Netflix Queue Shipping Bug?

Kevin writes about a problem he had with his Netflix account, and how it was handled:

On a Tuesday morning, I received the typical email that my movies had been received by Netflix. Great. Usually, that means Wednesday or Thursday's mail will have new movies for me. Not the case here. On Friday night, my queue still said "we expect to ship your next available movie by Monday". Now, I had over a dozens movies that had been listed as "available now" ever since they received my stuff earlier in the week.

Very curious (and disappointed), I called them up to see if I could get an explanation. The customer service rep was very friendly, but couldn't offer any possible reason as to why it was taking them a week before they even shipped out new discs. Without my even asking for anything, he said that they'd be adding a bonus disc to my next shipment, and that my next month of service would be on the house. He even made a comment about a movie I had recently rented, and we chatted about our personal favorites for a minute.

Has anyone else had trouble with Netflix shipping movies?

Have you had an outstanding customer service experience with Netflix or Blockbuster? A bad experience?

Comments

[Cavorter]

I thought it was just me! In my case I had a single disc return on Friday (10/26) and the queue spot stayed open all weekend until sometime around noon today (10/29). Had three returns hit today and all four spots look like they'll get shipped today.

[rambaldi47]

One time we had an issue with watch now, when more hours then we used for watching a movie was taking off the amount of hours we can use, and we emailed customer service and they added them right back on without any trouble.

[Hunter McDaniel]

If I don't get around to a movie within a couple weeks, I'll just send it back and get it again some other time. Doesn't happen all that often; I've also learned to avoid movies (like HR) that are supposed to be "good for me" to have watched.

I'm sure money isn't a big concern for Swasey, but in effect he as already paid $48 ($6 for one third of his subscription times 8 months) for the privilege of keeping Hotel Rwanda next to his TV.

[Old Timer Too]

"Have you had an outstanding customer service experience with Netflix or Blockbuster? A bad experience?"

Bad, bad, bad with BB. It appears that short and sweet is the way to ask questions. Long explanations do nothing and only confuse the issue. In addition, bottom line stuff is ignored and often the same explanation is repeated over and over again. Even phone customer (not) care reps at BB do not have the authority to truly "fix" a problem and as to shipping additional discs? That will never happen at BB.

BBs customer service USED to be better than NFs, but with NF now willing to do what was described here and BB dropping programs or messing with them continually, or giving false information about available titles in the queue, BB looks like it doesn't have a customer care department and certainly has no care about its customers!

[McDahling]

I just moved, and before I had no Blockbusters near me, but now I've got one down the street. But I'm still not switching to them, despite whatever better deal they offer to me. I've heard horror stories about their costumer service, and for the brief month that I had it the customer service reps just seemed to give me the same cookie cutter response to unresolved issues. However I don't think I've ever had a bad experience with Netflix reps. And sometimes I am watching a movie that is scratched up at 3 am, so it's nice to be able to call then, instead of having to wait, then forgetting to call in the morning.

[priv8pete]

McD, it looks like you have Halloween on your mind:

"I've heard horror stories about their costumer service"

[Spiky]

I had the same thing happen to me today. I have 30+ DVDs in my Q and another one did not ship out today. I called Nexfix and they said they did not have a reason for why that happened and they were sorry, they did not offer me anything at all...

[Finngall]

I'm on the six-at-a-time plan with separate profiles for me and my wife.

Last week I had a "Very Long Wait" disk at the top of my queue, and while subsequent disks were getting selected normally, their shipment was getting delayed by a day.

I called customer support to ask about this, and the supportdroid tried to tell me it was due to my selections being kinda off the beaten track (which they were, but the explanation was BS--I'd had nearly flawless turnaround up till then with equally obscure discs). They offered me the standard free rental, which pulled the Very Long Wait disc into "At Home" status, and thankfully that disk shipped a couple of days, otherwise the gesture would have been worse than useless. And they never actually addressed the issue of a queue getting constipated due to a "wait" disk at the top.

Those with multiple profiles should note that when an extra disc is shipped, the disc is counted against the account as a whole rather than an individual profile. I've gotten a couple of "extra" discs in this manner, and both times extra disc delivered from my queue delayed the delivery of discs from my wife's queue as a result.

[Old Timer Too]

I've now been back with NF for a little over two months and am satisfied, even with one-day shipping delays. But then, I've got the 8 at-a-time and one disc slipping one day is no big deal. Now if I had a 3 at-a-time plan, then it would make a huge difference.

I haven't done anything with any of the extra features, so I can't address some of the related issues.

[weasel]

Cavorter - this is not at all uncommon. Netflix doesn't process stuff on the weekends (as far as I've been able to tell), so if something doesn't get shipped out Friday, it's always going to wait until Monday.

Spiky - how long as that spot in your Q been empty? Are you saying they received your movie today and didn't ship a new one out, or you've been waiting a week?

[Spiky]

It only happened one day...I got a email saying they checked the movie in Tuesday morning and then I checked that afternoon so see what movie they would be shipping me next and it said "We expect to ship your next movie on Wednesday." So Netflix just skipped one day for some reason. The movie shipped out today. I have been a Netflix member for almost 2 years and that had never happened before so I was surprized.

[Spiky]

It only happened one day...I got a email saying they checked the movie in Tuesday morning and then I checked that afternoon so see what movie they would be shipping me next and it said "We expect to ship your next movie on Wednesday." So Netflix just skipped one day for some reason. The movie shipped out today. I have been a Netflix member for almost 2 years and that had never happened before so I was surprized.

[someguy335]

I signed up for Netflix in the Summer of '06 and was pleased with the service. Due to the Total Access plan I signed up for Blockbuster Online in the Summer of '07, and canceled when the unlimited in store exchange option was eliminated.

After a month of using NetFlix again I am really disappointed in the turn around time on movies. I just got done watching all the movies in my queue that only NetFlix offered, and I now have no reason to go back to the service. I am not a heavy user, as I am only on the 1-at-a-Time plan when I subscribe to any service. So it's not like I'm complaining that I only received 35 DVDs this month instead of 40...

When using NetFlix I was only able to rent 5 DVDs over one month, while with Blockbuster I was able to rent 9 PLUS my 9 in store exchanges. And even at a limited 2 In Store Exchanges now, 11 movies is still better than 5 at the same price.

With NetFlix also I waited up to as long as 1 Week to get a DVD (put it in the mail Thursday, received the next Thursday... that is totally unacceptable). And NetFlix doesn't ship on Saturdays? I would put a DVD in the mail Friday, they probably receive it Saturday, don't process it until Monday, ship it out Tuesday, and I'm lucky if I receive it Wednesday or Thursday. And then what do you know... watch it Thursday night, return it Friday morning, and the whole extended cycle repeats again.

I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but Blockbuster really has NetFlix beat in terms of shipping speeds. With Blockbuster being right on the way to work every day, I would drop it off in store so they would scan it, and have my next movie ship the next day.

Even with my first NetFlix movie this month... I signed up Monday October 1st after midnight, hoping they'd ship my first Mon and I would receive it Tues. I ended up getting it Thursday.

As for a location, I am in Detroit, MI and my NetFlix shipping center is in Lansing, MI

[dizzney]

Netflix doesn't process stuff on the weekends (as far as I've been able to tell),

You're right, they don't. They work M-F, at least the warehouse workers do.

[Veruska]

Never had a problem. Never had a delay. Never had to call customer service.

[Veruska]

... and let me add: my queue always includes hard to find foreign titles and I'm on the 5 DVD's plan which are usually watched/returned/replaced every week.

[willielumlum]

I've seen this happen from time to time and it's usually because I've got some television series in my queue and since Netflix doesn't ship these titles out of order unless I rearrange them. so they'll try to send that top title and hold up shipments. i move some movies to the top of the queue to get things back up and running.