Netflix throttling rumor confirmed

May 8, 2005

dvd-caseMost anyone who cycles through a lot of Netflix rentals a month, already knows the faster you return DVD’s, the slower you’re next in queue titles ship out. Hacking Netflix.com has all but put the throttling rumor to rest, for those last few doubters.

The site dedicated to all things Netflix has posted an email submitted by a reader and in the last paragraph of the reply, it plainly states:

“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 members who receive the most movies may experience next-day shipping and receive movies lower in their Queue more often than our other members.

By prioritizing in this way, we help assure a balanced experience for all our members. Those that rent a lot of movies get a great value and those with lighter viewing habits are able to count on our service to meet their limited needs.”

Again this should come as no shock to anyone who cycles through more than 2 or 3 movies a week, but previously I had received an almost contradictory email from NF customer support. I knew at the time I was getting fed the company line du jour. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe NF is within their rights to delve out movies slower to power users, I just never understood the (until now) secrecy behind the policy.



Posted by B.Greenway | | Filed Under Home Theater


Comments

  • annoyed
    Netflix isn't well within their rights to throttle users. They say unlimited rentals. They are liars. They need to drop the unlimited and spell out very clearly what the limits are, or raise prices to a more realistic level, where they can fulfill their promises to customers. Instead, they hide behind a secret policy. They're despicable. I hope they one day have the integrity to tell us up front we are only allowed x rentals per month. Also, when a new billing cycle starts, customers should be treated equally. END THROTTLING NOW, NETFLIX!!!
  • Jims
    NF needs to just stop the unlimited charade and say look, you can rent 3 movies at a time with a max rental of 12 movies, and I think the whining would stop (or at least it should). But throttling people while claiming they can have "unlimited" rentals is just flat out deceptive.
  • Cliff
    You have to admit that the throttling is ingenious. I moved up to 5 movies at a time becaues the 4 was not fast enough. Guess what? I'm paying 6 bucks more a month and I am getting less than when I did 4. My next idea is to try to get dual accounts kicking and do 6 at a time and see if the speed accelerates.

    It is total bullsh*t that they are doing this. I smell a class action lawsuit if they dont change their ways soon.
  • Herb
    I just closed my 3 out at a time account with Netflix. All I ever wanted was 12 per month. I tried to gage it so that they'd arrive on or just before the weekend but Netflix even found that to be too many and throttled that down to about 9 per month. Maybe they ought to just create a 12 per month plan at $2.00 each and get them out on time.
  • Zaferina
    Im a member of Lovefilm in the UK and they have started doing the same over the past few months. Their terms and conditions state:
    "We will do our best to get the discs you have requested to you as quickly as possible. However, we do operate a fair use policy that aims to ensure a balanced experience for all our members. This means that we give priority to members who don't rent high numbers of discs from us. Therefore, members who rent the most discs from us might experience lower mailing priority. By allocating discs in this way we ensure a fair system for all LOVEFiLM members."
    I understand why they do this but I don't understand their attitude towards the higher tarrif members who are all of a sudden missing out on films and questioning this. We should have been informed in someway that the service was changing! Anyone had any luck joining twice with 2 lower tarrifs? Seriously, this could be a solution for those of us who wish to rent 3 or more films a week!??!
  • 2fs
    You all need to get lives. How the hell do you have time to watch that many movies? More seriously: the problem would be that if it weren't for such policies, those of us who rent fewer movies (because we have, you know, things to do) would end up being shut out and have to wait longer, cuz all you glazed-eye DVD-addicted slackers would be hogging all the DVDs. As a great philosopher once sang, "you should really just relax."
  • B.Greenway
    "likeimgoingtopostithere@nospam.com"

    My thoughts exactly. Odd how you don’t feel like posting your real email address, yet you took the liberty of linking your site, which has your email address on it……..
  • Lara
    I canceled my membership because I didn't like the way I was being throttled. Today I got an email about the Chavez v. Netflix settlement because I was a member during that time. This really is stupid. The only winners are the layers who will get $2,528,000 and Netflix who has started a greedy marketing scheme. They're giving people a free month of upgrades. Big deal- you know what though? If you don't downgrade yourself after the month then you will be billed at the higher rate. Everyone should check out netflixsettlementsucks.com to get the real story and what you can do to stop this greedy company. Even if you like Netflix you're going to get screwed by this. It's a good idea to check it out and see what's going on.
  • Floyd Vahalik
    What do I do to fight this?
  • Richard Gailunas
    I've tried for at least 30 minutes to contact you in regard to a credit card change that is not listed in any of your categories. Don't you have an e-mail address than would eliminate all the unnecessary hassles I've endured. Don't cry when you try to bill me this month and can 't. I've tried to get through. Maybe I should drop you - one less problem.
blog comments powered by Disqus

  • Site Info

    • Newsletter



    Follow Us


    RSS Feed Follow Home Theater Blog on Twitter Facebook

    Site Search


  • Posts by Category