Thursday, August 6, 2009

Netflix Blu-ray Service: Hello goodbye

With the advent of the aforementioned PS3, I enabled blu-ray access on our netflix queue, which by the way has worked great for us the entire time we have been over here. After a phone call to set up our APO address, and bumping up to the 8 at a time plan to balance the long shipping times, we've had no complaints about Netflix's regular DVD service (streaming is another matter...we can't stream because our IP address comes from Kuwait...stupid movie studios and their stupid licensing rules). I can't remember the last damaged DVD we got from them.

Blu-ray, however, is another matter. Since I started blu-ray access about a month ago, I have received 3 cracked blu-ray disks. The first one wasn't noticeable til it got to a certain point on the disk, then it refused to play. I then looked closely and could discern the hairline fracture starting on the edge of the disc and running about a quarter of an inch directly towards the center.

Since then, I started checking each blu-ray disc as it comes in, and I have found and returned 2 more. The latest one was the worst: the crack was so pronounced that there is no way it could even have attempted to play.

I have returned the previous 2, but this 3rd one made up my mind: no more blu-ray from Netflix til they figure out a safer way to ship them. I cancelled the blu-ray access and called to politely complain (very nice customer service btw, located in Oregon!). I was informed they are working on a solution.

4 comments:

AndyG said...

I've had much better luck with their bluray service it seems. No cracked disks at all and the only stuff that hasn't played in the ps3 have been older DVDs, they were badly scratched. Oh well, hopefully they'll improve to the point where you can use them again soon. Hope things are well!

Jesse said...

Hey Andy! Good to hear from you. I recently re-added Blu-ray and so far so good (I've received exactly 1 blu-ray title so far). I spoke with a representative recently and asked what they are doing about it. They said they were identifying problem routes and modifying their routing accordingly or contacting the post offices as needed.

Anonymous said...

the title " Kuwait FTW" is very rude and reflects the rudeness you are raised with.

please change the title and show respect the country.

Jesse said...

I am sorry you are offended, but I meant none at all. FTW is a gaming term that means "For the win" and indicates a generally positive attitude towards the item preceding it. If I was hungry, and someone brought me pizza, I could say "Pizza FTW!" implying that pizza was awesome. In any case, I hope this explains the title better.