Netflix's 'throttling' tactics anger some

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/...lix-usat_x.htm

The little-known practice, called "throttling" by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns.
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The statement specifically warns that heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices.

[James Emory]

I think that is absolutely crappy for them to change the rules in the middle of the game. Typical corporate greed. I don't care if it was dipping into their profits, they either need to accept it or find something else to do instead of screwing people over to fit their needs. They will do what they are allowed to get away with. However, everyone has the right cancel if they don't like it. If enough people did that because of this, they would get the message.

[James Emory]

Services like this ought to get Net Flix and Blockbuster really. Not really, one will just buy these companies like Blockbuster bought DirecTv.

[Sean McHenry]

"If enough people did that because of this, they would get the message."

Hey, I always said the same thing about people who vote for Mickey Mouse or who don't vote at all. I keep thinking if enough people don't vote, maybe the parties will start toi understand that their choices sometimes suck.

I keep thinking things like that, and yet, nobody ever reports it that way and nobody ever gets that message.

On the other hand, you'll never get enough people to stand up all at once and actually cancel their subscriptions I'm betting. There are always people out there who will take whatever they are handed, even if it is a bad deal, and then they'll say thank you.

Companies don't care about people, companies care about profit.

Sean McHenry

[Yi Fong Yu]

you guys gotta look at it from nf's perspective. with 11 DVDs average rental/month and a movie is about 1.7ish hours, that means each month there's close to 20 total hours worth of entertainment. i think that's a very good deal for casual viewers. a lot of people with very busy lives don't have that much time in 1 month to view films. i think this covers about 90+% of filmviewers.

i know people who subscribe to nf and rent maybe 1 or 2 movies A MONTH! it isn't so much $ but convenice and selection. without nf, people wouldn't know where to begin to watch classic films. nf is truly wonderful in that regard.

BUT, if you are a film fanatic, let's say you watched 1 movie a day (afterwork) and then goto town on a weekend:

presuming a movie is about 2 hours (rough estimate):
mon-fri=5*2=10 hours.
saturday&sunday=2*8=16hours
@26hours a week=104hours/month.
@104hours/month=104/2=52movies.
with that calculation, a film who truly has *no life* and has dedicate his entire life to watching everything can do about 52DVDs a month MAX! i put 8 hours each for the weekend because of conversative estimates. i'm sure a true fanatic wouldn't need to eat/sleep/crap/etc.

if he subscribed to nf using 8DVD out at a time@$50, that's still just about $1/DVD and even with throttling it can be achieved. i know because i did that for about a month before i almost chocked on life! =).

i sincerely don't believe a sane/living human being can sustain that lifestyle for years and years. thus, the only other side of the equation are pirates. these people who are complaining/bitching about throttling are people who *are* busy but want nf to satisfy their greedy pirating needs. and nf knows this too. i mean seriously, how big of a chunk of the population can sustain watching even 20DVDs (actually sitting through each and every film) a month? just a fraction.

thus, i think nf is doing a swell job and those people complaining just need to pay more $ to offset the throttling. i don't think nf ever promised at any time "1-day delivery". it was never gauranteed.

[Chris Barcellos]

I am a NetFlix user, and a pretty heavy user--three a week usually. I noticed recently I ve been on back burner for many new releases. Ive had "Flight Plan" on my cue forever and its still showing long wait. On the otherhand, I put "Walk the Line" on my cue Saturday, and it arrived Tuesday, the day of its released. They had to have mailed yesterday, day before release. Must have timed that right!!

[Yi Fong Yu]

hi chris,

that's more of a 1st come 1st serve. "what?" you may ask. a movie can be qued when it first arrives in the cinema. check out many of the "new releases" in cinema right now. for example, meadea's family reunion just came out last friday, but:

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?...d=15651169_1_0

thus, 1st come st serve. you'd be surprised at the people who say "i'll rent it when it comes out on DVD" and then actually queing it. by the time the final DVD product is released, it's 2late to be on que for it because there's like 1,000 people ahead of you =).

oh and it's not even for films that have actually arrived in the cinema, some of the higher-profile titles, it is for films that are just announced:
http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?...id=9021376_1_0
^that's not even out yet. people que up VERY early =). ya just gotta learn to play the game. if you're someone that watched new releases frequently you have to be ontop of your game. but nf users like me love classics... so no1 watches classics and we usually get all the que's right on the date of release.

[James Emory]

As I said earlier, it shouldn't matter what viewing trends are by individuals. Everyone that is in a certain price plan or agreement should receive the same level of service across the board, PERIOD. If you pay more for a higher level of service or priority, then that's what you should get. These corporations are greedy bastards and have no right to change the rules when they choose. They should honor what they say for existing customers and only apply any new terms to new customers. The consumer ultimately has the power to determine what happens. Like credit cards, these companies often provide a notice of a change in service and if you don't like it, you have the option to cancel. If enough people took them up on that, then they would get the message and play fairly or.............go out of business!

[Yi Fong Yu]

that i agree =).

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by James Emory

it shouldn't matter what viewing trends are by individuals. Everyone that is in a certain price plan or agreement should receive the same level of service across the board, PERIOD.

Well I don't use Netflix so this doesn't affect me personally (although my daughter and her boyfriend are big users). However, according to that article Netflix revised their TOS to include this new "feature"

Netflix didn't publicly acknowledge it differentiates among customers until revising its "terms of use" statement in January 2005
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The statement specifically warns that heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices.

Like you said, it's just like credit card companies who are constantly changing their policies. If you don't like the change you're free to cancel, but they know most people won't go to the trouble...

[Sean McHenry]

I used to have similar arguments with dial up internet connections. I paid for a connection I could use anytime. So, if I wanted to dial in on Monday and keep it alive for a month, I should be able to, even at full tilt with a high quality web cam or streaming media. They never saw it that way. It wasn't written down but they would do things like bump the ip address once in a while to kill things like that.

I am completly behind claimes like "all you can eat" even though I'm not a big one for places that advertise such things, or cell companies advertising free weekends or evenings. If I want to call my sister on Friday evening at 9:01pm and talk until Sunday 5:59am, they should have nothing to say about it.

Truth in advertising is a bit lax these days.

Sean McHenry

[James Emory]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

.......but they know most people won't go to the trouble...

That's exactly right! A great example of that is mail-in rebates. They know that alot of people will buy at the store because of it and they also know that they will lose the paperwork, receipt, or other required components or they will just forget all about it. They don't give away money for the fun of it. What they gain from the incentive to buy, far outways the payback of rebates. The statistics are definitely in the manufacturer's favor. It's a brilliant strategy.

Originally Posted by Sean McHenry

Truth in advertising is a bit lax these days.

It's interesting how sometimes when you try to take these companies up on their offers they look at you like you are a freeloader. A great example of unfair business practices is with casinos. I saw a show where they would ask someone to move to another game or even leave if they were winning too much! Can you believe that? They said because it was private property that they could do anything they want.

[Kevin Janisch]

Ironically the founder of Netflix started the online rental service because of a $30 late fee he got from Blockbuster and was tired of being exploited.....

[Mark Bournes]

The trick is if you want a new release (they all release on tuesdays each week) then get your copies back to them by monday morning and chances are you'll get the new release that's coming out that tuesday. Hope that helps.
Mark

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Mark Bournes

The trick is if you want a new release (they all release on tuesdays each week) then get your copies back to them by monday morning and chances are you'll get the new release that's coming out that tuesday. Hope that helps.
Mark

Don't give away the secret !!!