Wednesday
Jun182008
Netflix, you're making a HUGE mistake.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 10:44PM
Here's a shocking message that arrived in my inbox this evening:
I have to say that I'm extremely pissed off about this right now. I subscribe to the two-at-a-time/unlimited-per-month plan, and Valerie and I split the two DVDs between separate profiles. This allows us to maintain our own ratings for movies we watch, and the recommendation system (one of Netflix's main strengths, in my opinion) for each profile remains unpolluted by each other's differing tastes.
I'm calling B.S. on their reasoning for the change, too. I followed the link to the help page, and the "Why?" portion simply repeats the third paragraph from the email. Netflix has a solid reputation for going above and beyond customer service expectations, so maybe they'll offer a better explanation when I call them tomorrow, but I can't help feeling like their public reason is a PR answer. How will taking away a very useful feature (that I don't think is very complicated) improve the website?
I seriously hope there's sufficient customer push back to this ridiculous move. Otherwise, it looks like I'm going to drop my subscription to a single DVD, and get a second subscription for Valerie. This will bump up our cost by about $4 a month, but at least Valerie's recommendations won't be affected by my art-house flicks, and my recommendations won't be affected by her chick flicks.
Not cool, Netflix.
I have to say that I'm extremely pissed off about this right now. I subscribe to the two-at-a-time/unlimited-per-month plan, and Valerie and I split the two DVDs between separate profiles. This allows us to maintain our own ratings for movies we watch, and the recommendation system (one of Netflix's main strengths, in my opinion) for each profile remains unpolluted by each other's differing tastes.
I'm calling B.S. on their reasoning for the change, too. I followed the link to the help page, and the "Why?" portion simply repeats the third paragraph from the email. Netflix has a solid reputation for going above and beyond customer service expectations, so maybe they'll offer a better explanation when I call them tomorrow, but I can't help feeling like their public reason is a PR answer. How will taking away a very useful feature (that I don't think is very complicated) improve the website?
I seriously hope there's sufficient customer push back to this ridiculous move. Otherwise, it looks like I'm going to drop my subscription to a single DVD, and get a second subscription for Valerie. This will bump up our cost by about $4 a month, but at least Valerie's recommendations won't be affected by my art-house flicks, and my recommendations won't be affected by her chick flicks.
Not cool, Netflix.
tagged Film, Rants, Teh Interwebs
Film, Rants, Teh Interwebs
Reader Comments (6)
I’m going to drop my subscription to a single DVD, and get a second subscription for Valerie. This will bump up our cost by about $4 a month ...
No need to call Netflix tomorrow, as you have already stumbled on the rationale.
@Matthew Baldwin:
That's what I'm afraid of.
I switched back to Blockbuster way back when. But if Netflix can get their "Netflix Player" going - I'll be back.
@Eric:
Do you mean their online player or the set-top-box made by Roku which just came out?
I considered the possibility of checking out Blockbuster, but for me the recommendation system is too important, and Netflix's system top notch. And I've already rated close to 1200 movies on Netflix, something I don't feel like dealing with all over again, so they kinda have me locked in, in that regard.
Did not realize the Player (roku) was released. That is good news. That will be it for me -- If I can watch new releases and old favs on my TV -- without having to wait for the mail or driving to blockbuster - that is what I want. Now if we can get it like the hotels -- and order movies that are still in the theater -- on your TV without having to go to the theater.
Yup - you can get that here:
http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer/
From what I understand, though, it's currently the same limited selection available to the instant watching feature on the website, but that will probably improve with time.