---
excerpt_separator: <br/>
category: technology
layout: post
title: so close, Netflix
date: '2009-08-31T12:54:00.000-04:00'
author: Anna Wiggins
tags:
- netflix
- rant
- Technology
modified_time: '2013-10-22T11:19:50.841-04:00'
blogger_id: tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4209116010564764361.post-5182228409816232070
blogger_orig_url: http://www.stringofbits.net/2009/08/so-close-netflix.html
---

I like Netflix.  I think they're a great service, reasonably priced, and they have completely replaced cable television for me.  However, I have found one problem.  According to Netflix:<br/><br/><blockquote><br/>If you are renting a series or seasons, we will ship the DVDs in order. That means:<br/>...<br/>* If there is a wait for a particular DVD in a series, will we wait until we ship you that DVD until we ship the next DVD in that series.<br/></blockquote><br/><br/>Which is great.  If I add, say, Excel Saga to my queue, I can be certain that I will get disc 1 first, followed by disc 2 and 3.  Under no circumstances will I have to worry about getting, say, disc 4 before disc 2.  Right?<br/><br/>Well, in theory.  In practice, some TV series (notably, Excel Saga) have discs missing completely.  These discs go into your "Saved DVDs" list instead of your queue, and they aren't considered to be discs with a "wait".  As a result, they get skipped over completely, and you get the next disc in the series that isn't missing.<br/><br/>Why am I complaining here instead of directly to Netflix?  Because Netflix doesn't have any reasonable way that I can find to open a bug report or provide feedback.  And I wanted to vent a little.