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Actually netflix customer support admitted to me that they do throttle
users. In the last 3 months, I have never gotten a disk shipped
same-day. Most have been shipped 1-2 days later from them. Today I
signed up for the blockbuster online 2 week trial and will drop netflix
later tonight after they ship my final 2 dvds. Hate to do it, but not
going to reward them for being sleezy and sly with this whole thing.


Thank you for contacting Netflix.com customer support!

In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give
priority
to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a
result,
those members who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the
shipment
of their next available DVDs occurs at least one business day following
return
of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the
shipments
may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii)
they receive
movies lower in their Queue more often than our other members. By
prioritizing
in this way, we help assure a balanced experience for all our members.
Those
that rent a lot of movies get a great value and those with lighter
viewing
habits are able to count on our service to meet their limited needs.

When we ship you another DVD we automatically and promptly send you an
email
letting you know that it's on the way and telling you the estimated
arrival
date.

You may review the Netflix terms of use by clicking on the following
link:

http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse?hnjr=8

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact us.

Thanks,
Nicole,
Netflix Customer Service

frogger90 () wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> Actually netflix customer support admitted to me that they do throttle
> users.

No, they just admit that they give priority to certain people that aren't
you, and you don't like that. Want some cheese with that whine?

|> In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority
|> to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result,
|> those members who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the shipment
|> of their next available DVDs occurs at least one business day following return
|> of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments
|> may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive
|> movies lower in their Queue more often than our other members. By prioritizing
|> in this way, we help assure a balanced experience for all our members. Those
|> that rent a lot of movies get a great value and those with lighter viewing
|> habits are able to count on our service to meet their limited needs.

In other words, this says that when it comes time to ship out movies,
they have a fixed number of man-hours to do it in, and put movie requests
by people who have rented the fewest number of movies at the front of
the line.

This may result in you getting less movies, but it's not "throttling" any
more than giving priority to somebody who had a movie in their queue for
a very long time would be. Sure, *you* may not get as many movies or
the movie you really wanted, but you aren't being singled out to not get
them. Other people just get priority.

They *have* to have some sort of priority system, and they have decided
that simple "FIFO" isn't the one they are going to use. There are many
things that might be considered:

- Is the movie at the top of your queue in stock?
- Is it in stock at this location?
- Is the first movie in your queue that is in stock available at this
location?
- Does somebody else have it higher in their queue?
- Has somebody else been waiting longer?
- If we give you two movies lower in your queue than the highest one that
is available, we can ship them both today, but your highest priority
won't ship until tomorrow...what should we do?

All of these questions will result in somebody "waiting" or getting a
movie that they don't want as much, so *somebody* will consider them
unfair and would whine about them.

The complete details of the method Netflix has chosen to determine the
exact order to send out discs is unknown, but they have said "you may
have to wait longer when you aren't the first person we service", so
either live with it or quit. Just stop whining about it.

--
Jeff Rife | "Tragedy struck today in Sector Nine as rebel
| terrorists blew up the Death Star, killing
| thousands. The Rebel Alliance, a fringe group
| of anti-Empire fanatics, has claimed
| responsibility for the terrorist act.
| Fortunately, Lord Vader escaped without harm.
| Our hearts go out to the families of the
| victims."
| -- "NewsRadio"

Jeff Rife wrote:
>> They don't admit that they specifically reduce a person's movie rental
> ability, only that favoritism in choosing what movies ship is shown to
> those who rent less movies per month. In other words, the only reason
> you may not get all the movies you want is because somebody else is in
> line before you because you have already gotten a lot this month.
>
> The "throttling" claims also always include claims that Netflix
> intentionally delays movie check-in, doesn't ship out movies
> immediately, and has actual limits on how much somebody can get in
> a month. Although all of these claims may be true, none of them were
> admitted by Netflix.
>

I read on hacking netflix the admission that they held movies back a
day or two from heavy users because of profits and to let lesser users
have a chance. I guess I'll have to spend time finding a link now
(sigh). The whole "lesser users get newer movies first" doesn't mean
anything to me because I used to have so many movies, I didn't care if
I got the new one first, since there were plenty of movies in my queue,
they'd hold back everything, not just new ones. a lot of the new ones I
see for free from work or friends, or saw in the theater so it's not a
big deal to me (and it shouldn't be to Netflix, if the person had a lot
of old movies, then they should send that instead of nothing at all for
a few days).

Jeff Rife wrote:
> frogger90 () wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> > Actually netflix customer support admitted to me that they do throttle
> > users.
>
> No, they just admit that they give priority to certain people that aren't
> you, and you don't like that. Want some cheese with that whine?
>

Is it possible for you guys sticking up for Netflix to ever make a
point without accusing someone of whining? IMO you're whining just as
much in favor of Netflix as anyone is about their throttling policies.
You lose all validity in your argument when you continually complain
that someone not satisfied with Netflix's sleazy practices are
"whining." I see just as much "whining" from the Netflix apologists as
anyone. I don't know, it seems your posts are the best written of any
of the Netflix supporters either, why do you have to throw in the
"whining" lines all the time?

wunnuy wrote:
>>
>>>Actually netflix customer support admitted to me that they do throttle
>>>users.
>>
>>No, they just admit that they give priority to certain people that aren't
>>you, and you don't like that. Want some cheese with that whine?
>
> Is it possible for you guys sticking up for Netflix to ever make a
> point without accusing someone of whining?

....Umm, no.

We've tried to, with a valiant effort at the diplomatic doubt, but
voluntary evidence has demonstrated otherwise.

> IMO you're whining just as
> much in favor of Netflix as anyone is about their throttling policies.
> You lose all validity in your argument when you continually complain
> that someone not satisfied with Netflix's sleazy practices are
> "whining." I see just as much "whining" from the Netflix apologists as
> anyone. I don't know, it seems your posts are the best written of any
> of the Netflix supporters either, why do you have to throw in the
> "whining" lines all the time?

Well, see, thing is...

The defenders point out:
A) Netflix has openly stated their policy,
B) Netflix has openly stated reasons for their policy, regarding their
company operation and operating expenditures,
and
C) The defenders *DON'T* try to commando six movies a week, are quite
happy with the organic flow of mail in and out at the companies' pace,
and therefore have no personal axe to grind against the "evil" company
that won't give them what they want.

On the attacking side, we have:
A) Users objecting to "misleading" ads because they couldn't get as many
rentals as they wanted,
B) Users complaining that their rentals arrive a day late instead of
overnight like they wanted,
C) Users complaining they wanted to quit their service after two weeks
of rentals not arriving overnight like it said in the ads, or a movie
that wasn't immediately available on the day they wanted it,
and
D) Users accusing contented Netflix customers of being Nazi war-criminal
Enron executives who are doubtlessly in pay of the Bush administration.

....Roget's Thesaurus lists some dozen or so synonyms for "whine" in the
category of "Express self-centered complaints in a frequent,
disagreeable, unhelpful or unreasonable manner that is offensive or
annoying to others."
You are free to choose the less objectionable term.

Derek Janssen (IOW, "If it quacks like a duck, and quacks LOUDLY...")

Derek Janssen wrote:
> wunnuy wrote:
>>
> We've tried to, with a valiant effort at the diplomatic doubt, but
> voluntary evidence has demonstrated otherwise.

I haven't seen any diplomatic posts from you. I see a lot of accusitory
posts and insults but I don't see anything civil.
>
>

> On the attacking side, we have:
> A) Users objecting to "misleading" ads because they couldn't get as many
> rentals as they wanted,
> B) Users complaining that their rentals arrive a day late instead of
> overnight like they wanted,

Guess you didn't read any of my posts. If it was an occasional two day
return, you'd never hear anythigj from me. I had disks held for three
days regularly, four and a week often. I know you'd like to pretend the
whole "throttling thing" is in everyone's mind, Netflix is the best the
company in the world, and you're their champion, but sadly none of
that's true. They decieve, they purposely hold back disks (much more
than "a day" like you'd like to pretend) and whether or not you think
YOU shoud be able decide what's a proper amount of disks for someone to
receive in a month or not, the fact is Netflix lies and purposely holds
back disks. Do a little more research on the subject, I think you'll
find you probably don't know as much as you think you do. Okay, you can
whine some more now. I think you whine more than any hater of Netflix.
Thanks!

Derek Janssen () wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> The defenders point out:
> A) Netflix has openly stated their policy,
> B) Netflix has openly stated reasons for their policy, regarding their
> company operation and operating expenditures,
> and
> C) The defenders *DON'T* try to commando six movies a week, are quite
> happy with the organic flow of mail in and out at the companies' pace,
> and therefore have no personal axe to grind against the "evil" company
> that won't give them what they want.

Or, like me, they don't use Netflix and never have. As a matter of fact,
I have never rented a DVD from anyplace.

But, I have no problems with a company that tells you what they do and
then proceed to do that. If you don't like what they do, do business with
a competitor. If you can't find one you like and think you can do better,
start a company.

--
Jeff Rife | "...who paved the way for The Alan Parsons'
| Project...which I believe was some sort
| of a hovercraft."
| -- Homer Simpson

Jeff Rife wrote:

> Or, like me, they don't use Netflix and never have. As a matter of fact,
> I have never rented a DVD from anyplace.
>

Then why are you so adament about something that has absolutely nothing
to do with you.

> But, I have no problems with a company that tells you what they do and
> then proceed to do that. If you don't like what they do, do business with
> a competitor. If you can't find one you like and think you can do better,
> start a company.
>

I was actually talking to someone about this today. If someone started
up another DVD mail rental company and part of their ad was "we will
not throttle," I think they'd end up blowing Netflix and BB out of the
water - provided they could come up with the same content. You just
need the start up money. Not literate in the ways of starting up a
company, I wouldn't know how much that would need to be (but I'm sure
someone will tell us).

wunnuy () wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> > Or, like me, they don't use Netflix and never have. As a matter of fact,
> > I have never rented a DVD from anyplace.
> >
>
> Then why are you so adament about something that has absolutely nothing
> to do with you.

Because whiners like you are the ones who got the class action lawsuit
against Netflix started. Those kinds of lawsuits raise prices of
everything for everybody, and give nothing to anybody but a few lawyers.

> I was actually talking to someone about this today. If someone started
> up another DVD mail rental company and part of their ad was "we will
> not throttle," I think they'd end up blowing Netflix and BB out of the
> water - provided they could come up with the same content.

If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a bicycle.

--
Jeff Rife | Sam: What d'ya say to a beer, Normie?
|
| Norm: Hi, sailor...new in town?

wunnuy () wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> You just
> need the start up money. Not literate in the ways of starting up a
> company, I wouldn't know how much that would need to be (but I'm sure
> someone will tell us).

Well, you could ask somebody who did it. I know several people who made
killings on startups (one sold out for over $100M). They have also lost
money on startups they thought would make it, but they wouldn't touch
a DVD-rental-by-mail company unless their life depended on it.

Blockbuster (which has tons and tons of cash) has proven that it requires
some brains to do this sort of thing correctly enough to please customers
and make a profit. Heck, they are giving away 4-1/3 extra rentals per
month and *still* can't get anybody to sign up.

Netflix has proven that they seem to have the brains for this business,
and one of the things their brains have figured out is that they don't
need money from whiners.

--
Jeff Rife |
| http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/OverTheHedge/Olympics.gif