Netflix Causes Family Strife

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I’ve had The 40-Year-Old Virgin at the top of my queue for over two months, during which time Netflix has failed to deliver. I’ve even resorted to cheap tricks in hopes of improving my situation. Either Netflix is throttling the movies I get or they just don’t have enough inventory. I’m not sure which is worse… penalizing an active customer or poor planning. And if it is poor planning, how come they haven’t seen the error of their ways and purchased more stock?

My fiancé thinks I’m throttling her movie selections in favor of mine. She wonders how it’s possible Battlestar Galactica DVDs continually arrive but her DVD selection never does. Seems a little suspicious, don’t you think? So I begged Netflix to restore harmony to my home and this was their response:

Hello Dave,

Thanks for your message.

We appreciate you taking the time to provide us with your feedback and comments. I sincerely apologize for the difficulties you’ve experienced. Please be assured that we are continually striving to improve our service.

To help you manage your Rental Queue, we provide inventory information for each title you add to your Queue. Due to the fact inventory status fluctuates constantly, it is possible that the status may vary before the movie can be shipped. Please note that all expected “wait” designations are simply estimated according to overall demand and inventory levels.

There are overall estimated “short wait”, “long wait” and “very long wait” status designations, but these do not indicate the exact waiting time for you in regards to receiving this title.

We do suggest keeping your Queue in your chosen order despite a wait designation. This will allow our system to attempt to process the title for you each time a return is received from you. If your top choice title becomes available to you at the time you make a return, it will be shipped to you. If not, we will process the next available title in your Queue for shipment.

We apologize for any inconvenience this wait may be causing you. At present, our goal is to ship you the DVDs listed highest in your Queue. If the first is not available, we will ship the second; if the second is not available, we will ship the third, and so on. Your Queue will indicate when we expect your next available title to be shipped. After the title has been shipped, you will receive an e-mail letting you know that the title has been shipped and its estimated arrival date.

You may also return to the site to confirm which title has shipped and get an estimated arrival date. You may view your Rental Queue via the following link:

http://www.netflix.com/Queue

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks,
Eureka,
Netflix Customer Service

In conclusion, I have no faith these guys will deliver. I plan to either borrow The 40-Year-Old Virgin from a buddy at work or hook the laptop up to the TV after grabbing it through Movielink for $4.50. Either way, order will be restored this weekend! However, I will keep the DVD in the top spot of my queue… I’ve jut got to know how many months this is going to take.

8 thoughts on “Netflix Causes Family Strife”

  1. You have the “fairness” algorythm applied to you :) They have copies, but they are probably holding them back for new members or free trial folks.. case in point, I just set up a friend of mine with a trial yesterday.. Just now I had him add “40 year old virgin” and low and behold – it said “available now” – so they suck you in and then turn the screws up.. I also just added 40 year old to my queue and got the very long wait.. so it’s not just you :)

  2. Have you used the accounts feature? This would help in your family strife. No longer would you have 1 long Q for everything. But 1 long Q for yourself and 1 short Q for your fiance. You can give yourself 2 slots and your fiance 1.

    That is what I do.

    About the waiting. I still haven’t received Cinderella Man. O well I have other movies I’de like to see.

  3. Thanks for the tip Adam! We did try the dual queues for awhile, but she rarely used it and instead would tell me what movies she wanted. After updating her queue for a brief time, it seemed easier to just go back to one. :)

    The good news is my buddy showed up at work today with the DVD!

  4. I’m another one with that very long wait,long wait, short wait message and waiting has just about ran its course with me now, especially knowing the “newer members and members who don’t order quite as frequent as I do are getting the movies while I’m STILL waiting. What’s up with that 40 Year Old Virgin?

  5. Jump ship! I’ve been using Blockbuster oOnline for about a year now and NEVER have problems getting new releases. The only downside is that they’re not as fast as Netflix. But hey, I can always use my free in-store rental coupons to pick up whatever I’m itching for :)

  6. Man, I have the same problem with NetFlix and I’m really starting to get pissed. I’m trying out Blockbuster and I can tell you that movies are rarely “Long Wait” and they are sent promptly… We’ll just have to see how long this last though, but it looks promising. Plus I get 4 free in-store rental a month.

  8. There was a recent article that I read that Netflix throttles DVD’s sent to people who use more than what they deam as average. If you are on the 3 DVD at a time plan and you watch it and get it right back, you will find that it will take longer to get the next DVD. I have had this happen to me a couple of times. Also, check out hackingnetflix.com for more info.

    Paul

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