We signed up with Netflix for a free 30 day trial. I wanted to watch the movie "Howard the duck" one day last week.

We filled out all their forms, and gave them all the info they wanted, and we joined.

Once we joined, I tried to bring up the movie to watch online, and it said that it was not available in that format, and I had to have it delivered. Since I really wanted to see it RIGHT AWAY, the account then became useless to me, and I canceled it within a few minutes of joining.

Then, I noticed that there was $8.78 taken out of our bank account. I am the disabled victim of an uninsured drunk driver, and we get by on social security benefits. We don't have money to just piss out for several days while some big corporation dicks around with it. I say that because they kept our money for 5 days.

Netflix claims to have "tested" our account. The first authorized transaction (had we kept our membership) was scheduled for Jan 9th.

I know all about testing an account in an online transaction. Paypal does it with change. They deduct 2 amounts that are both less than 20 cents, and put it right back as soon as you enter the amounts into your Paypal account. We have had other tests on our account that were also put right back.

Now, Netflix is not the only corp that does this for such a long time. We applied for a Clear wireless account once at a phone store, where we gave the store clerk our Visa check card. Our account had enough for the opening payment (which was, like, $44.00), and few dollars more. They apparently tried to take an added $20.00 along with the 44, and when they couldn't, they denied us an account. Afterward, they had that $20.00 on hold for several days.

So, knowing that these corporations can test your account with change, and can return it nearly immediately, there is no reason for them to do what they have done to us.

Netflix has lost all interest in customer service. They are increasing their rental rates for monthly service(for me, $3.00 per month)at the same time they are unable to acquire new releases on their release dates. For example, Inception was available for sale on December 7th and available for rental from Blockbuster the same day. Netflix will not rent it until January 4th. Yesterday, December 20, I noticed that they were shipping me 3 DVDs that were far down in my queue. The DVDs I wanted which were numbers 1, 2, 3, were not. I spoke with a customer service representative named Ebony who apologized and stated she would have those three DVDs shipped to me on Tuesday, the 21st. They are not being shipped. When I called to ask why, I was told that they were on wait lists and would ship as soon as possible. The representative I spoke with today wanted to know Ebony's FULL NAME which seems to be some kind of excuse. Keith K Johnson, the rep I spoke with today, seemed to think it amusing that I would be angry about not getting what I expected. I have rented from Netflix for over 6 years and this is a continuation of bad experiences with them over the past 2 years. I could rent from Blockbuster, but they don't carry the indie and foreign films I like.

Have been charged for netflix on my debit card and now there is a charge on my credit card and did not order from netflix.

A monthly charge appeared on my MasterCard account without any approval from me. I have never signed up for their services.

Most of the DVDs I order from Netflix are unplayable. They are damaged and glitchy. Part of the way through watching the movies, they mess up and I have to send them back. This ruins the movie experience, especially when you watch almost the whole thing, then it messes up during the ending. I notify them of the damaged ones, but It keeps happening. Once, I sent a movie back with a request to receive another one of the same title and the 2nd one was damaged too. I wish they had a better screening process. The way the site is set up, there is no way to send a hand-typed message to ask them about it. I really like the price for the service, prompt deliveries, variety of selections and the instant movies; however their practice of sending so many damaged movies is unacceptable.