October 1, 2004
This is the third installment in a diary I’m keeping while I give the Netflix DVD rental service a try. My two-week free trial with Nexflix has ended, and despite my continuing doubts that the service is right for me because I have so many other options for getting DVDs, I decided to stay with them for at least one more month.
On the 14th day after I signed up for the Netflix two-week free trial, they charged my credit card. They neither gave me advance warning they were going to charge my card nor did they notify me afterward that they had charged my card. Apparently it’s left up to the customer to find this out on his own, although it’s easy to determine what they’ve done by checking the account status online.
The amount they charged was $23.69, which came as a mild surprise to me. The actual monthly rental fee is $21.99, but there is a tax of $1.70 in my locality. According to the Netflix Web site, the majority of their customers must pay taxes on the service, although the amount varies according to where the customer resides.
Here’s a log of activities during my third week with Netflix:
Monday, September 27: After having had the “A Hard Day’s Night” two-disc set at my house for four days, I dropped both discs in a mail box.
Tuesday, September 28: Netflix acknowledged receipt of the two discs I mailed the previous day and notified me they were shipping “Stop Making Sense” and “Buena Vista Social Club” to me.
Wednesday, September 29: The postal service delivered “Stop Making Sense” and “Buena Vista Social Club” to my house.
Friday, October 1: After having had “Woodstock” at my house for eight days, I dropped it in a mail box.
By now I can see that Netflix provides a very convenient way for me to be supplied with a steady stream of DVDs. However, the cost for me looks only marginally cheaper than brick-and-mortar rental stores since I don’t expect to get around to watching more than one or two Netflix DVDs a week. But beyond that, there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on about the Netflix process that takes some of the fun out of DVDs for me—it’s just not the same as running down to a store and picking something out on whim.
