Dan writes: "In addition to the lovely banner ads adorning the majority of the Netflix pages I visit. Starting today, I am now getting spam inside my queue. I have never even considered purchasing a DVD from Netflix, but somehow they spam me with this garbage, and not any of my friends. How are they going to keep people from jumping on the Blockbuster bandwagon when they keep alienating their customers?."
I have some good news for you, Dan. Netflix will stop the banner ads shortly.
Peter wonders why you have to return the DVD and have them ship you a new one: "It would be even better if they just shipped a case for the movie, let you keep the copy at home and freed up your queue immediately.."
I'm not seeing any offers for previously viewed DVDs in my queue. Is there a way to turn this off?
Update: Jim Biancolo has written a Greasemonkey script for Firefox to block the ads.
First post..do I win?
Just checked my Q...no spam to sell me stuff I don't want.
Maybe it's a trial to gauge reaction. If enough customers complain, they won't impalement it.
COMPLAIN to them folks!
Posted by: peter | January 09, 2007 at 02:56 PM
This is awful. I hope it never appears on my account.
Posted by: november | January 09, 2007 at 03:18 PM
I don't have it in my queue either. It must be a test thing. I gotta admit, though...if something near the top of my queue was being sold for six bucks, I'd consider buying it, and I don't often click around in my queue to check prices. I'm not sure *what* I think about it.
Posted by: Phdsvp | January 09, 2007 at 03:26 PM
I was hit by this today. This is the worst thing netflix has done to me. When I saw it I felt sick. I kept refreshing hoping it would go away. My queue is my sacred space, my little corner of the world where I can plan my beloved nightly entertainment in peace...but now this intrusion.
Netflix is a rental company, not a movie retailer. I know they have movies for sale, but spamming me under items in my queue? God help us all.
I don't want to even look at my queue now...
Posted by: Tim | January 09, 2007 at 03:27 PM
"It would be even better if they just shipped a case for the movie, let you keep the copy at home and freed up your queue immediately.."
The sale copies might be in better condition than normal rentals. They pick the DVDs with the least wear and tear. I think they give a guarantee, like BB does for used movies. You are better off getting a certified copy than some beaten-up heavily used copy.
Posted by: type-cast | January 09, 2007 at 03:29 PM
It should be optional, but I actually think I would like this. I have always thought there should be a list of "in que" on the buy page.
As for shipping you the case only - that is how gamefly does it.
Posted by: vortech | January 09, 2007 at 04:14 PM
It showed up in my queue today. I hope they make it an option and that you can shut it off. It makes it really hard to look through what movies you have in your queue. I like to update my list and movies around sometimes (like if I know I'm going to have friends over I want comedies and not dramas,etc). This makes it very hard to do that. I hope that they make it an option that you can turn off as I am sure some people will like it. It's a great option if you do, but if you don't it really sucks!!!
Posted by: IowaHawksFan1 | January 09, 2007 at 04:53 PM
Out of the 271 movies I have in my queue, 7 have the ads. I guess that's all of selections they have too many of. Since I tend to watch a lot of "long tail" movies (ie, not mainstream), that's not too surprising. My only complaint is that this will undoubtedly break Flixque again.
Posted by: DirkMaster | January 09, 2007 at 05:04 PM
Oh man, this is so annoying! My queue is already too long, and these ads just make it take that much longer to load (particularly obnoxious!) and then to scroll through. I just emailed to ask them to turn it back off.
Incidentally, I think it's not showing up for some people because you may not have movies in your queue that are available for purchase. Out of the 300+ in my own queue, I'm only seeing 30 or so of the ads. A quick search for some of the ones without ads didn't turn up any available copies for purchase in their Previously Viewed section of the site.
Posted by: Meg | January 09, 2007 at 05:25 PM
I have 432 movies in my queue and I'm still not seeing it.
I'm trying to get someone at Netflix to tell me if there is a way to turn it off.
- Mike K
http://www.hackingnetflix.com
Posted by: mikek | January 09, 2007 at 05:38 PM
There should be a link on the Buy Movies page to show movies for sale that are in your queue, but don't show it on the actual Queue page.
Posted by: Barrett | January 09, 2007 at 06:51 PM
I remember when I had Walmart DVD rental, they did something like this. Whenever u searched for a title to rent, it brought up dozens of other titles to buy!
I wrote them that the results page looked like a swap-meet. They dropped it after a few days.
When r companies gonna get the idea that the public is getting SICK & TIRED of ads in every space available!
Posted by: peter | January 09, 2007 at 08:44 PM
I noticed these tonight (first time today looking at my Que). It is annoying but would be much more so if there were ads on more than 6 of the 50 movies I have in my Que.
What REALLY gets me is that "Fialure to Launch" is on Short Wait BUT they have a copy to SELL me??
ALSO, as for 'why not keep the copy you have at home', I belive they also Polish the movies they sell to remove scratches.
Posted by: jmchamblis | January 09, 2007 at 10:59 PM
I don't have any of this in my queue, but I have to ask: Is this really "spam?" I understand spam to be unsolicited e-mails or postings by a third-party. How would Netflix "spam" their own site? Last I heard, this sort of thing is called "advertising."
Really, I think someone is being a little too sensitive. What's the harm in Netflix trying to make a buck? Isn't that the point of a Free Market Economy?
Posted by: hawk5391 | January 10, 2007 at 01:16 AM
*sigh*
Netflix is just begging people to go over to Blockbuster. Reed Hastings and co. need to get a clue.
Posted by: vio | January 10, 2007 at 02:13 AM
"I don't have any of this in my queue, but I have to ask: Is this really "spam?" I understand spam to be unsolicited e-mails or postings by a third-party. How would Netflix "spam" their own site? Last I heard, this sort of thing is called "advertising.""
I agree it's not SPAM but it is still annoying.
"What's the harm in Netflix trying to make a buck? Isn't that the point of a Free Market Economy?"
No harm but they should at least give me a way to turn it off. By not doing so they are telling me that if I want to deal with them I have to do it on their terms...and what they say goes. THAT'S BS! I don't have to accept their terms. I have the choice of quitting and dealing exclusively with BBO or anyone else I choose to. There is already a wedge driven into myself and Netflix because of Total Access. Now it appears that Netflix is trying to shove the wedge in further. It won't take too much more for me to quit Netflix and tell them to shove that wedge someplace else.
Posted by: Tester | January 10, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Netflix does have the right to do what it wants with its service. It has the right to set pricing, selection, how it's queue looks etc, regardless if you like it or not.
If you don't like it, you can always vote with your wallet and leave the service.
I do not like it at all. I don't blame Netflix for trying it. The people that post on here are a small majority of their customer base (but probably their biggest fans and supporters). If they guage that it is something their customers do not like they have choices to make a) make it optional, b) turn it off or c) keep it on and risk losing subscribers who don't like it and find the alternative service(s) work for them.
Netflix needs to do everything it can to become the most profitable it can (it has that duty to its shareholders) anything they can do to increase the bottom line (sell ad space, sell old movies, etc) they should try, however, they have to balance that with what their customers like, think, etc.
I was fine with the banner ads, they didn't bother me. I don't like this, someone else is going to have a different thought. Netflix has to try to keep all of their customers happy, while also keeping the shareholders happy. That isn't always as easy of a balancing act as one might expect.
I hope they turn it off, as it makes it harder to serach through my queue, but they won't lose me because of this...however, obviously some of you hate it enough to consider leaving. That is your right and Netflix has to decide if it will sell enough movies to more then cover however many people they lose. I don't think it will work, but then again I don't have access to their data to find out.
Posted by: IowaHawksFan1 | January 10, 2007 at 12:21 PM
I agree completely with the last two posts. This isn't the "worst thing Netflix has done" (I got a real giggle out of that one), but it looks like an annoyance -- I still haven't seen it in my queue so I can't say first-hand. There's nothing wrong with Netflix trying to make money by promoting another service but it shouldn't inconvenience their customers.
Although we can wish that Netflix would give us control over this feature, I doubt they will since they give us very little control over any of the other content we see on their site. Like Billy Bob said in Bad Santa, "wish in one hand and (poop) in the other and see which one fills up faster."
We have no direct control over companies like Netflix or Blockbuster, but as consumers we cast our votes with our dollars. If any of this bothers you that much, let Netflix know how unhappy you are and you will see changes (if enough people agree with you).
Posted by: hawk5391 | January 10, 2007 at 01:26 PM
Are you kidding me? I LOVE this new feature from Netflix - I've bought so many DVDs from Netflix based on Netflix rentals it eliminates one step of clicking on the blue tab once I've seen something I want to purchase.
Posted by: thecheshirecat | January 10, 2007 at 01:47 PM
Yeah, I kinda like the idea myself. But I don't have it in my queue yet so I'm not sure how annoying it might be.
If it were tucked away and I could easily "slide" it out, I would totally love it. I have bought a bunch of $5.99 movies from Netflix. Usually, if I see a movie I like for $5.99, I'll buy it. If I saw one in my queue that I have already seen and I know that I like it, I would buy it and remove it from my queue.
Posted by: junkfood | January 10, 2007 at 02:07 PM
I use the term "spam" as meaning unwanted crap...although this effort by NF may not fit u'r standard definition of the term, it's a nit-picking point & not material to this discussion.
As of now, I still don't have this product pushing "feature" in my Q & sure as heck don't want it, since I never buy any DVDs. If I did, it's easy to just click the tab that's labeled "DVD sale.."
BTW..I'm not the "peter", that Mike refers to in the heading of this post.
Posted by: peter | January 10, 2007 at 03:12 PM
Turns out I do have this. I just didn't notice because it's only there for a few movies and they are all way down in my queue.
I'll admit that if it were on most of my movies, I would be annoyed. But as it's less than 5% of my queue, it doesn't bother me. In fact, they will most likely get a buy or two from me because of it. I like buying the $5.99 movies, but I only get around to checking the For Sale section occasionally.
Posted by: junkfood | January 10, 2007 at 07:44 PM
I haven't seen this on either of my accounts. If it makes my queue load any more slowly than it already does, I won't like it one bit.
Speaking of loading slowly, you're not supposed to see the star ratings if your queue has 100+ movies. But I still do.
Posted by: kolohe61 | January 10, 2007 at 10:28 PM
"I use the term "spam" as meaning unwanted crap...although this effort by NF may not fit u'r standard definition of the term, it's a nit-picking point & not material to this discussion."
I think it's material. If we call this "spam," what else are we going to call spam? Banner ads? How about the little "Movies for $5.99" tab. Is that spam? Are websites allowed to have their own name at the top, or is that spam too? Let's face it, this is a pretty minor annoyance in this big, busy world of ours.
By the way, as kolohe61 can attest, Hawaiians love Spam. They consider it a delicacy. We've already heard from one person here that really likes this new feature. You say "toe-may-toe" I say "toe-mah-toe." Let's call the whole thing off.
Posted by: hawk5391 | January 10, 2007 at 10:59 PM
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Posted by: Agent Snotface | January 11, 2007 at 06:01 AM
These banners are just a visual distraction in the queue... breaks it up with one line entries and 2 line entries with the banners. The font on the banners way larger that the font for the queue entries with is also distracting. I don't mind that they sell the movies. I think they should just use a small clickable symbol (like the Recommended symbol) so that you can see the movie is for sale and can go to the "buy" page and keep each queue entry to one line.
Posted by: whmartin | January 11, 2007 at 01:40 PM
Ya, I'm thinking that Netflix will also add the ability to purchase feminine hygiene products in the queue right next to the chick flix!
http://femininehygienecatalog.com/Results.aspx?query=Feminine%20Hygiene&03u3hs9yoakG1qwTDDRBClf-iXLGiJuYPjrg63XR6B4NJe0ruFRHZJZatIIYBfHwiZaFo492Y8ZnZC_jweIlGuKjOXfPBKPVpz1VStvkge4PATGro0RWXQL2X_qdQ4XzZNuzFpq3ReV3XlNL72GSzHUTAIxiKqUaBW0uCKbrKWbYxGM1n327FdsFEQPDvfXv6lXjgsy4ZPgPXo0rF-MxD_LlvZQTEWCxHP3pCxoBrwPiATnBnxdhRhUiFsD5CECi3-JSbwLfPSeFk3f9xDaFTE9DWBnw4JnI-WSzA1LZecgkkhhlEWWmYlJ6dvLcNLsfPMaY2YfvJveYkc&sessionid=ubygcj45n0zgvyvsypy52f55&eas=&cc=us
Posted by: Edward R Murrow | January 11, 2007 at 07:02 PM