Thursday, November 17, 2011

Venting

I used to love netflix. For years I touted its perfection to everyone. We were in from the start and had almost 0 problems over the five years.

But come the changes in August, we bailed. But I love movies so...

We just spent a very frustrating day with Netflix, trying to get the $7.99 DVD in the mail plan. We could not find this alterative on the site. Anywhere.

Call One-She set up an account and said go ahead. We couldn't go anywhere. Every time I tried to order a movie, it changed my plan to the streaming one + the mail one for $16. I couldn't even get to the movies after a while.

Call Two-Oh, that other person did it wrong. Now it's all set up. Duh, no. Same thing. Streaming only.

Call Three-Gee, I can't figure out how to fix this. Maybe you should cancel this membership and you can start a new one. Sometimes that works. (Sometimes that works!!!)

I try to cancel my membership altogether and the site won't let me do that. Just keeps telling me how about how to stream movies.

I call to cancel my membership and they tell me it's cancelled. But yes, you made me cancel the first account before I opened a second. I now want to cancel the second one.

Can you tell me why you want to cancel it and answer a brief survey on customer service

No.

I get the survey in the mail anyway. Four of them. One after each call. You can imagine what I said.

How did Netflix go from being the gold standard US company to being this? Four people answered my calls and not one of them knew how to fix it. Can it really be this hard or is this a technique they now use to force people to stream?

I now officially hate netflix. I feel like creating a logo to post on my blog. Maybe I will

23 comments:

Chad Eagleton said...

I fully expect it to be a mess for a while since: they announced that price hike, a lot of people cancelled the DVD in the mail or left all together, then they were going to split services into two different companies, and then they cancelled that and decided to keep both Netflix services together.

I cancelled the DVD in the mail portion when they did the price hike. Not because I thought it was outrageous, but just because I didn't think we used it enough to make it worth it. Got more than enough stuff in our instant queue to keep us occupied for a long time. Whenever I've had an issue with streaming services, it's gotten handled quick.

But I understand where you're coming from. It seems like anymore, with as much as companies are trying to get you to do everything online, actual customer service (being able to talk to someone live who knows what they're doing--assuming you can find the phone number you're supposed to call)has all but disappeared.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Scary thing was none of the four people seemed to know what they were doing. Can it be that complicated or do people quit and get hired at Netflix every day.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

Luckily I've never had a problem with Netflix. When they had the price change I went to 2 movies at a time without streaming. Don't understand streaming-the picture quality looks like a VHS tape and besides, I don't want to watch a movie on my computer(my tv is not in the same room as my computer so hooking up a line from one to the other is not practical.) Not many other choices than Netflix if you want to watch independent, foreign or cult films.

Chad Eagleton said...

The really scary thing is how many people have jobs period who have no idea what they're doing.

We route our streaming through wireless and then into our PS3. Our picture quality has always been good.

Anonymous said...

In our dealings with Time Warner you never know if you'll get someone who knows what they're doing (unlike the past, this is usually the case now) or a total goober who acts authoritative but clearly does not have a clue.

I'm always afraid the latter will make me erase the DVR.

I'm afraid most customer service is an oxymoron these days.


Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I was never given any opportunity except to stream for $7.99 or pay double to have both. I wonder if they choose some people to allow it and others not.

James Reasoner said...

We've had good luck with Netflix for several years now. We kept the mail service and dropped the streaming, since our internet service isn't good enough to stream on a consistent basis.

Ron Scheer said...

We did nothing when the price change and company split stuff happened. We stream through Roku which gives a good pic on the new flat screen. We continue to get the red envelopes because I like the extras on some DVDs and the option to watch with subtitles (when my hearing isn't good enough for the mumbled sountrack). Many films are available only on DVD. So I don't have another irate Netflix customer story to tell.

Getting crap customer service by phone, however, has become SOP in general. Worse yet are the phone-robots who try to talk with you and then dead-end you or shunt you into some canned recording when what you've got requires a living, breathing person to talk to.

Erik Donald France said...

That's bad, and does sound like customer service in general. I know it's possible to do better because we *do it* better in a library setting, not for profit. Number 1 rule: the patron must end the intereaction satisfied. Everything else is secondary.

Loren Eaton said...

How odd: I have the $7.99 plan and it works like a charm. Of course, I do think includes two hours of streaming video a month.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I cannot understand why they will not allow us to do this. Even after they said the account was set, the rep herself (and several of them) could not get any movies on a queue except to stream. Weird and frustrating.

Todd Mason said...

It might be that they were required to attempt to get you in Detroit/Gross Pointe to take the streaming, since they don't want to maintain a mailing center convenient enough there.

They clearly don't want the expense of buying, mailing and replacing discs, if they can help it, in at least some areas.

pattinase (abbott) said...

It used to be in Lansing. I wonder if that's it.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

Patti-I live in Pontiac-have no problem with the mail service. It still comes from Lansing.

J F Norris said...

This is very odd. I have been a Netflix subscriber since 2006. I had the original 3 movies out at a time subscription for years. About four months ago they changed to two options: mail OR streaming, but not both. That's why I'm confused with what happened to you with their "Customer Service" people. I converted to a cheap two out at a time with NO option to get streaming movies. I had no problem changing over, but I did have an existing account. I thought it was DVDs in the mail OR streaming. This option to get both or ONLY streaming makes no sense. Maybe this is for new subscribers.

And here's something that'll make you hate Netflix even more: the secret deal they made with Wal-Mart that lead to a class action lawsuit which Wal-Mart Settled very recently. I really hate Wal-Mart and I won't be participating in their giveaway though as a Netflix subscriber I am eligible. Sounds like they screwed Netflix.

pattinase (abbott) said...

We had netflix for years, practically since the beginning. We had various options over the years, but as of last summer we were on one one a time for something like $6 a month. We rarely got more than 2 a month so it's not like we were driving up mail costs. When the change came, we never got any offer to just maintain the mail version. Right off, they offer was streaming or both. I am mystified. Also as to why none of the reps could get an account where we could get DVDs going.

Joe Barone said...

Fortunately we dropped Netflix not long before all this started. Sometimes I get lucky.

Chris said...

I haven't had any Netflix problems at all, and have even changed my plan a couple times. All I have now is the streaming option, but if I search a movie that is only available on DVD, an option to click to subscribe to the streaming + 1 DVD at a time pops up as an option.

But tech support is a terribly low paying, poorly trained, high stress job that has HUGE turnover. Which is a big part of why we as customers get stuck with such terrible service. 1st world problems, I guess.

pattinase (abbott) said...

It's so weird. It's not just the tech support. I literally can find no option for DVDs in mail on the site. I guess we're going to have to break down, get a new TV set up for streaming or something like that.

Charles Gramlich said...

I get all my movies from the library these days. Never been on netflix.

Anonymous said...

We get ours from the library too.

Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Our library is good on newer movies but only the biggest movies from the past show up.

Naomi Johnson said...

My problem with Netflix is reflected by your experience with them: They have no customer service. And judging by their PR statements, they don't ever intend to provide any; you take what they give you or go elsewhere.