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Netflix Renters Not Getting Their DVDs

Digital Trends Staff By

Netflix puts frequent renters at the back of the DVD rental line while lesser renters get DVDs immediately. Is this a fair way to keep profits up?

Should you be an avid watcher of movies, you may want to steer clear of Netflix. The company has started punishing their customers who rent frequently rather than rewarding them. Customer ManuelVillanueva uses Netflix a lot. He has been a customer for over 2 and a half years and uses Netflix’s $17.99 a month plan to rent 3 DVDs at a time. Normally he’d be happy with his service but Netflixis now giving him the shaft because he rents too frequently.

Villanueva normally only gets about 13 DVDs a month on average shipped to his home now when he used to get upwards of 22 a month usually. For a customer with Netflix’s highest plan, you’d expect morethan 13 DVDs a month being sent out. So what’s the problem? Netflix identified Villanueva as a “high rental” customer and actually started delaying his shipments of DVDs to ensure Netflix could stillmake a profit. Netflix has it set up so that if you’re a frequent renter, you’re actually going to get lesser treatment than infrequent renters. Netflix will ship out DVDs first to those renting lesseach month rather than customers with heavy rotations in movies.

The problem here lies in the claim that Netflix is offering “unlimited rentals”, which surely isn’t the case with Manuel Villanueva. Netflix is seriously going out of their way to delay rentals tokeep profits up. Each DVD that is being sent back and forth costs Netflix 78 cents a pop, so the less DVDs rented, the better the profit. Still, after all is said and done, a customer should begetting his DVDs if he’s paying for them. There are currently no plans to change their rental policy.

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Showing 14 comments

  1. jean roemer at 6:59pm 8th February 2007 I have not received a DVD in at least 3 weeks ever since changed plans Why? Jean Roemer?

    I have not received a DVD in at least 3 weeks ever since I changed plans. Why? Jean Roemer
  2. Carlis at 9:59am 1st July 2006 Hey has anyone heard of this Kevin guy....maybe he's the FBI??? Well I have been a Netflix customer for about 8 months and I know what some of you people are talking about...as for Blockbuster...I hope they know better!!! But as you know how the corporate world works...money is everything...all the see is green. Service should be their priority! Let's keep this post going eh?
  3. Ron Vickery at 8:33am 9th May 2006 I'm in a wheel chair after breaking my back in a car crash. It's esy for me to watch a couple of movies in a day.
    Suddenly I'm a Pirate?

    I didn't even know it!
    Is the FBI comming to my house now to check for DVD's?

    Is Netflix actually just a cover for some giant FBI DVD investagation? Will they stop and pick me up a sub and a coke on the way over?

    (It's really hard to get out)
  4. IUJimbo at 1:14pm 15th February 2006 Wow, Kevin -- is Netflix spinnig this issue? Are loyal customers being subtly accused of pirating DVDs? It's been 3 weeks since I got a top-release movie. I am sick of their new tactic.

    I am on the verge of canceling Netflix and finding a good class-action attorney.

    Jim
  5. Bret L. Stern at 8:31pm 14th February 2006 :o)
  6. Bret L. Stern at 8:30pm 14th February 2006 Dear Kevin,

    How long have you worked for Netflix?
  7. Bret L. Stern at 11:47am 14th February 2006 errrrrrrr,

    That's Truly Apologetic

    Sorry
  8. Bret L. Stern at 11:46am 14th February 2006 Andrew, I took your advise and asked for my money back. I have not heard anything back from them on this. I did however hear back from them on my last e-mail. It was the exact same response I received before... Only this time they were "True Apologetic" instead of "Sincerely". Not sure what or if I'll send anything back to them this time. Will have to think about it.
  9. santz at 10:02pm 13th February 2006 hey Bret L. Stern..........your ost about the letter you sent to netflix was ******** hilarious.omg..i could not stop lauging and crying for the entire time i was reading th post. lol. u really stuck it to them......dude!!!!!!!! HUfffffff they *** deserve it .if thats what they are doing!!!

    i have been a member of netflix for about 6 month and have recently started feeling the thottle effect to 12 movies a month....I only jjust wrote to them a couple of days ago and came across this post completely by accident......!

    What we got to do is try to finda a way to make this article and the subsequent user comments more public so more and more people are aware of the policy! I know was not untill today!!

    some way so that more intenet users can see it!

    I will keep u guys posted on the their reply. if they reply....this was SINCERELY fun......LOL
  10. Kevin at 4:04pm 13th February 2006 The reality of "throttling" is that it only affects a very, very small minority of Netflix members who churn movies in a manner consistent with digital pirates. Many of the people who complain about the policy freely admit that they don't even watch the movies. The burn the DVDs and immediately place them back in the mail.

    $17.99 is great deal for "only" 13 movies a month - which is way Manuel is still a member.

    Check Blockbuster's terms of use policy. They have a nearly identical clause.

  11. Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 3:18pm 13th February 2006 I agree about the honesty statement, if they were upfront with everything, I doubt people would be as mad. I know that Blockbuster is throttling their movies to everyone because the time difference between them and Netflix is huge, like 4 days in between returns, and thats why they give you the free in store rental coupons.

    What a bummer, thats the problem when companies get too big for their own good, they think that because they are making so much money they can start treating people poorly.
  12. Andrew Randall at 2:42pm 13th February 2006 Hi,

    Like you, I used to love Netflix, but was very disappointed to hear about their throttling policy.

    All they had to do was notify all members that due to the fact that they have to make a healthy profit to stay in business, there would now be a restriction of X movies per month for each service level. But they did not do that. They buried it in the small print of their Terms of Service, which no one reads anyway, and certainly not after you have been with them for 4 years.

    The issue is not about the policy or profits. It is about honesty, and they have not been honest. They still advertise an “unlimited” number of movie rentals per month.

    I love(d) Netflix, but cancelled my account on principle as I do not like being lied to by someone who debits my credit card every month. I also demanded a refund of every month since they instigated the “throttling” policy and, guess what? They have refunded every payment I made since April 2002.

    I suggest every Netflix member demands a similar refund. Perhaps that will discourage other companies from employing deceptive tactics. Nah. ‘Course it won’t. But you can bet Netflix will think again before lying.
  13. Bret L. Stern at 1:30pm 13th February 2006 Not good
  14. Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 8:56am 13th February 2006 Wow what a shame. I used to rent from Netflix and was pretty happy. I tried Blockbuster Online though, and noticed that in a months time I only received about half the videos that I did from Netflix, they were shipped out even slower. Blockbuster does give you 4 free in store rentals though, so maybe they save money on the shipping costs by giving you the in-store coupons?
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