Angry Customers Flood Netflix's Twitter, Facebook

[exfileme]

Netflix, in the self-interest of filling its pockets with even more revenue, may have just shot itself in the foot.

Angry Customers Flood Netflix's Twitter, Facebook : Read more

 

[zebassist230]

meanwhile, in a place where netflix doesnt exist, in a continent called europe, people rent dvd's for dirt cheap...

 

[NapoleonDK]

No kidding. As a Netflix subscriber since December 2010, I am not amused.

 

[gurboura]

Oh stop whining. If you don't like, then don't POST about canceling, actually do it. They have every right to increase the costs of their plans, it's their business. People don't understand how much it's going to cost Netflix to keep providing the content people want once their current contracts expire (Sony anyone?).

Netflix is still a hell of a lot cheaper than going out to the movies and dealing with screaming babies, screaming people, and the annoyances there.

 

[Anomalyx]

And they couldn't just add an $8/mo DVD-only plan because.... why?

Greed.

 

[guyjones]

These people protesting the prices increases are being totally unreasonable. All articles point to the content providers (TV networks; movie studios) playing hardball with Netflix on negotiations for prices of future content delivery. Netflix needs the money from a price increase. They're not raising prices on a whim.

And, even with the price increases, Netflix is still a good deal, far superior to Cable TV.

 

[restatement3dofted]

Kevin, it's sort of pretentious of you to assume that this is just a ploy by Netflix to "fill its pockets with even more revenue" - it seems as if you, just like the rest of the people freaking out over this, haven't actually done any research.

Their press release clearly stated that the reason for un-bundling and increasing the price was to ensure that their rates reflected the underlying costs associated with providing the services. If you look to other sources, you'll see that some analysts are projecting that their annual costs for licensing on the streaming side could increase from about $180M in 2010 to as much as almost $2 billion in 2012, once their current contracts expire (see this article). Given that their current pricing scheme isn't necessarily an accurate reflection of their costs, and that said costs are likely to skyrocket in the next year or so, they have to do something to ensure they can continue to provide those services at a reasonable rate - if one approach is unbundling and charging two separate rates, so be it.

For you to just blindly assume that their motivation is profit, however, seems like irresponsible journalism to me.

 

[Lan]

[citation][nom]gurboura[/nom]Oh stop whining. If you don't like, then don't POST about canceling, actually do it. They have every right to increase the costs of their plans, it's their business. People don't understand how much it's going to cost Netflix to keep providing the content people want once their current contracts expire (Sony anyone?).Netflix is still a hell of a lot cheaper than going out to the movies and dealing with screaming babies, screaming people, and the annoyances there.[/citation]

I couldn't have said it better myself. If people don't like netflix, then cancel, it's that simple. But respect the right of the company to make and enforce their own policies.

 

[Kami3k]

Thank you, finally some common sense from comments!

This is not Netflix's doing, they are doing it to prepare for other companies to screw them because so many people are now using Netflix streaming instead of watching TV or buying movies.

 

[TheDane]

Does people still use DVD (with their crappy rez)???

 

[kinggraves]

There's been a lot of theories thrown around. The main one is that they want to cut the DVD-only plan altogether and they're trying to get people to switch over to instant. The problem with their logic is that their streaming service is terrible. It depends on Silverlight and has a lot of bad/non-mainstream releases. If they were offering new releases, even the ones they get several weeks after rental stores, at great quality, THEN I would gladly pay the extra fees. They're putting out a lot of promises of improvement, but the extra fees should have come after the improvement, not before. They couldn't have expected a 6 dollar increase to go over smoothly with anyone when they aren't giving any better products.

Also, Becker is full of it. Originally the streaming content was the add-on, not DVDs. Either way, you do not charge 2 full prices for a package deal, packages are intended to lower the prices of both services. As it stands, I'm left to decide which service I really need, because it isn't worth the price of both

The sad part is that this might still work out for them. They've put brick and mortar rental stores out of business, so there's little other options for the DVDs. Redbox has a limited selection so it can't meet everyone's needs. Netflix is basically trying to pull a similar stunt to most cable/ISP providers, they will set the prices to whatever they want since they don't have enough competition and the customer will be forced to pay up or do without.

Something tells me Antisec is going to be paying them a visit.

 

[dapneym]

[citation][nom]gurboura[/nom]Oh stop whining. If you don't like, then don't POST about canceling, actually do it. They have every right to increase the costs of their plans, it's their business. People don't understand how much it's going to cost Netflix to keep providing the content people want once their current contracts expire (Sony anyone?).Netflix is still a hell of a lot cheaper than going out to the movies and dealing with screaming babies, screaming people, and the annoyances there.[/citation]

Actually, it's called a boycott, and that's how it works. If the people who cancel don't tell Netflix why they are cancelling, then any sort of boycott doesn't work. Aside from that, I can understand why people are upset. Many of them are upset because as long-time customers they feel that the company is approaching this the wrong way (and it really is). Just because they don't like it and are complaining to Netflix doesn't mean they are "whining" about it. As for me, I will likely stay a Netflix customer as I have no need to get their DVD plan, but I can absolutely understand why people are upset.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

[citation][nom]restatement3dofted[/nom]Kevin, it's sort of pretentious of you to assume that this is just a ploy by Netflix to "fill its pockets with even more revenue" - it seems as if you, just like the rest of the people freaking out over this, haven't actually done any research.Their press release clearly stated that the reason for un-bundling and increasing the price was to ensure that their rates reflected the underlying costs associated with providing the services. If you look to other sources, you'll see that some analysts are projecting that their annual costs for licensing on the streaming side could increase from about $180M in 2010 to as much as almost $2 billion in 2012, once their current contracts expire (see this article). Given that their current pricing scheme isn't necessarily an accurate reflection of their costs, and that said costs are likely to skyrocket in the next year or so, they have to do something to ensure they can continue to provide those services at a reasonable rate - if one approach is unbundling and charging two separate rates, so be it.For you to just blindly assume that their motivation is profit, however, seems like irresponsible journalism to me.[/citation]
These news articles just aren't held to the same standards as high profile reviews on Tom's. They're often highly opinionated, sarcastic, and at times riddled with inaccuracies and poor fact checking. And there are very rarely any corrections or retractions made despite user comments (at times) plainly pointing out errors. In fact, I remember a few times when articles the were especially 'blatantly inaccurate' simply disappeared after a number of hours, without any explaination... very bad in my opinion.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]Anomalyx[/nom]And they couldn't just add an $8/mo DVD-only plan because.... why?Greed.[/citation]
Seems to me Netflix is just getting ahead of the increased licensing cost of movies once their contract is up, since the content providers are pissed that Netflix is taking their business. Can't blame them for staying ahead of the incoming wave, they know the increase is coming the companies have all but stated it outright, so they are just doing now what will happen anyway.

 

[stryk55]

[citation][nom]Camikazi[/nom]Seems to me Netflix is just getting ahead of the increased licensing cost of movies once their contract is up, since the content providers are pissed that Netflix is taking their business. Can't blame them for staying ahead of the incoming wave, they know the increase is coming the companies have all but stated it outright, so they are just doing now what will happen anyway.[/citation]

Exactly. Articles to this effect have appeared online in the past few days, most notably with Sony Pictures content being pulled. The new licensing agreement is going to squeeze as much from Netflix as possible.

Face it...this is always what happens once a distribution service becomes very profitable.

 

[Guest]

23mil x $12 x 12months =3312000000
23mil x $16 x 12months =4416000000
a billion and some change raise.. not bad for doing nothing you didn't do the day before..
If all their movies could be streamed.. but they wont be...
If their wasn't a waiting period for new releases.. but there will be...
It would be diffrent if I was getting some improvement for a %60 hike.. And those of you who will pay the hike for the same crappy services are the reason they will hike it..

 

[Guest]

It's called a Redbox, people. I have at least three of the things within a 5 minute walk of my house and all within a couple hundred feet of each other. I'm sure you've got to have at least 1 you can use. You'll just have to suffer if you're in the mood for an oldie.

 

[mortsmi7]

Becker explains. "At the time, we didn’t anticipate offering DVD only plans. Since then we have realized that there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs both from our existing members as well as non-members."

Umm, most of the good movies are on DVD and you failed to realize this. Right.....

Becker's either a liar and/or grossly incompetent.

 

[shloader]

Well this is just excellent for someone like my grandfather. I'm gonna love telling him this. He isn't the most mobile person so going to Blockbuster for DVDs isn't an easy option. Streaming, when I finally got it working for him, is great but limited so DVDs were necessary to fill the gaps. It's not just new movies that don't stream right away but old classics that never will making both necessary.

 

[niyosha]

I am a Netflix customer and I work in the digital distribution department of a major film and television conglomerate. As such, I understand why they are doing this, but I'm still disappointed in how they're going about it.

Too often, the people in charge of these decisions are too busy crunching numbers and applying market strategies to remember that their customers are human beings with human emotions. We don't just consume based on some simple algorithm; we like to feel like we're getting a good deal.

The fact is, though Netflix's services may still remain a good value after their price hike (debatable), they have managed to alienate and infuriate their customers with the way that they have chosen to implement it. I have always been a fan of companies that level with their customers and tell them the truth. You know, treat them like adults. Netflix has done just the opposite.

Personally, I have already pared down my subscription to streaming-only and plan to keep it just long enough to see if their selection improves after the pricing changes go into effect. If not, they have lost me as a customer.

As a side note, it would be nice to see this whole "whiner" business go away. People are way too liberal with that word and it's starting to lose meaning. Just because somebody has a problem with something and chooses to voice their opinion does not make them a "whiner." It's called the free market. Word of mouth can help support a company or it can drive it into the ground. We should be proud to voice our opinions.