Netflix Penalizing High-Volume Customers?

Don sent me an e-mail explaining that "The Ladykillers" was on perpetual wait in his account. Don is an 8-out subscriber and rents 20 - 30 movies per month, so he's a heavy user of the Netflix service. He sent Netflix the following e-mail:

I have reason to believe movies listed as wait on 8/accounts are actually available on 3/accounts. Is this true?

He received an automated reply and within 2 hours the movie became available in his queue.

Bizarre bug in the Netflix queue software or are they penalizing high-volume customers?

Comments

[Mike]

Penalized!!! and BB does it too!

[Vance]

I recently switched to 3 at a time from 8 because I felt netflix was dishonest. When I moved to 8 from 3 I noticed that they were much slower to admit recieving the movies, much slower in sending them out, and telling me everything I wanted had a long wait. I even sent one of the movies certified back to them so I could see when they actually got it. It took them 3 days to admit to it in my queue, then for another 3 days it said SHIPPING TODAY in my status for a new movie. So 6 days after they got the movie they dropped another in the mail. To me it was paying for a service I wasn't getting. With 3 at a time, everything is quick like it use to be, and all my on holds and long waits dropped to available and short wait almost instantly.

[Joe]

I was on 5-out and dropped to 3-out with no improvement in service. Once upon a time, I could get all the new releases I wanted. That is no longer true. I have given up, quite frankly (I've gone back to renting popular new releases at retail stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood). I keep my Netflix memebership for hard-to-find and older titles that are not available in stores.

Netflix has reprogrammed their allocation and turnaround systems in recent months, I believe, in an effort to save money on very active customers. They advertise "unlimited," but have put up roadblocks (EXTREMELY slow receiving, poor availability on new releases for certain customers, delayed shipping, etc.) in an effort to keep your monthly rentals lower, thus keeping their bottom line fat. Which is, to me, very dishonest. There was once a time when they would check in my mailed-back movies early in the morning (by 9a.m. CST) and confirm my new selections by noon. That is no longer the case. Now, check-in for returned discs happens much later (noonish), and the confirmation process on my next selection can take two days. Until about three months ago, I could mail a movie back on Monday and they would ALWAYS receive it the next day (Tuesday), and ship out my next selection THAT SAME DAY (Tuesday). Now, it's ALWAYS two days (Thursday). Then, instead of shipping my next disc out on Thursday, that often happens on Friday, and I get the disc on Monday instead of Saturday, and the cycle repeats itself.

Needless to say, my ability to rent more discs per month is reduced greatly, and my ability to know when to expect a disc has been ruined as well. I would prefer it if they said you can only rent X-number of discs per month for this plan, but then process and ship your requests promptly instead of the delays they have obviously built into the system to maximize profitability. They are, in effect, committing fraud. I have called and bitched to their customer service reps who always feign ignorance and say that they cannot say why a title is not being shipped on a particular day. If you get really pissed, they offer a bonus disc, which is a nightmare to use given the way they have mucked up the system, but that's another story altogether. Netflix will probably get sued for this by Ralph Nader, or some money-hungry class-action lawyers (Hollywood Video recently settled a late-fees class-action suit, due to, among other things, deceptive business practices). But before that happens, maybe they'll wise up and realize that they're losing customers due to their deceptive business practices.

[Sam]

I agree completely.... I recently switched from the 8 out to 3 out @ $15.99 and now get all of the new releases that I had to wait months for.

The Washington State Attorney General's office is interesting in hearing stories from WASHINGTON RESIDENTS regarding this matter.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/

[Kim-Jong Il]

Netflix is a dope trick biaatch. If the lawyer scum from Washington hurts this company I will nuke them. I can do it you know. I really can.

[Becky]

I think the trick to having quick turnaround from Netflix is to write a blog about them. I have experienced nothing but 3-day turnaround since I joined in January, and I average 12 discs per month.

[adam]

Thanks for the heads up...

I'm a new 3-out customer, been with the service for about 3 weeks now. Already I've received 2 unplayable movies, and when I requested new ones, those aren't added additionally to the 3, so I actually lose out on a movie for Netflix's mistake.

So far, response times have been quick, with same day receipt and new selections being sent out, however, just yesterday one is coming from San Jose, instead of my local warehouse, so I have to wait for that.

I called Netflix and explained that they need to increase their inventory in order to provide a good customer experience, and they went ahead and gave me 50% off for next month's fee due to the wait time on this movie.

So far, I'm happy with Netflix's resolutions to my problems.

Thanks for the heads up on the 8 out, I will NOT be switching anytime soon then... Maybe the 5 out, but if anything starts changing, I'm cancelling or moving down to 3 out for $15.99

Suppose that it is your turn to host thanksgiving. You're hosting your extended family of around 20 people. All those people want different food: some like the traditional turkey, cranberries, etc... but some only want to eat Sushi and Hummus. So you make your budget, say $5/person, you scurry around and you buy what you can, maybe taking a week to plan everything out.

Now start scaling that up ... 200, 2000, 20000, 200000, 20000000. How are you going to feed all these people? Well the first thing is, you have to order way, way in advance. You can't go to your local grocery store and buy 1 million pounds of cranberries. Yikes, you've gotta pre-order from Ocean Spray months in advance because it is the biggest order they've got! And you've still got to pay attention to the vegans who can't eat any of the food you planned--buy some organic plant matter or something.

Then, suppose 200,000 uninvited (but welcome) guests show up. Shoot -- what to do? Well try to take a (really) quick gauge of what they want and start ransacking all the local grocery stores.

Well the little party was a success: everyone got enough turkey, cranberries, ... , and sushi. The hosts didn't buy enough corn bread and it sucks that some people didn't get any. It got passed around, but at the end the very long table, it ran out before it could get to the Ohio end of the table (the table starts in Kansas and ends in Ohio). But c'mon are you going to complain when you got everything you wanted except corn bread? And do you think the hosts singled a few people out of the crowd to be especially nice (mean) to? No, they were too busy serving 2,300,000 guests thanksgiving dinner (almost) exactly what they wanted :)

Just a story I made up ... has nothing to do with the topic on hand.

[adam]

I just called my local Hollywood Video. They have a 3-out plan for only $9.99 per month.... hhmmm......

Folks, this is old, old, stale old news. You're beating the greasy spot in the pavement where the dead horse used to be.

Once *AGAIN*, go check out http://dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com/ .

The more often you turn your disks around, the more often you will see waits. That's whether you are on 3-out or 8-out or 2-out or whatever.

NF does not 'sit on' your disks. The disk mailers arrive in giant sacks on trucks. How are they supposed to be able to magically pick yours out of the tens of thousands and set them aside to punish you? And that merely keeps the movies you are returning from being able to be sent to someone else. If you are suggesting that the movies are opened and checked in, but your account is not acknowledged, well, that doesn't happen either.

NF sends you an e-mail when they receive your disks, and when the next ones are sent. Between the time the disk leaves your house and the time it is marked as received, it is the post office's fault. Same thing for the time between you are told it was sent and it actually arrives.

For the fellow who sent his disk back certified, that is actually counterproductive. Certified mail won't go through the system the same way. They would have to have someone come down to the post office, sign for it, take it back to the hub, open it, and process it.

The more movies you rent in a one month period the less of a priority you become because netflix sees you as being less profitable. They cater to there free trial customers and there newly acquired customers. Check the website previously posted and it will explain what Netflix's tactics are.

[RAYMOND KNIGHT]

TO the person who wondered how delaying somebody's DVDs could be done. It is called software. They know who you are after a DVD is scanned in. Anything can be accomplished through progamming.

"How are they supposed to be able to magically pick yours out of the tens of thousands and set them aside to punish you?"

By using an order fulfillment program that prioritizes the processing of outgoing orders based on certain criteria, like how many discs an account has received in the past 30 days, based on the date the account was open, or just about anything else. Such programs have been in use for at least 20 years.

"For the fellow who sent his disk back certified, that is actually counterproductive. Certified mail won't go through the system the same way. They would have to have someone come down to the post office, sign for it, take it back to the hub, open it, and process it."

Sorry for the double post, but you're wrong again.

Netflix (in most markets) uses a PO Box as a return address on the envelope. It really isn't a PO Box in the traditional sense, but something known as Caller Service. Netflix backs up their truck to the USPS loading dock, papers are signed, and mail is loaded. The certified mail is just a line to be initialled on the manifest - no additional special handling required.

[Manuel]

How would you know "20-30 movies per month" is considered a "heavy user" unless you were a Netflix insider. This site is so full of BS. It's nothing but a get-together of Netflix shareholders touting product to boost their shares. Consumers, if you want to get the real thoughts of Netflix and their shareholders read "Waah, waah, I can't get more than twenty discs a month!" by Carl Cravens 10/15/04. Just Google the title.

[Aron]

Yeah, yeah... There are shareholders on here. I am no longer but might be again eventually. You have to apply a certain level of filtering to everything you read and some judgement to the intentions of the writers. Shareholders present the business case behind the Netflix/Customer relationship and that should be useful for anyone who wants to understand the evolution and details of the service: the stated aim of this site.

Points:
1) Netflix has made a small profit in a handful of quarters. The total profit over its lifetime is negative by many millions of dollars and that is not likely to change any time soon.
2) A customer on the 8 out plan averaging swings of 20-30 discs/month is fairly breakeven. A customer that averages 40 discs/month loses Netflix 32$ per month.

I don't find it such a shocking revelation that service for the "maximizers" is detuned. I don't know the extent of this activity but I can accept it goes on. You can bet that Netflix ensures topnotch service for the majority of its customers, and probably for a fairly large percentage of its unprofitable ones.

Eventually, I believe, the unlimited plan will be discarded. Until that time, maximizers have to deal with somewhat reduced service and incredibly cheap movies. Man, life is rough.

The people really getting screwed in this arrangement are the ones paying 18$ and only renting a couple movies a month. But they, like the maximizers can QUIT AT ANY TIME. Unlike, say, Social Security (that's another topic)...

[vn]

You don't need to be a shareholder. I think it's in the best interests of the customers also not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. If you pay less than $2 a disc, Netflix loses and could not survive for long.

[adam]

Been a memeber for a little over 2 weeks now.

As SOON as my TWO WEEK FREE TRIAL period ended, THE DELAYS HAVE BEGUN.

I now have movies coming from out of state, and my movies are no longer being received in a timely fashion.

I mailed in two movies on the same day locally, and one was received and they claim the other one wasn't yet.

What a load of BS. They probably prescan the item to see who's it is, and then officially scan it as "received"....

Like I told Netflix on the phone, there is was too much competition in this market for f&ck ups. Hollywood Video has a $9.99 for 3 out unlimited plan, and you can go in there as many times as you want daily, hourly, whatever you want, so I'm not gonna put up with this for much longer.

Yeah it's nice for rare, older titles and old tv episodes, and it's nice if you live in a rural area, but, for urban dwellers, we've got a billion different options.

If Netflix thinks that they have this market all locked up and they can start screwing with their customers, I tell Netflix to "BRING IT ON."

I'll bad mouth the company to everyone I know, and we'll see how many new customers they get. As soon as Wall St hears that Netflix is DISCRIMINATING against certain customers, the STOCK PRICE WILL HIT THE TOILET BOWL.

-Adam

[Adam]

Look,

Here's how you do it:

You have three bins in receiving.

1. Labeled "A" for Trial Customers
2. Labeled "B" for Customers that rent 3-6 movies monthly.
3. Labeled "C" for die hard movie renters.

When a movie comes in, it's pre-scanned, which hits a database and then tells the employee which bin to put the movie into. Now, the employee has no idea about what's going on. He just scans the movie, and puts it in whatever bin he is told to put it in via the scanner.

Now, the database that the scan hits against, basically has a customer "rating" system, determining the good customers from the bad ones, and then of course the customers on the free trial.

The free trial bin is processed immediately, as soon as business opens for the day, processed, and new items sent out at once, probably a dedicated truck going up to the post office and everything.

The second bin, is processed more quickly, but not as quickly as the free trial bin. The second bin may get processed later on, after lunch, time and weather permitting. Once the movie is scanned as "received" the new movie may or may not be scanned to go out, depending on load of the trail customers. If you're lucky, you may get another movie going out on the same day that your previous movie was received.

The third bin just sits in holding for a couple days. No one touches the bin. It's put behind some old boxes, and the employees actually forget about the bin, until someone finds it behind the boxes a couple of days later. Movies are scanned in as "received" but only at a 50% ration, the other 50% are placed into a 4th bin, labeled "screw off". Those movies are processed again at a 50% rate, with the remaining 50% being marked as "lost" and a charge being placed to the account.

So, as you can see, it's actually quite easy for Netflix to screw over high use customers. Anyone who thinks they don't is just screwing themselves.

-Adam

[manuel]

I think the multiple bin theory is too elaborate and inefficient. Just scan the DVD barcode, and make it available to the next customer BUT regarding to the account who returned it...a) infrequent renter--queue will say movie received today. b) frequent renter--queue says movie received day X (i.e. 2-3 days later, Netflix's discretion). It's all behind the scenes so the frequent renter only notices that it took a long time for Netflix to receive the movie. No people input just preprogrammed decisions.

[Reed Hastings]

Adam, you have done a good job deconstructing our delivery system, but you left out one thing: a special bin we created just for you. You see, we've been watching you. Even before we got into DVDs we had several other corporations set up as the American agents of the KGB. We've been watching you for some time. I know your doctors want to DESTROY us, they want to TAKE AWAY OUR EXISTENCE. But we will live, and we will keep pursuing our plots until you and your country are DESTROYED. So, take your medicine and try to IGNORE us, but it won't change REALITY.

You can try to spread the word about our discriminating practices. Go ahead and try. HA HA. Our fingers run deep into the inner workings of this country and we will SUPRESS you. We have BEEN DOING IT FOR 50 YEARS.

[adam]

Hey Reed,

Too bad you don't make any sense.

""How are they supposed to be able to magically pick yours out of the tens of thousands and set them aside to punish you?"

"By using an order fulfillment program that prioritizes the processing of outgoing orders based on certain criteria, like how many discs an account has received in the past 30 days, based on the date the account was open, or just about anything else. Such programs have been in use for at least 20 years."

You misunderstood the question entirely.

When a disk is received, you get an e-mail.

Your assertion is that the reason you are seeing delays is because NF receives your disk and sends it on to the next person and delays the notification and processing on your account.

This. Does. Not. Happen.

The time between you putting a disk in the mail and you getting the e-mail that it was received, the disk is in the hands of the USPS. The time between you getting an e-mail that a disk was shipped and it arriving in your mailbox it is in the hands of the USPS. Positively.

For both sides of this argument: Prove it.

[adam]

All I have to show is the horrid processing times.

Look,

Netflix is. a. bizness.

That means that they're in it for the $$$.

Quickly mailing out movies as soon as they receive them is NOT in. their. best. interest. Especially. for. high. output. customers. Especially. for. them.

It's. not. rocket. science.

[D.T.]

>>When a disk is received, you get an e-mail.

>>Your assertion is that the reason you are seeing >>delays is because NF receives your disk and sends it >>on to the next person and delays the notification and >>processing on your account.

>>This. Does. Not. Happen.

Do you have any proof that this does not happen, or should we just take you word for it? or do you believe putting a period after each word in a sentence is sufficient proof?

[Jared Evans]

I don't believe that in order to get better Netflix service, that I need to start my own blog to blackmail Netflix into providing better service for my account.

What I believe is that Netflix needs to start their official corporate blog in order to deal with this potential PR nightmare that may turn many long-time users off and turn away potential new registrants who read about these different settings for different users. Netflix would be naive in thinking that users would not be able to detect the shipping decisions that are made on user-basis.

Kryptonite bike lock, anyone?

Jared

[Sparky]

Who really cares WHY this happens. The undisputed fact here is that it DOES happen!! If you guys remember, one of the sales pitches of Netflix was that you wouldn't have to worry about New Release availability. Now the New Release availability is WAY WORSE than going to a retail rental store. I am going to abandon Netflix for another service. If my new service does the same then I will just have to abandon online services altogether.

[zeb]

I have to agree there is a problem with new releases. I have been a member for about 12 months and I know I am being "throttled" on new releases for the past couple of months. There is also no question that turnaround time has increased. Looking at my records from six months ago, my turnouround time has bee increased by a full 1.5 days!

From talking to friends, the best strategy seems to be to cancel and restart as a new customer.

I've been a netlfix customer for I think several years-since they were pretty small. During that time I have been a heavy turn around renter at times, and other times I hold movies for weeks at a time because I get busy.

I've rented tons of titles over the years. Invariably, I get an occiasional disc that doesn't play (maybe 1 in 15 or 20). Sometimes it takes longer than other times to get movies back. Currently, I get movies back way before I can watch them. I never really have a problem getting new releases, perhaps a day or two.

Sometimes a movie dissappears after it says its been shipped. I simply send netfix an email and they send out another disc generally that day.

I would gues that according to these comments, I've been a netflix user way longer than many of you. Most of the theories above seem rather conspiracy oriented. Heavier users run into more problems,its pretty clear why. If you rent 15 movies over 2 weeks vs 15 movies over a month and a half, its going to seem like you have more problems because they occur more fredquently. Over the long term its probably still 1 in 15 discs that is a problem.

While I dont' doubt that there may be some judicious tweaking of priorities in new releases based on software, I really doubt netflix does mroe than that. At some point it becomes more expenseive (between increased customer service reps among other things) to try to prevent increased rentals per customer than it does to just focus on the business of renting movies.

I'd additionally like to point out that frankly, its not the cash, but the convenience that many customers value. I appreciate the price being lowered, but frankly I like netflix conceptually because I don't have to worry about late fees and it comes to my house. Haveing to recreate a queue and start rating movies all over again at some other rental place simply isn't worth a dollar or two a month.

Unlike blockbuster movies (or walmart or whatever) I don't have to worry that according to other conspiracy fans the movies are being edited. Netflix tends in my expereince to stock way more obscure titles than your average blockbuster.

I really can't get all worked up over a user renting 20 movies a month bitching that he's not getting his movies fast enough. Unless such person is sick or incapacitated or reviews movies for a living, my honest reaction is pretty much going to be get a life, read a book or something. I suspect that there are many more netflix users like me who don't care about the power user and are perfectly happy with our experience than there are power users boycotting.

[dude]

I agree with the guy above here (11/23 - 11:22PM)

After reading this stuff, I did an analysis of my overall usage, and found that times required for delivery didnt tend to fluctuate too much with the increased volumes I was receiving. Nor have they slowed appreciably over the time period. When I did 20+ movies a month, times were consistent with when I did fewer. This is looking at 1-1/2 year of service, where I have generally received between 10-25 movies a month.

I do agree that the stated policy of 'unlimited' rentals is perhaps misleading - but clearly, there ARE limitations built into any system, and expecting otherwise is a little silly. There is surely a maximum that is humanly possible to process in the mail in a 30 day period! I cant imagine who, aside from jobless homebound film addicts, is processing more than 40 films a month. (maybe they are copying disks? hmmm? Naughty naughty)

In any case, i think there is a little play in the system, and perhaps they do try and slow down the high-volume customers, but in any case you'd be hard pressed to argue that you arent getting value on your dollar. How many services deliver DVDs to your home for under $2? It's still a decent deal.

dude

[Menny]

I have been a Netflix subscriber since July 2000. I have also bought (and then sold) their stock. I understand that there is variance in the amount of time that it takes to receive my rentals. My distribution center is less than 20 miles from my home. What frustrates me is the dishonesty regarding shipments to me. There is no valid reason why Netflix should receive my DVD, say my next DVD is being shipped that day, and then keep changing the shipping date from tomorrow, to the next day, etc. I would not have a problem with these delays if the company would be honest enough to impose a limit on the number of DVDs that could be rented in a month. The problem is that "unlimited rental" claim, and I feel that it is likely that they will get into trouble for this eventually. This is really no different than someone saying "the check is in the mail" and meanwhile holding your money in their bank account. If a company does that to thousands of people everyday that adds up to a pretty tidy profit-and requires fewer employees too. I am not a conspiracy theorist-just a pragmatist.

[jaymer]

anyone know about breakage discussions?
in my first month at Blockbuster, i got 1 break, then on two disks received the same day, they were BOTH broke. i complained and went to my queue to say they were broke. BUT, BOTH replacements were also broke - i'm not certain they even pulled my broken ones out of circulation - too weird to get a back-to-back broke disk on the same title, much less two. now i've started marking my broke disks with a sharpie. and then today i get a new title broke.

i have a car CD carrying case that i started putting my CDs into - its a soft case with a zipper. the last time i needed a disk from it, the one i needed was broke. i figured from some bending/pressure of something sitting on the case - or over jamming it full with CDs. That was the first time i've ever exp. a broke CD. Now 6 DVDs in 5 weeks. It just seems to me that something is breaking these in transit... maybe the way the USPS delivery girl crams the stuff into her boxes or something. Is that possible? or are they broke long before that last 5 hours coming to my house?

thx
jaymer...

[REN]

This is my biggest complaint against Netflix. It might be a fine point, but they should remove the "unlimited rentals" language that they like to tout and place a known limit on accounts, possibly even allowing for existing X-out plans with different limits. "3-out plan 7-limit", "3-out plan, 12 limit". They could charge a premium to heavy renters. On the other hand, they might lose money as the light users move towards the cheapest plan.

I get 1-day shipping from Netflix most of the time, I don't think they delay during this part of the cycle. Although, I wonder how they can give two different shipping estimates for 2 movies that ship on the same day. This has happened to me before. Maybe they shipped one movie from a distribution center other than my local one? Does Netflix do this?

I can get a movie and take it to the postoffice in the evening and Netflix will list it as having been received by the next morning. I don't believe they are delaying at this point.

I usually experience delays in their releasing of movies for shipping. If they receive movies for me on a Monday I've noticed they tend to ship my next movies out immediately, but if the movies are received later on, after I've already received and returned a few movies earlier in the week, they don't release them for shipping until a day after.

For a movie I sent back with Netflix receiving it late the same night, I watched the status of the movie change throughout the next day. It went from "expect to ship tomorrow", "expect to ship today", "movie x shipping today", and then to "movie x shipping next day". Now, how can the status of a movie change from "shipping on the current day" to "shipping on the day after". Is it something to do with their software delaying my shipment at the last minute? I think they might assign people like me a lower priority, and while they intend to ship my movies that day, they only process my movies after those of users with a higher priority. If they don't get to my movies before the mail goes out they change the status to "next day". Also, I don't think it is an availability issue as I mostly rent older movies that never have a waiting status.

I hope I explained that clear enough.

[Divesh]

I have been using Netflix for 2-3 years now. Recently in the last 2 months, they have starting using delaying tactics.
Previously, when I mailed I movie on Monday, I would have a movie in replaced by Friday or Saturday afternoon. I live in Salt Lake City and the closed distribution center is in San Jose/Denver. A 4-5 day turn around is very decent considering it takes regular mail to reach San Jose/Denver 2-3 days.
But now if I mail a movie on Monday, I don't receive it till next Tuesday or Wednesday. A turn around of 7-8 days, it has just nearly doubled. I like netflix a lot becuase they have a huge selection of American and Foreign movies, but if this coninues on for the next couple of months I will be quitting netflix and try some other online DVD rental.
Hopefully amazon.com will start it's service in US soon!

[dld]

Problematic comment 1:
"While I dont' doubt that there may be some judicious tweaking of priorities in new releases based on software, I really doubt netflix does mroe than that. At some point it becomes more expenseive (between increased customer service reps among other things) to try to prevent increased rentals per customer than it does to just focus on the business of renting movies."

How is it more expensive? If you know anything about inventory and customer fulfillment software it would cost about a penny a cusotmer to do this.

Problematic comment #2
" Unless such person is sick or incapacitated or reviews movies for a living, my honest reaction is pretty much going to be get a life, read a book or something. "

Oh....Or has a family, like the bread and butter of the bricks and mortar movie rental customer of the past 15 years.

Here, how about I judge you?: When I was single I rented no movies and went out socially to see films, so if you are single I assume you are an anti-scoial shut-in.

If you are not single I assume you watch the crap opn TV and you are a bad parent and you let your children watch that garbage as well instead of picking the programming by renting. (the average child watches 20+ hours of telivsion per week.)

please keep your judgement to yourself. People have a right to note and complain about a serious decline in service for a fixed fee company.

[JB]

I've been a Netflix subscriber continuously since 1998, so I likely have as good or better a grasp on what they do than anyone. Up until last month, I never had anything beyond a very rare "Short Wait" in my queue, and *never* had to wait for new releases. I averaged around 8 out per month for 6 years. In the last 30 days, I had 14 out ... guess what happened?

Now, for the first time EVER, I have "Long Wait"s on 6 movies in my queue, including the top two. Also for the first time EVER, Netflix did not ship me a movie the same day it was received.

To anyone doubting whether Netflix knowingly penalizes heavy users, I advise you: wake up.

My question for those who have been 'throttled': do you know if you bring your DVD usage down again (under 10 a month) if your response and wait times improve again? Or is quitting and rejoining the only option?

[Sam]

I was a 5 at a time customer until recently. I didn't have the delay problems other experienced. However, If I sent back all 5 together, they would hold 1 disk and ship it a day later than the other 4 to break them up. They did this probably 5 times in a row.

I sent back 5 back with one envlope containing 2 because the envlope tore when opening. They shipped all 5 out the next day without holding one. It may work for others, and worth a try.

[DY]

Sounds like a lot of people are also trying out Blockbuster Online. Can others share your experience on how timely their shipments are and any holdbacks?

In particular...any southern california residents?