Netflix finally throttled me. =/

[Saga]

I've been using Netflix for a year and a half now, and am on their six-out unlimited plan. I do not burn and return, but I do have a pretty long queue of series - from anime to TV programming. I consider myself roughly casual, I can go through a DVD an evening in spare time after work/before I go to bed and usually return two DVD's every other day of the week.

I just returned a six stack of DVD's over the weekend, and logged in to my queue today to notice that I had approximately 11 different series of programming queued, and EVERY single one of them had a "short wait" for the last 2-3 episodes, with "long wait" listed for the very last episode. Is this how their automated throttling works? I find it extremely hard to believe that ALL 11 series I have queued up (with disk spanning ranging from 5-8 DVD's each) suddenly became so popular that EVERY one of them is now short wait for the last few and long wait for the final DVD.

<^> You Netflix. If you didn't carry such a good library and Blockbuster's didn't suck so bad I would switch in a heartbeat. Way to screw over a loyal paying customer.

Cliffs: Read it yourself. This isn't a blog entry, it's a consumer report.

 

[TallBill]

On a side note, how do you watch different shows at the same time? I find that odd. When I watch a tv show on disc, I watch it from start to finish.

 

[FoBoT]

so are you getting nothing or not getting what you want?

there is a difference

 

[maddogchen]

i thought they just delay shipping for a day or two.

 

[Saga]

Heh.. I don't. Thats the thing. I queue them up in order and watch from start to finish, but with Netflix throttling me in this odd way I'll be waiting weeks for the last episode of about four different series.

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
so are you getting nothing or not getting what you want?

there is a difference

Let me break it down for you. Here is how my queue looks (except with over 10 series)

Series 1 - Availability (Random Anime Series)
DVD1 - Now
DVD2 - Now
DVD3 - Now
DVD4 - Short Wait
DVD5 - Long Wait

Series 2 - Availability (Random Anime Series)
DVD1 - Now
DVD2 - Now
DVD3 - Now
DVD4 - Short Wait
DVD5 - Long Wait

Series 3 - Availability (Random Foreign TV Series)
DVD1 - Now
DVD2 - Now
DVD3 - Now
DVD4 - Short Wait
DVD5 - Long Wait

Series 4 - Availability (Paid-Programming Series)
DVD1 - Now
DVD2 - Now
DVD3 - Now
DVD4 - Short Wait
DVD5 - Long Wait

Series 5 - Availability (Random old Sci-Fi Series)
DVD1 - Now
DVD2 - Now
DVD3 - Now
DVD4 - Short Wait
DVD5 - Long Wait


And so on and so on. These different series are so COMPLETELY unrelated that I cannot possibly see how this can be pure coincidence.

Originally posted by: maddogchen
i thought they just delay shipping for a day or two.

Probably hard to do. I live in Omaha. We have a distribution center in this city, so when I send them a DVD they get it the next day - and when they ship me one, I get it the next day, ect, ect.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: maddogchen
i thought they just delay shipping for a day or two.

that is what i thought too....

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: maddogchen
i thought they just delay shipping for a day or two.

that is what i thought too....

With all the bad publicity for throttling - if you were Netflix, what would you do? Delay peoples shipping which is EASY to detect if you have a pretty solid turnaround (in my case, the next day) or make up random "availability" errors which the customer has no way of legitimately verifying?

 

[jiggahertz]

Originally posted by: Izusaga

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: maddogchen
i thought they just delay shipping for a day or two.

that is what i thought too....

With all the bad publicity for throttling - if you were Netflix, what would you do? Delay peoples shipping which is EASY to detect if you have a pretty solid turnaround (in my case, the next day) or make up random "availability" errors which the customer has no way of legitimately verifying?

They throttled me by delaying my shipping times.

 

[ultimatebob]

I've seen another Netflix throttling technique where they start shipping the DVD's from warehouses that are further away than the local one in my home state.

Making me return them to New York or Mass. instead of Connecticut seems to add an extra 2 days to the turnaround time.

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I've seen another Netflix throttling technique where they start shipping the DVD's from warehouses that are further away than the local one in my home state.

Making me return them to New York or Mass. instead of Connecticut seems to add an extra 2 days to the turnaround time.

That doesn't really make sense. They throttle you down so they can get more discs out to other customers. What you're talking about just puts the disc out of circulation longer than necessary. It probably just wasn't in stock at your normal distribution center.

 

[Tobolo]

Yeah I have been throttled in the past. Stuff is always waiting to be sent and they wont get the dvds back for a few days that kind of crap.

I called and chewed them out and said I would just switch to blockbuster and to cancel my account when the period ended. The next day all the stuff that was waiting was suddenly available.

 

[meltdown75]

random anime series eh?

*chuckle*

 

[mikej007]

The way to screw them back when they send you something from NC when you live in CT is to put it back in the same envelope as another DVD which shipped to you from CT. This way they have to check it back in at the CT facility rather than the NC one.

On a side note, Netflix sucks. I had about 6-7 damaged discs within a month's time, and they could have cared less. I asked them if they had any QC, and they said they had someone check the discs before mailing them, which is utter BS. I told them as much, because one of the discs I got looked like someone ran it over a belt sander and then used a pair of pliers to crack it in half. Sure, they can blame the USPS for the crack, but I doubt my postal delivery guy opened it up and went to town with sandpaper. The second time I complained about this they flat out ignored me, so I canceled their asses and signed up for Blockbuster, which so far (2 months) I have not had any damaged discs (though they like to send me movies out of order from my queue, i.e. send me #3 on the list even though #1 is available).

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
random anime series eh?

*chuckle*

Before you judge, one was Ghost in the Shell: SAC(me), the other was Yumeria(her).

There is good anime and there is bad anime, just like there is good and bad in everything else. I'm not wasting my time watching DBZ or some crap.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: everman

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I've seen another Netflix throttling technique where they start shipping the DVD's from warehouses that are further away than the local one in my home state.

Making me return them to New York or Mass. instead of Connecticut seems to add an extra 2 days to the turnaround time.

That doesn't really make sense. They throttle you down so they can get more discs out to other customers. What you're talking about just puts the disc out of circulation longer than necessary. It probably just wasn't in stock at your normal distribution center.

They are more trying to save on shipping costs than anything

 

[Saga]

Heh. Update. All three DVD's that got shipped to me today are coming from different places in the US and are estimated for Saturday delivery. They think they are cute by making me return them to other states, but I think I'll just put all 3 into the same envelope as one from Omaha.

 

[Farang]

As has been explained before, shipping for further distances on purpose makes no sense. Neither does having availability errors which do not delay when a DVD (whichever one, even if it isn't your first choice) shows up on your doorstep. Throttling is a way to keep the DVD use among customers at a desired level. Neither shipping for far-off locations or having availability errors that do not delay shipment are solutions for Netflix.

Use common sense people.

 

[buck]

Cliffs: Read it yourself. This isn't a blog entry, it's a consumer report.

Nice.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Izusaga

Originally posted by: meltdown75
random anime series eh?

*chuckle*

Before you judge, one was Ghost in the Shell: SAC(me), the other was Yumeria(her).

There is good anime and there is bad anime, just like there is good and bad in everything else. I'm not wasting my time watching DBZ or some crap.

I think he was implying that you were watching Anime Porn.

 

[dr150]

Originally posted by: buck

Cliffs: Read it yourself. This isn't a blog entry, it's a consumer report.

Nice.

Cliffs:

Who cares? Really?

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: everman

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I've seen another Netflix throttling technique where they start shipping the DVD's from warehouses that are further away than the local one in my home state.

Making me return them to New York or Mass. instead of Connecticut seems to add an extra 2 days to the turnaround time.

That doesn't really make sense. They throttle you down so they can get more discs out to other customers. What you're talking about just puts the disc out of circulation longer than necessary. It probably just wasn't in stock at your normal distribution center.

Shipping from farther away sure does help netflix. If they increase the turn around time then it is less work and postage. They don't want to send out a disk everyday they want the costumer to keep the disc for a few days. And if the customer isn't going to then they have the post office keep the disc for a while.

 

[darkxshade]

I don't have netflix but why not queue the last disc to be sent out with the series you're currently watching and then return the series(but hold onto the last disc) then once returned, they'll mail you the next batch containing the first disc to whatevever along with the last disc of the next series you'll be watching?

 

[yuchai]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: everman

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I've seen another Netflix throttling technique where they start shipping the DVD's from warehouses that are further away than the local one in my home state.

Making me return them to New York or Mass. instead of Connecticut seems to add an extra 2 days to the turnaround time.

That doesn't really make sense. They throttle you down so they can get more discs out to other customers. What you're talking about just puts the disc out of circulation longer than necessary. It probably just wasn't in stock at your normal distribution center.

Shipping from farther away sure does help netflix. If they increase the turn around time then it is less work and postage. They don't want to send out a disk everyday they want the costumer to keep the disc for a few days. And if the customer isn't going to then they have the post office keep the disc for a while.

I agree with what you said. Circulation isn't likely to be a problem with the OP's "random anime" series.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: everman

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I've seen another Netflix throttling technique where they start shipping the DVD's from warehouses that are further away than the local one in my home state.

Making me return them to New York or Mass. instead of Connecticut seems to add an extra 2 days to the turnaround time.

That doesn't really make sense. They throttle you down so they can get more discs out to other customers. What you're talking about just puts the disc out of circulation longer than necessary. It probably just wasn't in stock at your normal distribution center.

Shipping from farther away sure does help netflix. If they increase the turn around time then it is less work and postage. They don't want to send out a disk everyday they want the costumer to keep the disc for a few days. And if the customer isn't going to then they have the post office keep the disc for a while.

When I read about Netflix first throttling users the explanation given was shipping costs, not circulation issues. That doesn't even make much sense, since you can only have so many items out at a time and someone who returns things really fast isn't tying up copies for nearly as long.

Between shipping and handling, it probably costs them something like $1 roundtrip for each item you get. They lose money on people who rip+return or go through dozens of shows/movies a month on an unlimited plan.