Monday, October 10, 2011

That Was Qwikster, Netfllix

Netflix has seen the dumbness of its ways. Netflix sent its customers this e-mail this morning:

"Dear xxx,

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We're constantly improving our streaming selection. We've recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we've added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows."

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2 comments:

ChefNick said...

Hmm . . . I'm not about to give them credit for decency in business practices but it's always nice when a humongous business makes a ginormous mistake and then pretty swiftly, compared with other large institutions that make very bad decisions, retracts their initial gaffe forthwith and completely with a not-quite (but-acceptable) cringing apology and complete volte-face.

One could possibly compare this with Microsoft rolling out a completely new "operating system" (I wonder why they persist in calling Windows that), getting instant bad feedback, then apologizing and offering refunds and free passes to "Spiderman: The Broadway Debacle."

To tell you the truth, we have a pathetic "clone-a-be" of Netflix up here in the Northern Sector called Zip.ca. Well, now there's Netflix.ca and I'm wondering if I should be switching. Such a customer-service-oriented outfit can't be all that bad.

. . . umm . . . but I gather the upward prices remain the same . . . kind of like "Okay, we WERE going to charge $.25 for the use of the restrooms on Continental, but have decided, in view of passenger dissatisfaction with the new price point, to completely remove this fee. However, to offset this in order to enhance the customer experience on Continental even further, blanket rentals will now be $.50 instead of $.25.”

Or, more sinisterly, “The normal walkaround of the piloting flight crew pre-flight will now only be reduced to 3 minutes and 45 seconds instead of the former four minutes. This will ensure that crucial time will be cut from their operating workload in order for them to be as sharp as we require all Continental pilots and crew to be to enhance your Fly Continental Experience™.

I digress a lot, but you get the point.

ChefNick said...

Joe,

We're getting bored! Post!!!! PS watched that Mayday episode for the nth time. Odd to think you were there.