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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

#121

Post by tomjen3 »

gregjw wrote: post #97
ganstyles wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Economist did this to me. $5/mo and then auto renewed at something like $250/yr. All my credit cards are just auto pay full balance every month, and I don't check them as often as I should. Noticed the charge last month, found out they had been charging me for years for their digital subscription.

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

They claim that, but I got around it with an email to support.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#122

Post by TeMPOraL »

goodside wrote: post #78
bsanr2 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. If someone is paying for your service and not using it, perhaps they have an inaccurate idea of what your service (and their payments) actually entail. If that's the case, then you have a customer who's going to come to you eventually to figure out what the hell they've been paying you for all this time, and/or in need of a particularly expensive crash training course (because it's coming out of nowhere). Bette…

If I sign up for a gym membership and then don’t show up for months on end, I don’t feel like I’ve been swindled — I knew that’s how it works when I signed up. I’m not confused about what a gym membership is for or why I’m paying for it. I might still never cancel because I don’t want to admit how lazy I am, so each instance of me considering the wasted money ends with me thinking, “I really should get to the gym mor…

On the other hand, you can also do it nicely even in self-improvement space. Beeminder comes to mind; they let you set your productivity goals and costs of not meeting them, and they only ever charge you if you fail, and accept that you've failed - charge is automatic, but if you tell them there were extenuating circumstances, they'll give you that money back.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#123

Post by NKosmatos »

I don’t understand how people leave subscription or renewal charges unchecked in their credit cards. I can understand keeping a subscription unused but still acknowledging and paying for it (for whatever personal reasons), but having a charge in your credit card without knowing what exactly it is or why, sounds a bit strange to me. Could be that I’m not rich enough and I’m still paying attention to every single €/$/£ being charged :-)

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#124

Post by Hamuko »

foepys wrote: post #117
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.

>You might think that they discounted their UHD offering for you.

Yeah, that's what I assumed when I opened the email. Rather scummy in my opinion.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#125

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#126

Post by gear54rus »

NKosmatos wrote: post #123

I don’t understand how people leave subscription or renewal charges unchecked in their credit cards. I can understand keeping a subscription unused but still acknowledging and paying for it (for whatever personal reasons), but having a charge in your credit card without knowing what exactly it is or why, sounds a bit strange to me. Could be that I’m not rich enough and I’m still paying attention to every single €/$/£…

One of the reasons subscription model is cancer: they hope you'll forget it's on.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#127

Post by reificator »

KajMagnus wrote: post #106
kbyatnal wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why privacy.com is great. Whenever I sign up for a subscription, I create a virtual card and after paying for the first month, I "pause" the card (ie. decline all additional charges). When I get the notification that my payment failed and I'm actually getting value out of the subscription, I log in and change the status to "active" again.

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)

> It sounds as if you are not worried that they would sue you?

Netflix subscriptions are prepaid. What on earth would give them the idea to sue if your card is declined?

If your current month runs out and your renewal is declined, they just don't authorize you for a second month of service. There's no breach of contract, there's no debt for services rendered, I can't think of a single motivation to sue for this.

What am I missing here?

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#128

Post by bentcorner »

ganstyles wrote: post #77
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…

The Economist did this to me. $5/mo and then auto renewed at something like $250/yr. All my credit cards are just auto pay full balance every month, and I don't check them as often as I should. Noticed the charge last month, found out they had been charging me for years for their digital subscription.

I like my credit card's mobile app because of this problem - it pops a notification for every charge, so even auto-pay things show up as a reminder.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#129

Post by reificator »

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…

> 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.

Excuse me? If the bill is prepaid you bet your ass it means the subscription is cancelled. You can't pay, they don't continue to provide the service, end of story.

> If your rent autobill fails, I think everyone realizes it doesn't mean you don't have to pay.

The difference is that rent is paid after the fact and is typically part of a lease contract. What contract are you signing to get Netflix?

> A $5/mo subscription? Not worth the time of the company to try to collect.

Who's out here providing $5/month post-paid subscriptions? I have literally never heard of such a thing. Metered billing is a different story, but the discussion is lawsuits over Netflix subscriptions.

Re: Netflix stops charging customers who never watch

#130

Post by jaakl »

It is not just ”altruistic”. The idea is clever: they loose <0.1% inactive users but will win new ones blocked now behind worry ”what if I will not really use it”. Their bet is that the second group could be larger than first, and by order of magnitude. And if not, then it is still not so expensive marketing. I wish ’use only if you really use’ would become norm.
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