the amazing women of 2008

Netflix Screwed the Pooch

August 14th, 2008
Written By: Andrew James

Netflix shipping problemsReports today of the online movie rental giant, Netflix having some major problems going on in the central distribution center. They somehow managed to not ship any movies on Tuesday, only half of what they were supposed to on Wed and again nothing today. To make matters worse, as of this writing, they have no idea what’s wrong or how to fix it and the main web site still displays an apology message. According to Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey,

“[Netflix] is as frustrated if not more frustrated than its customers. Netflix engineers are working feverishly around the clock to get this issue solved.”

About 1/3 of all Netflix customers are affected by this ‘crisis’ and when the company figures out how to compensate that many people (by my math, about 2.8 million people), this could be a healthy dollar amount indeed. Investors beware.

Still, having been a customer of Netflix off and on for about 3 years now, with experience and certainty I can say that Netflix will likely be very fair in how they make up this glitch to its customers. The question is, what if they can’t get this fixed in the next day or two? That previously mentioned, healthy dollar amount could add up to more than a hill of beans in a big hurry.

Anyone out there a Netflix user? Have you been contacted by the company about the situation? Have you noticed no movies showing up in your mailbox? Personally, my account is on hold right now (I don’t need the service currently) and so I just found out about this through Gizmodo a few moments ago.

5 response about Netflix Screwed the Pooch »

  1. I noticed a delay starting Tuesday, although I did receive one of my discs in the mail today. Also, I just received an e-mail stating the shipping issues and that my account will be debited a free month in September. Pretty cool. And I’m about to leave for 10 days on vacation, so hope they get their shit together by the time I return or it’ll definitely be a nightmare. I bet the post office isn’t complaining this week though. Just imagine how much more mail goes through them every day. I bet they hate it.

    Comment by Joseph B. — August 14, 2008 @ 6:01 pm

  2. They did contact me via email, but I received my three discs today.

    That said, I think it would be a smart move to just send everyone that had delayed deliveries an extra disc for their next shipment.

    People would like that (I know I would) and NetFlix wouldn’t be out a steaming pile of cash.

    Comment by Joseph — August 14, 2008 @ 6:11 pm

  3. I’ve come to the conclusion this entire fiasco has been done solely to fuck with wherethelongtailends.com.

    You can’t stop my genius Netflix!!!

    Comment by Matt Gamble — August 14, 2008 @ 8:33 pm

  4. I have a return and shipment trapped in Netflix limbo. I’m not too worried since I have 2 films here, and it looks like I’m getting a film that’s had a long wait. (woo hoo) Netflix has worked well for me over the last 6 years. Always fair, always efficient and very big on e-mailing all that is going on. I’m a happy customer, sorry to see them suffering technical difficulties.

    Comment by Linda — August 14, 2008 @ 9:09 pm

  5. Looks like everything is fixed and all delayed DVDs are shipping today.

    Comment by Andrew James — August 15, 2008 @ 1:35 pm

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