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I had an unusual reason for starting my subscription with Netflix. I started dating a man who was a filmmaker, but his movies weren't that easy to find. One night he mentioned in passing that his movies were available through Netflix and I was off like a shot. Looking through their numerous options, I finally decided to go for the $24.99 plan. It let me rent four movies at any one time, keep them for as long as I want and send them back when I'm done.

Not long after I signed up, I started my own blog devoted to horror movies and filled up my queue with some recommended titles that my local places didn't carry. That's one of the things I love the most about Netflix, its availability of titles. In my area I only have a Hollywood Video and a Blockbuster. Hollywood Video has a fairly large selection, but they're a bit of a drive. Blockbuster on the other hand, sold half their store to a restaurant and cut down on their movies a lot. Their horror movie section now only takes up five shelves and they don't have a foreign language selection.

Netflix had some problems when I first signed up and awarded me an extra week free before they started charging me. It was great that I had three weeks free except that it took two weeks for them to send me my first titles because of a problem with the system. A few months after I started my subscription I moved to a new area and changed my address. Yet they still sent my movies to my old address, even though it was long after I switched my address. Luckily I was able to get my movies from my old address, but it was still a pain.

I've also noticed problems with some titles because I tend to pick the more rare and obscure titles. A few times I've rented movies from them that had to come from a processing center hundreds of miles away and they arrived days after my other movies. I also had a few movies taken off my queue because they're now out of print. Even though they were still listed in the program, they no longer rent them.

I have also had movies get lost in the mail. Once I sent back four movies at one time and only two of them arrived at the processing center. Luckily they let me report the movies as lost and sent me new ones in the mail. It was a nice touch and I'm glad they had that option. All in all I really enjoy my membership, but I'm not sure how long I'll continue it. It's hard for me to remember to send back my movies and I tend to keep them for longer than I should. I almost wish they had a reminder service after you kept movies for two weeks.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Eblin.
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