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steelcmg
11-03-2005, 05:18 PM
So i got this email today from netflix talking about some lawsuit and saying i can get a free upgrade on dvd rentals. Just wanted to find out if anyone else has gotten this or if its one of those emails just to get info out of u. Here is the email.

[ QUOTE ]
You are receiving this notice because you were a paid Netflix member before January 15, 2005. Under a proposed class action settlement, you may be eligible to receive a free benefit from Netflix.

A class action lawsuit entitled Chavez v. Netflix, Inc. was filed in San Francisco Superior Court (case number CGC-04-434884) on September 23, 2004. The lawsuit alleges that Netflix failed to provide "unlimited" DVD rentals and "one day delivery" as promised in its marketing materials. Netflix has denied any wrongdoing or liability. The parties have reached a settlement that they believe is in the best interests of the company and its subscribers.

Netflix will provide eligible subscribers with the benefit described below, if the settlement is approved by the Court.

* Current Netflix Members: If you enrolled in a paid membership before January 15, 2005 and were a member on October 19, 2005, you are eligible to receive a free one-month upgrade in service level. For example, if you are on the 3 DVDs at-a-time program, you will be upgraded to the 4 DVDs at-a-time program for one month. There will be no price increase during the upgraded month. (If you cancel your membership after October 19, 2005 and before you receive the upgrade, you will have to rejoin to get the upgrade.)


* Former Netflix Members: If you enrolled in a paid membership before January 15, 2005 but were not a member on October 19, 2005, you are eligible to receive a free one-month Netflix membership on your choice of the 1, 2 or 3 DVDs at-a-time unlimited program. (If you rejoin after October 19, 2005 but before you receive the free one-month membership, you will receive a credit for the free month when it becomes available.)

These benefits will be provided after the Effective Date as defined in the Settlement Agreement. Your eligibility for the benefits is based on your membership status as of October 19, 2005. The full Settlement Agreement is available for review at www.netflixsettlement.com. (http://www.netflixsettlement.com.)

You have four options to respond to the proposed settlement. You have until December 28, 2005 to make your decision:

Option 1. Sign Up For The Benefit As Part Of The Settlement
To receive the benefit, you must complete the online registration process no later than February 17, 2006, at www.netflixsettlement.com. (http://www.netflixsettlement.com.) By signing up for the benefit, you waive your right to bring a separate lawsuit against Netflix concerning the Released Claims (as defined in the Settlement Agreement found at www.netflixsettlement.com (http://www.netflixsettlement.com)).

Option 2. Do Nothing
If you do not wish to receive the benefit, do nothing. You will not receive the benefit but will remain a Class Member. You therefore waive your right to bring a separate lawsuit against Netflix concerning the Released Claims.

Option 3. Exclude Yourself From the Class
To exclude yourself from the class, you must mail a letter by December 28, 2005. By excluding yourself, you preserve your right to bring a lawsuit against Netflix concerning the Released Claims. However, you will not get the benefit described above.

Option 4. Make An Objection To The Settlement In Court
To object to the settlement, you must file legal papers in the San Francisco Superior Court by January 5, 2006.

To receive your benefit, you must register by February 17, 2006 as described above in Option 1. You will not receive any other reminders to register for the benefit. If you have registered for the benefit and your eligibility is confirmed, then you will be provided additional information by email following the Effective Date as defined in the Settlement Agreement.

After the benefit period ends, the new or upgraded level of service will continue automatically (following an email reminder) and you will be billed accordingly, unless you cancel or modify your subscription. You can cancel or modify your subscription at any time.

In addition, if the settlement is approved by the Court, Netflix will modify portions of its Terms of Use. Netflix also will refer to its Terms of Use in certain advertisements.

To get more information about the settlement and procedures, and to take options 1, 3 or 4, visit www.netflixsettlement.com. (http://www.netflixsettlement.com.)

[/ QUOTE ]

pryor15
11-03-2005, 05:19 PM
i got one. it looked legit to me. the link had the same interface as netflix.

JonPKibble
11-03-2005, 05:20 PM
You get $6.00 worth of service for free. Oh boy. Basically a token gesture so you agree not to file a bigger suit.

BoogerFace
11-03-2005, 05:20 PM
I got it as a former netflix customer. I thought it was a scam too.

astroglide
11-03-2005, 05:20 PM
it's legit, but it's ONE MONTH and you'll have to probably work to cancel it in order to avoid getting charged for the upgrade

kipin
11-03-2005, 05:21 PM
I got it, read the fine print if you accept them on their offer.

From a slashdot (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/02/2147258&tid=167&tid=188&tid=185&tid=98) post yesterday.

[ QUOTE ]
Always read the fine print. JeremyWall writes "The recent Netflix class action settlement has a catch. While it is nice that the average subscriber will be upgraded for one month for free, if you read the fine print in section 4.2 of the long form [PDF Warning] of the settlement you find that you will be automatically charged for the higher subscription going forward. If you don't opt back out when you get their email, you are gonna get charged from then on. If you opt in for the settlement - check your email box regularly!"

[/ QUOTE ]

steelcmg
11-03-2005, 05:22 PM
Yea i switched to block buster so i can get free game rentals and free movie coupons so i guess ill just pass on this.

ethan
11-03-2005, 05:38 PM
You get an extra $6 of netflix, but have to cancel the extra DVD at the end of the month or they'll start charging you for it. The guy who's name is on the lawsuit got an extra $2K. The lawyers who went after netflix got paid somewhere around $2.5 million, and after netflix pays that out they may well just raise their prices to compensate.

As I understand things, if 5% of the people in the suit choose option 3 (opt out) the settlement doesn't happen.

Piz0wn0reD!!!!!!
11-03-2005, 05:43 PM
i got this too

Prelude008
11-03-2005, 07:48 PM
I got it too. Wasn't sure if it was a scam. But since I am with Blockbuster I'm not worrying about it as it would cost more that 6 with time and energy to get whatever they are offering.

Blarg
11-03-2005, 09:40 PM
I got this thing. Netflix sure got off easy. They should have given people at least a free month of service. I just stepped down from the 8 at a time plan because service had gotten so slow I really wasn't getting many more flicks per month than I had at the 3 at a time plan, but playing about 3x as much. Netflix sucks pretty hard that way.

Netflix is the greatest at first, but if you're the type like me who could watch a movie every day so you get the plans that let you try to do it, don't bother.

Randy_Refeld
11-03-2005, 10:26 PM
[ QUOTE ]
You get $6.00 worth of service for free. Oh boy. Basically a token gesture so you agree not to file a bigger suit.

[/ QUOTE ]

In class action suits generally it is the lawyers that do well. I am sure if you read all the court documents even thoguht the customers are getting $6 each the lawyer for the class of customers is getting a fortune. I know I recently recevied notice of a class action settlemetn against Time Warner where I was to receive $1 off a month for 36 months and the lawyer was to get $8 million cash.

ethan
11-03-2005, 10:34 PM
[ QUOTE ]
I got this thing. Netflix sure got off easy. They should have given people at least a free month of service. I just stepped down from the 8 at a time plan because service had gotten so slow I really wasn't getting many more flicks per month than I had at the 3 at a time plan, but playing about 3x as much. Netflix sucks pretty hard that way.

Netflix is the greatest at first, but if you're the type like me who could watch a movie every day so you get the plans that let you try to do it, don't bother.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you read the Netflix terms of service (http://www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse#how) you encounter the following under "Allocation, Delivery and Return of Rented DVDs": [ QUOTE ]
In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those subscribers who receive the most movies may experience that (i) the shipment of their next available DVD occurs at least one business day following return of their previously viewed movie (ii) delivery takes longer, as the shipments may not be processed from their local distribution center and (iii) they receive movies lower in their queue more often than our other subscribers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I figured they did this, but didn't think they'd be quite so blatant.

Blarg
11-03-2005, 11:41 PM
Yeah, it's very blatant. Some guy made a great linked study of it that someone posted here before. There have been threads here about it before.

I always chime in to them because of my personal experience with Netflix being so disappointing after I started really using their service a lot. I couldn't have been a bigger fan at first, but that was based on service they decided to no longer give. Kind of a lame payback for upping your subscription and remaining a long-term customer. I still can't believe Ninja Scroll has been at the top of my queue for like 8 months.

Definitely wasted some money on the big plan.

ethan
11-04-2005, 01:05 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, it's very blatant. Some guy made a great linked study of it that someone posted here before. There have been threads here about it before.

I always chime in to them because of my personal experience with Netflix being so disappointing after I started really using their service a lot. I couldn't have been a bigger fan at first, but that was based on service they decided to no longer give. Kind of a lame payback for upping your subscription and remaining a long-term customer. I still can't believe Ninja Scroll has been at the top of my queue for like 8 months.

Definitely wasted some money on the big plan.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any idea about how many you were getting with the 8-at-once plan, and how many with 3? Not getting the "long wait" movies is frustrating, I actually hadn't realized until recently that it was worse because I was getting more movies than average. Also, do you remember what that study might have been titled? I'm looking around and haven't found it yet.

JonPKibble
11-04-2005, 01:16 AM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You get $6.00 worth of service for free. Oh boy. Basically a token gesture so you agree not to file a bigger suit.

[/ QUOTE ]

In class action suits generally it is the lawyers that do well. I am sure if you read all the court documents even thoguht the customers are getting $6 each the lawyer for the class of customers is getting a fortune. I know I recently recevied notice of a class action settlemetn against Time Warner where I was to receive $1 off a month for 36 months and the lawyer was to get $8 million cash.

[/ QUOTE ]

I figured as much.

Man, we really showed those Netflix people some justice, making em pay those lawyers.

jaydub
11-04-2005, 01:33 AM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You get $6.00 worth of service for free. Oh boy. Basically a token gesture so you agree not to file a bigger suit.

[/ QUOTE ]

In class action suits generally it is the lawyers that do well. I am sure if you read all the court documents even thoguht the customers are getting $6 each the lawyer for the class of customers is getting a fortune. I know I recently recevied notice of a class action settlemetn against Time Warner where I was to receive $1 off a month for 36 months and the lawyer was to get $8 million cash.

[/ QUOTE ]

I figured as much.

Man, we really showed those Netflix people some justice, making em pay those lawyers.

[/ QUOTE ]

well it made them warn customers in the agreement....

though i'm still thinking they could be sued again for the same reason depending on how they market

Blarg
11-04-2005, 01:39 AM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, it's very blatant. Some guy made a great linked study of it that someone posted here before. There have been threads here about it before.

I always chime in to them because of my personal experience with Netflix being so disappointing after I started really using their service a lot. I couldn't have been a bigger fan at first, but that was based on service they decided to no longer give. Kind of a lame payback for upping your subscription and remaining a long-term customer. I still can't believe Ninja Scroll has been at the top of my queue for like 8 months.

Definitely wasted some money on the big plan.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any idea about how many you were getting with the 8-at-once plan, and how many with 3? Not getting the "long wait" movies is frustrating, I actually hadn't realized until recently that it was worse because I was getting more movies than average. Also, do you remember what that study might have been titled? I'm looking around and haven't found it yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

analysis of netflix dvd allocation system (http://dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com/)

Eventually with the 8 at once plan, because of the delays in both sticking them in the mail and acknowledging receipt or returned ones, I was getting probably something like 3 to 5 DVD's if you compared to the original great speed. At first they would acknowledge receipt the very day after I stuck it in the mailbox and then ship my replacement out that day. I could turn around 3 DVD's twice a week easily. Eventually it took up to a few days for them to acknowledge receipt, and they started acknowledging receipt but putting a new DVD in the mail a day or two later instead of on the same day. This effectively something like doubled the time it took to turn around a DVD for a new one, sometimes worse. So, I paid more than double the price but got much less than double the DVD's and service.

If they analyze my account, I figure they'll eventually note me as a customer who takes out fewer DVD's per month and maybe I'll actually get to see Ninja Scroll and Land of the Dead and other such things that get stuck in my queue. I figure I'll be able to turn over about as many DVD's on the 3 at once plan as I did on the 8 at once plan. But even if I don't, the 8 at once plan wasn't worth it to me once it slowed to a crawl. Heck, if I put something at the top of my queue it's because I want to see it, not wait six months to see it. For 50 bucks a month, I deserve better service than that. For 20 bucks a month, maybe I'll get it.

ethan
11-04-2005, 02:41 AM
Hmmm. I may drop down and just get my roommate to start up a 3-at-once plan so I can clear out the "long wait" stuff from my queue.

My throughput's still ok, although it's slowed down a little. I'm just annoyed by the availability issues.