Wednesday, April 23 2003

Hello XXXX, Thanks for your message. I apologize for any misunderstanding. The quality of service a subscriber receives is not determined by the size of program, or length of membership. All subscribers are treated equally, including those on free trials. If Netflix chose to limit the types and amounts of movies that customers could rent, we would not open Distribution Centers throughout the country.

When a newly released movie becomes available for shipping, it is immediately placed in the "Available" status. This is because the status is estimated according to overall inventory. Once we begin shipping the new releases according to its corresponding queue, the inventory status is updated. Please remember due to constant inventory fluctuation, all inventory information should only be used as an approximation. This is why we are unable to guarantee that a specific title will be in stock. Rather, if your top choice isn't immediately available, we often wait to see whether another customer returns a copy of that title. If, after 24 hours, we still haven't received a copy, we'll send your next available choice.

Please note that all expected "wait" designations are simply estimated according to overall demand and are not dynamic to each individual customer. In other words, a title that is flagged "short wait," may nevertheless ship to you immediately upon receipt of your DVD rental. There are overall estimated "short wait", "long wait" and "very long wait" status designations, but these do not indicate the exact position for you in regards to receiving this title. To have a title that is listed on a wait status shipped to you, three criteria must be met: 1) We must have an actual copy of the movie. 2) You made a recent return, and have an open slot for the shipment of another rental. 3) You are the highest person on the "Virtual Waiting List" who meets the two requirements above.

So, keeping in mind that we will always ship titles from the top of your rental queue, it is possible that while a copy had come in it was listed far down on your list. Therefore it may have been sent to another customer, while you were shipped the title at the top of your rental queue. Also, if the above three criteria did not happen at roughly the same time, then the title is shipped to the next subscriber who meets the aforementioned criteria. Please be advised we continue to process returns as they are delivered to us by the USPS. The warehouse is only limited in that it is not a 24 hour facility, and they do not work on weekends or holidays.

Review of your account indicates you rent an average of 10 movies a month which is excellent. We hope you continue to see the benefits of unlimited rentals with no due dates or late fees! If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. 

Thanks, XXXX
 Netflix Customer Service 

To view the terms of your Unlimited Rental Service Subscription please click on the following link; http://www.netflix.com/Terms