Netflix Can't Decide Whether Puerto Rico Is In The USA
Puerto Rico and other U.S. Territories are in sort of an awkward place. Are they part of America, or not? Sure, they can't vote in presidential elections, but they are on the back of a quarter. This confusion has led to problems for Netflix users in Puerto Rico. Netflix will provide them with DVDs-by-mail service at the same price as service in the 48 contiguous United States, but considerably slower. However, they won't let Puerto Rico customers stream movies over the Internet, which would be handy while they wait three or four days for their DVDs to show up.
Some tech-savvy people found workarounds to trick Netflix into streaming movies to their Roku players or other devices, but Netflix caught on and put a stop to that. iPhone application developer Héctor Ramos has taken up the cause, and is encouraging residents of Puerto Rico to cancel their Netflix memberships:
We have called out Netflix, seeking answers, and all they've said is that Instant Streaming is not supported outside of the 50 states. They haven't addressed the issue of why they are charging us the same price for half the service. Nor have they justified their reasons. Even Hulu, which once blocked Puerto Rico, changed their policy once they realized Puerto Rico IS PART OF THE UNITED STATES.
So, Netflix, while I understand the restrictions of your contracts with movie studios, which is it? Is Puerto Rico part of America, or not? If you're not going to provide them with a major feature of your service, why charge full price?
Netflix Excludes Puerto Rico, Charges Full Price [Héctor Ramos]
(Photo: dirigibleduck)
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Comments:
DC isn't one of the 50 states. Do residents there get Watch Instantly?
Puerto Rico could be a state at any time if they voted for it. However, statehood has been consistently voted down. The last time, in 1998, it was pretty close.
Perhaps netflix is simply promoting PR statehood. :P
This is why I am always worried about my residency in the District of Columbia. I feel without statehood, my claim to being part of the "United States of America" is tenuous, at best. I have seen, in fact, forms without a "DC" in their dropdown list of states. And, Netflix has been taking an extra day to process my returns. IT BEGINS.
Why don't they just become a state? I never understood the whole U.S. Territories, obviously netflix doesn't either.
Hi, I'm from Puerto Rico and am also a user of Netflix. It is very true what is going on here, and disappointing as well, but it goes far beyond Netflix as well. Not only can we not stream just from Netflix, but from many websites as well. We are also, for some reason, restricted in what we are allowed to buy over the internet as well as it seems, since many companies restrict what will and will not be shipped to us. For example, Amazon, Apple, and many other companies restrict what we may or may not by, forcing us to seek ways to bypass their restrictions, which comes at great expense for us. Yet, this restriction are applied to items and services that can be found here.
So if I were to buy a Mac, one can not buy it from Apple, we have to seek a reseller or store such as Best Buy, which, by the evidence provided on this very site, don't offer the best customer service. Furthermore, if we were to seek repairs, we can't even send the computer to Apple, we have to go through a third party, specifically Geek Squad, and have to deal with them so they will send it to Apple.
In Amazon's case we are restricted to buying only video games, movies, music, and books, among other things. This make sit really difficult to by other things, computers as an example, if we find other companies don't either have the prices we seek, or simply, as is most commonly seen, won't ship to us.
@sir_eccles: It doesn't take much for a free add-on to become a defacto part of the paid service in many people's minds.
@Daryl26:
I Copied this directly from Amazon
U.S. Protectorates (including Puerto Rico)
Only the following items can be shipped to U.S. Protectorates:
* baby items
* books
* DVDs
* music
* software
* toys
* VHS videos
* video games
This can be found here:
[www.amazon.com]
There are different legal protections in Puerto Rico -- it is not the same as simply being in one of the US states for trade purposes. Maybe that's why some companies do not simply and easily translate their operations to that jurisdiction.
And for people who say that Puerto Rico should "just become a state already" -- there are a lot of issues that are more complicated than your desire to be able to say that it's a state.
@kepler11: One of those issues being how many Puerto Ricans view the US in a very negative light because of past actions. Including, but not limited too, sterilizing women without their consent when they visited hospitals for other reasons, and testing potentially harmful birth control pills that permanently sterilized and cause permanent damage on many a women in this island. The issues go far beyond just economic and political ones.
The very same problems are present here in the US Virgin Islands (Another US territory ~50 miles east of Puerto Rico), although the mail service is so abysmal (I'm still waiting for some mail that was sent to me ~18 months ago) I've not tried Netflix. Luckily Hulu and CBS.com work without any problems.
Great article! I'm also from Puerto Rico and former Netflix customer. I also canceled my membership because of snail return times and no streaming.
Although it's true that Puerto Rico's situation is kind of confusing, at the end it's up to the company's management and how friendly they are with us. If there were a law discriminating against PR, then there wouldn't be ABC.com streaming, or Hulu. However, we're excluded from Disney's, NBC's, CBS's etc. streaming services.
Same with online stores. BH Photo, JR, Adorama happily ships everything to Puerto Rico and cheap! NewEgg will ship to Puerto Rico for an eye, and Amazon & others (even Walmart - can U believe that?) leave us behind in some or all of their offerings.
At least we have something in common with DC residents, now U know how we feel -worst.
Now, the best/worst part is: Isn't my US Department of the Treasury issued Dollars worth the same as the ones in mainland USA?
We are tired of being treated unequally in terms of these types of services. We can fight and die on meaningless wars in the dessert but we cannot have the same treatment from companies in the USA. We should switch to redbox instead.
The reason no one pays "extra" for streaming is because EVERY customer is paying for streaming. Netflix obviously calculated that whatever they currently make minus whatever the streaming feature costs them still will still make them money (probably counting on current customers not leaving, and making new customers with the new offering).
That last part of the equation could easily be upset if they start losing customers because of this inequitable business practice.
Even if the restriction is borne out of Netflix's contract with the movie studios, I guess Netflix has now been given an incentive to actually make sure the studios also know that Puerto Rico deserves to be included in their agreements. I honestly don't see why they wouldn't be, because, state or not, the same Federal laws that protect copyrighted content in the 50 states will protect it in any U.S. territory.
@benh57:
The residents of puerto rico could have a 100% turnout in favor of statehood, but unless congress approves it, it's pointless, since the decision is in their hands, not ours.
The residents of puerto rico could have a 100% turnout in favor of statehood, but unless congress approves it, it's pointless, since the decision is in their hands, not ours.
@kepler11: If it's a truly free part of the service, you shouldn't have to have a paid account to access it.
The residents of puerto rico could have a 100% turnout in favor of statehood, but unless congress approves it, it's pointless, since the decision is in their hands, not ours.
@kepler11: "Then Netflix came up with an even greater idea. Instant Streaming of movies! As part of your membership, with no extra cost...."
Hector even says it himself: No extra cost for the streaming movies. He is paying the same price for Netflix as he was before there was online streaming. It's not like they raised the price.
@calquist:
I think you do too... but with multiple people saying the same thing... well, y'know. It was the thing to do.
Distance between mainland and Puerto Rico is about 2,300 miles.
Distance between mainland and Hawaii is about 2,600 miles.
Netflix, don't be a hater.
The best trick I've learned thus far when having to ship to PR is to use Pennsylvania as the state.
Everything I've ordered to San Juan, PA 00907 has arrived on time to San Juan, PR 00907 ;)
@Corporate_guy: They could easily say that DC is in fact an enclave United States' 50 states as a whole and therefore "within" the 50 states.
Sorry, I meant:
Distance between mainland and Hawaii is about 2,600 miles.
Distance between mainland and Puerto Rico is about 1,000 miles.
@TCama: I have, in fact, spent the last two days watching "30 Rock" instantly from my fancy non-state address in DC.
@tse-tse-fly: Because as it stands, they get most of the benefits of being a state without most of the responsibilities?
@calquist: How do you know that all these customers had Netflix subscriptions before streaming was added? They market the streaming option quite prominently these days, so if I were new to the service, I'd expect to be getting everything that's advertised.
@calquist: Yes, you are correct. Unless we're both mistaken, Netflix did not increase the cost of their services when they added some movies to be available for streaming.
My husband and I cancelled our Netflix account as soon as we weren't able to stream using our Xbox 360 anymore. By giving consumers raw deals like this one, they are encouraging them to use torrents, etc... and wasting opportunities to make more money. I would much rather pay for a service for the convenience and ease of use, rather than use peer to peer technology to get my entertainment, but they don't leave you with much of a choice, do they?
@mkt3000: Some databases will recognize that the Zip doesn't match the state, though. I know our UPS program does.
@larrymac: Well, I just went off of what Hector, whose blog this article is based on, said. His price didn't go up when the switch took place, so why should he get a discount for being able to use a free service? I'm not saying it isn't fair, but I'm not sure a discount is the right solution.
And does Netflix advertising the streaming videos there? Never been to PR, but do they have the same Netflix commercials/website as us?
@larrymac: Once you cancel your service in Puerto Rico, one month later NF sends you an e-mail asking you to come back and enjoy "unlimited instant streaming and no late fees". I think that's wrong, even if there is a good reason they can't offer it in Puerto Rico.
@NessaDeion: Considering there's laws against false advertising here, especially since it's very prominently announced in every store I've ever been in, isn't Netflix liable for promoting a feature that they can not provide?
@catskyfire: Do they indeed? What responsibilities does DC shirk in order that its citizens can be taxed by the federal government without benefit of voting representation in Congress or the right to govern themselves in matters not constitutionally reserved for the federal government?
@tvh2k: Thank you. They seem to think they can enjoy all the privledges of being a state without coughing up a third of their pay. Sorry, but no. You're a territory. Territory != state.
"charging us the same price for half the service"
A little break down in logic there. Roku streaming is a no fee extra to Netflix. You don't pay extra for streaming. Following his logic, anyone without a Roku should be demanding a refund.