Netflix = Bad Customer Service

If you have a problem with Netflix and need to get in contact with their customer service, good luck finding a number on the website. If you search hard enough, there is an option to e-mail them. But how long will it take Netflix to respond?

The website appears to be all about customer satisfaction, but yet they are almost impossible to reach. Hacking Netflix, the fan website I mentioned earlier has an 800 number to call, but why isn’t that on the actually website.

I have experience in customer service, and people LOVE when they can talk to a live person and do not have to use e-mails. Large companies like Amazon.com have a 24 hour customer service. You can talk to a live person at any time. Netflix doesn’t even come close to that.

One subscriber goes as far as to call Netflix “weasels”:

“It turns out that Netflix is engaging in the weasel-like behavior of hiding its phone number from paying customers….Note to Reed Hastings: Hiding your company’s phone numbers shows a lack of respect for your paying customers.”
http://blog.moertel.com/articles/2006/08/31/netflix-dont-act-like-weasels

I AGREE!

Netfilx: Throttling

On MSNBC.com., an article was written about Netflix practing throttling:

“The little-known practice, called “throttling” by critics, means Netflix customers who pay the same price for the same service are often treated differently, depending on their rental patterns….”

According to this article from The Associated Press, if you are a heavy Netflix user, a tag is placed on your account. After you have received 9 or so DVDs in one month, a delay is placed on your account for the rest of the Month

 

 Check out the rest of the article. It is pretty awesome.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11262292/

 

Titles Not Held Locally

There is a website devoted to blogging about Netflix (www.HackingNetflix.com)

 

Last week, a post was made about delays from Netflix because DVDs are not sent from local distribution centers (DC). This can cause delays to up to five days…

“…In an effort to try and get the first DVD in my queue to me, Netflix has sent it from San Jose, CA (I’m in Boston). That’s 4-day service as opposed to the next day service I’m used to. I would have preferred the older method where the movie wouldn’t be available and they’d send the next available DVD from my local shipping center whether it was #1 or #10 on my queue. I returned a movie last Monday and would normally have had my next DVD on Wednesday, but instead I’m scheduled to get it today because it’s not available locally.”

 

Others commented about the old method Netflix used. If a DVD was going to take a while to arrive, it would skip over that one in the queue. But users said they have them in order for a reason.

 

I’ll end with a quote from a comment left about this topic at Hacking Netflix:

“Damned if you do and damned if you don’t”

Netflix Playing Favorites Part 3

 

I had a request to have more information about Netfilx playing favorites. After conducting some blog searching, it appears that old users will usually receive a DVD in about four days, while new subscribers will receive them the next business day.

 

My question to Netflix is……Why is there a delay at all???

Another Anti-Netflix User!!!

I found a fellow blogger that is a fan of the video rental stores. There is a post on his blog that discusses democracy, communism, and Netflix. This pretty much made my whole night. Check it out!!

http://vgsmart.blogspot.com/2006/10/netflix-communism-and-you.html

Free Trial???

If you are a new user to Netflix, they offer you a free trial. Normally you pay a flat fee for the entire month and can have up to three DVDs at a time. To attract new users, Netflix is advertising a free trial.

 

This appears that you would have month to try it out, since they charge a monthly fee, right??

 

WRONG!!

 

The free trial only lasts two weeks! After the free trial is over (two weeks) your credit card is charged! So you do not get the entire month to test out the service. Doesn’t seem free to me.

 

Check out the site www.netflix.com

Netfilx is stingy and misleading.

Netflix Never Wants You to be Movie-less

The other day I observed my friend login to Netflix. She received an emailing stating that she needs to add more movies to her “queue.” Once the current ones are returned, if she doesn’t have enough movies in her queue then none will be sent. As she selected new movies something interesting happened. Netflix made suggestions about other films she would like.

My friend enjoys the service but was having a hard time selecting more for her queue. She explained to me that there are not a lot of movie she does not want to see right now and doesn’t have a lot of time to watch them because of midterms and school work. But on the other hand, she is paying for the service and didn’t want to waste her money. Halloween is approaching so she selected “The Shining” and “Urban Legend.”

 

Netflix never wants you to be movie-less. Which makes sense, you are paying for a service to send you movies, but look at the habits it is enforcing.

There is ALWAYS a movie waiting for you. Netflix makes you feel like you ALWAYS have to have a movie, even if you don’t want one. The e-mail is a reminder that you could be movie-less and are paying for a service. Netflix is forcing you to watch movies. I asked my friend who she watches her movies with. She said sometimes with her roommate or boyfriend, but a lot of the time, by herself.

 

Netflix encourages social isolation. This is sad and a little scary.

Box Office Sales

The L.A. Times had an article about the impact of recent technology. Guess what company was mentioned? Yep…Netflix…

“… You can only unleash so many TiVos and iPods, Netflix accounts and digital downloads before something’s bound to happen.

In the end, even King Kong couldn’t lift Hollywood out of the dumps, try as he — and Harry Potter and the Narnia kids — might….

“We wouldn’t want to repeat 2005 at the box office,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitors Relations Inc. “Not a great year.”

Box-office grosses look likely to be down 5 percent from 2004, with attendance down 7 percent, he estimates.

What’s to blame? Mostly audiences with more entertainment options…”

(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=2&did=952683781&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1161233339&clientId=8974)

BOTH Movie Theaters and Blockbuster

I wanted to take this opportunity to respond to a comment:

“So, you’re saying if Netflix was terminated, more people would leave their houses to see movies in the theaters? What about Blockbuster?”

Comment by luckylysie

Yes, I do believe if Netflix no longer existed then more people would leave their houses. People would leave their houses to go the movies AND to Blockbuster. I don’t mind trips to the video store. It gets people out of the house. I prefer going to the theaters over driving to the video store, but BOTH are better than Netfilx.

A Plan of Action to Help Save the Movie Theaters

I think the opera houses have the right idea to fight Netflix, but do they have a strong enough following to make a profit from $20 tickets?

I think the movie theaters should try this attack as well. Instead of raising the prices of tickets, they could lower the prices. 5 to 6 years ago, students and senior citizens could see a movie for $5.50 and adults for $7. These prices could bring back the audiences the movies have lost due to Netflix.

(To help some confused the title of this post was change on 10/10/06)