Errg!! Netflix and our Postal Carriers!!

MOD

URG!! It's not enough that they dump all our mail through the slot on the door instead of using their key (in the box right by the door) to open the door, but now someone, either the delivery guy, or at the postal center, is opening and watching the tenants DVD's!!!

To add to the insult they taped back up the ripped open red netflix envelope and and made little frankenstein "stitches", all cutesy-like in black pen, over the perforation! Like it was something funny?!?

The thing is, it wasn't even my DVD, it was the nice guy downstairs. But I'm getting Netflix in a few months and know this is the shit I'll have to deal with! I'm already sorting through the buildings mail thats been tossed on the floor and mangled up. All wet and stepped on.

Sigh. Thanks for letting be vent. It's been a long day....

brooklynjack

did you call the postmaster to complain? document this and send it in writing. keep escilating until it gets resolved

pitu

seriously - you can complain online, and they email you back about it
may be an empty exercise, maybe not

or you can go yell at the station, like that guy in Kensington that made a YouTube sensation not too long ago . . .

(sooooooo glad my regular carrier is back)

cythren

My mail carrier is a nice lady, but she crams those netflix envelopes into our tiny mailboxes! They come out totally shredded, looking like a crumpled wad of red and white paper. Once the CD inside was even cracked in half. I usually have to tape those envelopes back together to mail them back in one piece.

shinybeast

Yeah, I just signed up for NetFlix and it's amazing how long it takes DVDs to get here from Flushing. I think I've only hit the NetFlix estimated arrival date once. Another time, two films were mailed at the same time by NetFlix and one arrived three days later than the other one. I guarantee they probably delivered the second one to the wrong house.

In a related note, we got a letter here addressed to someone one street over with the same street number. I dropped it in a street mailbox and ... you guessed it ... the same letter was mis-delivered to our house again! I ended up just walking it over to their house and delivering it myself.

And now I have to hunt down a package that was mailed to me (media mail) that never showed up. Good christ, do I hate our post office (9th Street).

gretch

You can join Blockbuster. It's mostly on time, and you can bring your DVD with envelope to a nearby store and exchange it to any DVD at store, for free!

veggiequeen

Shinybeast wrote: Yeah, I just signed up for NetFlix and it's amazing how long it takes DVDs to get here from Flushing. I think I've only hit the NetFlix estimated arrival date once. Another time, two films were mailed at the same time by NetFlix and one arrived three days later than the other one. I guarantee they probably delivered the second one to the wrong house.

We get ours from Flushing in 1 day... two at the absolute latest (and on rare occasion).

blyamanda

I prefer Netflix's selection, but had to switch to Blockbuster when Netflix started "throttling" my account due to renting/returning "too fast".

Get my stuff in one business day, plus they ship on Saturday and I can exchange in store for faster returns

oiseau

oh man. last week the film never showed up on it's arrival date (it usually only takes 1 day), and then three days later I find out that it was reterned to Netflix. Very strange. I wonder if the Post Office delivered it to the wrong address OR if the Post Office opened it and took it home to watch OR if it was even sent? I mean Netflix could say that they sent it and never send it and then three days later say they got it returned to them without ever sending it!

oh and this is not postal related but then I get an email on Wednesday that Netflix received another return of mine and that my next movie was shipping that day. But the next email I get from Netflix is on Thursday and that my next movie was unavailable from teh local service center and now it's being shipped from Louisville, KY and won't arrive until Monday hopefully! So it will be a whole week from the time I reeturned a movie until I get the one to replace it. Totally ridiculous. I wrote them and complained that they shoudl have just went to the next movie available from Flushing, but I have to get a response.

I think Netflix does these things on purpose to keep the number of movies you rent per month down. One of their biggest expenses is most likely shipping and packaging and if they delay a person a week with a film it saves them money.

ilovecarbs

I just started netflix and so far, it's been great. I hope this doesn't happen..that would suck.

veggiequeen

Oiseau wrote: oh and this is not postal related but then I get an email on Wednesday that Netflix received another return of mine and that my next movie was shipping that day. But the next email I get from Netflix is on Tursday and that my next movie was unavailable from teh local service center and now it's being shipped from Louisville, KY and won't arrive until Monday hopefully! So it will be a whole week from the time I reeturned a movie until I get the one to replace it. Totally ridiculous. I wrote them and complained that they shoudl have just went to the next movie available from Flushing, but I have to get a response.

This happened to us, but it came from California. I forget the movie, but it was a bit of an 'odd bird'. So I wonder if certain movies... rare or 'out of print'... are only kept at certain locations? I don't know... I'm reaching here.

oiseau

VeggieQueen wrote: This happened to us, but it came from California. I forget the movie, but it was a bit of an 'odd bird'. So I wonder if certain movies... rare or 'out of print'... are only kept at certain locations? I don't know... I'm reaching here.

I had that happen once with an 'odd bird' flick, but this was Half Nelson, a pretty new release.

MOD

Ok, I sent a complaint to the postal services online. Not that expect anything to come of it. Today I was waiting for a box from my sis with a Bday present in it. It should have come in today, but, alas, no, all there was when I opened the door was all our mail on the floor again, dirty and crumbled from being jammed through the door slot.

No box, no present, so sad....

christina

Online complaints may result in a phone call from someone asking you to be patient, that's it.
Complain via phone or maybe in person. I was given the name of the surpervisor at my local post office and she called out the local carrier while she was on the phone to me (this is the story where delivering my mail "had slipped his mind" - see recent post called "rant about the mail"). Either way after that for a while the service improved significantly, although you can't rely for time-sensitive stuff to arrive on time.

As for Netflix, the throttling is a fact, they admittted to it. Can't find the link now (i.e. I'm too lazy) but it happens to everyone who returns their DVDs too fast, and the whole "we'll be sending the DVD from our service center on the moon" excuse is just that, an excuse.

caseopele

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix

It's towards the bottom under Throttling and the Chavez lawsuit. I did up my plan to the 3 at a time unlimited due to throttling. My problem with Blockbuster is that they refuse to take a bank card and I refuse to have a credit card.

As for the shitty Brooklyn postal service? I'm lucky I have packing tape, a few have needed to be almost covered in it to make it back to Netflix.

amber82

I had the 3 at a time "unlimited" plan when I got throttled. I had a long conversation (when I finally got somebody on the phone) about how it's NOT unlimited if they are limiting my rentals by throttling. They didn't deny it. I canceled.

I rent just as many, just as fast (or faster when I do in-store returns) at BB.

I thought they would censor stuff, but some of the DVDs I got were definitely uncensored versions that you won't find in a BB store.

MOD

I had Netflix a year ago and I got "throttled"
I emailed them that story about the lawsuit and complained about their service. I basically got a response along the lines of "if you don't like it , then cancel, and here's the link to cancel"

I want to get the Blockbuster service, but do they have the vast selection that Netflix has? I'm really into my indie/foriegn/classic movies. Flexi, how do you like their selection?

eventplanning

Not quite as good as Netflix, but much better than expected. Check out the site before you sign up. I'm a big indie/foreign chick too

rose

Oiseau wrote: oh man. last week the film never showed up on it's arrival date (it usually only takes 1 day), and then three days later I find out that it was reterned to Netflix. Very strange.

That happened to me once.

Last night I was all set to watch my netflix movie but when I took it out of the envelope, it was broken. I think that's the fourth time that's happened. :x

armchair_warrior

i get them within 1 day of them mailing it out. but sometimes rarely it gets lost for a while.

veets

I live very close to the post office and have the normal terrible service. The only thing that seems to get delivered asap are those red envelopes from Net Flicks with those shiny discs in them. The turn around time is very quick. If I get an envelop out early Mon it is usual to receive the next movie in the list by Wed's mail.

apollonia666

I haven't tried it myself but some friends use Greencine.com -- more indie stuff than Blockbuster, and pr0n!

caseopele

I pretty much only use Netflix for series, so far I've only had 1 movie in my queue. I just can't figure out what movie I'll feel like watching tomorrow or next week so I still go to the video store for movies. Right now I'm on the 1st season of Tales of the Unexpected

cheflady

I've never had any problems with Netflix...until today. I recieved an email from them saying that they recieved the envelope from me, but there was no DVD inside! They didn't seem pissed and said they'd send the next one out right away, but still...I find it weird.

bkgypsy

^^ditto to the above statement. was going great until about a week ago ...the dvds began to trickle in at a slower rate and the envelopes were damaged. i'm in south slope.