Has anyone subscribed to Netflix?

[ryanpatricksmom]

We joined a few weeks ago, and it seems to be working well thus far.

For those who are unfamiliar, for a monthly fee you can rent unlimited DVDs (3 at a time). The DVDs are sent by mail, complete with a postage paid return envelope. You keep the movies for as long as you like and pop them in the mail when you are done. You maintain a rental queue of up to 8 movies so that as movies are received by Netflix, the next movie in the queue is sent to you.

The only problem that I've had thus far is that browsing for movies is a little difficult. I find that the system works much better if you already have a movie in mind. They seem to have a vast supply of classics and other good movies that appear on cable at all the wrong times.

Does anyone else have experience to share?

 

[UncleKyle]

I enjoyed NetFlix but just didn't get my moneys worth. I agree that they have too many classics and it doesn't seem that they recommend the right stuff. I kept getting forced fed the Star Trek series I thought it was a cool idea and might join again someday but I live right next to a video store now and it's not Blockbuster so I'm happy.

 

[MerryPoppins]

We do and we love it. No more late fees, and a movie is always here waiting for us when we want it.

 

[Steve H.]

I prefer http://www.dvdovernight.com/

I don't watch enough movies monthly to make a membership program worth it, so I prefer the pay-as-you-rent program they have.

 

[Beth]

We've been members since January, 2000 - and think it's AWESOME!

With the traditional rental store - we were ALWAYs paying late fees... It's great to be able to hang on to a movie for 2 weeks - if that's how long it takes everyone in the house to get through it!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I looove netflix! Not having to worry about late fees rocks my world. I may have to cancel soon though, because I've gotten to be really bad about watching movies in a timely manner. I think I've had the same 4 for about three weeks now. Definitly not getting my money's worth doing that

 

[minniecarousel]

Netflix is my older DS's big college luxury! (Hey - everybody has their weakness!) We haven't signed up - but might this winter.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

Wow...today they sent me an e-mail to let me know that our first two movies had been returned so that we could update our rental queue...this is so cool. I mailed the movies back yesterday, and they're already logged in this afternoon.

 

[tiggerlover]

We are members and like the concept. The only bad part is the movies take a very long time to arrive in Italy. But given the fact that we do not have new release DVD's to chose from the system is a good one for us. I just wish we could get a better turn around time.

 

[petula]

I love it. Turnover time is overnight here. Send one back, they get it the next day and send the next one on your list that day. It's taken a little while to build up a rental list and get a good strategy going, but now I'm on a schedule of watching a movie almost every night. I agree with ryanpatricksmom about searching, though. The site isn't very helpful if you don't have something in mind, so I've started keeping up with new releases on a random video store's website so that i'll know what to add to my list next. Netflix is not good for whims ("i feel like watching some monty python tonight!"). But it's very good for obsessions ("oh, i love bill pullman, i must see every single movie he's ever been in right away.")

 

[KaitlinsMom]

We love it - It is hard to find a movie unless you know what you are already looking for -

What I do is open up the Blockbuster web-site and look at what is available (they have top 10, new releases) and then look them up on Netflix - it is a lot easier that way (for me anyways)

We were always so bad about returning and had huge late fees - We will never go back!

Karen

 

[KimRaye]

Ditto Karen and all the others about the search feature (I'm also on Blockbuster's email list so, I use them too). I also keep a list of new, theater movies to add to my list and, when it's available, Netflix moves it into my queue. I don't understand about the 8 movie list mentioned though. I have 15-20 in my queue plus, the unreleased movies.

Also, they can 'suspend' your account for a month if you like with no charge for that month if you're going to be busy and don't want any more to be shipped for awhile. I used that feature once when I thought I would cancel, they offered it to me instead. Also, I found that 3 movies were too much for us, so I switched to 2 movies out at a time at $13.95 or $14.95 a month. If you can watch 3 or more movies in one month, than it's worth it, with this plan.

And, I used DVDovernight before Netflix. In my case, I prefer Netflix.

I think their customer service is superb, also.

 

[Michelle]

Netflix has made a fortune off of us, because even with the "light" plan of two DVDs out at once we seem to keep them for three months at a time.

I keep meaning to cancel it; we loved our free period and we made time to watch the DVDs then, but now that we're on the regular plan (albeit the light one) we never watch them.

Be SURE you will watch DVDs regularly before joining, that is my only caveat.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I've never used the search feature, so I can't say. As soon as we got signed on, DH listed probably 100 movies he wanted to see. He keeps encouraging me to add to the list and he'll mix mine in, but so far he's done a pretty good job without me. It'll take us forever to see all those movies. Whenever we hear a movie we are interested in is going to DVD, he adds it to our list so we won't have to remember.

We do keep an eye on our list, so we have a mix of family movies and more adult themed movies. We don't want all of the ones we receive to be for us and leave out the kids.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely do my research up front before I add to the list.

By way of example, I was looking for "It's a Mad, Mad World". It didn't come up under classic comedies or the AFI list (which only lists a few movies..can't figure that out). When I entered the name of the movie in the search feature, it popped right up.

As far as I can tell, our rental queue only accommodates 8 movies at a time. It soulds like I need to familiarize myself with the system a little more.

 

[MerryPoppins]

If you can't figure it out, let me know and I'll ask my DH. He has it all figured out.