Was this really above and beyond? Maybe more than we expect, having been jaded by customer abuses by other companies, but this is the MINIMUM a company should be willing to do.

I love Netflix, I had no idea there was even a problem!

@PsychicPsycho3: we'll all a little abused and battered. We get 50 cents back and an apology, and it feels great. Pretty smart on netflix. Didn't cost them a lot, and it strengthened their consumers loyalty.

Maybe it's sad that being treated with consideration by a major company is so surprising and awe-inspiriting.

(Sigh)... can't please some people.

I will never stray from Netflix, the only thing they could do to improve in my eyes is make their watch it now feature Mac friendly, everything else is wonderful.

It was nice to see NetFlix take the initiative and automatically credit everyone's account, but Im curious as to what caused the issue.
They had a similar outage back in July 07 and they wouldn't mention what caused it or what they are doing to prevent further occurrences

@PsychicPsycho3: What should they have done?

I agree that most companies should have customer service more like Netflix, but we know this is not the case. Bravo to Netflix - show them how its done.

Incidentally, this might be a good time to ditch that Blockbuster stock anyone might have been holding on to... :P

A couple years ago, I got an extra DVD in the mail from them and I was concerned that they had decided to upgrade me without my permission, so I emailed them and asked what was going on. They replied that it was Christmas time and had decided to send their long term customers an extra movie at no charge as a way of saying thanks.

I've been a customer since nearly the beginning and have never had any issues at all with them.

@PsychicPsycho3: yes, it was.

Netflix did the right thing, which doesn't always get recognition. Should good deeds always merit an award? Definitely not. But in a world where we are becoming increasingly jaded about what we can expect from the companies we pay in exchange for a service they offer, it's a good thing to show that we as customers value honesty and sincerity out of a business over just a price tag alone.

LOVE NETFLIX.

I still hate Time Warner.

Shock and awe, I got the same email. To everyone else who thinks this is the BARE minimum a company should do... yes, it should BE the bare minimum. But fact is, that most companies don't or just WON'T. We should applaud their efforts, we are so busy busting on CRAP companies, it's nice to see one doing good for a change.

@PsychicPsycho3: They didn't need to pay/credit anything as none of the customers really lost any money technically.

@805inLV: They may have been trying to update their system and had a major issue because of it, or their network could have gone down. Tons of things could have happened, I'm not really sure how their system even works as far as receiving and sending since it is so quick.

How does one troll this and blame the customer?

Netflix is a great company, I have been subscribed to their service for over 3 years and i havent had a complaint yet.

PsychicPsycho3 asks why this is "above and beyond". I have just two words for him:

PROACTIVE REFUND.

Most Netflix customers didn't even notice the delay (or if they did notice, didn't particularly care). Netflix would be completely justified to notify all customers of the problem, but only offer a refund to those who complained.

I dunno, maybe their customer-service overhead is such that it was cheaper to give an across-the-board 5% refund, but it's also a VERY smart idea to build goodwill.

and yet when then systematically delay my movies, i don't hear anything from them... how strange

This is a good and bad gesture--sure they are giving a credit, but you have to pay for an additional months service to get it.

I freaking love netflix. really. love.

I love love love my Netflix. I've had a problem that wasn't a system probelm exactly once (when trying to take my account off hold) and their customer service people were exemplary. I am completely loyal to them.

They have been a wonderful service to have. One mailer got auto-sorted and the DVD broke in two. I made a quick call to their customer support line and they were like, freak city dude! They sent a replacement from another facility. Talk about fast response!

I'm no great fan of blockbuster overall but dropped netflix and switched after:

1. realized that netflix throttles people with a lot of turn over. I had new releases at the top of my queue sit there for weeks. There was press about this about a year ago.
2. Had a technical problem with my queue (couldn't edit it) and when I send email to customer service I got a canned answer that they can't respond to each question individually.

Some people have so little going on in their lives, or think of everything as a burden to them, that they can get upset about getting movies a day late. To them, I hope this 50 cents was enough. I'm satisfied with Netflix and I think their service is great. My movie for Tuesday didn't show up and all I did was shrug and say, "oh well maybe tomorrow." Is it that hard to do? Do people think that companies need to be 100% at all times? They can't handle a little hiccup? One day late movie and an apology isn't good enough? Wow, I hope these people hold themselves to that same standard.

Let's look at it like this:

One month/one video at a time costs nine bucks, right? Your video is delayed one day. $9/30 = cost per day of your plan = $.30. For the basic plan, 5% credit = $.45. They aren't just compensating, they are giving you a slight discount.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey would not disclose the number of customers affected, saying only that "it was not a majority" of the company's 7.5 million members. He also would not reveal the total amount credited to customers, saying the credit will not have a material impact on the company's financial operations.

"The key thing here is: This was completely proactive on Netflix's part. There's no requirement for Netflix to do this, no obligation. There was no request for it. We thought it was the right thing to do," Swasey said.

And for those who wonder about good things coming to those companies who treat their customers well?

Netflix shares were up 16 cents, to $37.28, in midday trading Wednesday.

[www.boston.com]

@squidbrain: Netflix was more than happy to send you over to Blockbuster. The ex-Netflix heavy-churners all inundating Blockbuster is one of the main reasons Blockbuster had so many problems with their system. You were all like a rental-hungry virus.

I respect you guys and your love of movies but there's no way a mail-order rental service can make money on you.

NetFlix is good people.

I was annoyed about the delay, but major server issues are a problem you occasionally have to deal with nowadays when dealing with any major company. I'm definitely mollified with a whopping 91 cents. It's the principle of "We screwed up, and we're sorry, and we're acknowledging it and taking steps to remedy it immediately.

They probably need to work on their redundancy plans, however. I recall the last time the website went down, their shipping centers were able to function properly. This seems like it must have been some sort of larger, systemic failure with their database.

But when Comcast has an outage and refunds $2 to subscribers, it's a negative article.

I think that this is a case where a company did the right thing and let the customer know that netflix appreciates them. Giving public kudos to netflix could let other companies see that such actions create loyalty within its customer base.(please take a note Charter Cable)

i'm just wondering if netflix will be revealed as a wolf in sheep's clothing when they finally put blockbuster out of business.

I love Netflix and I'm one of those "heavy users" that can't get new releases until several months after they release because they are always "long wait." You know what? I don't care. I have 135 movies on my queue and those "blockbuster" releases only constitute about 8 movies on my queue. I completely understand that the company isn't making money off our account, and so those people like my father, who has 4 movies on his queue and often keeps them for 3-4 months at a time should get dibs, whereas someone like me who clearly has lots of other options can wait.

I've never had a problem, they've always be more than nice when I've had an issue, and I haven't had to step into a horrible rental store in over three years.

Three cheers for Netflix!

it's not the refund i'm happy about, it's the principle of the matter. they had issues and acknowledged them. more than you can say for most companies.

and why can i not get freaking i am legend or american gangster? is it so hard to get new releases out?

@Raignn: i've got nearly the 500 max on mine :D

@Echodork: Huge difference there. In one case the customer has to call, wait on hold, then argue with a rude rep to get their 2 bucks.

In the other case, the customer may not even realize a problem occured and the company gives an automatic refund to all affected customers.

@Echodork: um. when'd THAT happen?

a quick search on "Comcast" articles reveals....... nada. oh, wait. here are some!

"Repeated Comcast Outages Nearly Cost Reader His Job"
"Comcast Quietly Leaches $3/Month From Former Adelphia Customers"

even better: "California City Fines Time Warner Cable $25,000 For Consistently Awful Service"

... if you're trying to make a point, you made it pretty damn badly.

i, for one, am happy to finally see a *positive* article on Consumerist, though. nice change of pace.

Anyone ever wonder if this was not a cleverly disguised PR gimmick? They are getting more mileage on this than they would have via paid advertising. Watch out for more copycats to follow suit.

Are they still throttling? That's why I quit Netflix.

Kudos to Netflix for their response to the situation. Yeah, they screwed up, but they didn't try to hide it, and they've even "made it right" by offering a 5% credit to my account. For those taking notes at home 1 day is about 3% of the cost of my subscription.

I had half a mind to call them to tell them to keep their credit because they dealt with the situation so well, but I realized I'd only make more trouble for them by asking for an exception. I almost did the same when they dropped the monthly fees by a dollar.

Netflix is one of my few monthly bills that I think is worth every cent I pay them...and probably a little more.

@PsychicPsycho3:

Perhaps it wasn't "above and beyond," except that because customers no longer expect companies to voluntarily penalize themselves when they mess up, it's really not required. As many in this thread noted, it probably wouldn't have even been noticed by the vast majority of Netflix customers. For them to own up to the problem despite not really having to indicates a good company that is actually trying to earn our patronage.

Netflix doesn't need a PR gimmick. They are already hugely respected as evidenced by this thread.

And yes, I sent a copy of my email to Meghann this morning as well. :-)

Oh and btw Blockbuster seems to do the same "throttling" to their heavy users. Every time I put a mass market new release in my queue, it sits there with a "very long wait" associated to it. I usually find a rack full of the same title at the brick and mortar long before the status changes in my queue. The double dipping effect I get when returning mailed videos to the store is what keeps me with blockbuster over netflix

While most of what I have ever heard of Netflix has been positive, their incessant popup/pupunder/otherwise annoying advertising and constant spamming of my email addresses to has permantently driven me away from ever trying them out. Gamefly is in the same boat.

i've been with netflix since they had a single depot in california. i've never had any issues with their service, and have never even thought to look elsewhere (especially blockbuster, who last i looked didn't have anywhere near the selection of things like foreign films that netflix has). i have the same good experience with gamefly.

Netflix has repeatedly "not received" movies I've sent back, or even admitted to receiving them but then three months later claiming that I still had them.

I just realized that it had been awhile since I received anything in my que....

Turns out they think I still have a movie that was confirmed received in December.

@MonkeyMonk: There some crazy logic there. Their offer is that I can rental as many movies as I want but only xxx at a time. I'm taking them at their word. And I'm not like those who rip the movie to their hard drive and immediately put it back in the mail.

I've not had a problem with Blockbuster. I've gotten the same turn around time from them. I've haven't seen the new release throttling but then I generally get my new releases in the store when I turn in the mailed ones.

Netflix rocks, nothing more to say.

I love it when my Netflix stock goes from 22 to 38 in 3 months! NETFLIX ROCKS!

@shad0ws:

You should, you know, be careful with the snark.

Comcast To Baseball Fans: Sorry You Woke Up At 6AM To Watch Nothing, Here's $2

Posted yesterday. Currently second from the top if you search "Comcast".

Ouch.

@ct_price: If the "PR gimmick" of being good to your customers catches on, I for one will not be complaining about it.

@katylostherart: "i'm just wondering if netflix will be revealed as a wolf in sheep's clothing when they finally put blockbuster out of business." Why would they be? They were an awesome company before Blockbuster even got into the online rental business? The real question is will they survive the revolution to direct video on demand? Looks like they're trying to position themselves for it, but we'll see.

@Darkwish: As both a Netflix and Gamefly patron, I agree it's annoying but I think Gamefly is waaaaay worse. I can't go anywhere on teh interwebs without Gamefly ads popping up out of nowhere to bother me.

For those of you who try finding every nook and flaw in Netflix's good gesture, I say:

It may not be a huge deal or anything, but it's the moral that counts. They messed up Monday, they're compensating by letting everyone know and giving them credit. Most people wouldn't have enough noticed. Stop trying to turn it around and say this is just some stupid marketing scheme or something.

I too was unaware that Netflix even had problems on Monday. Had they said nothing I would have been none the wiser, and I probably am still none the wiser. The only thing that would make Netflix better is if they would stream their videos to my Tivo. My Tivo is my bestest friend.

I love Netflix. Sometimes I'm a heavy user and sometimes I'm not. I don't usually care for new releases, so I haven't noticed any throttling. For awhile, it seemed like the turnaround time was slower, but honestly, I think it's the post office...