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Topic: Netflix Sux (Read 13588 times)
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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A couple months ago I started using the Netfiix service. It was great... I got the films I ordered within a day or so after sending back one. That was during the free trial and for a few weeks afterwards. Now the turn around time is getting worse and worse. For example: the last three films I received I sent back before the 10th of January and they have only received one (yesterday), and it wasn't even the first one I returned. I have a feeling that they might feel they're losing money on us because we've been watching quite a few films lately and have decided to show us who's boss. I was going to call and complain but, it seems, they list no number and not even an email contact. Well, I did find the phone number but they do their best to keep it out of the public's eyesight. I haven't called yet, but I was wondering if this is normal for others. Incidentally, the closest distribution centre is about 15 or 20 minutes from here.
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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The question is whether or not the distribution center has the kind of wacky shit I would guess you and Righ watch. But I watch a lot of whacky shit and went through at least 300 movies in 6 months. They're not out to get you. Don't be paranoid.
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MrHat
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7432
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
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I use Blockbuster Online cuz I get free store passes when I just have to get that last disc.
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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I haven't been watching wacky shit. Here is my queue: Red Eye
The Constant Gardener
The Longest Yard
Frankie and Johnny Are Married
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Star Wars: Episode III
Dark Water
Serenity
Kingdom of Heaven
The Last Sign
Two Men Went to War
Mind Hunters
Lord of War Hey, Hat! I don't understand what this means. Sorry.  I use Blockbuster Online cuz I get free store passes when I just have to get that last disc. |
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« Last Edit: January 20, 2006, 02:03:09 PM by Signe »
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42666
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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The only stuff I typically have bad turnaround on is the new new releases (like 40-Year Old Virgin, which is apparently on 40-year wait status) or during big mail holidays like Christmas or Mother's Day.
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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Maybe that's it, Haemish. I only got this service because of you, you know... :-D I became tired of everyone chatting about films I've never seen because we NEVER go to the theater, so I thought I would give the new stuff a go before they became classics. After hearing you reccommend Netflix so much, I thought it was worth a try. I even bought my sister a 6 month sub so she could suffer with me. Maybe with the recent holidays and all that, they're just a bit slow right now. I'll give it another month or so and if the service doesn't improve, I'll go back to waiting until everything finds its way to the tv. I wasn't really unhappy living like that.
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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MrHat
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Posts: 7432
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
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I hear quite a few people take advantage of On-Demand.
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Signe
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Posts: 18942
Muse.
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I've used on-demand from time to time. If the Netflix doesn't work out, I'll go back to that. Cable in this area is not very good, however. During a film, the sound goes off, the picture stutters, etc. I don't think we've ever gone a full month with out several service interruptions... especially with internet, but tv suffers, too. I'm definitely getting out of New Jersey come July when the lease is up here.
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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Krakrok
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2190
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Netflix has slowed down here latetly as well. From 1-2 day turn around to 2-3 day turn around. The distribution center is local. Some of it was the slow holiday post office and govt. holidays don't help either.
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fnddf2
Terracotta Army
Posts: 63
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Wow, and I thought that Netflix was still awesome 5 years ago when the turn-around time was a week (3-4 days to California). I still thought that I got my money's worth back then. I almost always got the movies that were in my queue, although I never rented new releases.
I figured that, even at 3 movies a week = 12 movies for $20/month, it was still better then most other options. I'm very tempted to sign up again.
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
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If it was 3-4 days, I probably wouldn't even bother to complain. If you read my first post, you'll see it's much longer than that. I returned all 3 films by 10 January and have only received one in my queue so far. The rest alledgedly haven't shown up at their office yet.
Do try and pay attention.
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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Krakrok
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2190
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So 7 mail days. I've had it happen. By three days I mean mail it back on Friday and I get a new one on Wednesday. I don't think Netflix works on Saturday.
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gimpyone
Terracotta Army
Posts: 592
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I switched to Greencine myself after getting tired of some of the long waits from Netflix. The sad thing is, I live about 20 minutes from their main hub in California.
So far I have no complaints.
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Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335
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From your list it looks like they are doing you a favor.  |
vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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I switched to Greencine myself after getting tired of some of the long waits from Netflix. The sad thing is, I live about 20 minutes from their main hub in California.
So far I have no complaints.
Greencine. Never heard of it, but I'm looking at their website. Can you talk a little more about it? I've been thinking of going with nicheflix for a while though but it's nice to check out all the options. |
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fnddf2
Terracotta Army
Posts: 63
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If it was 3-4 days, I probably wouldn't even bother to complain. If you read my first post, you'll see it's much longer than that. I returned all 3 films by 10 January and have only received one in my queue so far. The rest alledgedly haven't shown up at their office yet.
Do try and pay attention.
Actually, I should clarify that it was in response to Krakrok's post, and I also thought that he was saying that the total time to the next DVD was 2 to 3 days. |
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gimpyone
Terracotta Army
Posts: 592
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I switched to Greencine myself after getting tired of some of the long waits from Netflix. The sad thing is, I live about 20 minutes from their main hub in California.
So far I have no complaints.
Greencine. Never heard of it, but I'm looking at their website. Can you talk a little more about it? I've been thinking of going with nicheflix for a while though but it's nice to check out all the options. They seem to have everything that netflix has if not more of it. When I cancelled netflix a year ago, they did not have Battle Royale 2, The Killer or The Hard Boiled or the entire Lone Wolf and Cub series. Greencine had these and it was pretty quick about getting them out to you. Good luck getting a new release though, though I think that applies anywhere. I'm not sure if Netflix implented a way for users to share movie reccomendations with each other but GC has that and sometimes it leads to good stuff, other times not so much. Plus, you can rent pr0n. |
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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If it was 3-4 days, I probably wouldn't even bother to complain. If you read my first post, you'll see it's much longer than that. I returned all 3 films by 10 January and have only received one in my queue so far. The rest alledgedly haven't shown up at their office yet.
Do try and pay attention.
Actually, I should clarify that it was in response to Krakrok's post, and I also thought that he was saying that the total time to the next DVD was 2 to 3 days. Oh, ok... I forgive you.  From your list it looks like they are doing you a favor. Yeah, you're probably right. I just picked a bunch of popular new releases just to see what's happening out there in Hollywood. The first film I've seen in a theater in a number of years was the last Harry Potter one, only because my dad wanted to see it. Even Righ didn't come with us. I hate movie theaters... they're crowded, smelly, uncomfortable and people are generally not especially quiet. Sometimes a stranger will sit next to me and I'll end up spending nearly the entire time thinking about killing him. :-( Also, sometimes I doze off and would rather do that on my own sofa. |
My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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Stuff on throttling here.It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been that during the trial we got ~2 working day turnaround and since the trial expired it has entirely collapsed, to the point where regular Blockbuster store rentals would be almost as cheap. I smell a come-on, and that's pretty unscrupulous. Also, most of the comments elsewhere suggest that the faster you return stuff the more you get penalized. This basically makes the $18/mo service poorer value than the cheaper service, since the rate limiting is more extreme. Irrespective of their prices, I don't like their style. I think I'd rather give money to another company to help foster more competition in the market. Its pretty telling that they continue to advertise "unlimited rentals" despite having recently settled a law suit for fraudulent advertising. This thread is ranked #8 in a Google search on "Netflix Sux".
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The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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Miasma
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Posts: 5283
Stopgap Measure
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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That won't work. They need to be on other pages.
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The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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At the urging of my husband, I went ahead and cancelled my Netflix account. Now I KNOW they're fucking with me. On the 9th of January, I returned "Creep". The day before yesterday I received "Wedding Crashers" in exchange. The other two films I returned, one on the 8th and another also on the 9th, are still listed as not being received by them. After cancelling, the only one film they say I have and want back is "Wedding Crashers". This company is dishonest.
Edit: I just checked and they still have those two films listed as not being returned although they are not asking for them back. Hah! Another thing... they give you seven days to return a movie if you still have one when you cancel and they count Saturdays and Sundays in that. BOO HISS!
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« Last Edit: January 22, 2006, 01:56:03 PM by Signe »
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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Miasma
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5283
Stopgap Measure
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That won't work. They need to be on other pages.
As of the 22nd at 7:00 EST it seems to have completely bumped the search off of Google. They probably have have some software that scans for odd stuff and then completely removes the link if it finds something. Or maybe there is a much more complicated answer given that they have hundreds of PHDs working for them. |
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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Neg, still there.
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shiznitz
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4268
the plural of mangina
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I am looking for more Netflix "friends" to get ideas, although you probably won't get many ideas from my list since it is pretty standard stuff.
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I have never played WoW.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42666
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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I've used on-demand from time to time. If the Netflix doesn't work out, I'll go back to that. Cable in this area is not very good, however. During a film, the sound goes off, the picture stutters, etc. I don't think we've ever gone a full month with out several service interruptions... especially with internet, but tv suffers, too. I'm definitely getting out of New Jersey come July when the lease is up here.
Fuck the cable, then. Go with DirectTV. I ditched cable 2 years ago for the satellite and I have been most happy with the service. It's especially good with Tivo. Plus, DirectTV just added XM Satellite Radio as their music channels, and they have a kickass metal/hard rock channel. They have on-demand movies too. Greencine rents pr0n? Hmmmmmm.... |
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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I'd like to find a replacement for Netflix. The service is good value but I truly believe their advertising is fraudulent. If they actively interfere with your service, and they do, they have no right to use the word "unlimited". They definitely limit you. Anyway, Intelliflix looks like it might be decent. (and, yes, Haemish... they will rent you "mature" films... but you'll pay for 'em) |
My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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Viin
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6159
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I wouldn't mind trying another DVD-rental-subscription service, but I've not had any problems with Netflix. Intelliflix looks ok, but does it support multiple queues? With Netflix I can have a queue for each: my fiancee's movies, my movies, and anime/tv shows. This way when she returns a movie she gets another movie off her queue and we're not waiting for me to finish watching whatever anime series I'm getting.
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- Viin
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I would like to submit that the USPS is not, as some may believe, staffed by competent primates. I have plenty of problems with mail in general, but not with netflix.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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I would like to submit that the USPS is not, as some may believe, staffed by competent primates. I have plenty of problems with mail in general, but not with netflix.
Gee, what a nice thing to say about my father, the retired USPS employee. The fact remains that they have only asked for the return of the film I still have, not the two that they haven't counted as having been returned yet, although I returned one the same day and the other the day before. This tells me they already have them and were trying to keep me from renting what they consider to be over their limit. That's fine except then the rentals are NOT unlimited. They DO limit you. That's fraudulent advertising, in my opinion. The fact that they make it difficult to find their TOS where it actually states they do this sort of thing, and do not provide a phone number or an email address for support purposes makes me feel justified in my claim. They have since, today as a matter of fact, sent me an email stating they've received another of my returns. It's all just bollocks. |
My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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Between my friends and I, we can personally vouch that they are unlimited. We each had netflix for a good part of 6 months or so and managed to go through hundreds and hundreds of movies. There is now ay human beings could have possibly watched as many movies as we did. And they kept sending them, without a hitch. One time a movie did get lost in the mail, I reported it as such and within 36 hours I got a replacement. I ended up receiving the "lost one" about 3 weeks later (it had been routed through Idaho or someshit and finally sent back to me) and mailed it to netflix. They credited my account as finding the lost DVD.
I don't know why your experience with them is so bad, but my friends, family and myself had nothing but good luck with them. My biggest complaint is that their movie selection bites ass. But I'm an anomaly.
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shiznitz
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4268
the plural of mangina
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I, too, have no complaints. I usually drop movies in my office mail on Monday and have the new one Wednesday or Thursday (50/50 chance.) Then again, I live 25 minutes from the White Plains, NY distribution center.
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I have never played WoW.
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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Between my friends and I, we can personally vouch that they are unlimited. We each had netflix for a good part of 6 months or so and managed to go through hundreds and hundreds of movies.
I'd venture a guess that they don't behave the same as they once did. Success has probably allowed them to alter their practises. In essence, their terms of service allude that they'll severely rate limit if you try and rent more than a dozen movies in a month. From http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse: The Number of DVDs You Can Rent
A large majority of our subscribers rent between 2-11 movies per month. The number of DVDs that you rent will vary based on a number of factors (See "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs" below). which leads to We reserve the right to allocate and ship DVDs among our subscribers in any manner that we, in our sole and absolute discretion, determine. In addition, we will, in our sole and absolute discretion, determine the quantity of DVDs we purchase for any particular title and the level of staffing and number of shipments to be processed at each distribution center. As a result, we may not always send you the top choices from your queue, and we may not ship out your next DVD on the same day that we receive one from you. At present, our goal is to ship you the DVDs listed highest in your queue. Also, we currently try to ship you DVDs from the distribution center closest to you so that you get movies quickly. Often, on the same day that we receive a DVD from you, we will ship the next available DVD from your queue. In certain instances, your next available DVD will not ship until at least one business day following our receipt of your returned movie. This can occur, for example, when your top choices are not available to you from your closest distribution center or the number of shipments to be processed by the distribution center on that day has been exceeded. When this happens, your DVD will likely ship on the next business day and may come from an alternate distribution center.
In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those subscribers who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the shipment of their next available DVD occurs at least one business day following return of their previously viewed movie, (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other subscribers. Other factors that may affect delivery times, include, but are not limited to, (i) the distance between the distribution center from which your DVD was shipped and your delivery address, (ii) the timing of your placement or adjustment of movies in your queue and (iii) circumstances impacting delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
We do not process returns or deliveries on Saturdays, Sundays or Holidays. 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.
We will send you an e-mail letting you know when we have received a returned movie, and we will also send you another e-mail letting you know when we have shipped your next DVD, including the anticipated time of delivery. Not that they'll send that email when they receive the movie, just that they'll eventually send one, once you've dropped down the renter list for your area far enough that its your turn for a movie. Their behaviour resulted in a class action lawsuit which was settled by the attorneys purely to their advantage. That is now subject of another filing. http://www.tlpj.org/pr/netflix_class_action_010506.htm |
The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42666
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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I have a distribution center in town now. Since 12/5/05, I have gotten around 12 rentals plus the two I still have at home that I haven't watched yet. It sounds to me like the problem isn't the service per se, but the distribution center you're near.
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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That's 14 movie in a month and a half. You're still inside their window of acceptability. We got through more than a dozen in the three week trial, and then they shut us down for two weeks. There's really no point in having different pricing plans if you can rent as many movies with the cheap plan.
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The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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