|
|
|
December 28, 2005 [bookmark] Netflix Rental Arrives 1 Week Later Netflix notified me they shipped Zenki vol. 2 on December 21st. I had no idea they shipped it from Houston, Texas 1,100 miles away. Service is going to hell in a hand basket. What's The Difference Between Netflix & Blockbuster Online? Answer: The return address!
These addresses themselves don't mean much until you realize I live in Warren, Michigan. Albuquerque, New Mexico is 1,360 miles (3 days mail) from my home. Netflix also has a distribution center in Lansing, Michigan, only 80 miles (1 day mail) from my home. Netflix saves money by shipping rentals from far away locations. How? Netflix spends the same amount on postage regardless of which state they ship from. Shipping from distant locations ties up your rentals in the mail thus you rent less and Netflix saves money on shipping. Netflix has recently admitted in their terms of service they ship from distant centers to throttle "heavy users:"
This rental I received from Albuquerque, New Mexico took 6 days to arrive by mail. My only remedy is to change the address and barcode so my Netflix rentals are returned to Lansing, Michigan. It doesn't change the fact this rental spent 6 days in the mail although a one-day return to Lansing, Michigan provides some consolation. Currently, most of my Netflix rentals have remote return addresses. How annoying! December 26, 2005 [bookmark] Service Plans Compared: Unplayable Rentals
Total unplayable rentals are the sum of broken rentals, scratched unplayable rentals, and lost rentals. Percent and ratio calculated using the Broken Rental Ratio & Percent Calculator--I substituted broken rentals with unplayable ones. December 13, 2005 "Nearest Netflix Shipping Facility" Part 11 The Netflix web site finally addresses the "nearest" facility issue in their help section:
So the rumor that envelopes are returned to the "nearest" facility regardless of the return address is false. What took Netflix so long to post this information? Lately, most of the movies I receive are from across country. Recently, Netflix acknowledged that subscribers will have their shipments deliberately delayed (throttled) in this manner according to the revised Terms of Use. If you receive a glut of rentals from out of state you've been marked as a "heavy user." Related posts: "Nearest Netflix Shipping Facility" Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 December 12, 2005 Blockbuster Online in-store coupons used to rent Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith and The Cat Returns. Revenge of the Sith was disappointing. The Cat Returns (Neko no Ongaeshi) was much more appealing. December 3, 2005 [bookmark] Blockbuster Online 1 Year Later It's been one year since I joined Blockbuster Online. I would say Blockbuster is comparable to Netflix although Netflix has more selection and better availability. There are many titles that I rented from GreenCine and Netflix because Blockbuster did not carry them. All too often, I moved titles from my Blockbuster queue to GreenCine or Netflix because of "long waits" or "coming soon" notices. Blockbuster Online vs. Competition During the last 9 months (March-November 2005), I've maintained 3-at-a-time subscriptions at Netflix, Blockbuster, and GreenCine. Here is a summary of my findings:
Note: there's a slight difference in the averages mentioned on the comparison page and in my journal. My journal compares rentals returned or received per month. The comparison page compares rentals returned or received per billing period. November's Rental Stats
Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during November 2005. Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator.
These averages exclude broken and missing rentals (see data). *Correction 2/10/06: Blockbuster results incorrectly reported as 3.1 rentals/wk, 13.3 rentals/mo, and $1.19/movie. November 29, 2005 [bookmark] Netflix Ads Are Irritating The Netflix credo must be "by any means necessary" as they commence a no-holds-barred advertising campaign to lure in more suckers. I can't read my Yahoo e-mail or use Webster's Online dictionary without being barraged with ads like this. Even though I have pop-up's disabled, Netflix manages to sneak them in by hacking my web browser. Recently, AOL members have also fallen victims to hideous Netflix ads. Virginia Heatwole of Rockville, Maryland was shocked when she found Netfix ads "flashing and screaming" at the top of her intimate blog about nature and spirituality. By the way, you won't find pro-Netflix sites carrying this story: it's bad business. November 24, 2005 [bookmark] Netflix Google Bombing (Googlebombing) It seems likely Netflix has hired their own "geekoids" to Google bomb (Googlebomb) negative Netflix sites:
Netflix has successfully used Google bombs to push Netflix-friendly sites to the top search results when Googling "netflix." Netflix did a good job too--there's a bunch of anti-Netflix web sites at the very bottom of Google's search results. November 22, 2005 [bookmark] 39 Rentals Missing While comparing the online version of my rental history with my old e-mailed history I discovered that 39 rentals were deleted from the online version. The majority of these were broken rentals. Some were wrong shipments although there's a couple that were mistakenly shipped either through fault of my own or Netflix. I also reported a couple of the 39 rentals damaged as they had difficulty playing although I was able to watch them--as a favor to Netflix and their subscribers so they would be repaired or removed from circulation. I've never calculated how long it took Netflix to send replacements for problem rentals so it was interesting to find out it took 8 days on average for Netflix to send my replacements. I would also point out all 5 copies of T.T.S Airbats disc 2 were shipped broken. Returned Receipt I finally received a signed returned receipt from Netflix. This is proof I sent my letter opting out of the settlement. I noticed the postmark had the same date that we received a call from a supposed Netflix lawyer. Broken Blockbuster DVD #7 Today Silent Mobius vol. 1 arrived cracked in half. It and another Blockbuster Online envelope appeared crumpled as if they were squashed under the weight of something heavy. November 20, 2005 TallRock.net Workaround [bookmark] Along with deleting years worth of subscriber's records, Netflix prevents customers from analyzing their rental histories at such sites as TallRock.net. Netflix has already been sued over their delivery times--Netflix doesn't want other customers to do the same. Here's a workaround so Netflix customers can still analyze their rental histories at Tallrock. Here's the results of TallRock's analysis using my current rental history:
Unless you save your rental history within 90 days, you will loose information about "problem" and "multiple" rentals. This hides the fact Netflix mailed you broken or damaged rentals as well as other problems. Also, you won't be able to find out if Netflix has been delaying (throttling) your shipments. Combine Your Old E-Mailed & 90 Day History Here are instructions for combining both your e-mailed Netflix history (if you have one) with your online 90 Day history so your records will be complete. November 19, 2005 Netflix Withholding Subscriber Data [bookmark] Netflix used to provide detailed rental data however the company has recently deleted years worth of subscriber rental histories due to a recent class action lawsuit involving delivery times reminiscent of the Enron paper shredding. GreenCine and Blockbuster continue to provide complete subscriber rental histories. Blockbuster Online GreenCine 2 Weeks No Receipt! It's been 2 weeks since I mailed my request to opt-out of the Netflix settlement. Unfortunately, it looks like the address Netflix used is bogus. My letter was sent certified mail with return receipt. If I don't hear back soon I'll send the same letter to Netflix's corporate office. Anonymous Phone Call On November 16, 2005, my wife received a phone call from someone claiming to be a lawyer representing Netflix. The call was from a private number. They asked to speak with me except I was sleeping after working a 12-hour midnight shift. He asked my wife what my intentions were since I was opting-out of the settlement. He also mentioned this web site. November 18, 2005 [bookmark] Backing Up Your History If you haven't backed up your history yet it's too late. Netflix knows this is important evidence for your lawsuit. Check your e-mail for any histories you may have possibly requested in the past. I've created instructions for backing up your history from the Netflix web site. In the past, Netflix provided spreadsheet-friendly rental histories: this is no longer the case. The best solution I could come up with is using MS Excel. Here's the instructions. Here is my entire Netflix history combining my 90 day activity (available on the Web) with previously e-mailed rental records. I'll have to update my records every 90 days as Netflix deletes my history online. November 13, 2005 Missing Data In History [bookmark] I just noticed Netflix has changed its method of displaying user's rental history. In the past, Netflix would e-mail user's history which was annoying due to the wait (see example). Yet, these e-mailed histories contained valuable information such as shipping and received dates. Netflix no longer e-mails your history. Instead, histories are made available on their web site however my history produced a 558K web page with significant download time. I also noticed the new histories are incomplete. Netflix has omitted broken rentals, shipping dates, and possibly other information. Note, the new histories hinder your attempts to analyze your rental activity with spreadsheets or with web sites such as tallrock.net. It's almost as if Netflix doesn't want you understand your rental activity--possibly due to the recent class action lawsuit involving delivery times. If you haven't backed up your Netflix history, start now. Netflix will only keep receive dates and other information for 90 days then it's lost. November 6, 2005 Hold Out For More Cash [bookmark] Send a letter certified mail with return receipt to Netflix stating you wish to exclude yourself from the class action lawsuit, Chavez vs. Netflix (case number CGC-04-434884). Write your wish to preserve your right to bring a lawsuit against Netflix concerning the Released Claims. Send letters to: Netflix Opt-Out Here's the letter I sent today. My postage came to $4.42 for certified mail with return receipt. I for one will not accept Netflix's measly payoff--a free upgrade for 1 month. It's only worth a paltry $6.00 dollars . I intend to hold out for more cash. I intend to sue Netflix too! Anyone know a good lawyer? Although I'm opting out of the settlement, I don't view it as a failure. Frank Chavez had the determination to look "cocksure" braggart Reed Hastings, in the eye and say "you're a crook!" Hastings flinched changing Netflix advertising to exclude "one day delivery" and "same day delivery" from his advertising. Hastings also forced himself to admit most subscribers receive shipments the next day. Furthermore, Hastings reluctantly changed his Terms Of Use somewhat acknowledging the act of throttling his customers: Netflix finally admits they deliberately withhold shipments and deliberately ship from far away distribution centers to throttle their customers. Fighting Spirit! Netflix is under the impression that the anime Fighting Spirit is an eight volume series. It isn't. Volume 9 hasn't been released yet and Netflix won't let me "save" this title in my queue. However, GreenCine does realize this series continues and I've "requested" Fighting Spirit vol. 9 from GreenCine. Requesting a yet to be released title assures me that I won't forget about watching the rest of the series. October's Stats
Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during October 2005. Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator. Add in the 2 free rentals I received from Blockbuster and the cost per rental decreases to $1.13. It's been a while since I've received a broken rental from Netflix. I wonder what happened?
These averages exclude broken and missing rentals (see data). October 27, 2005 Blockbuster Online In-Store Coupons I made use of my Blockbuster Online in-store coupons this week. They're useful for occasions when no rentals arrive in the mail. I rented Vampire Princess Miyu vol. 1-2. The store only had these volumes and I'm renting the rest online. GreenCine was the only one that had volume 3. Neither Blockbuster Online nor Netflix has volume 3 even though the series is still in print. Subscribing to 3 services helps fill in the availability gaps. October 26, 2005 [bookmark] HackingNetflix: Consumer Advocate Or Shill Blog? I was thoroughly disgusted with the tall tale Mike Kaltschnee (HackingNetflix) told reporters at the :
HackingNetflix is "unadulterated truth?" When did Kaltschnee become a consumer advocate? Remarkably, Kaltschnee's 2nd statement sounds just like my goal statement for this journal. What a hypocrite! Mike has already proven HackingNetflix is far from being "fair and balanced." Historically, HackingNetflix has made Netflix look good and dissatisfied customers look bad. Here's some statements Kaltschnee made concerning Netflix's practice of throttling customers:
Kaltschnee hardly sounds like someone concerned with Netflix subscriber satisfaction. In fact, for someone who claims he'll blog about "anything" related to Netflix, Kaltschnee ignored an important exposé ABC news did on Netflix's customer throttling. Kaltschnee and his shills did their best in persuading subscribers throttling did not exist. It doesn't take long for someone to figure out what's going on at HackingNetflix. If you want my opinion, Kaltschnee has the company's interests at heart, not its subscribers. October 23, 2005 Throttling: Epilogue It's been a year since the big debate over the intentional delay in shipments to Netflix customers. Since then the company has admitted it provides service on 2 tiers: profitable customers receive better service. As I look back, it's painfully clear Netflix shills were working on damage control. Here's a 7-page discussion over throttling from last year. Customers complained about being throttled then were viciously attacked by Netflix shills denouncing their complaints as lies. Netflix customers had no proof back then they were being throttled and took the abuse. Throttling has been exposed yet customer abuse continues at HackingNetflix. October, 19, 2005 "Nearest Netflix Shipping Facility" Part 10 [bookmark] On October 15, 2005 I sent an inquiry to Netflix customer support asking what does "Nearest Netflix Shipping Facility" mean. Today, I finally received a reply:
Lately, most of my rentals have been from out of state (i.e Phoenix, AZ). I've been adding my own labels so they get returned here in Michigan. Related posts: "Nearest Netflix Shipping Facility" Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 October 14, 2005 Netflix, GreenCine, & Blockbuster Online: A Comparison of Customer Satisfaction [bookmark] After renting nearly 1,000 DVDs online, I've experienced the intricacies, quirks, and pitfalls of online DVD renting. I started out renting from Netflix 2 years ago then subscribed to Blockbuster Online and GreenCine a year ago after becoming dissatisfied with Netflix's service.
Instrument In order to provide a meaningful review of the 3 companies, I created a 15-item questionnaire utilizing a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire's objective is to measure Netflix, GreenCine, and Blockbuster customer satisfaction. Findings After administering the questionnaire to myself I determined that GreenCine provided the best customer satisfaction:
Blockbuster's service is still new and constantly improving. Making a few much needed improvements should put them ahead of Netflix in customer satisfaction. You're more than welcome to compare your results with mine. October 9, 2005 One Year With GreenCine [bookmark]
TallRock calculated 24 Netflix and 9 GreenCine rentals per month. FrogCircus calculated 22 Netflix and 10 GreenCine rentals per month. My actual rental averages are 13.7 Netflix and 9.4 GreenCine rentals per month. Based TallRock and FrogCircus' results, I've determined GreenCine's throttle rate is 0-6% while Netflix's throttle rate is 38-43%. In summary, while GreenCine's rentals travel a vast distance to my home they are shipped out immediately. In contrast, Netflix rentals travel a relatively short distance yet spend lengthy detentions in their distribution centers. October 6, 2005 [bookmark] For the record, Netflix admits to using spyware, "Companies including Netflix Inc. and Orbitz LLC have acknowledged using adware" to promote themselves online according to Adware Report (July 6, 2005). What is adware?
October 4, 2005 Netflix Linked To Pornography [bookmark] As part of my research on Netflix spyware, I found another article:
Read the story: Spyware: Follow The Money Related Posts: Netflix
Use Of Spyware Undisclosed To Subscribers October 1, 2005 September's Stats [bookmark]
Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during September 2005. Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator.
These averages exclude broken and missing rentals (see data).
Total unplayable rentals are the sum of broken rentals, scratched unplayable rentals, and lost rentals. Percent and ratio calculated using the Broken Rental Ratio & Percent Calculator--I substituted broken rentals with unplayable ones. September 30, 2005 SkipDr Saves The Day SkipDr is cheap and flimsy but it works. My copy of Rurouni Kenshin vol. 11 from Netflix played except I was unable to access the main menu as well as the Japanese audio/English subtitles. Listening to Kenshin in English was not what I wanted. Plus, I wanted to see the liner notes in the main menu. I could see the scratches that were causing the problem so I used the SkipDr to remove them. I used it 4 times unsuccessfully although each time I got further through the AnimeWorks (distributor) animation before the DVD froze. I used SkipDr a 5th time and decided if it didn't work I'd listen to Kenshin in English. My DVD player had a difficult time although it finally accessed the main menu and I was able to enjoy Kenshin in Japanese. If anyone comes across a copy of Rurouni Kenshin vol. 11 with funny swirls on it, that would be the one I rented. September 29, 2005 Netflix Sued! [bookmark]
Who would have thought. Oh, something about a "settlement" and "lowered" profits. Forbes: Netflix Lowers Earnings-View On Lawsuit Looking for case information on Netflix? Visit the Superior Court of California County of San Francisco Electronic Information Center. Click the "Name Search Query" button and enter "netflix." Install the plug-in to view their documents. Expect Fewer Anime Titles [bookmark] Renting anime is the reason I subscribe to Netflix. Initially, their selection was poor yet Netflix improved over time. Now, another hurdle may hinder anime availability. Just as Netflix increases its anime selection, the anime industry decides to scale back. Anime hasn't lost its appeal with fans yet sales are flat. Although anime continues to grow in popularity, the industry has overestimated its growth. The hype over Pokeman and Dragonball spurred the industry into flooding the market with new titles. Retail giant Target recently decided to take anime off its shelves hinting sales are poor.
Other factors dissuade the industry from distributing anime in America. As the popularity of anime grew so did distributing costs here in the States. Distributors such as Geneon, ADV, and Bandai see little gain in releasing lesser known titles with poor profit potential.
Also, fan sites are distributing anime straight from Japan before it has the chance to be sold in America: why buy it when you can download it. Cartoon Network's latest anime hit, Naruto, is freely distributed on the Net even before it has an opportunity to be sold (Google "naruto"). The Netflix community hasn't helped matters either. They're quick to criticize members renting anime and Japanese culture itself. Interesting Anime Facts:
References: Anxious
times in the cartoon underground September 28, 2005 Dragon Drive Finally Arrives From Blockbuster Yesterday, I finally received my replacement copy of Dragon Drive vol. 9 from Blockbuster Online. I requested a replacement copy from Blockbuster on 9/9/05. About a week ago, I phone Blockbuster customer service to ask them what the hold up was. Although Dragon Drive vol. 9 was no longer in my queue, it was marked as being "In My Queue." Customer service told me this title was placed in a "virtual priority list" and would be shipped out as soon as possible. I didn't imagine it would take this long. September 27, 2005 [bookmark] Voice Your Opinion Someone recently wrote:
How does this help out the next guy deciding whether Netflix is right for him? We subscribers know Netflix has problems yet no one else does. Don't be shy, spread the word. Last week, the term "netflix" became a top 10 search keyword on this web site. People are Googling "netflix" for information and reading My Opinion of Netflix. They get to learn about all the broken rentals I received, throttling, and discover "unlimited" rentals is just a come on for service they'll never get. September 15, 2005 [bookmark] Product Review: SkipDr Yesterday, I received Kaze No Yojimbo vol. 4 from Netflix. Unfortunately, my DVD player would not play the last two episodes. Surprisingly, the rental didn't look any more scratched than your usual Netflix DVD. I also tried using my PC's DVD player without success. Kaze No Yojimbo is one of my favorite anime mysteries. Having it stop in the middle was disappointing to say the least, although it's not the first time it happened. I purchased Kaze No Yojimbo vol. 1 for the same reason. My choices were:
I've had bad luck with replacement DVDs shipped from Netflix. Plus, Netflix takes forever sending out replacements. I usually end up waiting for a week. Purchasing a DVD works well if you don't mind spending the cash--sort of defeats the purpose of renting. I've tried repairing a DVD using toothpaste without any luck however, I wanted to try a commercial product. I took a chance and purchased a DVD scratch remover tool called SkipDr. First, SkipDr is a shoddy product. It's made of cheap flimsy plastic. I've seen sturdier children's toys. Customer's deserve a more robust product for $29.00 dollars. Next, SkipDr does not come assembled. I had to force the resurfacing wheel into its slot hoping it would not break. Finally, using SkipDr was a dissapointment. According to the directions, cranking the handle is supposed to resurface the DVD while rotating it at the same time. My skipDr did not rotate the DVD. I had to take the DVD out rotate it, put it back in, and turn the handle. Imagine doing this a hundred times! But I wasn't finished yet. I spent about another 10 minutes painstakingly buffing my rental with a piece of felt cloth. Does SkipDr work? Yes! Is it worth the hassle? That's debatable. After using this product I was able to watch the last two episodes without difficulty. A final note: the makers of SkipDr claim it can by used 50 times without replacing the resurfacing wheel. My wheel was visibly worn just after one use. Recommendations: This product is a must for Netflix subscribers. Recipe for making a Netflix rental DVD (bookmark)
September 9, 2005 Broken Blockbuster DVD #6 Dragon Drive vol. 9 arrives broken. September 6, 2005 Foreign Films: Where To Find Them [bookmark]
*Request means these films are not available at this time although you may request it. I've had Yukikaze vol. 2 on request for a year now from Netflix. Results updated 11/28/2006 I was surprised by the results. I expected GreenCine to carry the most yet they didn't have any of these films on hand. While each service faired poorly, Blockbuster did the best of the three. I had already known Netflix had a poor selection of Mexican films since that was one of the first things I checked after signing up with the service. Keep in mind these services may have more foreign films than what my test found. Hopefully, TCM will show these films again next year. Deja vu: Holidays = No Rentals Another Memorial day has passed with no rentals in the mail. This time I used my Blockbuster Online coupons and rented Saiyuki: Requiem and Once Upon A Time (Windaria). Both were enjoyable except I was disappointed Windaria was an English dub only. I forced myself to listen to ADV's mediocre screenplay and hack acting. By the way, Netflix has mistakenly listed Once Upon A Time as a subtitled version. It is not! Check ADV's catalog. I've tried to point out mistakes to Netflix before but no one listens. Too Many Complaints! I've fallen behind reading my e-mail. I've posted some of e-mailed Netflix customer opinions sent early August. It does take a while to sort through these. I do screen them. September 4, 2005 August Rental Statistics [bookmark]
Services compared using rentals "returned" or "received" during August 2005. Cost/rental & turnaround computed using Price/Rental & Turnaround Calculator. Please note, Netflix knows about this site. Are they sending me extra rentals to manipulate my statistics? Who knows.
To be consistent, these averages now exclude broken and missing rentals (see data). My Complete Rental History This is the most current rental history that I have which includes Netflix, GreenCine, and Blockbuster. My Netflix Journal Archive
|