Have You Received a Complimentary Netflix DVD?

Lifehacker has a story today about how to get an extra Netflix DVD, but the basis of the story is wrong. The story suggests adding discs that DVDs that are probably in high demand to get an extra disc shipped to you, but this has been Netflix's customer support policy since December, 2008 for shipping discs from remote shipping centers. As explained on the Netflix blog: 

Now, if your first choice is not available in your local shipping center, we immediately send the next locally available movie in your Queue. And whenever possible, we also send your first choice from another of our 55 shipping centers throughout the U.S. When this happens, you end up with a complimentary extra DVD rental.

Previously, if the movie you wanted was not in stock locally, we would simply try to send it from another shipping center. Since this DVD was typically delivered from farther away, it took longer to arrive and you could end up without a DVD for a few days. This was especially inconvenient for our members on 1-disc plans.

Have you received a complimentary rental from Netflix?

Comments

[James]

I have 8 out at a time and get a 9th disc probably once a month. I usually have a complete season of a tv show at the top of my queue. If the 1st disc of the season has any sort of wait, Netflix skips the entire season and sends my the first 8 movies from my queue. If that 1st disc becomes available while I have my 8 movies out, Netflix will send it anyway.

[Netflix User 7]

I've gotten several over the past year or so. Happens most with "Short Wait" movies at the top of the queue.

[Davis Freeberg]

I've received several, but never for popular films. Usually, they are really old films or indie stuff that Netflix doesn't buy a lot of.

[Hayesta]

Yeah, it happened to me once when my next available movie was apparently all the way in California, so they had that shipped (took three days) to get to VA, and simultaneously, I got the next two moves on my queue

[screwdestiny]

I'm on one now, actually. Have Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Code Geass left in my queue and after a day of not sending me a movie (first time ever, I think it's because I hit the nine movie limit on a three out account for the first time...kind of flew through FMA, not knowing the entire series was hidden on Hulu's search) and NGE mysteriously went on Short Wait, Cowboy Bebop was Very Long Wait, and Trigun was Long Wait...Netflix skipped all the way down to Code Geass and then the next day, they shipped me NGE as a compliment.

[David D]

It happened maybe twice in the last year. On rare occasion, they may actually try sending me some sort of indy movie or one of the less popular TV series discs from out of state.

I live in California, so most of the time whatever is on my queue and available can be sent from their Los Angeles distribution center, which is the closest one to my area.

[Seals]

Yes, I've had it happen several times. Nice feature.

[Sock Puppet]

Yes, happens all the time... I watch a lot of series anime and unfortunately those tend to be reproduced on cheaper materials.

So its not unusual for say disc's 1-5 to be available locally, but disc 6 is only available out of Honolulu..

Then they usually send me either the next series disc (which I kind of hate, cause there can be a really long time till I actually start watching it.) or they will send the next disc in the series (I'm waiting for 6, so they send 7... Which is still kind of dumb, but I don't complain...)

[Laura Conrad]

Yes, I had a disk at the top of my queue that had been listed as "short wait" for several months, and finally they sent me both that disk from somewhere farther away and the next disk from my local center.

[Sinistar]

Yes, every once in awhile, due to the fact that I watch alot of oddball stuff that isn't available locally.

[Zac]

Yup I've received a handful of them. Similar to what most other folks have said here, it was with "Short Wait" movies that were perfectly available, but just not in my local Netflix distro center.

[John McIntosh]

Yes, I have also. At first I enjoyed it but after a while it's become annoying. I am one of those folks that Netflix developed throttling for so my turnover can be high. Anyway, have taken to always returning two dvd's to a mailer, since it's harder for them to say they haven't received one if they have the other. Now they have another disc to not report getting back.

[chris]

I have a 7 out at a time plan, and I get an 8th disc probably about 4 or 5 times a month. I never saw the reason for it, except with series disc. If there is one disc left in the series to ship, Netflix always makes sure (this happens without fail) that the last disc gets shipped with the others.

[ManBearPig20oh10]

When I had one at a time I got my transformers beast wars like that. Scared me for while didn't knew they did that. Thought someone had upped my plan.

[Gran]

Old news

[Mark12547]

I get an extra disc maybe once every other month, usually from a short wait that has made it to the top of my queue.

Actually, I somewhat dread discs being shipped from distant processing center--those are the ones that are more likely to arrive cracked. (It took 4 tries in February & March 2004 to get me a good copy of "The Killer Shrews / I Bury the Living" that wasn't cracked; that was the worst I had experienced it, and that was before the new policy of shipping an extra disc when one comes from afar.)

[kryptin]

I've had it happen 4 times. Just in the last month I've gotten an extra disc twice which has been nice.

[Christopher]

yeah from time to time I get an extra one. just I did last month. I think it's really nice of netflix for doing this. something that BB would never do.

[Donn Ed]

Yes a couble of times. this feature shows great customer service. One of the reason I quit Blockbuster mail. They used to have a feature that if you walked it in you'd get one right then and they would still mail it to you. But they stopped that and you have to wait. A major flub for their business.

[RowdyReptile]

The only time it happened was when I called (for the third time) to complain about a 12-week wait for Hurt Locker. They sent me that one and another very long wait from my queue as two complimentary discs. This is the first I've heard of this other way.

[Movie_Dearest]

I used to get this a lot, so much that I started putting the "Short Waits" at the top of my queue to get the extra one. But I think they put a limit on how many extras you can get because I've had the same "Short Wait" title sitting on the top for weeks now and they keep shipping the next available one.

[bill]

I sent in a story about this months ago, but I guess it went unnoticed. Doesn't happen often, but I enjoy it when it does.

[Fred Talmadge]

Yes, I'm on the 3 out plan and haven't been watching much I sent one movie in and two came. The one from California (I'm in Texas) was about 2 days later then normal. I really didn't understand it at the time.

[conanthepunctual]

I've gotten one without having a disc shipped from a farther away location or any other problem/issue at all. I currently have a message at the top of my queue that reads, "Bonus Rental Awarded!
Congratulations! You have a bonus rental available! When you click the button below, we will send you your next movie. This will be in addition to the movies you have out and you will then need to return 2 discs to receive the next movie. Enjoy your bonus rental!" When it first showed up it said Bonus Rentals and I used it once and it changed to the singular but I haven't taken advantage of that one yet.

[eviltimes]

Netflix has never sent me an extra disc because my #1 title wasn't available. They even stopped sending me an extra disc when they shipped any title from the other side of the planet. (I think that only happened once during the beginning of the program.) They are liars and thieves. They promise but they don't deliver. A curse upon their house.

[banana]

Netflix *said* they were sending me a movie, but for some reason, instead of sending it, they screwed something up.

i got a notification that said the movie was on its way, then ANOTHER notification the next day saying they'd received it. buhh?

so not only did i not get the movie that was going to take a long time to send, i had no movies for over the weekend. had to use a redbox.

[roo]

I have received an extra rental for one out-of-area disc they sent in. I didn't on another that came from a different out-of-area service center that was one state over, and probably has their mail route through my city anyway to the rest of the country.

[Brandon]

Once.

[Pete Mitchell]

That's crap. In the 3 years I've been a member, I've only gotten 1 comp disc. I've had my top 3 choices on some type of "wait" for months at a time, and sometimes even run out of non-wait titles in my queue. When that happens, they don't ship ANYTHING, even from a far flung dist. center.

[Movie_Dearest]

I guess all it took was to publicly say something about it, because I finally got that "Short Wait" disc that has been sitting on top of my queue for weeks that I mentioned a few comments back ... !

[Walt D in LV]

Yes, I've received several over the years. It's one of the great things that makes Netflix stand out.

Think about it:
Blockbuster, here in Las Vegas, Nevada, has two-day shipping times. Two days there, two days back. It used to be that if you returned a disc to a retail store, it would register you returned it, and they'd mail you the next movie on your queue. It wouldn't happen the same day, or even the next, but a couple days later. It was still a good deal because they'd let you rent a movie in the store at no charge. This was for what I thought was an inexplicable wait time.
Well, Blockbuster still lets you return to the store, but the movie you rent counts against your queue. That is, they will NOT mail you the next disc until you return the one from the store! What the heck? So NOW, I have to make TWO trips to the store, OR mail the disc to wait two days for them to get it, two days back.

Netflix here is still one day there, one day back. If they have to ship from a distribution center outside of Vegas, they send the next disc ALSO, from Vegas, so you get the extra.

I love Netflix.

Walt D in LV

[Perkins Cobb]

If there's a "Short Wait" disc at the top of my queue, lately NF has been more likely to just ship it like an "Available Now" rather than skip over it. It's been a while since I've qualified for the extra disc and, actually, last time I should've gotten one I don't think they shipped it. I wonder if they've tweaked their status reporting somehow.

[MDG]

I get extras 2 or 3 times a month (3 at a time plan), but my queue is almost completely older or less-in-demand titles.

[Bonnie]

I just recently discovered this and it worked well this time in fact i have two movies that will be waiting for me tomorrow in the mail because of this. I usually keep movies that have waits at the bottom of my list and when they come available i move them to the top. so i don't usually have problems with not getting movies its the remembering to mail the movie back when i finish watching it that gets me. In my opinion i think you should be able to report when you are sending one back so they can go ahead and mail you your next movie and you receive your new movie when they receive the movie you already watched. to keep people from reporting without sending just wait till you get that title before you send the one after the new ovie they just sent. thats my two cents anyway.

[24FPS]

I would rather not receive any bonus discs as they can wreck havoc on the scheduling of discs in my regular shipping cue, both when shipped and as they are returned. The only time I insist on a bonus disc is when Netflix makes a mistake that results in not getting the service I have paid for. Sometimes the bonus discs are more a curse than a blessing like when the bonus disc takes two to four days to arrive or when such a disc turns out to be defective. I greatly appreciate the offer of a bonus disc to make amends but it would be more convenient to be able to store bonus disc entitlements and use them when desired.