Upgrading and Downgrading Your Account

Netflix and Blockbuster both make it very easy to change the number of movies you have out at a time, and you can upgrade or downgrade your account through the "account" setting page.

In September I upgrade to the Netflix 4-out plan, and kept it through October. I already have a 3-out plan with Netflix & Blockbuster, and I don't watch that many movies, so I decided to downgrade my account to the 3-out plan. The process to upgrade and downgrade was quick and easy, and Netflix even warned me that I have to return enough movies to create an open slot in my queue because of the downgrade.

Have you upgraded or downgraded your account? What was the experience like? What plan on you on now?

Comments

[kwheless]

I've upgraded and downgraded my account several times. Just yesterday, I downgraded from 3-at-a-time to 1-at-a-time (really busy right now!). It's very easy to do.

However, one thing that Netflix doesn't make clear is that you don't get credit for a partial month. So if your membership normally runs from the 1st to the 31st, and you downgrade on the 15th, you don't get any money back, but you also don't get to use your old membership for the last two weeks of the month. You're downgraded immediately. So you paid for a full month of 3-at-a-time and you only got two weeks of 3-at-a-time. (At least, that's how it used to work, and I think it still works this way now.) If you want to downgrade, it's best to do it right before you're due to be charged for the next month.

[shadoh]

I have had problems when I'm close to my "throttling threshold". I don't want to get started on the "they do throttle!" vs the "they don't throttle!" debate right now, because they DO do it to me. Anyway, I was going on a (very boring) trip a year or so ago (before they had the "view now" stuff) so I went to the 8-at-a-time plan for a month so I could have some movies to travel with. When I switched back to the 3-at-a-time plan, my 30-day number of movies out was higher than what it "should" be on a 3-at-a-time plan so I was punished with throttling for a few weeks until I got back to a normal amount.

[macdude22]

I float around between 2 and 5 DVDs often. Right now there is a good deal of TV the wife and I are watching so we only have the 2 disk plan, but we'll go as high as 5 during the summer months. It's always a quick and painless procedure for me. The change takes place at the next billing period so say I switch from 5 disks to 3 disks a day after billing I stay on the 5 disk plan until the next bill then it drops to 3 and they don't send me any more disks until til the extras are sent back. Even with the 2 disk plan we average 4-5 disks a week. Anyway we move our plans around a lot and it's always painless.

I've been with netflix since around 2000 and I've never experience the throttling. 90% of the time if I drop a disk in say Monday I get one back on Wednesday, I'm impressed my bumpkin postal worker can manage to get the disks back to the post at all, I'm positive he's drunk at least 50% of the time. Sure I get bumped back a little bit on high traffic disks, big deal I got 500 other disks in my Q. Let the old man that watches 1 movie a month get his transformers right away. If I'm really hard up for that new release I'll swing by family video (usually not the case). Not saying it doesn't happen, it seems perfectly plausible to me that by living in the sticks I've already got minimum of a day turnaround because of distance to the netflix depot I've never reached that limit. I still get to watch a ton of content for pennies, 14 bones won't buy me one HD-DVD but it lets me watch a minimum of 12 a month on my 2 disk plan.

[ratchet]

I have upgraded and downgraded several times with ease.

The one caveat I have is, if you are downgrading make sure all the DVDs are returned to the new level before you use an bonus rentals.

For example, I recently downgraded from 6 at-a-time to 4 at-a-time with Netflix. I had a bonus rental from signing up my brother for the service. I used the bonus rental when I still physically had 6 DVDs at home, but the new month of service had started where I was on the 4 at-a-time plan so the free rental just 'disappeared' when I clicked on it.

[yeswor00]

I upgrade and downgrade my account often because it is very convenient. But, I also had a bonus rental disappear on me.

[profpudwick]

I changed yesterday from 4 at a time to 5 at a time. It is worth the extra 20c a day to me to have that one extra slot. I was trying to juggle the scheduling to have a couple history discs to watch with a buddy on Fridays, and two other discs, dramas or comedies, to watch with the g/f on the weekend, and the 4-out wasn't working.

[sml514]

I have had a bonus disc disappear on me, too. I called in and they gave me a new one. Still can be frustrating, though!
BTW... I am pretty sure that if you downgrade, it only takes effect on your billing date. Upgrades will take effect immediately or on next billing.

[zenubio]

It works great, I fluctuate often. I find it kind of fun to keep adjusting my plan to maximize our money.

[kwheless]

I discovered that when you downgrade, it doesn't take effect until your next billing date, as sm1514 said. This wasn't the case in the past (when I downgraded a couple of years ago I was downgraded immediately) but this makes things much easier and clearer - thanks Netflix!

[Old Timer Too]

Since Blockbuster has dropped all plans over three out at a time, they are no longer pertinent to this discussion. It is nice to see that NF has learned how to treat its customer base.

[scc4fun]

I've upgraded and downgraded Netflix ever since BBO came out. Nearly every time it has been painless and easy. It wasn't until recently that they charged you a pro-rated difference for upgrading "mid-month." Even so, it is a mostly pleasant experience except that it took an extra day to ship movies after the upgrade was successful.

[alilz]

I've upgraded and downgraded many times and I've never had a problem with it. This summer I had a 4 out plan but then downgraded to 1 (since I'm watching so much tv and sports), and even had my account on hold and everything went very smoothly.