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Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

bbc.com

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Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#111

Post by TeMPOraL »

ekianjo wrote: post #89
cocochanel wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a few weeks ago I realized I was paying for Xbox Live without having played it for 8 years. I didn't even remember the password.

Cancelling for XboxLive has always been a pain (at least until 5 years ago, I don't know now): they make it easy to subscribe online and pay with a credit card, but cancelling forces you to look for a phone number buried in help pages and call a hotline that's only open during business hours or something. Pure dark pattern.

This kind of stuff should be illegal. In GDPR, they put a clause that rescinding consent must be as easy as granting it, precisely because of that.

(Not that I've ever seen a site on which there was an obvious way to bring the consent popup back up after it was closed, but hopefully one day data protection authorities will unclog their pipes and the fines will start flying.)

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#112

Post by Androider »

Hamuko wrote: post #108
KajMagnus wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds as if you are not worried that they would sue you? What are the reasons you feel safe? (Then maybe I could try this me too)

Why would a company sue a consumer because of a cancelled credit card?

A cancelled credit card does not mean bills are automatically void or the recurring subscription cancelled, but it's a scale whether it's worth it for the company to try to collect or not.

If your rent autobill fails, I think everyone realizes it doesn't mean you don't have to pay. If the credit card for your gym membership expires, I think most people would likewise fear (and has been known to happen) that your bill would eventually be sent to collections. A $5/mo subscription? Not worth the time of the company to try to collect. A Salesforce or Adobe subscription on a card? I certainly wouldn't gamble on that, and would try to properly cancel the subscription.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#113

Post by dyslexit »

spiralganglion wrote: post #45
raiyu wrote: post #12

I always wonder when a company does this if it is completely altruistic or if something else is going on behind the scenes. Maybe notifying customers gets them to reactivate, maybe if they resubscribe later they can charge more, maybe it’s better for financial reporting and projecting subscriber counts. On the other hand it could just be a rare moment of a company doing right by the customer.

We do this at my company, and it is purely for altruistic reasons. If people aren't happily making good use of my service, I don't want their money. That's the entire calculus. Netflix is vastly bigger, granted, so who knows what machinations are afoot for them. But it is certainly believable to me that a company could choose to do something explicitly anti-greedy.

Is your company private? If you're not heavily funded by investors you probably have more freedom to behave according to your morals than if it were otherwise. Public companies are always looking to meet shareholder expectations on the other hand.

Not saying they can't occasionally make altruistic decisions like this, just that more people's interests are being weighed.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#114

Post by comex »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #111
ekianjo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cancelling for XboxLive has always been a pain (at least until 5 years ago, I don't know now): they make it easy to subscribe online and pay with a credit card, but cancelling forces you to look for a phone number buried in help pages and call a hotline that's only open during business hours or something. Pure dark pattern.

This kind of stuff should be illegal. In GDPR, they put a clause that rescinding consent must be as easy as granting it, precisely because of that. (Not that I've ever seen a site on which there was an obvious way to bring the consent popup back up after it was closed, but hopefully one day data protection authorities will unclog their pipes and the fines will start flying.)

As of 2018, it is illegal in California:

https://www.cnet.com/news/companies-must-let-customers-cance...

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#115

Post by TeMPOraL »

raiyu wrote: post #12

I always wonder when a company does this if it is completely altruistic or if something else is going on behind the scenes. Maybe notifying customers gets them to reactivate, maybe if they resubscribe later they can charge more, maybe it’s better for financial reporting and projecting subscriber counts. On the other hand it could just be a rare moment of a company doing right by the customer.

My guess is that a big part of the reason is that Netflix realizes people are switching between streaming services all the time - this quarter they're paying for Netflix, next quarter they're paying for HBO Go, etc. So they don't want to be remembered as the service that's hard to cancel, otherwise people may be reluctant to come back to them.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#116

Post by mrweasel »

KajMagnus wrote: post #104
gregjw wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had a similar experience with The Economist, it's also impossible to cancel your subscription online, you have to call them.

What happens if you block them, or your credit card, so they'll get no money? Is there any risk they'd sue you? Or other auto renew services, what do you, or others, think — do they sometimes sue their customers whose credit card expired? That sounds annoying b.t.w., having to call them etc.

I believe it’s fine to simply email them. The self service on the Economists website is notoriously bad. It’s not really because it’s not working or that hard to use, it’s just insanely poorly organized.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#117

Post by foepys »

Hamuko wrote: post #109

I cancelled my Netflix account after almost never watching it and now they keep sending me emails to reactivate my subscription for the low low price of 7.99 euro a month. For some reason they think that I want to come back to Netflix to watch shows at standard definition since for 7.99 you can't even get 720p, even though when I was subscribed, I had the 4K plan.

That's just to reel you in. You might think that they discounted their UHD offering for you. So you check and Netflix got their email engagement click.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#118

Post by ta17711771 »

jclulow wrote: post #57
goodside wrote: post #55

Years ago, I heard of a dating site doing the opposite of this. They normally sent periodic digests and newsletters to their users to try to increase engagement, but if a user went a certain number of months without logging into their account, but still allowed monthly fees to be charged, they were labeled as a “sleeping giant” in the database. Once in this state, they would not be contacted by the site for any reaso…

I am routinely surprised to receive email spam from my gym membership. It's like they're daring me to remember to cancel it.

Maybe they know their market better than their market knows itself?

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#119

Post by Hamuko »

Androider wrote: post #112
Hamuko wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a company sue a consumer because of a cancelled credit card?

A cancelled credit card does not mean bills are automatically void or the recurring subscription cancelled, but it's a scale whether it's worth it for the company to try to collect or not. If your rent autobill fails, I think everyone realizes it doesn't mean you don't have to pay. If the credit card for your gym membership expires, I think most people would likewise fear (and has been known to happen) that your bill…

Netflix, like many subscription services, charges you for services ahead of time. If you don't pay, you don't get the service. It's that simple.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#120

Post by monadic2 »

jonas21 wrote: post #26
wayupthere wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good way to rank the level of scumminess among SV companies: Signup with a credit card and don't validate your email address or ever sign into your account. You'd be amazed how many companies will happily start charging you.

How is that scummy? You bought something, and they're charging you for it.

I imagine it’s scummy when your site is used for fraud.
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