Netflix HELP!!

March 24, 2006 8:33 PM

Netflix Filter: My Netflix acct/Netflix tech. support is driving me crazy! HELP!!

The story:

Out of the blue, a few days ago, I stopped being able to see my entire queue. The page just cuts off, at about 69 flix; none of the normal end-of-page items are there, the page is just incomplete, scrolling just stops. At the top, it still says 498 movies (yes, I know, I'm a Netflix nutter...), and Netflix tech support confirms that my queue does still have that many items. I can even still see the whole queue list using Netflix's RSS view...Fine. I just can't access any of the selections or page options below #69 on the real queue page, where the view cuts off.

I've explained to NF email tech staff, over and over, that I've tried logging in and out of the acct. I've tried logging in from a different computer. I've tried logging in from a different browser. I've tried looking at my queue using Netflix Freak software. I've gone to the publlic library and tried logging in there (yet a third browser and computer, a different ISP). Always the same: On my acct, the queue, and the queue page, cuts off at 69, with no end-of-page items visible.

I've exchanged at least a dozen emails with the NF support folks, explaining all this, and they STILL keep sending me brief, identical canned responses about checking with my ISP. Checking with the browser tech support. Anything but offering a useful reply, a work-around, or even any sense that they are really reading my messages. Exactly which browser or ISP should I check with, if I were to follow their advice??

Before I cancel my acct, simmer down, join up again with a new name and email, and then manually load all 500 flix back into my new queue all over again, one at a time, I'm turning to you folks:

Does ANYbody here know how I can actually speak to a living being at Netflix, have any thoughts about how to get thru to the email tech support staff, have a suggestion about troubleshooting this from my end, even have an idea about how to automate loading up a new queue from a text list.....ANYthing...?

Thank you.

posted by dpcoffin to computers & internet (12 comments total)

According to GetHuman, call Netflix at 800‑279‑5688 and say "customer service."
posted by ericb at 8:42 PM on March 24, 2006

I just tried the GetHuman suggestion. It worked, but said that there are no agents currently available and to call back during 'business hours.' If I were you, I'd try on Monday in the afternoon.
posted by ericb at 8:45 PM on March 24, 2006

This happened to me, too. Everything just reappeared twelve hours later.
posted by glibhamdreck at 8:57 PM on March 24, 2006

It seems likely that your queue is fully intact, and that things are messed up on the "viewing" end. I think as well the fact that the web page cuts off prematurely rather than loading to completion supports this. My guess is also that Netflix's idea of tech support revolves around low-paid grunts answering common questions with cut-and-paste replies.

So, on to solving your problem. The first step is to save your entire queue via the RSS feed. That way, you have a hard-copy list of the whole thing. More importantly, you also have each movie referenced by its movieid: a code number that is an internal reference for each movie.

By navigating to http://www.netflix.com/AddToQueue?movieid=12345678 you can add movies to the queue.

I dont think it would be that hard, given a list of movieids, to write a javascript function to load all of those URLs sequentially.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you delete a single movie from your queue? Will you see 68 movies? Or will you still see 69, with one that was previously below the fold popping into view?
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 9:05 PM on March 24, 2006

This happened to me once, too, for a day or two. I don't remember for sure whether I deleted something from the queue and that made everything work again or if, like glibhamdreck, I just waited a while until it cleared itself up.
posted by Acetylene at 9:36 PM on March 24, 2006

As a troubleshooting measure, you've tried it in different browsers?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:37 PM on March 24, 2006

oops, sorry, reading is FUNdamental....
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:37 PM on March 24, 2006

Up until you said that you'd tried from a terminal in the library, I was convinced that this was a case of "clueless firewall admin blocks all ICMP and breaks path MTU discovery." But the fact that it still does it from there probably means this is not the case.

Since it seems you are desperate, try setting your MTU to something smaller than the standard 1500 (like around 1480) and see if that has any effect on the problem. If that does fix it, that means that somebody has their firewall or router set up wrong -- and not necessarily even you or netflix, it could be at any point along the path from you to them.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:04 PM on March 24, 2006

For a temporary fix / backup, have you considered any Netflix queue management software?
posted by glibhamdreck at 10:55 PM on March 24, 2006

This happened to me too once. I emailed customer service, but before they got back to me a few days later the movies reappeared. I still have the email I received from customer service, and it said "Typically, these problems are temporary technical difficulties, and we ask that you attempt the action again." I'd encourage you to back up your queue or at least have a text copy of it somewhere (I also have 400+ movies and I would hate to re-add them all), but I think if you wait this one out it will correct itself.
posted by apple scruff at 11:03 PM on March 24, 2006

OhMiGod. My queue just fixed itself...after 4 tremulous, terrible days. So, I guess I just had to jump up and down wailing and waving my arms in public to make it work! I see...

Hey, folks, thanks; great to learn about gethuman, and learn that I’m not alone....and would you believe I also just got an 11th email from N, finally giving me a phone number and a schedule? Do you think they read MeFi?

To M_Smart, btw: I didn’t have the courage to mess with the queue entries myself, but it did shift itself as returns came in, without correcting the view problem, fwiw.

So, I guess maybe I can at last start to consider myself an old-Netflix-hand for real now, right? After 5 mostly happy years... Thanks again.
posted by dpcoffin at 11:47 PM on March 24, 2006

Hi - I know it was solved for you, but I may have found a way to force it to be fixed (should anyone else find this post in their searches): when it happened to me, I moved one of the movies in my visible queue to a number higher than what was shown (ie - mine stopped at 59, so I entered "65" in one of the number slots and hit refresh). Then when it reloaded the page, all the movies were available.

I also had emailed Netflix and got very little help, so was very relieved when the above worked.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 11:02 AM on March 25, 2006