What Movies Are You Waiting For?

Matthew on HiDefology is has been waiting since December 17th for Bladerunner on Blu-ray.

Okay Netflix, on December 17th, 2007 I added Blade Runner: Final Cut [Blu-ray] to the top of my queue and it has yet to show up. That’s with sending four or five movies a week back to you and receiving another four or five movies.

That means that you have sent me over 100 movies, with Blade Runner in the top spot of my queue. Over 100! Ever time I return movies, I wait in anticipation of this possibly being the day that you decide to send me the movie.

Are you waiting for any movies from Netflix?

Comments

[Godot]

I tried to ask Netflix customer service more specifically how you are prioritized for movies, but couldn't get an answer.

That is, if Matthew has Blade Runner: Final Cut on top of his queue since December and I have it on top of my queue since February, does Matthew get it first?

They said, "No, it doesn't work like that."

But then how does it work?

[Scribe1964]

I've had "The Mist" as VERY LONG WAIT since it came out.

[david]

The second season of No Reservations came out on DVD in Feb. and I still have only gotten one of the 3 discs and its always been at the top of my queue. I didn't know that show was that popular.

[Matthew Crist]

Thanks for the link. I just got an email last night from Netflix, informing me that Blade Runner will be shipping today from Coppell, TX. I live in Boston.

But, at least it's on the way.

[WendyD]

I've been waiting for 'The Last of the Mohicans' since the day after the Oscars. I get that Daniel Day-Lewis has renewed interest in that movie, but this is the longest I've ever had to wait for anything.

[David Grenier]

I waited for The Last Days of Disco forever, and finally they said it was no longer available.

[joshhyde]

Juno since it came out.

[JJZ]

I've had Stargate SG-1: Season 5: Vol. 2 at the top of my queue in a "Very Long Wait" state for... 6 months or so? Please return it if you have it. Interestingly, they've not shipped Volume 3, although it recently bubbled up to #2 not that long ago. It's available "now".

[Lee]

I've been waiting for La Vie En Rose since February. *sigh*

[TJ]

I had to wait over two months each for Michael Clayton and the Assassination of Jesse James.

After I sent an email to Netflix CS about my unhappiness, Michael Clayton magically shipped the next day. I got Jesse James about a week later.

I've also had the Mist at #1 since it's release, and still have a 'very long wait.'

[TJ]

I had to wait over two months each for Michael Clayton and the Assassination of Jesse James.

After I sent an email to Netflix CS about my unhappiness, Michael Clayton magically shipped the next day. I got Jesse James about a week later.

I've also had the Mist at #1 since it's release, and still have a 'very long wait.'

[Marty McKee]

And the throttling continues, even after losing a class action lawsuit. I have also waited months for movies at the top of my queue. Strangely, what has occasionally happened is that I will remove a "Very Long Wait" from my queue and then put it back a couple of minutes later. Miraculously, it's now available.

[Scooby]

I'm wondering if the commenters above are heavy users. I have quite a few of those movies in my queue (La Vie en Rose, Bladerunner, Juno, The Mist...) and they're ALL marked as available Now. Because my HT is under construction I have been a pretty slow Netflix user these past few months.

Maybe not sending popular movies is the new throttling? :-) Don't complain, it's better than not sending a movie at all. :-)

[Im Not A Turnip]

TO GODOT - REGARDING PRIORITY: The person who is paying the most per disc gets priority.

User A: Rents 12 movies per month on 3-out = $1.499 per disc
User B: Rents 13 movies per month on 3-out = $1.383 per disc
User C: Rents 14 movies per month on 3-out = $1.285 per disc

User A will always get priority. If you are User C and there are 1,000,000 A's and B's ahead of you, it's going to take a while.

[Matthew Crist]

Maybe not sending popular movies is the new throttling? :-) Don't complain, it's better than not sending a movie at all. :-)

They're still throttling us occasionally by not sending movies until two-three days after we return. I think we rank with User C.

[Liesl78]

August Rush, since it came out. It still says very long wait and they ship the movie right under it. believe me, there is no reason for throttling with me. Lately I've been keeping movies for a week.

[DAvid]

I just received and returned Juno, There Will be Blood (unplayable on my DVD player) and I have the Mist on the way.
I figure the only reason I received them as soon as I did (only added them to the list the day I saw the previous movie was returned) is because I went through all three seasons of BSG (personal copies) and have held onto my previous three NF dvd's for two weeks before watching and returnng them all at once.

[Where are my movies?]

The Giants Super Bowl DVD & Weird Science Seasons 1 &2

[ScottZ]

If Netflix uses a prioritization scheme to determine who gets the DVD first I don't have a problem with it. They likely adjust prioritization only slightly based on how long you have been waiting.

It simply makes a lot of business sense. The people who are paying more per disc are profitable and subsidizing the high volume users, therefore they should get priority. This prioritizing is much better than throttling (sending from non-local distribution centers and other delay tactics).

If you don't like prioritization, simply leave Netflix, they wont mind, you likely aren't profitable anyways.

[Bobby]

AvP 2 and The Mist. Buggers have been at the top of my list since their releases.

[andyg8180]

Party Monster... its still not even in the system anymore :-(...

As for throttling, i had called to bitch, and they told me that if your top movies are "wait" status, if their logic says a movie "maaaayyy" be coming in, they will wait to see if it will be returned and hopefully send it out with the next batch; whether it is at your local distributor or out of state... so, flip flop your list with new and old movies...

[deviationer]

Beowulf: Director's Cut

I had the HD-DVD in my queue for at least a month with it going between long and very long wait, and then, proof HD-DVD no longer available, just dvd. Just recently they added back with blu-ray instead but the release date is unknown. If I can still get the HD-DVD (strangely enough I can only get the HD-DVD, not the blu-ray version, even though my account is enabled, still, for both) of planet earth than why can't I get the HD-DVD of Beowulf

netflix WTF is going on?

[Kevin]

I consider myself a pretty heavy user (have a 3-out plan and usually return movies 1-2 days after I receive them). I have never had problems this bad, but occasionally new movies end up on the top of my queue for a couple weeks. I just though I would share my trick for getting these movies...

I have an extra profile set up with a completely empty queue. When a movie that I really want has been at the top of my queue for a while, I remove it from my main queue and add it to my empty queue so that it is the only movie in that queue. I then set up this profile to receive on disc and my main profile down to 2 discs, I then return 1 movie, and simply wait. After netflix receives the movie, a couple days usually goes by with no movie being sent to me, but then I get an email saying it has shipped. I think the longest I have had to wait for a movie using this method was 5 days.

I originally discovered this when I set up and profile for my brother to rent a couple movies he wanted to see so I let him have one disc out, and at one point he got a movie that was sitting at the top of my list for a few weeks...

[Galofree]

Deviationer,

Beowulf came out right when everyone (including Netflix) was dropping the HD-DVD format. Netflix seems to have canceled the order for it. So I don't think it will ever be available in HD-DVD through them.

[Travis]

I think Blade Runner had a bunch of printing errors, Discs labeled incorrectly and such, This happened to me on another box set. I got disc one and then the DVD went back into my saved queue. Maybe all the copies they have are botched.

[RRandy]

I waited 3 months for No Reservations (the movie, not the tv show) and I've been waiting for La Vie en Rose since Oscars night.

[C-Los]

The Mist is a Blockbuster exclusive so they may not have many copies. All movies distributed by the Weinstein Company are Blockbuster exclusives. The Mist, Awake, and The Great Debaters, all Weinstein movies, automatically went to long wait for me on the day they came out. Although I did receive 1408 the day it came out.

[zz449944]

I have 2 movies that have bubbled all the way to the top of my queue and have sat there for several weeks. I did have 4 on Very Long Wait at the 4 top spots:

-- 2 weeks ago, I did receive one of my top 4 that I waited a while to get.
-- just TODAY, one movie "Moving Violation" (1976) was kicked OUT of my queue as permanently Not Available and is now on my SAVED list.

-- number one in my queue is now the classic trucker movie "CONVOY" (1978) and that has been there for probably 3 months
-- number two in my queue is now the classic Ingrid Bergman film "GASLIGHT" (1940 and 1944 versions on same disc)

I'm a heavy 3-out user (15 movies returned so far from May 1 to May 16). Since my mail arrives early in the day, sometimes I even watch and return movies the SAME DAY that I receive them (I am self-employed at home) and almost always send stuff back the second day. I have been lightly throttled on occasion but I don't let it bother me. I'm in New York but have gotten 'delay' shipments from as far away as Texas, Colorado, and Michigan.

Oddly, all the popular stuff I have in my queue always comes from my normal netflix center without delays. It's just the obscure stuff that sometimes has delays, but that might be due to limited availability of the discs more than intentional throttling. With a queue of almost 400 items which I often shake around, I'm a happy NetFlix user.

[jdstiles]

I had I Am Legend #1 on my list since it came out on dvd until a few weeks ago. I never got it in, I just borrowed it from someone.

[NOR]

when i sign up for netflix for the first time i am still waiting for juno for long time and the movie came out a long ago and it still long wait.

i think we all should ship are movies on this one big day and everyone will get there movies on time.

[Poof]

"As for throttling, i had called to bitch, and they told me that if your top movies are "wait" status, if their logic says a movie "maaaayyy" be coming in, they will wait to see if it will be returned and hopefully send it out with the next batch"

This is what they told me and I think it's a crock. I think the explanation provided by Turnip is probably the reality.

Mind you, I think Netflix is within their rights to prioritize, but I don't like their non-answer answer when you call.

zz449944,

CONVOY doesn't even show up as available when I look it up on Netflix. I wouldn't bother with it, though, since the version that has been available on DVD was put out by some fly-by-night company. It looks TERRIBLE. I don't just mean it's a bad print. The image is actually squeezed. I couldn't even finish watching it.

[Patchouli]

"No Reservations" was at the top of my queue for 2 months before they sent it. Yes, it was a mediocre movie, but for goodness sake, that was an insane amount of time. "Mist" has been there since it came out. If I don't have a new release at the top of my queue the week it releases, and don't have a movie due to be sent out on Monday, I typically wait a long time before I see a new release.

That is why video rental stores will never go out of business.

[jonathan hall]

ive been waiting for august rush since it came out, very long wait.

[dcs315]

I had problems with "La Vie en Rose" as well so I just ended up renting it from my local video rental store. Maybe it's because I live in N. Dakota and my movies ship from Fargo or Minneapolis/St. Paul but I don't really have any problems getting new movies if I have it at the top of my list and I be sure to have a movie returned to NF on the Monday before it comes out.

[JustPeachy]

For several months I had Bristol Boys at either the top of my queue or right behind another title with a very long wait. Bristol Boys would alternate between available now, short wait, or long wait. The status often changed during the same day. Regardless, Netflix would not ship the DVD. I finally called customer service to express my frustration. The rep was very nice and told me he would do his best to push the DVD to ship. Amazingly the DVD shipped the next day. I am in Atlanta and the DVD shipped from Washington State, but at least it shipped. It didn't bother me to wait three days to receive the DVD, but Netflix never gave me the option to say ship the DVD even though the delivery time will be longer than usual.

[Bamboo]

I had to wait for months for Futurama's movie "Benders Big Score". It was worth the wait :)

Their next movie is out in a month or two. Hope I don't have to wait as long for that one.

[Peter Nellhaus]

I'm still waiting for "Wife for a Night".

[Robert]

I have had Juno on the top of my list since it came out (actually before it came out), and I still haven't received it. They are constantly shipping from a few slots down on my list. By the way, I am on the 1 out plan (unlimited) and only watch about 1 movie per week - sometimes fewer.

Oh, to the person waiting for the Assination of Jessie James - that movie was terrible.

[eviltimes]

I'm still waiting for "Wife for a Night".

Me too, even tho it's illegal in most states.