Netflix

[JakeBrake]

I've never used Netflix, and, yet, I am plagued with Netflix popups on my PC. Their price increase will not affect me. I just wish I could stop the popups.

DW and I will occasionally go to a theater to see a first run movie. We, of course, get the senior discount and the early bird special.

Personally, I like TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on basic cable. Great old movies, uncut, no commercials, and I even enjoy the introductions.

The blood bank where I donate platelets has a big selection of DVD's to watch while hooked up for a couple of hours. Usually, there's nothing I want to see, so I watch CNBC.

[frank]

never thought to rate the movies I watch. where do you do that on their screen or website? let me know.

[happy2bretired]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bssc Some streaming movies are closed captioned but they are visible on my PC but not my Roku. Netflix is trying to increase the percentage of CC streaming titles but it is about 30%. On the other hand captioning for Foreign Language movies are visible on both my PC and Roku so it should not be too difficult.

Thanks... Netflix sounds like something I would enjoy with so many television shows that I have not watched yet.

[Amethyst]

Movies that have just gone to DVD are generally OK. But anything that's been out for a while has some damage, all the way to unplayable. We sometimes wonder what other customers do - play Frisbee with the darn things? Use 'em as drink coasters?

Netflix do not, as I said, seem to do any QC. We report the damaged disks but have no indication that the disk we send back gets pulled from their inventory. They will send another copy of the same DVD, but by the time we get it, I'm back at work and can't stay up to watch.

Amethyst

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glo WWe've never received a damaged DVD.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Movies that have just gone to DVD are generally OK. But anything that's been out for a while has some damage, all the way to unplayable. We sometimes wonder what other customers do - play Frisbee with the darn things? Use 'em as drink coasters? Netflix do not, as I said, seem to do any QC. Amethyst

Seems to vary, maybe by region? DW has had exactly one DVD that was damaged (and quickly replaced), and she has a steady stream checked out (we have the 2 DVD + streaming plan). Mostly TV series that we don't get, not having cable.

-ERD50

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frank streaming is the best way to go for me. If I see a movie that I want to rent. ( which is pretty seldom these days with the quality of most of the new releases) I get it at redbox for 1. the only problem with netflix is that you have to remember the name of the movie you are looking for as their search option goes by alphabet and if you can't think of a good movie to watch there is no guide to look through except you queue.

That is the one thing that bothers me. They intentionally do this with the newer released ones to keep the backlog down. Their suggestions of new releases aren't the real recent ones, because they know everyone will try to order it. I look back three or four months on box office results from movies to refresh my memory of what looks good then type the title through the search and it will then pop up. Sometimes there is a wait that way too as others have caught on to this, also.

[Amethyst]

Frank, Netflix sends us an e-mail every time we return a DVD. The e-mail confirms they got the DVD, and asks us to rate it according to a 5-star scale. There is a tab on the Netflix site called "Movies You'll [Heart]" where there are suggestions for movies that Netflix's algorithms suggest you will think are worth 4 or 5 stars - based on your own past ratings.

We have rated 300+ movies, and they seem to be running out of recommendations at this point - guess we're hard to please

Amethyst

Quote:

Originally Posted by frank never thought to rate the movies I watch. where do you do that on their screen or website? let me know.

[Janet H]

We also changed to streaming only - although grudgingly. The streaming library is limited. The huge price increase to retain what we only signed up for 6 months ago seems .. well, rude.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet H The huge price increase to retain what we only signed up for 6 months ago seems .. well, rude.

It is difficult for me to understand the logic behind the Netflix pricing strategy. I spent a couple of decades establishing prices for our company's products and services and there are generally only a handful of legitimate reasons for a huge increase like this 60% bump:

- Large increases in the cost of raw materials, which is obviously not the case here.
- The lack of availability of the product or service from other sources, such as the prices charged by the last Kodachrome film processor in the US during the final year of phase-out. Once again, not the case here.
- To discourage the use of a particular product or service and make another more profitable alternatives more appealing to customers. That is most likely what is going on since they not only bumped the price but also split their services. Moving away from mail and toward streaming may be their goal but a better strategy might be to price streaming a dollar or two less than mail, at least initially.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. There appears to be a great deal of backlash from the Netflix customer base.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo It is difficult for me to understand the logic behind the Netflix pricing strategy.

You're still one step ahead of me. It is difficult for me to even understand the appeal of Netflix at all to begin with. Watching looooong, often boring movies, without any channel flipping? What's the fun in that?

In order to get HDTV, I had to get HBO and Cinemax (or is it Showtime?). I don't watch either. Most movies are too long IMO.

[tangomonster]

We are going to change to one DVD at a time by mail, unlimited for the month (well, except that it IS limited by the time it takes for it to come in the mail and then be returned). So our price will drop from the $10 a month that we have had for one DVD at a time and unlimited streaming to $8. So in my instance, not a good deal for Netflix---they will be losing my $2 a month and have to pay for much more postage since I won't be streaming and will therefore get many more DVDs a month than I've been currently getting. But I guess they (feel they) know what they are doing...

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangomonster But I guess they (feel they) know what they are doing...

They sure do when it comes to mailings. I returned one to the post office yesterday afternoon. I got an email today at 7:27am stating that they had received it. Another email at 10:39 confirming that they had mailed our next dvd to be received Monday. So it works out about 4 day turnaround per movie. If we push it, we can get 7 movies a month for $8 under the one at a time plan. Not bad.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley Well, I was annoyed about this Netflix change, but then someone pointed this out to me. I guess I have to agree. ‪Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy‬‏ - YouTube

"You're sitting in a chair - in the sky!"

+1 to this.

[MichaelB]

David Pogue, Technology writer for the NYT, has an interesting thought on this:

Quote:

I kept saying to him: “O.K., look. In November, $10 a month for one-DVD-plus-streaming seemed like a viable offering. Now, eight months later, you need to charge $16 for the same exact offering. You say your costs haven’t changed that much. You say the new studio contracts aren’t to blame. The only other possibility I can think of is that your initial $10 pricing was a mistake.” He wouldn’t agree. He sort of came close, though, when he said that the unexpected success of the streaming service shifted the balance of power between it and the DVD business. Originally, it was “pay $10 for one DVD—streaming free!” Almost overnight, though, people began thinking of it as, “pay $8 for unlimited streaming—and get one DVD for $2 more!” “That’s not sustainable for the longer life of DVD’s,” Mr. Swasey said. “We need more revenue. It’s a business concern we have to address. We want two separate business units, each side of the service. We were not able to fulfill the requests for DVDs at that cost.” I’m afraid that’s the best answer we’re going to get, short of the conspiracy theories. (One of them is that Netflix wants to hasten the demise of the DVD. This price hike will force millions of people to go for streaming only, a more profitable business for Netflix.)

The blog post is here Why Netflix Raised Its Prices - NYTimes.com

He concludes by saying

Quote:

Want to know the worst part? He’s right. PCWorld.com has a nice summary of Netflix alternatives. There’s Amazon Prime (no DVDs by mail, small streaming selection). Blockbuster by Mail (pricier mailed DVDs, no free streaming at all). Hulu Plus (no DVDs at all). Redbox (no streaming, pay by the day). In other words, even at $16, Netflix still gives you more than anyone else. So whether we like it or not, whether we can explain it or not, Netflix has indeed killed the best entertainment deal on the Web. Mr. Swasey has it half right: it’s gone from an extreme terrific value — to an average one.

[Focus]

My issue was not with the increase itself. I was taken aback by Netflix's disdain for its customers. I'm convinced that if they had simply presented a reasonable case (e.g., "we need the money to invest in expanding our streaming selection, something many of our customers have requested"), the increase would have been accepted with little or no resistance.

Instead, they disingenuously tried to put it forth as an improvement of their service plans and essentially said, "We know a lot of you will be pissed off and cancel, and we've factored that in. Goodbye."

In one fell swoop, they eliminated all the goodwill they had built up among loyal customers (I was among them) who had previously talked them up to friends and family.

They have to learn their lesson. I'm canceling both the DVD and streaming plans before the rate increase takes effect in a few days.

[Zathras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wishin&hopin My issue was not with the increase itself. I was taken aback by Netflix's disdain for its customers. I'm convinced that if they had simply presented a reasonable case (e.g., "we need the money to invest in expanding our streaming selection, something many of our customers have requested"), the increase would have been accepted with little or no resistance. Instead, they disingenuously tried to put it forth as an improvement of their service plans and essentially said, "We know a lot of you will be pissed off and cancel, and we've factored that in. Goodbye." In one fell swoop, they eliminated all the goodwill they had built up among loyal customers (I was among them) who had previously talked them up to friends and family. They have to learn their lesson. I'm canceling both the DVD and streaming plans before the rate increase takes effect in a few days.

This is what strikes me as so odd.
In my case, Netfix DID come out and say 'we hate to do this, but to improve our service, and as some people only use streaming, we are separating the two services'.

I didn't get the impression at all that they were saying 'tough and goodbye'.

We got both an email and,as I recall, a letter announcing the change which I welcome.

[Focus]

I just reread the original email. I don't see anything equivalent to "we hate to do this" in there.

The change was presented as a way to "provide great value to our current and future DVDs by mail members," per their blog post. When the response was so massively negative, they took a defensive posture. Their VP of corporate communications said the increase was only equivalent to "a latte or two" and told David Pogue of the New York Times that Netflix had "already taken the subscriber defection into account in its financial forecasts" and "still figures it will come out ahead."

It was only later, when the 2Q results were released, that CEO Reed Hastings said "we feel bad about having customers upset with us" and "with this pricing change, we're going to be able to strengthen that streaming plan with more content." That should have been the message from the start. But Hastings still couldn't help turning a deaf ear to the huge chorus of customer complaints, claiming that "the noise level was actually less than we expected."

I don't understand why Netflix has decided that building customer loyalty has little value. Even after the bungled communication, there was no attempt to grandfather in existing customers. It was "take it or leave it." And Netflix has been taking other actions that display the same attitude -- for example, dismantling the social community component of their site (their reviewer system), despite complaints.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar Any other alternatives?

Our library lets us rent six videos per visit (3 for me and 3 for Lena), we can have each out for up to two weeks. It's FREE.

The selection is good, and I can request them online to be picked up at the library. I have a record of all the videos we've borrowed.

In the last few weeks:

• The King's Speech
• Inception
• Zero Kelvin
• The Sunshine State
• Hell is for Heroes
• The Curse of the Cat People
• My Best Friend
• Macao
• Mulholland Drive
• Sabrina
• Island at War
• Midsomar Murders
• Feast of July
• Another Year
• The Sum of Us
• The Son
• Duplicity

That's pretty hard to beat.

[flyfishnevada]

What's worse, Netflix increasing cost, whether they explained it well or not, or vendors like DirecTV who promise new subscribers all kinds of freebies while existing customers see rate increases?

[clifp]

I canceled the streaming option for both me and my mom. I think the very simple reason they had to raise prices is that as they were renewing deals for content, Netflix is face huge price increases. In order to remain even vaguely profitable they have to raise revenue. I'm not convinced they'll be successful which is why I shorted the stock (down 20%).