Isn't this covered by NAFTA?

December 15, 2005 9:18 AM

I want to buy a NetFlix gift certificate for my parents. They live in the U.S. I live in Canada. The online order form (including credit card info) can't handle my non-US address. Furthermore, the customer service number isn't accessible from Canada. Any suggestions, ranging from alternative access method to alternative DVD by mail service providers?

Semi-rhetorical rant addendum: I understand for whatever licensing reasons that Netflix (and perhaps most other similar services) can't deliver DVD's outside of the US, but why take a nearly isolationist view on who might want to order gifts for US residents? It just seems a bit self-defeating. ... And stepping back for a moment ... perhaps not as important as say ... the impending British misteltoe crisis.

Feel free to comment on this, but I'm really hoping someone can help me resolve my online trans-border shopping dilemna before Christmas. Thanks!

posted by Swack to Shopping (12 answers total)

Have you tried e-mailing customer service?
posted by lucasks at 9:40 AM on December 15, 2005

I know Blockbusters has an online rental service similar to Netflix. I dont know if they have the same restrictions though - you have to create an account to find out
posted by darsh at 9:40 AM on December 15, 2005

Best answer: Do you have any friends or family (besides your parents obviously) in the US? Transfer them some money and have them purchase it for you. Seems the easy solution.
posted by panoptican at 9:49 AM on December 15, 2005

Response by poster: Their contact page doesn't actually list a customer service email address. Closest thing I could find was a "Suggestions" webform. I got an auto generated message in reply to this to let me know that "Due to
the overwhelming number of great ideas we get from customers" they can't respond to all suggestions.

My half-completed gift purchase did generate a thank you message inviting me to come back and complete my order. Replying to this email ([e-mail]) netted an "undeliverable" message.

Still waiting to be impressed.
posted by Swack at 9:51 AM on December 15, 2005

This might be a bit convoluted, but you could change your CC billing address to that of your parents, make the transaction, then change it back. I change my billing address every nine months between my college address and my permanent address with no problems.
posted by vkxmai at 9:53 AM on December 15, 2005

I just got off the phone with them for you. I twisted the woman's arm and got a non 800 number for you: 1-408-220-3175. She didn't seem to think they can enter non-US zip codes as the billing address, but she hadn't ever tried. I just called that number and it works - it seems to take a minute at the beginning to connect to the regular phone-tree system, but it does work.
posted by fionab at 9:57 AM on December 15, 2005

Greencine is another option - they might be more forgiving about the billing address.
posted by fionab at 9:59 AM on December 15, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks a lot fionab for the direct phone number. I just got off the phone with them and had anticipated resolving this. However, I just can't seem to convince them to take my money! The customer service guy I spoke with understood that the DVD's weren't destined for a Canadian address -- that I just wanted to give him a VISA number to charge for certificates (I don't need to receive ANYTHING in the mail). But no doing. They're not capable of this kind of transaction!

Gobsmacked. Time to make that charity gift donation instead.
posted by Swack at 10:55 AM on December 15, 2005

Maybe call your credit card company? They might give you some kind of generic billing address in the US to use for verification or have another work-around. I know, this stuff drives me nuts and I've dealt with it for a long time. Now I'm in the US with both a Canadian cc and an Amercan cc and it works out well on both sides of the border.
posted by fionab at 11:02 AM on December 15, 2005

I tried to buy a Palm for someone in the USA, (I'm in Australia) from Palm, and they flat out refused. It was their policy. Although I was shipping to the USA, not Aus, they seemed to think I was going to re-sell it somehow, although Palms are cheaper here. It was insane. My solution was to go through a third party, Amazon. I don't suppose that helps.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:10 PM on December 15, 2005

It really has nothing to do with the company, aside from the fact that they chose a poor billing handler. I would say a large portion (most? I dunno) of online retailers farm out their credit card billing to third party vendors who specialize in that stuff. Chances are pretty good that since 99.99% of Netflix's business is contained entirely within the US, they chose a US-only billing solution. I'm guessing they were right, it really is not possible for them to put that info into their system.
posted by antifuse at 2:02 AM on December 16, 2005

Response by poster: While I find the situation personally inconvenient, I think your explanation, antifuse, is pretty likely: they're just not set up to deal with an international customer base in any way. (Not a conspiracy afterall).

Given how relatively easy international online commerce has become in the last few years (certainly finding products and vendors, and thanks to company's like PayPal, purchasing too), it just seems a little counterintuitive that a company which seems to have broad appeal to net-savvy early adopters would be stuck with a system that limits potential revenue.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your insights and suggestions.
posted by Swack at 9:23 AM on December 16, 2005