Netflix Throttling Customers?

[Suhit Gupta]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/10/netflix.renters.ap/index.html

"Netflix typically sends about 13 movies a month to Villanueva's home in Warren, Michigan -- down from the 18 to 22 DVDs he once received before the company's automated system identified him as a heavy renter and began delaying his shipments to protect its profits. The same Netflix formula also shoves Villanueva to the back of the line for the most-wanted DVDs, so the service can send those popular flicks to new subscribers and infrequent renters. The little-known practice, called "throttling" by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns."



Dude, that sucks. I have totally been loving Netflix and over the last several months, I keep comparing the service that I get (I use it extremely heavily, up to a dozen per month) to what my girlfriend gets (about 5-6 per month). She almost always gets the new releases before me even though I put them in my list well before she does. I always figured there was some algorithm in their system that I just hadn't figured out yet but it looks like it is just throttling. I totally loved their service but this puts a slightly bad taste in my mouth. :-( Lately I have been seeing a number of Blockbuster advertisements telling us about their Netflix like service, I wonder if they do the same. If any of you use it, please tell me of your experience.

[Suhit Gupta]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/10/netflix.renters.ap/index.html

"Netflix typically sends about 13 movies a month to Villanueva's home in Warren, Michigan -- down from the 18 to 22 DVDs he once received before the company's automated system identified him as a heavy renter and began delaying his shipments to protect its profits. The same Netflix formula also shoves Villanueva to the back of the line for the most-wanted DVDs, so the service can send those popular flicks to new subscribers and infrequent renters. The little-known practice, called "throttling" by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns."



Dude, that sucks. I have totally been loving Netflix and over the last several months, I keep comparing the service that I get (I use it extremely heavily, up to a dozen per month) to what my girlfriend gets (about 5-6 per month). She almost always gets the new releases before me even though I put them in my list well before she does. I always figured there was some algorithm in their system that I just hadn't figured out yet but it looks like it is just throttling. I totally loved their service but this puts a slightly bad taste in my mouth. :-( Lately I have been seeing a number of Blockbuster advertisements telling us about their Netflix like service, I wonder if they do the same. If any of you use it, please tell me of your experience.

[Ed Hansberry]

Originally Posted by Suhit Gupta

I keep comparing the service that I get (I use it extremely heavily, up to a dozen per month) to what my girlfriend gets (about 5-6 per month). She almost always gets the new releases before me even though I put them in my list well before she does.

throttling stinks, if they are doing it, but why is this guy renting movies on his own and not watching them with his girlfriend?

[drummrsanonymous]

Wow Ed. Maybe they're geographically seperated at the moment or have other challenges. My girlfriend is off starting pharmacy school while I keep working on my masters and working here. We're 3 hours apart, but keep tabs on what each other is doing - like what movies we watched. It could totally make sense for each of us to have a Netflix account. However I prefer bargain bins and she doesn't have that much time for movies.

Back on topic, I've never used Netflix, but a buddy at work recently switched from Netflix to Blockbuster because it started taking forever to get new releases (3 to 4 weeks), turnaround time slowed to 3-4 days, and for the in-store rental. He was a pretty heavy renter. I'm not exactly how many a month, but it was probably more than 6. We'll see how getting new releases goes, but he's already found out that Blockbuster's selection isn't as robust as Netflix's.

[Chris Gohlke]

I'm on Blockbuster, specifically for the in-store rentals. Now that you get one free a week, I use that for the new releases and use the on-line for the less popular stuff. I've averaged a little over 13 movies per month over the last nine months, plus the in store rentals. I've noticed a slight delay in the shipment of movies, but I feel I am getting an excellent value, so I let it slide.

[Suhit Gupta]

Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry

throttling stinks, if they are doing it, but why is this guy renting movies on his own and not watching them with his girlfriend?

Thanks drummrsanonymous for your reasoning. That is exactly right. She's studying in NY and I moved to Seattle for a job recently. So it is nice to try and sync on movies every once in a while so we can actually chat about it.

Suhit

[Ed Hansberry]

Originally Posted by Suhit Gupta

Thanks drummrsanonymous for your reasoning. That is exactly right. She's studying in NY and I moved to Seattle for a job recently. So it is nice to try and sync on movies every once in a while so we can actually chat about it.

Ahhh... that makes sense when you put it in context. :wink: Distance never occurred to me. ops:

[Kursplat]

I don't use either, yet. However, according to what I have read online, it appears BB throttles as well. However, as Chris pointed out, BB has the added advantage of the store rentals which can be used for the new releases if you absolutely can't wait. I have also heard from several people that have used both that the interface and selection for BB are not as good.

Personally, once I start I'll have such a huge backlog, I won't be hurting to see a new release the day it comes out. If I need to see something THAT bad, I'll see it at the theaters.

[CST]

Originally Posted by Kursplat

However, according to what I have read online, it appears BB throttles as well.

Being a BB user I have not seen any throtting,as far as I can tell. I have used it for new releases, but find it easier to go to the store to rent them there than wait a day.

Just on the last 5 months, including Feb's projected rentals, I'm up for 72 rentals, online, and 10 in-store. Here are my numbers - Oct 14, Nov 19, Dec 12, Jan 12, Feb 15*. Thats an average of 14.4 a month.

Since I'm on the old plan of $14.95/mo it averages out to 1.04/rental - so I'm not complaining... if only I could get them into the mail box the next day...

[Kursplat]

Your 14/mo is what they are getting AFTER NetFlix throttles them. They were getting 20+/mo before the throttling. I wonder what your 14 will drop to after they start throttling.

Nah.... They would throttle, would they? Would they?
http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2006/mft06021501.htm

[Chris Gohlke]

Blockbuster needs to use its local store as an advantage. They could probably save quite a bit on postage if they allowed returns to the local store. It could then bundle them up and do one return shipment a day. For people like me who live close to a blockbuster, this would be great for increasing my turnaround time. They could cut their postage nearly in half and they would only probably end up having to send a few extra movies a month based on the shorter turnaround time. Seems like a Win/win