. If I was going for the latest releases though I wouldn't even try it.

 

[kermalou]

I live in los angeles and it is great. i sent them my movie yesterday and they have received it and are shipping out my new one, two days aint bad.

 

[ohrock]

Hi there!

My current subscription is the third I have.

The first experience was so good that it was overwellming. Back when they allowed to keep 4 DvDs for $20/mont and you could click them back, to get the following rolling: It was too good...we saw too many movies....we allways had one arround...it was too good.

Then the second time I used them while I was moving to a new place, until I found a block busters, etc. By then: Only three movies...you couldn't click them back... The experience wasn't that great but the service has always been good.

Now: after moving again I don't have any video store at a walking distance. So I have to use them (either that or Kazaa!)

I live in Downtown Chicago and It takes a while for the movies to go arround...like a week or so. There are a few times that we don't have any movies arround, so that's anoying.

I just would love if they would allow you to choose the distribution center...I would try NY or another closer to me...

The fact that it takes that long for a movie to get to Chicago is the only thing that bothers me.

But Oh well! They can be a nice deal....depending in your location or situation!

OhRock

PS:Something I did for a while: I splitted the cost with another person and we both had access to the account, the list of movies, etc....It would be nice...you do it with 6 at a time...same cost and you just get more movies rolling.

 

[Xxerxes]

I have just recently come back to Netflix for a while after having tried them two years ago. The attraction for me is there enormous collection. I am able to get classics like the Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton, as well as movies I remember from the 70's, but can never find in the video store. The local video joint is better for new releases, but there is no place that can approach the breadth of the Netflix collection. Just a warning, I also tried joining hollywebdvd.net (the name should have been warning enough) because they had a lot of movies in their catalogue that I wanted. After I joined, I found out that they do not own most of the titles listed on their site. Stay away from those scammers!

Also, the new distribution center in Worchester, MA makes it work for ATers in Boston much better than it did when it was run out of San Jose exclusively.

I also rip the disks as soon as they arrive and they are back in the USPS for the next morning pickup. I have received eight movies since May 17 when I joined. I will stay a member until I have rented everything that I have been missing from the local place, then I will always have something to fall back on when winter comes and my wife wants me to walk to the video joint in the snow! Abused judiciously, I think that Netflix can be great.

-w

 

[Mrburns2007]

I had the same experience, first month was able to watch 18, then after awhile it took longer and longer to return them. If I mailed them on a monday they would take a week to get there instead of the normal 3 days. I think they were purposely holding them out longer. I was lucky to get 5 or 6 a month in the end.

The worst part is a lot were showing up scatched and damaged, it sucks to watch a whole movie and then miss the last 20 minutes. Now I go to blockbuster were I can tell if there damaged before I take them home.

 

[salfter]

Besides, at 3 at a time, you'll be lucky to get 6 in a month, and that's if you try.

That's funny. I'd swear I'm getting closer to 10-15 per month, maybe more. DVDs usually take a couple of days each way. If you send one back every other day, you eventually end up getting a constant stream of DVDs, like in a pipeline.

Also, good luck getting "hot" titles as they're always out-of-stock on those.

Stock hasn't been a problem...if something's out, whatever's next on your list gets sent out. Maybe you're renting the wrong stuff. I've found it easier to rent through the mail than to trudge down to the nearest Blockbuster or Hollywood Video and deal with their inferior selections. No late fees is also nice (Blockbuster has nailed me with those on more than one occasion).

All that said, $20/month for three DVDs out at a time is what Netflix usually charges...so in the strictest sense, this really isn't a Hot Deal. Netflix has definitely turned out to be a better deal than what you describe, though.

 

[SLEEPER5555]

i was doing 24 a month on the 3 out at a time but after i seen all i wanted to see i was down to 3 a month so i cancelled! But it was nice for a couple months!

 

[JamieJamie]

There's a coupon code that gives you 1 month free

 

[neomits]

I live in Ohio and have been using Netflix for over a year. Yeah the turn around time is a little slow but I found a little thing you can do to speed it up. Go into the shipping area and claim one of the DVDs you are about to send back as lost in the mail. They'll allow you to have 2-3 DVDs claimed as lost in the mail. As soon as its claimed as lost they'll send out the next one on your queue and as soon as the DVD you sent back gets to thier offices it gets taken off the lost in mail list Its worked well for me and has made a big increase in the number of DVDs I can get per month.

Netflix is a great service in my opinion. Just needs to have a distribution center somewhere on the east coast (which I think may happen sometime soon as they are getting fairly big as a company)

 

[phreakyzen]

In DC/MD/VA area send time is 1-2 days I have only been a member for a week and have already watched 6 movies (Gaithersburg MD Dist. Center). In the past it was CA so it was not worth the turn around time. But distribution centers are popping up all over so everybody should check out the free month to see.

Also the Blockbuster deal is $20 for unlimited/no late fees games for a month. As far as I know there has never been a deal like this for movies in my area (northern VA).

 

[tiggerthebro]

netflix is cool. Me and the boys at work are in it and so far, it has only been a mx of 3-4 days turn around. Cost is way better than borrowing at certain video stores for 3+ dollars a movie.

 

[handydave]

Here is similar, but less costly service:

www.rentmydvd.com

I've been with them for about a year. There were two advantages over Netflix for me:

They have two distribution centers, one in NJ and one in CA. I live in NJ and it usually takes one day for the movies to arrive or be returned, so I get very quick turn around. Since I got them so fast, I signed up for there two movie plan at $13.95 and average 4-5 movies a month. Back in December, they were offering a one year subscription on the two movie plan for about $100, which worked out to about the same cost as two Blockbuster rentals. Right now, their one year two movie plan is $125.55 (Under Gift Certificates). They have a month to month, 3 month, and 6 month plan as well as a 4 disk and 10 disk plan.

I can't speak about Netflix, but Rentmydvd may not have the latest movies readily available. It really depends on when a movie is released and when you return one. It's all luck. I have a queue of over 50 movies, so I always get something I want to see. I would recommend giving them a try

 

[hola]

for those of you rent in blockbuster and got charge for the late fees...why do you guys go to hollywood...they charge the same fee ( i think) and all their dvd or video no matter new or old are due within in 5 days. for certain new title, they will credit you $1 for return in 1 day.

BB always mess it up....I return my dvd on time but they charge me late fee cuz they didn't check out my dvd on the day i return it or some other reasons....

 

[jasonja]

I have to disagree with HandyDave. I had RentMyDVD for about 6 months and by month 5 they were absolutely useless. Everything on my list was out of stock (everything on my list was a new release). Their "new release" page is pathetic, most of that crap listed as a new release was on HBO or Starz months ago. They do seem to have the new releases you just have to search for them because they don't seem to update their page. Turn around time from FL was 7-10 days, not stellar but not too bad... but their low number of in stock DVD's was pathetic.

 

[Byte]

i've been using netflix for a year, but canceled since i just don't have time to watch anymore. Turnaround time to hawaii was usually 2-3 days, real awesome. I usually get over 16 movies a month. I just watch too much!

 

[Glendor]

I'm STILL happy with NetFlix and wanted to tell everybody that. We Love the service! For half of what it cost me to rent 4 DVDs at BB (when you count in the late fees I would always get) we are getting about 22 per month. I've actually kept one for two weeks, and watched if over, and over, and then returned it w/o late fees!!! Love this service! And, I don't have to waste an hour at BB picking through poorly alphabatized racks, and picking up empty boxes. Give it a try, if you don't like it, you can always cancel.

Glendor...

 

[BillDKiller]

You all are correct that being from California makes this service a great deal. I live in Oakland and the turnaround is never over 5 days. I usually average about 15/month. Like everyone else I don't have all the time in the world, but I do like to watch movies. I work nights, and since there is not much to do (even in the Bay Area) at 4:00 AM I usually watch a movie before bed.

My sister is friends with the owner of Netflix, but I'm afraid I don't have any insider dirt. I do know they are based in Los Gatos (just outside of San Jose). They have at least two distributions centers in California (San Jose and West Sacramento). These two seem awful close to each other, but I guess the population density supports it.

I have been a member ever since it started and I have noticed the following:

There seem to be less and less of the most popular movies the longer they stay in business. For example, I have been waiting to rent "Vanilla Sky" ever since it was released. That was quite a while ago, as I reckon time.

There also seem to be less and less of the more provocative adult oriented movies. When it first started there was a category of "mature" movies to pick from. Not X-rated or anything, but foreign movies with nudity and very adult themes, and the kind you see on HBO at around 3:00 AM. There don't seem to be very many of those now. And no, that isn't all I watch, but I am a bachelor. There are some services that now offer entirely adult movie selections for about the same price. I have tried them and they worked about the same as Netflix. But even they can get boring after a while so I cancelled.

I haven't noticed that the quicker I return the longer it seems to be before they are logged and new ones sent out. But I may be lucky living so close to the main offices.

I have rented from the usual suspects, Blockbuster, Hollywood, etc. I just can't ever seem to get them back on time, and end up with 1-2 day late charges. It is not as much of an effort to walk out to the mailbox as to drive to a downtown store.

 

[fr]

Ok, this weird thing just happened to me:


I had Harry Potter on my rental queue. (I've been a member for a very long time and watched all the good stuff already.) It got sent out with an expected delivery time about 4 days longer than usual, which was weird. Anyway, the day before it's expected to arrive here, I see that another instance of Harry Potter was #1 on my rental queue. Weird, I thought. That wasn't there before. So I took it off. Well the next day, Netflix says they got Harry Potter back from me. What? I never received it in the first place. Then they ship out the next movie in my queue (which was Harry Potter until I removed it).

 

[greg]

Cancelled yet again, here what NETFUX did this time:

1. Did not report DVDs as rec'd for 3 weeks
2. Charged me 2x for one month
3. Sent only the first of 2 DVDs in 3 different movies (No bonus junk), one of which was the godfather (They are upfront about it , but they make you rent TWO DVDs to watch a single movie __BS)
4. Took 2 movies off my que (hmm...the latest releases)

 

[EtherGnat]

For what it's worth I heard somebody from NetFlix on CNet radio and they said they're using the money raised in their IPO to add distribution centers (I think it was 10 or 11 nationwide). He mentioned a goal of 1 day delivery nationwide. This was over a week ago and I'm not a subscriber so I don't remember the details exactly but that was definitely the gist of it.

Maybe I'll check out that 2 movies/$13.95 month deal. We just don't rent that much but it's mainly because it's such a hassle. Takes us 45min-1hr to drive across town and pick one out and then we invariably return them late.

-Mike

 

[MrEnigma]

Well, I just signed up about a month ago. No major problems right away.

The worst thing that happened, is in the first shipment one of the DVD's wasn't the DVD, so I emailed them, and sent it back. They send me an email a few days ago saying they were sending it back, holding one of my DVD's, till I sent it back. So I had to email them and straighten it out. Anyow it's all fixed, and I'm back on track now. According to my history, I was able to receive 16 of them last month. I live in Minneapolis, and there is a distribution center right here, so that's really nice. Anyhow, I've had mostly good times, it's about 4-5 day turnaround time it seems, which isn't that bad at all.

 

[GRIFFIN1]

I think I'm getting about 12 movies a month, but that is if I get them in the mail at 10am and mail them back that same day before 5. DVD-R....

 

[MontyBurns]

They have a new distribution center in Queens, NY. NYC orders are now delivered overnight. Incredibly fast. I signed up on a Monday, got my first three DVDs on Tuesday. All of my orders have come in 24 hours.

Finally, great deal for east coasters.

 

[Slacktron]

From their July 20 press release:

"Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX - News), the World's largest online DVD rental service, today announced that it has opened 10 regional distribution centers throughout the U.S. to provide faster service to its more than 600,000 subscribers. The new facilities, which supplement the company's main distribution facility in San Jose, CA, are located in the Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas."

They found that people near their San Jose center were happier with their service and more likely to recommend it. (surprise!)

I've been a Netflix subscriber since they started, and am hoping the IPO stops their downhill slide. I really miss their "I Shipped It" button -- it was lame of them to get rid of it. Like others have noticed, they don't seem to have a lot of copies of new releases. I've had movies sit in "Long Wait" for several months. Turnaround times here have been excellent. Selection is great on older movies, and not so good on new releases.

But it's still far cheaper than the megabucks I used to pay in "I'll watch it tomorrow" late fees.
Also, they do have a cheaper "2 DVD" reduced subscription that they don't advertise, if you're not a movie fiend.

 

[miko]

I can't say this for everyone, but my experience with Netflix had not been good. First of all the movies I want are always out. Second, it takes them 4 to 5 days to send me after they receive my return DVDs. And their headquarter was less than 100 miles away! So I stick to renting what I want to see when I want to see. In the long run I spend less and dont' have to see crap movies that's at the bottom of my list.