My Netflix Experience

If you haven’t seen the advertisements for Netflix posted all over the TV and Internet, then let me tell you a little bit about what Netflix is. Netflix is a program that you can join that delivers movies right to your mailbox. There are several membership options ranging from $4.99 per month to as much as $16.99 per month.

- $4.99 a month will allow you to order and have in possession 1 movie at a time with a limit of 2 exchanges for the month. It will also give you two hours of instant streaming to your PC.

- $8.99 a month will let you have 1 movie at a time with unlimited exchanges. It also allows for unlimited streaming.

- $13.99 per month gives you 2 movies at a time with unlimited exchanges and unlimited streaming.

- $16.99 allows for 3 movies at a time with unlimited exchanges and unlimited streaming.

At the time I joined Netflix I didn’t have satellite or cable and relied on three local TV channels and my DVD player for entertainment. Since there really isn’t much I care for on television, I watched a ton of movies. I joined Netflix on the $16.99 per month plan and was in heaven. There was a gigantic selection of movies to pick from. The beauty of picking movies from Netflix is that the site “learns” what you like and tailors movie suggestions to your preferences. I also love weird movies and independent films that you don’t usually see at the video store, and Netflix has a big selection of those as well.

The first month of my membership was great. For $16.99 I watched a heck of a lot of movies and I saved money from renting DVDs at the movie store. Netflix would send me three movies and within a day or two, I would pop them back in the prepaid envelope and have three more movies to watch back in my mailbox within three days. As the months progressed, it started to take longer and longer for me to get new movies after I returned them. It went from three days to four, then started taking as much as a week and a half to get even one new movie in. The membership began to be unworthy of the $16.99 monthly fee I was paying. What good is unlimited exchanges when I can only end up exchanging twice a month because Netflix was taking so long to process my order.

I contacted Netflix a few times and inquired as to why my movies were being delayed. Their responses were that I was either ordering movies that weren’t in stock or that it was the postal service. That didn’t fly with me. The site tells you what’s in stock and what’s not in stock and my post office was delivering all the rest of my mail on time, sans my Netflix movies. I eventually got so frustrated I cancelled my membership.

While many may enjoy the services that Netflix offers, others may have had the same experience as me. It was almost as if Netflix saw that I was taking full advantage of their unlimited exchanges and decided to “slow me down” to make sure they made money off of my membership. To me, it was blatantly obvious that that was what was happening. I’ll never know the real story though because I don’t have many other friends who have ever had a Netflix membership. I just wanted to let anyone know that you should think about my situation before you join. Make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

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