Netflix Free Trial

Name: Bhaskar Chitraju
November 15, 2004
Project 1
Netflix Free Trial

My project is based on Netflix DVD rental offer. I have made a contract with them on their online free trial. Netflix is one of the world’s largest online DVD rentals, and has over 25,000 titles. The purpose of my project is to review the Terms and Conditions of my contract and discuss the conditions found. Some of the Terms and Conditions that will be discussed are the duration of the free trial, monthly billing, automatic renewals, cancellations, movie delivery, and other common conditions such as age limitations and account terminations.

My free trial with Netflix lasts weeks. The free trial is only available for first time Netflix customers, and only on free trial may be redeemed per household. Before sign up, I was told that I would not be required to present my credit card details, and the offer was presented in such a way that my credit card wouldn’t be necessary for my free trials to be valid. I have found that the “no credit card required” was only for registering to be a Netflix member. As such, you do need a credit card to redeem your free trial; otherwise your free trial wouldn’t be valid. I have found this practice to be quite misleading and deceiving as I signed up with “no credit card details” in mind.

One of the conditions I found was that once I signup for the free trial, my monthly billing cycle will be authorized, and in some instances my available balance or credit limit may reflect the authorization, however, no charges will be made against the payment method unless I do not cancel prior to the end of the free trial period. So, my monthly subscription would start even if I am on a free trial offer, and I have to cancel prior to the end of my offer in order to redeem my free trial otherwise I will be charged their regular monthly fees.

Once I signed up, I was entered into their “3-at-a-time” month-to-month subscription that allowed me to rent as many DVD’s I want in a month with up to 3 titles at a time with no late fees or due dates. The conditions also stated that the monthly subscription fee is $17.99 plus any applicable tax at the end of my free trial period unless I cancelled prior to my free trial.

Other conditions were automatic renewals. My monthly subscription will be renewed automatically, and without prior notice unless I cancel my membership before it renews in order to avoid billing of subscription fees.

Since Netflix is an online DVD rental, its ability to send DVD’s depends on U.S. Postal Service. Therefore actual delivery times will vary, and if I lived in a place far off in United States, my ability to view “as many DVDs I want in a month” will be severely limited. As such, I may only be able see 3 to 4 DVDs a month depending on the place I live. I also wasn’t quite sure of Netflix terms and conditions regarding its international customers. It did provide sign-up for international members but I wasn’t able to find any specific information if you lived outside of U.S.

I have also found some specific conditions regarding cancellation of my subscription with Netflix. I can cancel my subscription with Netflix “anytime”, but I wouldn’t be able to recover any credit for partial monthly subscription. Upon cancellation, I would be given 7 days to return any outstanding rentals. If I failed to return such rentals, I would be additionally charged for such items.

Other common conditions I have found were that I must be at least 18 years of age to use Netflix services. The contest that Netflix provides can only be used for personal and non-commercial usage only, and I will be granted only a limited license. I may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, duplicate, publish, license, create derivate works from, or offer for sale any of the content that Netflix provides me. And as usual, Netflix may reserve the right to terminate or restrict the use of their service, without notice, for any or no reason whatsoever.

It can be said that there are a lot of “catches” regarding Netflix’s 2 week Free Trial. First, you would be charged regardless, and you must cancel prior to your free trial if you want your offer redeemed. The second “catch” was that you must provide your credit card details. Although at signup, it seemed like you do not need your credit card to enter their free trial. You must provide credit card details in order for the free offer to be valid, and the “no credit card required” was only for registering to be a Netflix member.

Netflix Trial

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