Long wait on movies in queue

[CD]

Has anyone else had problem with movies at the top of their queue taking alot longer to get. I used to not have to wait long for recent movies and in last couple of months, I can not seem to get recent movies for a long time. Several people have told me that Blockbuster has faster turn-around on movies. Wonder if anyone knows if this is true. Also, I was told that you can return them to store and get a new movie.

[dengland]

I certainly wasn't going to cancel my account over a $1! I replied to the email I got telling me of the price increase. It probably isn't even an email account that is monitored, so likely they never saw it.

[ewd76]

My point was why would they care if you removed Blu-Ray? The $1.00 is just a cost they pass on to you.

[Spindaddydad]

Sounds like your beef is with the manufacturers of the Blu-ray discs and not with Netflix. It's not really NF fault that they are charged more for the discs. They do have bargaining power and they use it. That's why blu-ray renters are only charged pennies more per disc, rather than dollars more.

And by the way, not all Blu-ray discs are sold for $13.95 on Amazon. In fact, very few are. Most sell for about $25. $4-6 more than DVD.

[tuco]

My approach on the BR thing follows my usual frugal inclination. Since standard DVD is a darn fine picture on my HD TV, I see no reason to invest in any BR equipment or media until the price of the new equipment and media approaches the prices of the existing standard DVD. The industry plans for BR to replace DVD and become the new standard and although I do enjoy HD movies, until prices come more into line I am very happy with standard DVD. I currently get my HD fix watching HD Cable. Just my opinion.

[Cheryl]

That's pretty much my approach, except I refuse to pay for cable so I have none.

[ColdOne]

Your argument seems to be that they should not try to cover the extra charges now because at some point in the future costs for BR may be nearly equivalent. This makes no sense whatsoever from a business perspective, but your personal protest, even if for the wrong reasons, is being heard by Netflix and the industry (when combined with millions of others who aren't paying the surcharge for their own reasons).

[Dana]

I have been a member since 2002 and in the last month my queue is filled with waits. Most of the titles are older ones too such as first and second seasons of "Ghost Whisperer." I am a five-at-a-time renter. I also purchase 3-at-a-time for my sister AND mother every year for Christmas. So...you would think NF would be happy with the money I send in. I have not changed my renting history in any way so I don't know what is going on. Can anyone clue me in?

[ColdOne]

The fact that you are a 5-out renter is not very important if you are turning over those discs at a high rate. So you are probably not making as much money for Netflix as you think you are.

It's possible that you have more waits right now because of temporarily high demand due to the holiday season or the economic situation that Netflix was unable to account for when making their disc purchases. Or perhaps Netflix is intentionally buying fewer discs to cut costs. Or perhaps you've increased your viewing habits from 30/mo to 35/mo without realizing it. Or perhaps you randomly happened to pick higher demand movies this month than in the past.

The bottom line is that if you are happy with the service as it is (averaged over time) then keep with it or find a way to make it work better for you (e.g. by contenting yourself with the 100,000 titles that do not have a wait). If you can't make it work then find another service which does fit your needs (if that's possible).

[Dana]

Thanks for giving me some insight. I am not unhappy, just curious as to what is going on/what has changed in the last month. I am a NF fanatic as evidenced by the Christmas gifts I give. Thanks again for your explanation.

[Paul]

Same is happenening to me since January. I've been getting Netflix for about 3 years now and it was never this bad.
My thought is either Netflix is not purchasing as many copies of new releases (to make more profit)
or has many more new customers and didn't increase its purchases of new release copies (to make more profit).
They will start losing business. Just depends at what point we get tired of it.

[Pihk]

To make more profit...To make more profit

OK, commie boy...

[Spindaddydad]

The "single-post fly-by-nighters" have been coming in here for the last year thinking that Netflix will lose business if they don't change their practices, yet membership and value keep going up.