I am a big Netflix proselytizer. I pay $19.25 a month (after tax) to get “unlimited” DVD rentals per month, 3 DVDs at a time. My wife gets two of the movies and I get one.
I also take every opportunity to sway people away from Blockbuster.
My wife has repeatedly complained to me that the delivery of our Netflix rentals has slowed down this year. I brushed her off every time, attributing it to the speed of USPS postal service delivery in our new town.
Then today I read this.
Then I read a section of their terms of use stating
In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those subscribers who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the shipment of their next available DVD occurs at least one business day following return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other subscribers. Other factors that may affect delivery times, include, but are not limited to, (i) the distance between the distribution center from which your DVD was shipped and your delivery address, (ii) the timing of your placement or adjustment of movies in your queue and (iii) circumstances impacting delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
1. I’m pissed off that they’re throttling me.
2. I’m pissed of that I wasn’t notified of the modified terms of service.
3. I’m thinking about dropping Netflix.
4. I’m considering jumping ship over to Blockbuster.
Fix this, Netflix. The people who use you the most may not make you much or any money in their monthly rental fees, but they’ve got big mouths and a lot of friends who follow their recommendations.
You’re going to have a big problem if you don’t stop this customer discrimination. If you travel down this road, your customer satisfaction rating is going to go from sky-high to the pits — down where Best Buy is.
Most likely, Netflix is not going to get my money any more.