NetFlix.com – DVD Rentals Without Leaving Home!
Written: Jun 09 '04
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So, What Is NetFlix.com
NetFlix.com is a service where you can rent DVDs online and have them delivered to your home.
How Does It Work?
All you need to do is log on to the site and create an account. Like many other sites out there, they do offer a trial period (most offers I have seen are 2 weeks), but you still need to input all your information, including credit card information, in order to begin. If you want to cancel before the trial is over, you must log on by a specific date, or your credit card will automatically get charged for the next month, and at or around the same time each month going forward.
Once you have an account, you can start searching through movies. When you find a movie that you like, hit the ‘add to queue’ button. Your movies will queue up in line in the order that you pick them, but you can always rearrange the numbers in any order that you like. NetFlix will send you the first three movies in your queue (or however many you have in your package), and once they arrive, you are off to the movies!
When I first joined NetFlix, which was in January, I was able to receive a movie in 1 day! Now it is more like 2 days, but never more than 3. Don’t forget that the above information is only talking about the time it takes NetFlix to send me a movie. Turnaround time is even longer if you take into account the fact that NetFlix will NOT send you your next movie until they have received and processed the movie you return. So, that means you will most likely wait, in my case, anywhere from 2 – 6 days for the whole process to happen, all the way from the day you mail back a movie to NetFlix until the day you get a new one in the mail.
Anyway, I digress. After receiving the movies, you get to watch them at your own leisure. That is a bonus of this program. You can keep a movie for a day or three weeks or whatever you want and you don’t have to pay any late fees. Of course, if you keep the same movie for a whole month, you will be watching fewer movies, so you probably aren’t getting your monies worth, BUT, you have the peace of mind of not having to pay late fees, so it all depends on personal preference.
NetFlix makes it very easy to return a movie. When they send you a movie, you receive a red envelope with the movie in it in a thin sleeve (no original packaging, so if you are into that, this isn’t the place for you). After watching the movie, just rip off the front of the envelope along the perforations, seal the package up and mail it back to NetFlix, at no cost to you. It really is very simple. Once NetFlix receives the movie back, they send you the next movie in your queue and so on and so forth.
Are there Different Options/Plans?
Yes there are! As of June 15th, 2004 these are the monthly price plans available:
$14.95 (plus tax)
This plan allows you to have 2 DVDs out at the same time, with a maximum allowance of 4 DVDs rented in that 1-month period.
$21.95 (plus tax)
This is the default plan you receive, unless you specifically request one of the others. This plan allows you to have 3 DVDs out at the same time, with no limit on how many you rent in your 1-month period.
$33.95 (plus tax)
This plan allows you to have 5 DVDs out at the same time, with no limit on how many you rent in your 1-month period.
$49.95 (plus tax)
This plan allows you to have 8 DVDs out at the same time, with no limit on how many you rent in your 1-month period. Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone making their money off of this plan, unless they have a lot of time to watch a lot of movies, or just plain want a LOT of choices (or perhaps have a large family).
I have the $19.95 plan, which on June 15th turns into the $21.95 plan. Well, technically, I have the $19.95 plan at a reduced price, because I went to cancel, and they offered me a cheaper monthly cost for 6 months, which convinced me to stay. The discount they offered was close to $5 off per month.
Is there a Good Choice of DVDs?
According to NetFlix, there are over 20,000 titles to choose from. I think there is a great choice of DVDs, and they don’t just have one type of DVD. Yes, they have most of the popular ones/blockbusters, and that is the bulk of the DVDs available, but there are a few harder to find/lesser known movies in there too. They also have a decent selection of independent films. You can find many of your favorite action films, romantic comedies, horror flicks, etc. etc., but you can also find cartoons, music concerts, TV series, etc. It is very easy to browse around to find what you want, as the website is a pretty simple set-up (more on that later). You can even check out critics picks and award winning movies.
If you aren’t sure what you would like to see, NetFlix can make suggestions, which they somehow come up with from the information and ratings you provide. Basically, each time you see a movie, you can go back on the website and rate the movie, or you can rate movies you have already seen. You can rate anywhere from 1 to 5 stars. You can also click that you are not interested in a certain movie, without rating it. The more movies you rate or click as not interested, the better the suggestions made will most likely be. I think this is a nice way at personalizing the site, although I’m still not convinced that it is full proof. They have made some strange recommendations for me.
The Website
The website setup is really easy. Once you have created an account and logged in, you have three tab choices on the top of your screen: queue, recommendations and browse.
Under browse, they have various categories to choose from. They have created the categories features, genres and guides with subcategories as well. They are:
Features:
New Releases-
NetFlix Top 100-
Critics' Picks-
Award Winners-
Genres:
All Genres
Action & Adventure-
Anime & Animation-
Children & Family-
Classics-
Comedy-
Documentary-
Drama-
Foreign Language & Int'l-
Gay & Lesbian-
Horror-
Independent-
Music & Musicals-
Romance-
Sci-Fi & Fantasy-
Special Interest-
Sports-
Television-
Thrillers-
Guides:
Member Favorites-
Easter Eggs-
By Decade-
By Studio-
Movies You've Seen
I personally spend most of my time under features and occasionally under genres. I don’t find guides to be that helpful.
You can also look under your account or help (located in the upper right) for more information. Your accounts spells everything out about your account, including the membership you have, the movies you presently have, the last movies you rented, etc. I find the layout to be extremely easy on the eye. This is also where you can cancel your membership. The help area was just as helpful to me, and can answer most of your questions. When in doubt, use the search under the help area. It led me right.
Customer Service
I’ve never had to contact them directly with any questions, but if you do, you can call 1-888-638-3549. Theirs hours are Monday through Friday 6am to 7pm PST and Saturday and Sunday 6am to 2:30pm PST. They also have e-mail which you can access from the website.
I did, however, receive a damaged DVD. I returned the DVD and had marked on the sleeve that the DVD was damaged, but I don’t think they ever noticed, because I kept getting asked to rate the DVD and there was no reference to the fact that this was noticed. The second mistake that happened was that I received the wrong DVD. This time I went on the website and marked that I received the wrong DVD in addition to marking it on the sleeve, and marking it on the website seemed to be the key. They told me exactly how to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, I lost some days of viewing, because I had to return a DVD that was a mistake and wait for a new one to arrive, but I didn’t really think it was that big of a deal. I had two others!
Overall
I’m still a member, and I can only imagine that I will stay a member. I think the price that I have is just right, and I watch enough movies to make it worth it.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? DVDs
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