pleasant surprise from Netflix
Feb. 6th, 2011 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioAfter returning a DVD, on Friday I was a little surprised to see that Netflix was sending me the second item on my queue even though the first was marked as being available. But shrug; Netflix never promised a strict queue and that's fine. So long as they send the discs in multi-disc sets in order I have nothing to complain about (and this failure is unlikely given how I structure my queue).
Saturday I got email from them saying "you may have noticed that we did that" -- it was because while the disc is available, it wasn't available at my nearest distribution center. So while sending me #2 they were also going to send me #1 from farther away and I should expect it in a few days. This means I will have more DVDs out at a time than is supported by my subscription. It's a very small cost to them to provide this, but many companies wouldn't so it makes a good impression that they did.
In a similar vein, when I downgraded my subscription after getting the Roku streaming device (don't need as many DVDs at a time when there's plenty to watch via streaming), I didn't expect them to replace the DVD that arrived at their distribution point a day before the downgrade was to take effect. They sent it anyway, so I had an extra DVD for some days past when I had paid for that privilege.
Tangent: Roku sent email Thursday saying I could now watch Social Network through them (for a rental fee from, IIRC, Amazon). I observe that the DVD will be available through Netflix on Tuesday. Is there really a market of people who (1) can't wait five more days but (2) didn't see it in the theatre, or (3) have Roku devices but (4) don't use Netflix so they can't get it that way? I'm puzzled by the business model.
Saturday I got email from them saying "you may have noticed that we did that" -- it was because while the disc is available, it wasn't available at my nearest distribution center. So while sending me #2 they were also going to send me #1 from farther away and I should expect it in a few days. This means I will have more DVDs out at a time than is supported by my subscription. It's a very small cost to them to provide this, but many companies wouldn't so it makes a good impression that they did.
In a similar vein, when I downgraded my subscription after getting the Roku streaming device (don't need as many DVDs at a time when there's plenty to watch via streaming), I didn't expect them to replace the DVD that arrived at their distribution point a day before the downgrade was to take effect. They sent it anyway, so I had an extra DVD for some days past when I had paid for that privilege.
Tangent: Roku sent email Thursday saying I could now watch Social Network through them (for a rental fee from, IIRC, Amazon). I observe that the DVD will be available through Netflix on Tuesday. Is there really a market of people who (1) can't wait five more days but (2) didn't see it in the theatre, or (3) have Roku devices but (4) don't use Netflix so they can't get it that way? I'm puzzled by the business model.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-06 10:31 pm (UTC)Yes. People are silly that way. We can only pity them and thank them for paying outrageous amounts of money so we can see things later for a pittance.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-06 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-07 05:41 pm (UTC)