For those who thought they would be OK with streaming-only or DVD-only Netflix: Congratulations on your price hike!
You misunderstand. The streaming-only and DVD-only plans still exist. They're just offered on the same webpage.
Netflix kills Qwikster
61–70 of 165 posts
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#62Netflix made a bad decision, listened to the complaints of their customer base and reversed course on said bad decision. Not sure why that's such a huge ordeal.
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#63For now, they're far enough ahead of any real competition that the flip-flopping won't be too harmful in the short term. They have a great product and they know it. And, this isn't the first time Netflix pissed off customers. A few years back they tried to eliminate the ability to create multiple queues in one account-- they used some ridiculous excuse about technical issues. However, once Amazon and other comers sta…
Though it should be said that blockbuster is now running ads that criticize quikster's move and the price increase
Yes, but it should also be said that Blockbuster is offering its $10/month streaming service only to Dish Network customers.
I don't think there are many people who are going to make the switch to Dish Network because of the ability to pay to stream a very limited library. If Blockbuster offered the streaming package to the general public (like Netflix), then we may have some real competition.
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#64The tone on this one is quite a bit different: http://blog.netflix.com/2011/10/dvds-will-be-staying-at-netf... The email that came a few weeks ago actually had me stop what I was doing and read it (I was walking in to grab coffee, and I stopped outside to finish the email). That message was full of excitement, and started with a proper "Dear Customers: I screwed up". Why haven't I gotten an email this morning saying…
You are right - he could have been a bit more polite and gracious. As it stands, he sounds like a petulant child who has been deined his favorite toy.
All in all, its probably a good move for everyone (shareholders, customers) and even for Hastings, assuming his Steve Jobs delusion has ended.
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#65While this rights the ship, Netflix made the colossal mistake of rocking the recurring-billing boat. Smart businesses know that when you've got a customer setup for recurring monthly billing, there's a certain percentage of these customers who will continue to pay even though they're not actively using the service. Part of it is laziness of figuring out how to cancel. Another part is the thought that they may someday…
We switched to the streaming-only plan before our billing cycle and have been happy ... We weren't good at quickly watching the DVDs and returning them anyway plus we saved a buck a month. How did other HNers respond to the price hike? I would expect this group to be dominated by streamers anyway.
I cancelled Netflix outright, after being a member for 11 years.
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#66What's going on at Netflix? If you ask employees, they'll tell you that the culture - often praised for its high performance standards - is a culture of fear. It's a product management-driven organization where PMs aren't afraid to use the poor performance card to remove subordinates who don't go along with their ideas. The emperor has no clothes. In Netflix's case, the emperor is any product manager. It's no wonder…
A culture of fear only works on people that are unable straighten their finances out. No threat of being laid of has any meaning if you have 5 years of salary stashed away in cash (Netflix is located in Silicon Valley where competitive salaries are more than enough to establish this in a short period of time).
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#67While this rights the ship, Netflix made the colossal mistake of rocking the recurring-billing boat. Smart businesses know that when you've got a customer setup for recurring monthly billing, there's a certain percentage of these customers who will continue to pay even though they're not actively using the service. Part of it is laziness of figuring out how to cancel. Another part is the thought that they may someday…
We switched to the streaming-only plan before our billing cycle and have been happy ... We weren't good at quickly watching the DVDs and returning them anyway plus we saved a buck a month. How did other HNers respond to the price hike? I would expect this group to be dominated by streamers anyway.
We looked at the value: not-deep-enough streaming catalog plus deep DVD catalog was a great service and a good value.
Either one alone? Incomplete service.
Both? Not enough value at the 2X price.
We kept our subscription open until the day the price hike would hit us (How does Netflix get away with "the moment you cancel, your subscription ends, no refunds for partial months"?!?), then canceled completely.
I tried to send them feedback explaining our decision, but I could not locate a "contact us" via internet vs phone, and I didn't care enough to call them.
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
We switched to the streaming-only plan before our billing cycle and have been happy ... We weren't good at quickly watching the DVDs and returning them anyway plus we saved a buck a month. How did other HNers respond to the price hike? I would expect this group to be dominated by streamers anyway.
We had (and used) both services, but the price hike caused us to reevaluate all of our media expenses. Cancelled all Netflix and our cable. Retained Xbox Live (and internets, of course). We were more annoyed by the Netflix change than enraged by it, and it was a convenient reason to examine the value vs. expense ratio of what we were buying every month. So while we used both the streaming and DVD services, we didn't…
That's interesting to hear. Netflix forced you to re-evaluate the value proposition and it makes sense to consider all forms of entertainment while you're at it. I wonder if there are a significant number of people like yourself that also took this opportunity to cut the cord on cable (and satellite).
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
We switched to the streaming-only plan before our billing cycle and have been happy ... We weren't good at quickly watching the DVDs and returning them anyway plus we saved a buck a month. How did other HNers respond to the price hike? I would expect this group to be dominated by streamers anyway.
I canceled the streaming and kept the DVD plan since I could never find anything worthwhile streaming. Then I signed up for Amazon Prime which is cheaper, has roughly equivalent streaming content and the nice shipping. I don't see how Netflix streaming is a good deal unless there is a significant increase in the quality of available content and that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon.
I always seem to find some television series that's available via streaming that my wife and I want to see. Each time I say, "We should cancel streaming when we're done with this" and each time we find something else that fits the bill. Firefly. Battlestar Galactica. Sports Night. Better of Ted...
We cut the cable cord over a year ago, relying on Netflix Streaming for older content and iTunes for newer stuff. Even paying for the iTunes stuff, we're WAY, WAY, WAY ahead. I should do that math someday...
Re: Netflix kills Qwikster
#70While this rights the ship, Netflix made the colossal mistake of rocking the recurring-billing boat. Smart businesses know that when you've got a customer setup for recurring monthly billing, there's a certain percentage of these customers who will continue to pay even though they're not actively using the service. Part of it is laziness of figuring out how to cancel. Another part is the thought that they may someday…
We switched to the streaming-only plan before our billing cycle and have been happy ... We weren't good at quickly watching the DVDs and returning them anyway plus we saved a buck a month. How did other HNers respond to the price hike? I would expect this group to be dominated by streamers anyway.
I went DVD-only. I had worked up a list a mile long of movies I wanted to watch, and most of them were only available on disc, so I ended up going with that, figuring when I was done I could switch to streaming (and by then they'd probably have more content). I had some trouble following this plan, however, after the 3rd or 4th disc in a short while stopped playing on me or skipped around half-way through. Every time it had happened, I cleaned the disc carefully, and then reported the problem (if it persisted) through their site. The only recompense they offer for this is to either send out a replacement disc or to send the next movie out, and as I'm midway through the film, and don't exactly want to wait 3 days to finish it, I ended up always just skipping to the next movie, or suffering through the skips.
After the most recent bad disc, I did what the OP mentioned, and honestly looked at what value I was getting out of the service, and I ended up cancelling. I understand that discs get scratched in transit or handling, and I understand that I'm living in the past as far as digital vs. physical media goes, I just think what it boiled down to for me is that when you separate the DVD and streaming services out, neither of them really stand up on their own as worth their cost. I'd probably re-subscribe to the streaming if they improved their selection or lowered the cost failing that, but I don't think I'd bother with discs again.