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Trouble for Tivo and NetFlix Partnership?
lucabrasi999 writes "Well, things may not not be as good for the potential joining up of Netflix and Tivo as once thought. Herb Greenberg, of CBS Marketwatch has a commentary which hints that this deal may not be as great as it once appeared. Why? In short, distribution rights. It appears that Netflix may not legally distribute all of the movies in it's library via Tivo. As a side note, Netflix may also be feeling some economic pressure. It now forces all cancellations occur by phone, making it more difficult to cancel because of a long hold time."
Netflix now forces all cancellations occur by phone
Could some inspiring Business Major retort the Uniform Consumer Rights for us? Off the top of my head, which will not be a good verbatim translation, it states that:
A cancellation of an order must be accepted as in the method original ordered in or in a manner that is faster in speed. Meaning that if signed up electronically than they have to accept an electronic cancellation or any means that would be faster. Like if I signed up via mail than if they have a means of electronic cancellation than they have to accept that too all the while accepting the mail as a cancellation method.
It's not Tivo that has the long hold times. It's NetFlix. From the summary:
Netflix may also be feeling some economic pressure.
Just an FYI.
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It now forces all cancellations occur by phone, making it more difficult to cancel because of a long hold time."
As a Netflix subscriber, I have a "Cancel Your Membership" button on my account page...
-Chris
With being gone for a while and a two week BB test period, I figured I can't lose. Also, I like the idea of two in-store coupons/month from BB. (It was always the selection that kept me with Netflix, not the pain of a local store.)
NetFlix doesn't require you to phone in cancellations. I cancelled my membership yesterday with just a few clicks. I've never been a member of another subscription service (especially one with a free trial) that made it this easy.
You don't even have to have all of your movies in befor you cancel. Just return within 7 days. I highly recommend NetFlix to anyone willing to pay $23 per month for movies.
Not true...
1. Netflix is actually a few bucks cheaper than Blockbuster and Blockbuster certainly doesn't have the same inventory.
2. WalMart won't have the same selection either.
3. Hasn't postage always been free?
4. This is true.
The cancel-by-phone only rule must be pretty new, because I cancelled my Netflix subscription *yesterday* (9/8) using the web interface. Took all of two clicks.
He's right. You click on the "Your Account" link, which takes you to a page that lists your current rental status and tells you your current package, i.e. "Three At a Time Plan." Next to that are two links, one that says "Change" and another that says "Cancel." If you click "Cancel," the first bulletpoint on the next page reads, "Cancellation will be effective immediately." All you need to do is check the "I understand and agree" box and submit the form. Who told you that you needed to call by phone?
Breakfast served all day!
1. When Netflix receives a disc, more often than not they ship the next disc the same day. Look at your queue page or read your e-mail. The date they sent the disc is right there. You can compare the date you got it with that date and know that that was the post office transit time. On occasion, they fill your order by shipping you a disc from another hub. When that happens, it takes an extra day, plus whatever extra time the postal service takes. They do this to shift inventory to match a demand shift. When it happens, your queue page keeps you informed.
2. You can still cancel online. Any suggestions that you can't are nonsense.
3. Negotiating rights will be part of any electronic distribution venture, regardless of what companies are involved. Everybody in the business knows this. Nobody would be proceeding with any ventures of this sort if they didn't have a plan for it.
4. Your answer to a delivery survey does not affect your account in any way. Others have speculated that the rate at which you turn discs around has an effect, but see #1 above. They ask about delivery time so they can figure out when and where they need to open a new shipping hub.