here is my letter that i sent to Netflix today.
Hello,
This is most likely not the best place to send a complaint letter but public relations seemed to be the area of the website that was the most fitting. I’m not surprised I couldn’t find an appropriate place to send this; Netflix probably never anticipated my need to complain about the CEO of your company. In general, CEOs don’t make it their job to personally piss off the customers, but in this case yours has screwed up. And badly.
I just recently read this article on the Hollywood Reporter that can be found here:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if1d3902d12574ec222961f1deec0fd2b
I don’t generally frequent the Hollywood Reporter. I do, however, frequent Twitter, where I have made contacts all over the world and news travels quickly.
Imagine my shock to see the *CEO of Netflix* respond to a question about how American customers may be upset that their service is more expensive than Canada’s by saying “How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It’s something we’ll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed. “
I hope you immediately see the public relations nightmare… the supposedly self absorbed Americans are your customer base. The people who have made your company what it is. I can think of many good reasons that you might choose to offer your service at a lower cost in Canada. Different customer dynamics and market, a cheaper introduction to promote a new product, a different library that incurs different costs, etc. I am not upset that we are being charged more for a similar service. I am upset that the CEO would look on his very customer base with so much disdain that he would insult us in a public interview. Maybe he thought that we would never notice, but the funny thing about the world today is that the internet has changed how we operate and spread information. We were going to find out the Netflix was cheaper and we are even more certainly going to find out that your CEO publicly created a blanket insult for an entire nation. You should be quite aware of how the internet has changed us: your service depends on it. A web-based service allowed you to cut a lot of costs associated with movie rental and offer subscriptions to begin with and streaming video has essentially saved your company.
As an informed American customer of your product, I feel very strongly that, at bare minimum, your CEO should issue a public apology to all of his American customers, preferably shared as a letter that is sent to the email of every subscriber of the service in the US. Perhaps you should consider a 1-3 month price cut for current subscribers to the “Canadian fee” of $7.99 as well.
This is very disappointing for me. I’ve always really loved Netflix and service you provide. I have been a subscriber for many years and previously had a lot of respect for your company, but until I see an apology all that respect is gone.
-Lisa
