Trim the Fat Tuesday: The Netflix DVDs

We've already cut back on our on-screen entertainment, but I'm taking it a step further by 

Canceling the Netflix DVDs we get in the mail.

Earlier this year we cut back on the DVD portion of our Netflix subscription because we found that we weren't really watching all that many of these movies. They would come in the mail and then gather dust near the TV when we got busy. I mean, we had a copy of The Sound of Music lying around for six months.

So it wasn't that painful to dial back our rentals to just two DVDs per month.

But here's the thing. Since returning The Sound of Music and vowing to get better about actually watching the movies we get, over 50 percent (5 out of the last 8!) of the discs have been damaged to the point of being unwatchable. They skip, they pixelate, they freeze. 

And the killer is that every single movie that I actually wanted to watch (meaning, not Kirk's sci-fi or the kids' cartoons) was messed up. Every one of them. 

Over the weekend we were trying to watch The Town (finally), and it managed to freeze and skip over a few minutes of all the best, most suspenseful parts. It was ri-goddamn-diculously awful.

As soon as the movie was over, I flipped open the laptop with the intention of writing a strongly worded email to Netflix. 

Well.

Guess what?


THEY DON'T HAVE AN EMAIL CONTACT FORM. Just that cute suggestion to call.

Excuse me? 

That was it. Canceled. 


(Ok, so we kept the streaming. That works fine, and I'm not about to miss Season 2 of Orange Is the New Black just to prove a point.)

I'm just bummed that my carefully worded rage will not be received by anyone. They should know how absolutely unacceptable this service has become, but I am definitely not going to pick up the phone to do it. It's 2014.

Also, I despise talking on the phone.

So, thanks to a volatile cocktail of crappy customer service and righteous indignation, I have managed to save us another $4.99 per month.

Thanks for nothing, Netflix.

Savings per month: $5

Total savings for April: $490.50 (this month's new savings plus the savings already in place from previous months!)

Total savings in 2014: $1,244

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