Did You Get Movies on Saturday? The Aftermath of the 3-Day Netflix Service Disruption

Netflix posted a final update about the shipping problems:

It’s been a long and challenging week, but it ends on a positive note. Today we shipped from all 55 Netflix distribution centers across the U.S. More than three million DVDs went into the mail, including roughly 95 percent of orders backlogged from Tuesday through Thursday. And the balance of backlogged orders will mail on Saturday. Importantly, all of us at Netflix want to offer special thanks to the scores of members who called, emailed and posted words of support at a tough and humbling moment for our company. Apologies to all once again and thanks for hanging in there with us.

Brent writes that he didn't get his movies delivered on Saturday -- did you get yours?

I noticed a bonus rental in my account, and I'm wondering if they're sending them out to all customers. Did anyone else get one?

Consumerist posted an interesting story, Netflix Screws Up, Makes Thousands Of Customers Happy?

We've had no less than 20 people email us to congratulate Netflix for apologizing after their shipping system experienced some delays.

What's you opinion on how Netflix handled the 3-day service outage? Was the 15% credit the right amount? Did they do a good job of communicating with customers? What could they have done better?

Comments

[Lee]

I'm feeling lucky...the disc that still shows as "Shipping Wednesday" arrived on Thursday and it's already in the mail back to them.

I also received a bonus rental. Weird that they wouldn't just give the bonus rental to everyone...

[georgeq]

I got my backlogged DVDs from last week plus one extra. But curiously one of the new ones from this week is not being shipped til Wednesday. Is Netflix still having problems or is this more throttling then before?

[Amy]

All communications from Netflix about the outage, updates and credits have gone into my Spam folder. Yahoo, at least, is reading this "bulk" mail as spam. This may be why folks aren't getting the emails.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Clicked the button for bonus rental. I was somewhat curious what would happen for those getting the settlement. Which I kinda took hesitantly last month. Just like the bonus rental. Netflix seems much improved compared to 2004-2005 where at some point I switched to Blockbuster. Then Blockbusted jacked their Total Access prices so far out of reach it was completely pointless renting from them. Especially if Netflix had a 1 day shipping. It wasn't until a story on friday I learned netflix had a blog. And today I discovered this one off the main page. I do wish Netflix had a simple email feedback link. Blockbuster has email customer service. But since there's nothing really to complain about.... on netflix, not too much attention might be paid for the box.

[janes'_kid]

I received all my outstanding disks on Saturday, no bonuses, no emails.

Queue still has an error in the send dates.

Some said they were glad it happened during the Olympics so they had something else to watch on TV. I was ANNOYED THAT IT HAPPENED DURING THE OLYMPICS BECAUSE i HAD NOTHING ELSE TO WATCH. To each his...bla..bla...etc.

BTW; is anyone reading this who can register the responses and use them should this ever happen again?

[Lee Bartholomew]

As for Netflix going into a spam folder. This is why I use Mailwasher and not rely on the ISP to screw around with my email. At least I can see if it's there and it's got a smarter learning engine than most. They've constantly tried to get us to sign up for spam protection and I turn it down every time. That is of course if anyones using pop3. I'm using pop3 gmail too. Sent to Thunderbird.

[Brian]

I finally got a "shipped" email for one disc. It says it shipped today (from Minneapolis). I have two more ... hopefully they'll get those out today, too.

Maybe some shipping centers weren't really at 100% like they implied. I think Minneapolis wasn't.

[AnnR]

The 4 discs promised for Saturday arrived today (Monday). Won't have time to watch any of them until the weekend but at least they are all here. I have to admit I had withdrawals this past weekend. I flipped through some old DVDs I had stored away and watched Alien again; forgot how good that one is. I wonder if anyone else watched some of their old DVDs this weekend too?

[Cheryl]

No disc on Saturday, but I got no mail again Saturday so I'm not surprised and don't think it is Netflix that is the problem here. I got mail maybe twice last week. I probably would not have noticed the outage w/o checking the website.

[Adam]

One disc in my queue has said "Shipping Wednesday" since last Wednesday (8/13) and the funny thing is, I already received it, watched it, and returned it. The other disc claims to have shipped on Thursday 8/14, yet I still have not received it as of Monday 8/18. Netflix won't let me report it as missing until tomorrow. And I'm hoping the disc I already returned actually gets checked in, since the system apparently doesn't think it has shipped out yet...

[Mike]

Got billed on 8/17. No 15% discount.

[BoB]

I still have a "shipping TUESDAY" disc since last Tuesday. The discs I sent bad Sunday (via the USPS drop slot) were received and replacements sent today, Monday. My failed Tuesday shipment from LAST TUESDAY still says "shipping Tuesday" - even though NF said they all shipped out by Friday!!!

I guess I have permanently lost a slot until I call (at a dis-convenience to me, since I CAN'T EMAIL ANY LONGER) and complain!!!

[Robert]

I got no movie on Saturday and no movie on Monday. Who knows when it will arrive. It was promised to be in my hands by last Wednesday. They say it shipped Friday. I normally get movies the next day, so where is it? My guess is it didn't even ship until today. Just more lying from Netflix.

[Darin]

Got 3 on Saturday and got 2 rare Monday movies today (Monday). I luv Monday movies!

[Alex]

On a 4 at a time plan, returned all 4 of them On August 8th, so they would have had them by Monday the 11th... All week i've been watching the queue and noticing how it said they shipped my new discs "Shipping Wednesday"

It stayed like that until Friday, then it said that they were shipping friday, didn't get any movies on saturday, nothing today (Monday) and the queue has been updating again stating that they've shipped today and will arrive tomorrow (Aug 19th)...

NETFLIX: That's 1 week, not 3 days. I dont care if you don't ship or whatever it is you do on the weekends, maybe in the event that you're promising shipments on Friday to all delayed shipments - you actually fulfill that promise. NETFLIX: INCREASE YOUR REFUNDS TO 25% AND MAKE SOME OF YOUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS HAPPY. I'M PISSED.

[Wayne Allen]

I have been waiting for my movies for the past six days. I was informed by Netflix via email that my movies shipped on Friday with all the other backlogged movies. The next day, I have no movies and two more emails, informing me, they shipped on Saturday. I finally received my movies today (Monday), they also shipped from distribution centers further away and not my local one for some reason.

I am getting the 15% credit, which isn't much since I only pay $17.03 for the 3 DVD-Month Unlimited plan. I wish I was getting a bonus DVD, I think I should since I have been waiting since Netflix received my last two returns on Tuesday August 12th!

I am seriously considering switching to Blockbuster Total Access, I went a week with no movies and a paltry credit to make up for it. If Blockbuster ever has this issue, all I need to do is go to my local store (1 mile away) and switch my movies on the spot and not have to wait 6 days. Oh and I attempted to call Netflix, they had a 90 minute average wait time on Saturday.

[bryan]

nope, no movies, they were supposed to ship last tuesday, and I checked friday, it said, shipping saturday, saturday it said shipping monday, monday it says shipping tuesday, so basically they have no idea....
also, no bonus disc, not that it would matter because it probably wouldn't ship either.. there seems to be a lot of "rare exceptions" to the friday "normal" shipping...

[Metoo999]

No movie on Monday either. Thanks, Netflix!

[Tom DeRosa]

For some reason, all of my DVDs seemed to be shipped during the disruption (from the Worcester, MA distribution center). The weird thing is I just recieved an email that I'm being shipped a second copy of a DVD I already recieved, as if I had never recieved the first one! I guess I'll just email them and ship it right back. Did anyone else recieve a double?

[Tom DeRosa]

For some reason, all of my DVDs seemed to be shipped during the disruption (from the Worcester, MA distribution center). The weird thing is I just recieved an email that I'm being shipped a second copy of a DVD I already recieved, as if I had never recieved the first one! I guess I'll just email them and ship it right back. Did anyone else recieve a double?

[K]

So, did they only give the 15% credit to people who had movies that were supposed to ship out during the outage? I'm still waiting for them to receive one of my discs. My billing history on netflix.com shows no credit. I'm not too concerned, because Netflix's customer service is stellar in comparison to most places, but I *am* curious. I did did not get a bonus rental. Interestingly, I didn't get the announcement/apology email either. No, it didn't get eaten by a spam filter - I run my own mail server.

[Cin]

Weird. I did get all 3 movies on Saturday and had them back in the mail this morning, but I just logged onto netflix, and the page stops loading towards the bottom, and there are no saved movies anymore, had bout 300 of them. Any one else having this problem? is it a glitch, or something they are trying to fix?

[Nick]

I am still waiting for my DVD. I thought for sure I was going to receive it today. No luck. My patience is wearing thin. On top of this, I can't report the DVD missing. Is anyone still having problems?

[Uosdwis]

I got 6 (of 8) today from the Minneapolis center, last mailed in all 8 the previous Monday. Maybe there won't be any throttling for a few cycles- I have extra time now "banked."

[Kodai]

I got one movie Saturday, the rest came today.

[illyria]

Got all 3 of my DVDs on Saturday. No bonus rental.

[Jennifer]

Mine didn't ship until Monday. I live in Minneapolis. No bonus rental for me either.

[Jack]

@leonardiocrpaio By capital I meant "good will capital" They have treated me well for along time so it takes more then a single disappointment. Without saying that I think of them as a friend, I don't, it is like if your good friend stands you up for dinner.... not nce but you don't ditch them forever after it happens once..

[Happy Fortune]

I got 3 DVD's on Saturday and I have the bonus rental thingie, but what happened to the lawsuit settlement upgrade? Last week, my acct. had the upgrade but this week it's not there. What gives?

[Roberto Leider]

I was supposed to have to of my DVD shipped Thursday, and they are taking a whole week to ship them!!! what a great service...

[Ed]

I received 7 of 7 titles on Saturday. I managed to get them into the mail yesterday morning. Of course, only 5 of the 7 have been checked in.

[Sit10]

I have no bonus rental, unless you count their resending a disc I already returned. Something about the queues losing items, so they restored them, but they had already sent that one.

As for communication, I thought it was a poor move to announce on-site "your shipment is delayed," right above a big ad for their TV box. It was like saying, "better get used to it -- we are weaning you off the big expensive overhead."

But I stay with them. They are are still the best selection, site, and tools.

[BudhaCronX]

They completely screwed my queue up by shipping the second disc of a series first. So that just ruined me day.

[Bluejedi]

after I downgraded from 5 at a time to 4 at a time did I get an email about the 15% credit.

[Micah]

Got all four movies on Saturday. Usually I'm a three-disc-per-month'er, but I'm part of the settlement. But regardless of that email, no "bonus rental" button.

I'm confused, though.... are they not offering me an extra disc for this month because I'm already part of the settlement (in which case a "bonus rental" on top of the settlement would have given me FIVE discs this month? Or are they supposed to give me a bonus rental (as per what the email said) but there's still a bug or two in the system?

I'd give 'em a call, but being on hold for 15-20 minutes isn't really appealing, and I'm not THAT anal enough to want to be put on hold to complain about something as relatively meaningless as that. Just saying.

[Ryan]

Despite their claims, Netflix has NOT resolved all their shipping issues. I still have a movie in my queue that should have shipped last week, now listed as "Shipping Monday", as in next Monday.

[Metoo999]

Nothing on Saturday and nothing on Monday. If my disc doesn't come today (Tues), I'm going to "Report a problem." It's not like I'm on a 5-disc plan. I get maybe 2-3 per week.

[Throttled by Netflix]

Sent all 3 movies back Monday; earlier today the queue says the next 3 are expected to ship "today"; this afternoon, it says expected to ship Wednesday.
Throttled as usual.
That has nothing to do with the down time, but I'm sick of them not sending replacements from the queue the day they receive my returns.

[igj]

I still have a movie showing "Shipping Thursday." I called customer service yeterday and they claimed that they were working overtime on getting everything out the door from last week. So, clearly not everything shipped Saturday.

[Whiney Baby Girly Man]

THE NETFLIX OUTAGE CAUSE MY HOUSE TO EXPLODE, MY WIFE TO LEAVE ME AND MY CHILDREN TURN TO PROSTITUTION AND HARD DRUGS! I DEMAND COMPIN- COMPUNS- CUMPONSA- I DEMAND MONEY!!!!

NETFLIX MADE MY PENIS FALL OFF BECAUSE I COULDN'T GET "PLUTOE NASH" IN A TIMELY MANNER WHICH IS THE BEST FILM EVAR!!!

PS: TO THE NETFLUX SHELLS: I HAVE A LIFE!!!!!!!