Thursday, January 26, 2006
Followup to Netflix trick
OK, the exposure on Digg has resulted in a bunch of comments (both on Digg and on my blog). So I thought I would address some of them.
1. Yes, this isn't really a scientifically-proven trick. It is anecdotal. Thought that was obvious, but got some snarky comments anyway.
2. I don't have movies in my queue that I don't want to watch. It is just that I don't want to watch the ones they send right now. The fact that something is lower in my queue implies that my desire to watch that movie is lower than the one at #1.
3. You don't have to try this! Several people complained that they have too many movies in their queue to try this. Well, this isn't mandatory, so your queue should be just fine.
4. One guy complained that I was letting the cat out of the bag and that he had been doing this for a while. Sorry.
One of the more useful comments actually suggested a little freeware app called FlixQueue that allows you to manage and backup your Queue. FlixQueue would make it very easy to maintain a large queue and still use my "method."
And finally, I think this trick (whether it works for everyone of not) shows that Netflix is definitely "reserving" a portion of their inventory for new customers (or at least for customers who aren't me). Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to go from "Very Long Wait" to "Now" in a matter of minutes.
A few months ago, we did a little experiment at the office. Several of us have Netflix and each of us were at various stages in our membership (1 guy had a trial, the rest of us were members from 3 months to over 1 year). I tried to add a movie to my queue and got "Very long wait." The others in our test group did the same and the results varied from "Long Wait," "Short Wait" to "Now." Guess who got the "Now?" The new guy, of course.
I guess I would rather see NF come clean about their efforts to place limitations on their unlimited service and make them part of the membership agreement. Why not say, "You get X movies per month for $X.?"
Based on the comments I've seen lately, NF has gone from one of those companies you tell your friends about to one of those companies you don't really like, but you stick with 'cause there aren't any better options.
UPDATE: 10:24 AM -- I am getting slammed a bit over on HackingNetflix for my original post. Here is their post. Here is my response:
"Hey, I'm the guy who posted this "trick" on my blog. I didn't expect it to get picked up on Digg and get all of this attention/scrutiny.
It is purely anecdotal; however, it has worked both times I tried it. Take that for what it is worth.
I was simply getting tired of being sent the 4th or 5th movie in my Queue when I really wanted the 1st, 2nd or 3rd movie in my Queue.
The reason I was willing to take my Queue down to almost nothing is because I was on the verge of cancelling because of:
1. Shipping tomorrow messages (instead of fast turnaround I had in the past)
2. Long waits for every new movie I wanted
3. Delays in checking my movies back in -- it takes 3 days to get a movie to show up as returned when in the past it was 1 day
I don't advocate that everyone try this. It was just something that I observed when I was on the verge of quitting.
I think what this "trick" (even if it only works a couple of times) shows is that NF is reserving part of its inventory for new customers (or customers who aren't me). Otherwise, they couldn't go from "Very long wait" to "Now" in a matter of minutes. And I think that sucks.
So, I didn't mean to upset any of the NF fanboys with my post. Blame the guy who put it on Digg :)
BTW, someone on Digg suggested using a little freeware app called FlixQueue to backup your Queue before trying this."
OK, the exposure on Digg has resulted in a bunch of comments (both on Digg and on my blog). So I thought I would address some of them.
1. Yes, this isn't really a scientifically-proven trick. It is anecdotal. Thought that was obvious, but got some snarky comments anyway.
2. I don't have movies in my queue that I don't want to watch. It is just that I don't want to watch the ones they send right now. The fact that something is lower in my queue implies that my desire to watch that movie is lower than the one at #1.
3. You don't have to try this! Several people complained that they have too many movies in their queue to try this. Well, this isn't mandatory, so your queue should be just fine.
4. One guy complained that I was letting the cat out of the bag and that he had been doing this for a while. Sorry.
One of the more useful comments actually suggested a little freeware app called FlixQueue that allows you to manage and backup your Queue. FlixQueue would make it very easy to maintain a large queue and still use my "method."
And finally, I think this trick (whether it works for everyone of not) shows that Netflix is definitely "reserving" a portion of their inventory for new customers (or at least for customers who aren't me). Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to go from "Very Long Wait" to "Now" in a matter of minutes.
A few months ago, we did a little experiment at the office. Several of us have Netflix and each of us were at various stages in our membership (1 guy had a trial, the rest of us were members from 3 months to over 1 year). I tried to add a movie to my queue and got "Very long wait." The others in our test group did the same and the results varied from "Long Wait," "Short Wait" to "Now." Guess who got the "Now?" The new guy, of course.
I guess I would rather see NF come clean about their efforts to place limitations on their unlimited service and make them part of the membership agreement. Why not say, "You get X movies per month for $X.?"
Based on the comments I've seen lately, NF has gone from one of those companies you tell your friends about to one of those companies you don't really like, but you stick with 'cause there aren't any better options.
UPDATE: 10:24 AM -- I am getting slammed a bit over on HackingNetflix for my original post. Here is their post. Here is my response:
"Hey, I'm the guy who posted this "trick" on my blog. I didn't expect it to get picked up on Digg and get all of this attention/scrutiny.
It is purely anecdotal; however, it has worked both times I tried it. Take that for what it is worth.
I was simply getting tired of being sent the 4th or 5th movie in my Queue when I really wanted the 1st, 2nd or 3rd movie in my Queue.
The reason I was willing to take my Queue down to almost nothing is because I was on the verge of cancelling because of:
1. Shipping tomorrow messages (instead of fast turnaround I had in the past)
2. Long waits for every new movie I wanted
3. Delays in checking my movies back in -- it takes 3 days to get a movie to show up as returned when in the past it was 1 day
I don't advocate that everyone try this. It was just something that I observed when I was on the verge of quitting.
I think what this "trick" (even if it only works a couple of times) shows is that NF is reserving part of its inventory for new customers (or customers who aren't me). Otherwise, they couldn't go from "Very long wait" to "Now" in a matter of minutes. And I think that sucks.
So, I didn't mean to upset any of the NF fanboys with my post. Blame the guy who put it on Digg :)
BTW, someone on Digg suggested using a little freeware app called FlixQueue to backup your Queue before trying this."
¶ 9:34 AM 
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posted by 
davidandres79836047 : 9:45 PM
davidandres79836047 : 9:45 PM Congrats on the Google ranking! Today, I received a message from NetFlix that they were shipping a movie—that I had removed from my queue last week! I started to write NF to complain, but instead did a Google search to see if others were experiencing the same issues. I was aware of the throttle issue, but it hadn't been much of an inconvenience until the past few months. The movie "Ratatouille" remained #1 or #2 in my queue for over 60 days before it was shipped. Having read your blog, I removed 300+ movies from my queue, leaving only 10--6 of which have not yet been released. Since we're on the 5 at a time plan, we'll have to monitor our queue more closely now, but I'm curious to see how your approach works.
posted by 
: 3:56 PM
: 3:56 PM I watch a lot of movies with Netflix. I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I get my movies the next day. I routinely get over 15 movies a month. I received 23 movies one month. And no, I am not going for a record, either. I just tend to watch a movie a day. If I were going for a record, then I know I could get more than 23 per month. (I am on the basic 3-out-at-a-time plan.)
I know that Netflix loses money on me. Too bad - they offered me unlimited rentals, and I took their deal.
I've been a customer before, and I quit before. This time it took them about 3 months to throttle me to the point that my top 10 movies in my queue are long wait or very long wait.
My strategy? I get a 3-out-at-a-time account, and my wife gets a 1-out-at-a-time account. If I get a long wait, it goes on her list. Yes, this requires sending more money to Netflix, but I also get 4 out at a time this way for the same price as it would cost me to do a single 4-out plan. But this way I get the movies I want.
Another strategy is to just alternate accounts. If you don't want to spend the extra $9 on the 4th movie out, then just alternate between the two accounts. Cancel one and activate the other every few months. You risk detection by Netflix this way, however, and you might be denied service. I prefer to have two open accounts - one for high-demand movies, and one for all my other movies.
I know that Netflix loses money on me. Too bad - they offered me unlimited rentals, and I took their deal.
I've been a customer before, and I quit before. This time it took them about 3 months to throttle me to the point that my top 10 movies in my queue are long wait or very long wait.
My strategy? I get a 3-out-at-a-time account, and my wife gets a 1-out-at-a-time account. If I get a long wait, it goes on her list. Yes, this requires sending more money to Netflix, but I also get 4 out at a time this way for the same price as it would cost me to do a single 4-out plan. But this way I get the movies I want.
Another strategy is to just alternate accounts. If you don't want to spend the extra $9 on the 4th movie out, then just alternate between the two accounts. Cancel one and activate the other every few months. You risk detection by Netflix this way, however, and you might be denied service. I prefer to have two open accounts - one for high-demand movies, and one for all my other movies.
posted by : 4:32 PM
: 4:32 PMblog comments powered by Disqus
About Shawn Morton
Married father of 4, social media strategist at Nationwide, consumer electronics enthusiast, hair metal aficionado.
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I have no qualms with Netflix smoothing heavy renters. After all if someone only rents once or twice a month, then they should really be given priority over heavy users. What I do take issue with is that fact that Netflix does not disclose when or how heavy users will be throttled.
If they want to have rules in place that limit the service, then they need to provide a FAQ that discloses what the restrictions are and they need to provide customers a way to pay more to get the unthrottled service.
As part of the Netflix Settlement, they agreed to amend their Terms of Service to include language that says that they can do this, but that still doesn't tell their customers how many DVD's it takes to get on the naughty list or how long it takes to get off it. It also doesn't explain how much or how little access heavy renters get to new releases.
If Netflix would disclose the terms and conditions of their service, then customers could more effectively estimate what their needs were and could purchase the appropriate service.
As a Netflix fanboy, I took no offense to your post. In fact, my offense is at Netflix for smoothing their customers without letting us know that ground rules first.