RSSRevised Netflix Settlement Approved
By Nate Mook | Published May 2, 2006, 2:41 PM
A revised class-action settlement involving online DVD rental service Netflix has been approved six months after an original settlement was proposed. Netflix had been sued for promising "one day delivery" and "unlimited" rentals after it disclosed it delayed DVDs to frequent renters.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Thomas Mellon Jr. had taken issue with a number of points in the initial settlement, including a payout of $2.5 million to lawyers involved in the case. The FTC voiced its opposition in January saying, "the settlement would serve more as a promotional vehicle for Netflix."
Netflix users will now receive a one-month service level upgrade free of charge. This means that Netflix users subscribed to the 3 DVDs at-a-time program will be upgraded to 4 DVDs at-a-time for one month. Former subscribers can also apply to receive one month of free service.
Lawyers for both sides had originally crafted the proposal to allow Netflix to automatically bill customers after the free month. That option has been stricken from the new settlement, and the two primary lawyers in the case, Adam Gutride and Seth Safier, will now only receive $1.3 million.
420,000 individuals accepted the initial settlement. However, if the revised agreement encourages more users to sign up for a free month from Netflix, Gutride and Safier could receive another $1.1 million in fees.
In a statement, Netflix said it "settled the case in the best interest of all parties."
All he does is copy dvd's I would say! Why else would you want or need unlimted DVD's a month? I still think it is a good deal even if you only get 10 movies a month. I love Netflix.
1 month of higher service is useless really. I would take a free month of my current plan.
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|One month of higher service does me nothing if I can't use it very well due to throttling. So, that still leaves me with the question..
Are they still going to continue to throttle their movie service as bad as they do now?
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|I've already switched to blockbuster. I was with Netflix for almost a year. Shipping was the main reason I switched, but there were other problems as well. If I was lucky I would get maybe 3 movies a week. All of the movies shipped came from a town an hour away. I could send 3 movies back on 3 different days and it would never fail for me to get (a week later) my next 3 movies all on the same day. This happened too many times for it to have anything to do with the postal system. The other major problem I would have with them is that at least two movies a month came broken, yes shattered, and then at least two a month that were so scratched or something I couldn't play them in any of the 3 DVD players I own. After reporting these issues it would take another week to get the same movies. Now I am with blockbuster and have been for about two months. No the shipping isn't in one day, but two days and not one (knocking on wood) has come damaged at all. Also every week I get a coupon for a free in store rental and every month you get two free in store monthly rentals. So whatever the shipping is like at the moment I will always get 6 free movies that I can go pick up myself.
I'm sure I could go back to netflix and get that free month mentioned in the article, but there is noway I would waste my time with it. Knowing them they would all be damaged or I might get 3 movies for that month. No thanks Netflix.
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|Haha. Love the spin on mentioning the lawyers take! That is rarely mentioned in settlement articles.
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|Whew....thank god the lawyers made out okay. I was a bit worried about them. Lets all hope and prey they get that extra $1.1 million. If not, they might only be able to afford to have the Mercedes detailed twice a week. If they get screwed and have to survive on only the $1.3 million, I will donate my extra movie(s) for that 1 month...to them. Gosh, I hope they got pain and suffering moneys for those guys.
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|Hahaha! Well put!
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|When I first started all movies came from the nearest center in my state, The last two movies I recieved one came from Florida 1500 miles away That took 5 days. The other one from Mass. two states away.
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|Turnaround time is way too long!
If I get a movie from Netflix, watch it and mail it back to them the same day, I won't get the next movie till a week later!
When they receive and ship my movie, I get it the next day! The problem is, it takes them 5 days to get the movie I mailed to them. Are they holding my movie for 4 days before they say they've received it? They are also closed on the weekends, even though mail runs on Saturdays, so that doesn't help matters.
Netflix is a great service with a great selection, the only problem is, like I said, the turnaround time is way too long.
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|Maybe it depends on where you live.
I send a movie back Monday, they receive it Tue. I then get a new movie by Thursday at the latest.
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|Really?
It just doesn't make any sense. Why would it take 1 day one way and 5 days another? And I live in the greater Los Angeles area so it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere or something.
Just out of curiosity, what happens if you mail it on a Friday?
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|You can thank the postal service for that not Netflix. It may SEEM like it should take the same amount of time to go both to you and from you but it doesn't. Netflix presorts mail deliveries and mail is probably taken straight to a regional mailing center hub so it gets to you in one day. When you mail it though, your postal carrier has to pick it up, then it has to be sorted, then it has to be delivered to a regional hub THEN it will get to them in about a day. Deliveries from regional hubs are practically overnight, how long it takes to get to the hub is the trick.
Think about it, they said they'd deliver in a day and they did. How else could they properly time the postal service so that way it doesn't tell you they got it till the day before you get it even though they actually sent it 2 days ago. That's just not possible.
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|I have blockbuster.com not netflix, but I live down the street from a regional hub and I can literally do 12 turnarounds in a month thanks to that. Whenever I need to send the movies back I drive down the street and drop them off there in the mailbox out front. Two days later I have three new movies.
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|I'll give them a try. Maybe they will work out better for me.
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|It's called throttling. Blockbuster does it too, but Netflix is worse.
http://www.manuelsweb.com/netflix.htm
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|The whole distribution method is strange an archaic. I dumped netflix after My third shattered DVD arrived. No more. Hassle having to defend myself when I've done nothing wrong. Just let me download the damn flick.
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|yea same here. it takes about a day for them to get a movie from me, and about a day or two to get them. never have had a problem with netflix. i tried blockbuster for a while and had nothing but problems. would take at least a week to recive a single movie and never had anything in i wanted. then when i sent them back it would take about 4-5 days for them to get them. there was even a short time that i hadn't even recived a movie in over 2 weeks. so dont tell me netflix is much better. i rented about 20 dvd's from blockbuster and about 5 of them wernt even watchable. also, they have a poor selection of movies. i regret ever having using blockbuster.com.
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|Just one more reason that we need real tort reform in this country.
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|Why do the lawyers always get cash, yet the injured parties have to settle for worthless coupons and discounts on products that further benefit the company being sued? Ridiculous!
They should make the lawyers receive their payout in Netflix rentals too and see how they like it.
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|That's a great idea!
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|This is so bogus, this goes to serve the lawyers, not the end-users. What about 1.1 million in payouts to affected customers?
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|So, you would rather have $2.62 instead of a free month of higher service?
1.1 million divided by the 420,000 claims already made equals $2.62.
I'd rather have the free month of higher service which may not necesarily cost the company more money, but would benefit me just the same.
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