Slashdot Mirror


Netflix Throttling Heavy Renters

dankinit writes "Netflix has begun using a 'fairness algorithm' that slows shipments of movies to heavy users to protect profits, according to an MSNBC article. Netflix revised its terms of use in January 2005 to read, 'In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service'. Since revising this policy last year, more and more users are realizing 'heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices' according to the article."

4 of 550 comments (clear)

  1. Netflix, Blockbuster, then Netflix again. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Isn't there an obvious answer?

    1) Start a Netflix subscription. When throttling starts, cancel.

    2) Start a Blockbuster subscription. When throttling starts, cancel.

    3) Go back to step one, this time using another person's name in your household, with a different credit card. This will be indistinguishable from a new renter/owner of your house or apartment.

    The above demonstrates one of the problems with a company being tricky with customers: Customers can be tricky too, and there are a lot more of them.

    --
    Before, Saddam got Iraq oil profits & paid part to kill Iraqis. Now a few Americans share Iraq oil profits, & U.S. taxpayers pay to kill Iraqis. Improvement?

  2. Re:horrible but expected by farker+haiku · · Score: 5, Interesting


    Give me a break...am I supposed to believe that the Netflix customer that gets 12 movies per week is some wide-eyed babe struggling to understand this brave new world of technology?

    Bullshit.

    The people getting throttled aren't "ignorant to new, abusive polices"; they have been scrutinizing the Netflix TOS and dreading this day's arrival. They know they got a good ride. Now the ride is over. Deal with it.


    Actually, my wife wife and I just had a baby (well, she did all the hard work). My wife was just asking me last night how to add a header to a word document. Not two breaths later she was saying she had gained a reputation at work for being the tech savvy person in the office. When I was done laughing, I told her how to do the header thing.

    While you may wonder what this has to do with netflix, my wife watches dvds from netflix all the friggin time. She only works 12 hours a week. The baby sleeps a lot. We don't even have a DVD burner.

    Recently, my wife has been complaining that the netflix rentals have been taking longer and longer to arrive. It seems that every three day holiday weekend for the last few months we've had to go to Blockbuster to rent a movie - simply because there wasn't a netflix movie in the house. I'm emailing the link to my wife, and I guarantee we'll be considering alternate vendors.

    --
    Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
  3. Re:Not an improvement but biz as usual. by LordNimon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Most likely, someone at the post office was stealing the discs. The envelopes are very easy to identify and steal.

    --
    And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
    To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
  4. Letter Sent to Netflix; Terms of Service Excerpt by decomp · · Score: 3, Interesting
    My wife and I have been using Netflix since Nov. 2004, and we have experienced a marked decline in service over that time. Having just learned about the "throttling", we sent them the following letter:
    I have just been alerted to your new changes in the "Terms of Service" regarding heavy users. Personally, I am appalled by the intent and also the wording of this recent change.

    Perhaps you have serious abusers of your system, but my husband and I are teachers who work 12 hour days. Watching movies is one of our only luxuries. We have seen our level of service go down significantly since we signed on with Netflix. Now we understand why.

    After reading some enlightening articles about Netflix and its practices, we will be seriously considering whether or not to keep our relationship with you.

    Most importantly, we will no longer be suggesting your service to family and friends, which we have done many times in the past. Instead, we will be sending copies of the articles concerning your business practices to family and friends who already have the service so that they might be aware of what's going on.

    For what it's worth: We would have been happy to pay a reasonable surcharge in months when we rented more DVDs. What your company has chosen to do instead is offensive and insulting.
    Here are some eye-opening parts of their terms of use:
    We make no guaranty as to the shipping and delivery of DVDs and may, in our sole and absolute discretion, change our business practice regarding allocation, delivery and shipping, without notice. We may from time to time revise these Terms of Use but we will not necessarily provide you notice of the revisions. It is up to you to review the Terms of Use frequently to determine if there have been changes.
    They send us emails about everything else...but they can't bother letting us know when the terms of use have changed? Something smells bad here...