Netflix continues to be on my top 10 list of companies I respect, which is few and far-between. Now, if they could only figure out how separate discs from a box-set can become "unavailable"... GRRR!

Despite the limited offerings, the Roku player is excellent too. The picture quality is better than my Comcast digital cable and there's more quality content than I thought would be there.

@RandomHookup:

Nope, it's just one.
I STILL haven't watched the other half. I've been writing and too busy. I should have just bought the freaking thing.

@synergy: Thanks! I figured that out after reading another page on Consumerist about Netflix. After that I immediately went and created another queue for my husband, then called him and told him about it and said he should move all of his movies to his queue. He did and now it should be a lot better, we are now enjoying Netflix more because it's actually reccomending things more to our taste instead of some weird quasi-joint taste that neither of us liked very much at all.

@TVGenius: Did you contact them? I've had discs come in that can't play and they will replace them right away. Usually they are pretty good about helping if you let them know there's a problem.

Taking personal responsiblity... I love you Netflix.

Now everybody is happy, which is as it should be.

My only worry is when they stop being so nice. It's matter of time when some asshat CEO takes over and screws up the best thing out there.

Netflix member since 2003, stock owner since 2007. Never charged me for missing, damaged, or wrong DVD. Best company in the nation besides Geico in my opinion. I mean, previews, watch it now, dvds in 2 days, no late fees, no postage, ahhhh!!!!!!!! NETFLIX ROCKS!

@Bladefist: These things are automated. You're acting like there's a conspiracy against you.

And really, I wouldn't have had time to watch the next disc yet anyway, so I don't mind much. But I did wonder why I hadn't gotten an email or anything.

Yes, they are a good company after all.

@jacksbrokenego: The thing is they're not your friend. They are a business and you are paying them for a service and they should deliver it in a reasonable manner. They certainly aren't going to let you slide out of delivering your payment in a timely manner. There most certainly is a "real world" impact on your wallet if you are paying for a service that is not being fulfilled.

@TVGenius: Actually, they mentioned that their system for emailing folks to tell them the returned discs were received is down as well.

I wouldn't even care if I didn't know that other people were getting apologies and credit. WTF Netflix?

i love netflix.

I would be more understanding, but this is the second outage in recent memory for the same reason.

I didn't get any emails and I did log in a couple times since Monday.

I hope I get my discs tomorrow so I can have that "Deadwood" marathon I've been looking forward to.

Yeah, it's a conspiracy. Just as the payouts from the lawsuit are being claimed they're having problems. Now I'll go put my tinfoil hat back on and retreat to my bomb shelter and work on my manifesto, brilliantly detailing the 9/11 conspiracy.

I grow really tired of the 'i deserve compensation for something that has zero real world impact on my life' mentality. If people really are satisfied when companies put in the time to build a relationship with customers, then shouldn't we consumers be more understanding when a company makes a mistake and then is proactive about owning up to it? If you think about it more in terms of a relationship, would you ask a friend for 'compensation' if he was late to meet you for lunch?

What has been worrying me about them is how less willing they have been lately about carrying various formats and fixing their online features. Also worrisome is how many titles keep getting bumped to the 'saved' queue (for me, at least), from which I know they will never return. It's sad and scary to think that if Netflix ever failed or turned evil, there is nothing else to replace them, and nobody else who even cares to try (to provide excellent service).

I didn't see anyone else mention getting an email this week from Netflix related to the on-going class action lawsuit. The payout is one free month of service to anyone who joined the lawsuit and you can now claim your free month. My email arrived on the 13th, I signed up, and now they aren't shipping DVDs. Coincidence that these issues pop up when they have to hand out all these free memberships? Probably...but seems a little shady.

Netflix responded to this crisis in textbook fashion: you get the word out to customers, own up to the problem, apologize, and offer a make-good.

It's a sad comment on these degraded, lying Bushist times that this kind of corporate response seems to have become the exception rather than the rule.

Way to go, Netflix!

That's my only complaint with Netflix other then this week. I sent my disks in Monday, and as with everyone else, I'm still waiting.

Wow, who'd a thunk it?

So are they really sending me the disks that appear to be deleted or are they resending disks they already sent and now I have to go back and add the other disks back on.

I know they were deleted because it goes like this...
The Shield Season 4 Disk 3 & 4 (shipping wednesday)
The Shield Season 5 Disk 1 (shipping wednesday)
The Shield Season 5 Disk 4 (number 1 in my queue)

I am on the 3 disk plan, I currently only have 1 disk here now which is Season 5 Disk 1. I sent Season 4 disk 3&4 back to Netflix yesterday.

Ok, that's way cool about Netflix, but on another note, WTF is up with the main page? It's UGLY- go back to the original style... it looked better with the dude smokin' the cig- or I think that's what it was.

I had two straight Neflix discs fail on me on that episode. Some prankster deserves a banger in the mouth for that.

Why the hell should you watch network TV anymore, between paid services like Netflix and minimal-ad online resources like hulu.com and southparkstudios.com (*every* South Park episode online, nice and legal, with one commercial between acts), why should you watch a tv show with six commercials every seven minutes and product placement within shows?

The way this sight seems to gush over Netflix I think someone owns some stock. Regardless I found them to be great ...at first. Then I noticed things taking longer to ship and arrive. I had one at a time unlimited and they seem to not like you if you turn around a movie on the same day you recieve it. I am in MY and they shipped a movie from MD, when I called to inquire they couldnt have been nicer and they sent me the next in my que from the local distro center. I was very pleased, although they tried to upsell me another plan. Recently they were shipping a movie from CA (it was to happen the next day). WTF? I am right near one of the largest cities in the world and the closest place with the next in my que is 3000 miles away? When I called they "couldn't do anything for me". I escalated the issue to a supervisor who "couldn't do anything" either. I was also informed that "some people had been giving away too much" so there policies had changed and their hands were tied, unless of course I decided to "upgrade my plan". I cancelled my membership right there. As a coda: I got the movie I was complaing about them shipping from CA a week later (after I had cancelled the account). The day after I recieved it I got an email dated the previous day saying I would be charged $20 if I didn't return it on that day.
I think the comment that they are the best of a bad lot is probably correct.

Wow. That's impressive. I'd consider becoming a customer if I owned a television or dvd player or something.

""With possible rare exceptions we will get everything out today," said spokesman Steve Swasey."

the best quote though of course was this one:
"We don't have in our terms of agreement that if you miss a day you get a credit," Swasey said. "We just do that voluntarily because it's the right thing to do."

[www.reuters.com]

I don't watch movies or television, I only read tomes from the Middle ages written in the original Middle English.

@corsec67:
"Honestly, discs that get cracked in the mail are a bigger issue to me than a week of slow shipping."

You can blame the post office for that. Our mail carrier at work said that happens when some numbnuts tries to "sort" it with the machine.

I LOVE Netflix. I joined several months ago and I haven't regretted it. This issue didn't really affect me, since I have had 'Lawrence of Arabia' for over a week. I have only had time to watch 1/2 of it because it's really long. So the best part is the no late fee thing! :D

@Bladefist: You're getting a free month? All I'm getting is an upgrade to the next tier for a month. :/

I'm happy that they were honest also. I expected two movies to arrive today, and checked the site when they didn't. I do hope they arrive by tomorrow though... I was looking forward to them!

At least I'll get a $2.55 credit. (ha)

if i return my disks to quickly they deliberately sit on my next rental for up to a weekend.

they do suck, but they are better than the alternatives.

While I am against services like Netflix and Blockbuster, go library!, this is pretty interesting.
And Netflix is just plain insane. They don't need to notify anyone about delays. So what if the DVD comes a day later? Mild applause. Now where's that "gift" they gave to their customers the last time? And why hasn't Amazon done the same thing?

Is it just me or did today's Blockbuster post disappear?

Netflix has a better rental program than Blockbuster in my opinion in terms of movie selection and turnaround.

The only reason why I stay with Blockbuster Total Access is that I am getting a really good deal.

@cordeliapotter: The new message on the site when I logged in this morning says that if you're in a free trial period, it will be extended.

Frankly, I think they're overreacting. I'm disappointed at the problems (and that I won't have more DVDs with which to kill time this week), but really, I'm just going to wind up reading more.

I will say, I'm surprised their system got borked so badly that it's taken them almost a week to fix it. I think some IT folks are going to be hung out to dry when all is said and done.

@Kimaroo: Depending on how much of a hassle it would be and how many movies are on your queue, what you could do is create a new queue and then there wouldn't be the issue you describe. My husband and I have two separate queues and he gets his movie when he returns his and same with me and my queue. It's nice. Saves either of us ending up miffed. :)

They are now shipping. Here's their message:

Our Shipping Centers Are Mailing DVDs

Delayed DVD Shipments Are Being Sent Today (Friday)

Click here to learn more

We're happy to report that all of our shipping centers are resuming normal operations (after 3 days of issues). If you should have been shipped a disc Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, it will ship today (Friday).

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. To all of you whose shipments have been delayed, we'll be automatically applying a 15% credit to your next billing statement. Or, if you are new to Netflix and your first shipments have been delayed, we recognize that this is not a good way to begin your Netflix membership and we'll automatically extend your free trial by a week.

Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding.

@Bladefist: Maybe someone can disprove my theory: Have you logged in since Monday at least once? It just sounded like people who don't log in are getting the emails. I haven't received emails, but I've logged in at least once a day since Monday and have been seeing their giant warning message at the top of the page for the last 3 or so days.

I sent this tip in too. I got this email yesterday morning and thought "Wow what a great company, I wouldn't even have noticed! I guess I'll just watch them Friday instead of tonight." But when I got home from work, the disks were in my mailbox. I can't believe I held out for so long before getting Netflix.

Stay classy netflix!

I love Netflix, and haven't had any major issues since 2003.
This outage hasn't even affected me, since I haven't watched any movies this week. Honestly, discs that get cracked in the mail are a bigger issue to me than a week of slow shipping.

This isn't that big of a deal to me, since this is the first time that their entire shipping/receiving/email system has gone down.

now if they only made it so i could watch instantly on my mac, i'd be in couch potato heaven.

I'm rather new to netflix but I've been really enjoying the service so far. I just sent a movie back to them a couple of days ago and my account hasn't been updated for that yet. Then I noticed an odd thing where my next movie was in the list for "processing" but it still showed that I had the one at home that I sent back to them. Now the movie that said "processing" is not in the list, nor back in my queue. If they send out my husband's movie before the one I wanted I'm going to be pretty miffed.*

*We have the two out at a time plan, and we have our queue arranged where every other one is my movie or his movie. He's still got a movie at home so the next one up was mine.

Awesome. Before I was even aware of the problem I got the email. Sad though, that when a company acually takes responsibility it's seen as messianic in relation to others, when it should be expected

I've only been with Netflix with a few months and while I'm disappointed with what's going on, I understand technology can be a b---h. I was surprised yesterday when my next two movies came in the mail even though the website still has "shipping Tuesday" for one and "shipping Wednesday" for the other. So fear not fellow Netflixers, yours could be on its way, too.

Besides, lately I've just been watching season one of Doctor Who on their instant feature and it's taking up a lot of my time ; )

@mac-phisto: But I don't watch enough movies in a month to get netflix. But I see your point. I probably would watch more movies if I got netflix. But I really don't need to watch 5 movies a month...AH!!

Actually, if/when I get a bluray player, I see myself doing netflix. I think bluray disc are too expensive to purchase.

For comparison, as of 1:05pm, Netflix Stock (NFLX): 31.59

Blockbuster (BBI): 2.46

Bravo Netflix.

@linus:

I agree. I have ups and downs with my movie watching. I'll go 6 months without watching one then watch like 5 in one month. Each time I come to my up in movie watching I alwasy contemplate getting netflix, but then I tell myself to wait a month and see if I still want it.

This actually isn't the first time netflix has owned up and apoligized. If you search on the netflix tag there are 2 previous stories. No company is perfect but netflix is as close as it comes because they acknowledge mistakes and offers compensation (when none is really justified).

When I didn't get the emails telling me that they received my movies, I was thinking the post office delayed them or maybe they were throttling me back so I waited another day. It was when I got two msgs about received DVDs, but not the third that I was concerned. That's when I saw the email msg yesterday. Of course I was also surprised I received a movie, but no email. So, I'm not too concerned as of yet, since I have 2 movies to watch this weekend.

All-in-all, they provide a great experience.

Netflix used to be crap. If you ask me, the consumers made netflix better. Their stock crashed years ago, and we fled to all these new start ups. As those start ups crashed, netflix got its act together.

I was surprised to see the email this morning. It was funny because I sent a dvd out tues and have never had the turn around take more than two days (one to return, one to ship to me) and just thought this morning-"huh, I haven't received my new movie nor an email stating they've received the other, I wonder if I forgot to put it out in the mail?" Then I get to work and see the email and figured out what was wrong, so it was perfect timing for me. I appreciate them being honest and proactively notifying users, I'm sure it easier than fielding thousands of calls about "where is my movie?"

If I watched more movies, I'd totally join netflix. I barely watch two movies a month.

So, basically, Netflix is the anti-Apple?