We have had Netflix for over 6 months and have had no problems but my brother in law signed up and never received his DVDs. Then Netflix told him that he reported too many DVDs missing and they refused to let him rent anymore (he never got to watch even one). What a lot of people don't realize is how many thieves we have in our postal service. On June 14, 2002, a former mail handler at the Tampa, Florida, Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) was sentenced to 18 months in prison, three years' supervised release, and restitution of $21,295 to Netflix, Inc., an online DVD rental company that mails millions of DVDs to addresses throughout the country. After numerous complaints from Netflix about missing DVDs that customers claimed they had mailed back to the company, Postal Inspectors identified the postal employee in November 2001 for the crime. Inspectors recovered thousands of the company's DVDs while searching the subject's vehicle and residence, with losses exceeding $100,000. As a result of this investigation, Postal Inspectors are now working closely with Netflix on a national level to increase mail security.

I have been a Netflix customer for 2 years, and have been very satisfied with it. The recurring flat fee is reasonable ($20/month), and I get 9-12 rentals per month with 2-4 day turnaround in this area (Nashville, TN). Most of the complaints I have seen seem to be from the NY warehouse, so maybe that's the problem. I haven't had any of the problems with damaged discs or lost DVDs. In any case, I am terrible at getting DVDs back to the video store, and one night of rentals can quickly become a $50 affair, or I end up returning movies I haven't yet seen. So, this has been a great service for me.

I signed up for Netflix last night, and the process couldn't have been easier. You select three DVDs at a time for a flat fee of $19.95 per month, and the DVDs are sent to you in the mail. After you finish one, you send it back, and Netflix automatically sends you the next DVD on your list (which you create online). The selection was terrific, and I was pleased to see TV shows available, too. I find it very difficult to get to the video store with a two-year-old in tow, so this is a great option. Plus, there's no penalty if you watch 10 minutes of a movie and hate it- just send it back and get another one. Netflix offers a free two-week trial, so you can check out the service with no obligation. There are no late fees either. I'm curious to see how quickly the movies come in the mail and whether or not movies are generally available. But so far, so good!

After several delays in shipping of DVDs and then half the time they are damaged and skip or stall all over the place, Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are a breath of fresh air. At least with them, you can go right back and get a clean copy to take home and watch. With NetSux, you are waiting at least 4-5 days turnaround just to wait and see if you get to go through the same hassle again.

I really have to say, I have not had any problems with Netflix, as those reported by others on the site. I live in PA, and since they opened a new center in Southwestern, PA, I have been recieving my movies quicker. I am really happy with the service I have gotten so far! I really like the no late fees thing, so I can take the time I need to watch my movies.

They were great in the beginning but now with 30 movies in my rental queue and pretty much all of them a "long wait" I'm fed up and cancelling!

It was fine in the beginning - I sang its praises far and wide. Then my rentals started showing up 6+ days after they were mailed and many days after the due date. Sometimes they showed up in those white windowed envelopes from the post office claiming the item was damaged in the mail. I saw no damage other than the floppy side of the envelope was folded over. I'm sure that Netflix consulted with and had their envelopes approved by the USPS, but I'm also certain that the postal workers don't like dealing with the floppy envelopes - they probably don't go through the automatic scanners very well. I think it may be possible that my post office is just putting them in those white "damage" envelopes to prove a point - they hate them. As well, they keep going missing on their way back to Netflix. AND THE BIGGEST SCAM IS THE LACK OF PHONE NUMBER ON THE SITE. The CSR told me how to find it after I did a search on the web for "Netflix Phone Number" - she said it was on my credit card statement. Huh - why wouldn't it be on the Customer Service page? She also acted as if it wasn't deliberate on Netflix's part to hide the number from its customers. Sure!

I agree with the other users in here of Netflix. I have been a member of netflix for two years and 4 months. I have never had any problems with their service when it was only in California. ever since they opened up a Flushing NY center, i've been having serious problems returning DVD's to them. To date i have reported 11 dvd's lost. And they have frozed my account a few times. and i had to contact the Post office and contacted netflix with the case number. I wanted to cancel my account and join walmart.com. they offered the same service. but i decided to keep with netflix. i have heard on the radio on 1010wins, that it was some of netflix's own employees and the post office who stole the dvd's. Some guy had 500 dvd's in his house. but so far everything seems to be fine. they r receiving their dvd's back.

I also have been with netflix for a year,,always got the dvd's they sent but when i sent them back they never recieved them,, first i thought it was the post office,,but then i realized that it was new releases that were being recieved,,i rent alot of foreign movies,, i would say i have rented 100 movies from netflix and 6 were stolen out of that 6 5 were new releases,, i very raily rent new releases from netflix,however the problem surely exists in house,, i will not pay for something that i returned,netflix better clean up there act or they will lose another customer

NetFlix was a great service at first. For months I had no problems in returning movies to the Flushing, NY center. However, they recently opened a center in Stamford, CT which began to service my subscription ( I live in CT). Since December I have had returned EIGHT movies they claim they never recieved. Other movies that I had placed in the mailbox at the same time were recieved in 2-3 days. My account was placed on hold, but after I filed a claim with the post office for the lost DVD's and called Netflix to give them my claim number they did remove the hold, but just this last week, TWO more DVD's appear to be "lost". In reading the other reviews on this site, I am glad to see that I am not the only one with this problem, there is definitely something going on in the NY/NJ/CT area. Either there is someone in the postal system stealing the DVD's, or the Netflix staff here are not recording recieved DVD's properly. The only other online DVD service I have found (and used for a short time) that ships from the east coast (thereby reducing turnaround times to an acceptable 2-3 days) is RentMyDVD.com. However, their inventory was very low and most of the movies I wanted were never available. Every other company online ships from California, which means you can only get about two "rounds" of DVD's a month, making Blockbuster about the same cost.

Very slow to send next rental. Also, it can take over a week from mailing back a DVD before they say it was received. The DVD's are shipped by First Class mail, so there is no reason for it taking over a week. I have been with Netflix for awhile. The service was fine in the beginning, but now it is getting progressively worse. I have mailed back DVD's they say they never received. Mail can't be tracked unless you are willing to pay extra for Registered mail. They put a suspend on your account for missing DVD(s) and unless you are willing to purchase the DVD you mailed back, you are stuck. It is your word against their's. I would not recommend joining Netflix. They are a one shift "only" operation and the more people that join - the slower the service. Also this makes them more prone to mistakes.

For more than a year I was a happy Netflix customer, even when I move to the east coast and the turnaround time was longer the conveniance is unique. When they opened a facility in flushing, NY and my turnaround time was at the most 2 days I was so happy, but then since september they've been losing the DVDs that I sent back, so far 4 dvds, when I discovered a pattern that the ones getting lost were new releases I sent the last batch by priority mail they did received them but never post them in my account, of course after complaining to their phone number and a couple of emails they post them in my account and reactivated it (since I report lost those DVDs that they received and they put my account on hold). It is becoming more and more difficult to deal with these guys, I am already researching another companies to switch if they don't get their act together. Now this problem is a general one in the NY, NJ area since I've scanned the newsgroups and my friends living in upstate and NYC report the same problems. Probably if you don't live in this area Netflix service will be better, good luck with that.

I thought Netflix would be perfect for me! I started noticing right away that it took over a week for me to receive the movie and only two days for them to get it back from me. When I asked them about the discrepancy, they said I wasn't in the US mail databank. I called my post office and they said I certainly was, he was looking right at it on the monitor! Then I started getting empty mailers from time to time. I faithfully reported them, even though they put an ominous "pay for it" button beside each title on my queue. Who in the world would pay for something they didn't receive. Didn't that imply that I was stealing them? Meanwhile, I would have to wait another week for them to send a replacement title. I averaged 4-6 movies per month whether I sent them back promptly the next day or kept them a while! The claim was unlimited DVD's a month (3 out at a time - $19.95) and there was no way to get more than 6 a month with their turn-around-time. I started writing the dates I received each DVD and the dates I sent them back on the part you tear off of each mailers. After a year of repeatedly reporting EMPTY mailers to Netflix (and my post office as well) and asking the company to consider a sturdier mailer (it's a very THIN, flimsy, PAPER mailer with paper seals that are often missing or broken) they put my account on hold because my queue had 6 DVDs still missing. I reported more than that and returned them faithfully when a few of them eventually showed up. Netflix apologized and had repeatedly replied to my complaints of empty mailers that these missing DVDs were not my fault. Then without warning they put my account on hold as if the "never received DVD's" WERE my fault. I'm a person who values my integrity and I believe in fairness overall. I'm really dissapointed in Netflix, I thought I'd found the perfect solution for me. I've read where other people are happy with their service, but usually they've only been with Netflix for a few months. Also, they're probably like me, they feel bad themselves when a DVD is missing. I know it's silly, but I'm really upset that this "anonymous company" is implying that I'm stealing movies and it's frustrating that there is no way for me to prove my innocence. My husband is more cynical, he thinks they make a practice of just sending out empty mailers because they're really out of the more popular movies and they know I'll have to report them missing so it looks like their holding up their end. Oh, I didn't even mention the wait time on the more popular and current movies! Oh well, I've probably said more than enough already. Maybe you'll be lucky and not have these problems. Maybe you won't have this feeling of not being able to prove you've done nothing wrong except to hope for a great solution to renting movies. Karen

By far, Netflix is the best of the online DVD rental shops and is so much better than dealing with Blockbuster and the rest of those video stores. You never have to worry about late fees, there's a huge selection, and you get free shipping. Plus, with distribution facilities opening up across the U.S., there will be quick delivery to just about everywhere in the country. One thing to keep in mind is that if you don't live in the U.S., you're out of luck.

Good comparison site. I use it to shop for DVD's. This site and DVDtalk.com are very useful and have forums where fellow shoppers can discuss relevent topics.

I think this is a great idea and a great site. What could be easier than just poking around the virtual video store, clicking and then having them show up at your door. Of course there's no instant gratification because it takes a few days to arrive but that's okay. The one thing I don't get though is there introductory deal. Your first month is supposed to be free (normally $20 or so) and you get unlimited rentals (no more than 4 out at a time) and they ship them to you for free. So basically you pay nothing but then if you stay a member come your second month they charge you for your first and second month?!?!? So it's not free after all you just defer the payment for a month. I don't get it? So of course I joined, got the movies, watched them, sent them back and cancelled my membership, and then I'll probably just join again sometime in the future and then only have to pay for the service from then on. Sure I'll come back (probably) and that's good for them but why present a free membership in such a false manner?

This is a great concept. I just got a DVD player and I am a movie buff. I joined for the first free month. It is great. I have seen so many movies. It is a good deal if you take advantage of it and are on top of returning movies as well as choosing new ones. I am debating right now whether to join for $20 a month. I think I am movied out after 8 movies in a month.

Good idea. I have a friend from high school who thought about doing something similar around a year ago, but unfortunately he did not pull the trigger on it and this space is already pretty crowded. You can share your photos with all of your friends and relatives through this site.