AfterDawn: Tech news

Netflix service disrupted by tech problems

Written by James Delahunty @ 24 Mar 2008 8:14 User comments (21)

Netflix service disrupted by tech problems Netflix, a leader in online video rentals, suffered a "technology breakdown" on Monday that affected many areas of the Los Gatos-based company's operations. The company's website, a vital component of its business, suffered downtime of about five hours. Netflix has a base of subscribers that amounts to about 7,500,000 people, so quite a lot may have been inconvenienced by the outage.
The web-site was not the only area affected either, apparently some customers may now have to wait a bit longer for their next due rentals to arrive. Company spokesman Steve Swasey said the overall problem hit several distribution centers and so a lot of the DVDs due to be mailed out Monday have been delayed.

The trouble started for Netflix around 7AM PDT and the website was still down in the afternoon.

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21 user comments

124.3.2008 20:55

Hmm...was wondering what was going on...I live about 200 miles from the distribution center, and they are always fast. Today though, didn't get any sign from them, supposed to have 3 movies mailed.

I wonder who hacked them:~)! They're still down at my end, 20:00 CT...

Edit: 20 minutes later. they are back!

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 24 Mar 2008 @ 9:17

224.3.2008 21:25

I thought it was odd when I couldn't access my account all afternoon.
The site's back up now though, it sucks the new releases I would receive tomorrow probably won't get here until wensday/thursday.

324.3.2008 22:02

Their site is currently back online, but am I the only one who is unable to rate any movies?

424.3.2008 22:30

Originally posted by ZimHosein:
Their site is currently back online, but am I the only one who is unable to rate any movies?
I just realized that, all the rating stars and averages are gone. It looks like the basic features have been restored first to get the site operational again. They must have been hit hard by something.

525.3.2008 01:33

NOOOO the fabric of time & space has finaly torn (from the over use age of the internet for PORN!) Netflix his down! this should be a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! forget your side on the war get EVERYONE BACK HERE NOW to find this guy!

625.3.2008 08:18

Whew, thank goodness for a local video store just down the street. ;-)

725.3.2008 09:54
rby1rby
Inactive

Blockbuster still works!

825.3.2008 13:44

Originally posted by ripxrush:
NOOOO the fabric of time & space has finaly torn (from the over use age of the internet for PORN!) Netflix his down! this should be a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! forget your side on the war get EVERYONE BACK HERE NOW to find this guy!
What are you talking about, buddy?:~) What war?

925.3.2008 21:34

but Blockbuster's site takes too long to load.
frustrating at times!

1031.3.2008 08:52

Lots of luck getting a pay back for lost anything with NF. I was supposed to get a month free due to a class action suite. I never saw that

BB is far more stupid. Why would they make such a slow site unless they were total morons? Even with a powerful broadband service, I have to load the site then do something else for a few minutes. However, they are much more honest the NF. After dealing with them for 4-5 years, Netflixs is probably the sleeziest company I have ever been in contact with. They screw you every chance they get and you can't complian. I do think they have the ability to give you a better service because they have way more disks and a better system.

1131.3.2008 10:18

Originally posted by Mez:
... Netflixs is probably the sleeziest company I have ever been in contact with. They screw you every chance they get and you can't complian. I do think they have the ability to give you a better service because they have way more disks and a better system.
LOL, of course you can complain, over and over again:~)...except no one will listen to you! Mafia never listens to little people.
Out the two evils, I did chose to go wit NF, and so far I am a happy customer. However, I am expecting that my level of satisfaction will change soon according to this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11262292/

1231.3.2008 13:52

Quote:
Originally posted by Mez:
... Netflixs is probably the sleeziest company I have ever been in contact with. They screw you every chance they get and you can't complian. I do think they have the ability to give you a better service because they have way more disks and a better system.
LOL, of course you can complain, over and over again:~)...except no one will listen to you! Mafia never listens to little people.
Out the two evils, I did chose to go wit NF, and so far I am a happy customer. However, I am expecting that my level of satisfaction will change soon according to this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11262292/



That's news to me!
thanks for sharing

1331.3.2008 15:24

NF can deliver better service and will in the beginning. If you quit look out they always screw you over. If you cancle right after you paid for the next month you will have your service cancled. That is OK but BB gives you what you paid for. If you cancle at the end of your month you again get cancled instantly. If you had something that was supposed to have been sent but was not really sent you will not get that. Still that is OK. What is NOT OK is they will bill you a month later for a month of service you never got!

cyprusrom, how do you compain to them? I can complain here and I do every time the is a NF thread. The last time I used them they ripped me off for two month that I paid for and did not get servive. I spent a great deal of time trying to find a way to have a complaint reach a human. You can leave an email but no human reads them that I can tell. I am a developer. I used to send 10,000 emails a day just to get someones attention. No one replied. I bet the customer complaint mail box has an auto delete function on it. I could have wasted my time sending them a million but I don't think it would have done anything except tie up my computer and get my ISP after me. IO am surprised they didn't go after me with the 10,000.

There is no phone number anywhere. At least with BB if you go through all these steps and it is quite a few they send you a phone number.

I haven't used them in 2 years so maybe they have changed.

1431.3.2008 15:35
goodswipe
Inactive

The guys over at NF are a bunch of ass clowns. I've had them send me the SD version of a movie I wanted in the HD DVD format, like 7 times. I can understand messing up maybe once, hell maybe even twice, but 7 times? C'mon Netflix, get your sh!t together.

1531.3.2008 17:38

Originally posted by cyprusrom:
Originally posted by ripxrush:
NOOOO the fabric of time & space has finaly torn (from the over use age of the internet for PORN!) Netflix his down! this should be a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! forget your side on the war get EVERYONE BACK HERE NOW to find this guy!
What are you talking about, buddy?:~) What war?

The HD DVD vs BluRay war of course!

1631.3.2008 17:41
goodswipe
Inactive

Originally posted by iluvendo:
Originally posted by cyprusrom:
Originally posted by ripxrush:
NOOOO the fabric of time & space has finaly torn (from the over use age of the internet for PORN!) Netflix his down! this should be a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! forget your side on the war get EVERYONE BACK HERE NOW to find this guy!
What are you talking about, buddy?:~) What war?

The HD DVD vs BluRay war of course!
Or maybe he was talking about the war on terror or maybe even the war on piracy...

1731.3.2008 20:55

Originally posted by goodswipe:
The guys over at NF are a bunch of ass clowns. I've had them send me the SD version of a movie I wanted in the HD DVD format, like 7 times. I can understand messing up maybe once, hell maybe even twice, but 7 times? C'mon Netflix, get your sh!t together.
LOL! Like I said, two evils:~)!

Similar experience with BB...I received a disc that was cracked. Reported it, sent it back same day, got back a replacement- cracked, of course! I was starting to think the movie sucked, and someone got pissed off and broke the discs. Sent it back, reported it, even made a small mark with a sharpie on it, just to see...you guessed right, they sent back the same cracked freakin' disc(exactly same disc as they had sent before)! This time, I reported it, I completely broke it in two pieces,and taped a note on it-"Damaged", big fat letters(didn't even put it in the sleeve, just in the envelope, hoping the numbnuts would see it. Finally, fourth time I got the correct disc.
I have to say, as soon as I emailed them and told them about the "joke", getting back same crap disc, they sent me a coupon for an in-store rental- so I got a total of 2 coupons.

As for speed, NF has always been faster for me. I send the discs on Monday, I get the replacements on Wednesday. Not too shabby.

181.4.2008 10:43
goodswipe
Inactive

LMAO, wow, they sent you the same discs! I can see something like that happening. Yea, NF is very fast, that's what I loved about them. Seems like after awhile though, they start to get slower on their service.

191.4.2008 10:50

cyprusrom, for how long? NF are capible of great service. They treat you nice for about 6 months. Then if you have been a heavy user they throttle you in accordance with your usage. I live in the same town as the major hubs for both companies. BB opened in the same town probably to hire old NF employees. Some times I could return disks before the computer said they were sent. When it came time to throttle me they gave me full throttle. I often send in 2 disks in one envelope to save them some money. One of those times they 'recevieved' the second disk 10 days later! That drove me nuts.

201.4.2008 11:19

Originally posted by Mez:
cyprusrom, for how long? NF are capible of great service. They treat you nice for about 6 months. Then if you have been a heavy user they throttle you in accordance with your usage. I live in the same town as the major hubs for both companies. BB opened in the same town probably to hire old NF employees. Some times I could return disks before the computer said they were sent. When it came time to throttle me they gave me full throttle. I often send in 2 disks in one envelope to save them some money. One of those times they 'recevieved' the second disk 10 days later! That drove me nuts.
How long before they throttle you...don't know, so far I am doing good, been with them for some time(and for another year before that, and then I switched to BB for 6 months).


"I often send in 2 disks in one envelope to save them some money."

LOL! You're cute,and considerate, just made me smile:~)!
I do send titles in the same envelope too, but for a different reason. Sometimes I get a movie that they say is not available at my local distribution center, so they mail it from let's say California, or whatever(throttling me maybe?!). Anyway, to get back to them would take at leat an extra day, so I return 2 in the same envelope at the DB close to me(just 200 miles away), and it arrives next morning.

LOL! Yeah, it cracks me up, 2 movies in same envelope and one received days later:~)!

I live in a good postal area now. Two years ago, the f@%!g postal workers were stealing my movies. I would get them back 3-4 days later, the envelopes sealed with scotch tape, LOL! Or maybe were my neigbours stealing them, who knows...Bastards!!

10 days before they receive a movie though? Better not start that with me, BB just sent me an invitation, they're missing me:~)!:



This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 01 Apr 2008 @ 11:23

211.4.2008 15:11

In our neighborhood a few year back two kids were going through mail boxes mostly to steal videos. We would be a good neighborhood for that half of us have a service. When they started breaking into houses with lots of mail. The whole neighborhood was looking for two guys in hooded sweatshirts. They got word and it stopped.

With competition, they may have wised up. They are certainly way smarter the those fools at block buster. The were advertising the web access from their stores. Stealing away their own customers too stupid to understand how much money they could save by going to the web.

How stupid is that! After they steal away all their own customers they realize the brick and morder stores were losing money.

The other reason I send two in the mail is I count the days between the receive dates between the two disks. I never saw them come in on the same date. I didn't get that wiley until after I was being throttled.

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