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Netflix computer problems continue

Netflix is shipping again, but it's not all good news

Michael Horowitz

Michael Horowitz wrote his first computer program in 1973 and has been a computer nerd ever since. He spent more than 20 years working in an IBM mainframe (MVS) environment. He has worked in the research and development group of a large Wall Street financial company, and has been a technical writer for a mainframe software company.

He teaches a large range of self-developed classes, the underlying theme being Defensive Computing. Michael is an independent computer consultant, working with small businesses and the self-employed. He can be heard weekly on The Personal Computer Show on WBAI.

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Michael Horowitz

Isn't it always like this? Yesterday I wrote gushing nice comments about Netflix and today, I get sucked into their latest problem.

I'm a Netflix customer, but since I wasn't expecting a DVD delivery in the last few days, I didn't expect to be impacted by their recent shipping problems. At first, I wasn't. But, they just (Sunday August 17, 2008 around 8PM ET) sent an email (see below) that says they are about to re-send my most recent DVD again. This is a movie that I received a few days ago.

For Tue: The Bank Job
From: Netflix Shipping
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:02:53 -0700 (PDT)
******************************************
NETFLIX - Movie Shipped
******************************************
We have shipped: The Bank Job
http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70087585
Arriving on or around: Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008

From what I had read, their computer problems caused delays in sending out DVDs. But now it appears they also lost track of what they had previously shipped.

Then too, there is inconsistency. According to the DVDs at Home section of my queue (see below), the very same movie that I can expect to arrive on Tuesday is shipping on Wednesday.


At least my comment yesterday about their needing better computer nerds stood the test of time.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.