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

I would like to thank my committee for making my project possible.  A special thank you goes to Dr. [edited for privacy] for giving me the opportunity to work on this amazing project and advising me.  I truly feel that this project was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I only wish I could have continued on it further.  I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. [edited for privacy] for helping with my graduation process.  I am very appreciative of her time and flexibility in helping me through this step in my graduate career.  Finally, I’d like to thank Dr. [edited for privacy].  Dr. [edited for privacy] has truly been a role model to me as a student and an academic.  His unending enthusiasm for every aspect of his job, including the clinic, research, teaching, and even dealing with students is nothing short of inspirational, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with him.
In addition to faculty, I am indebted to many of the staff at CSU.  First, Antonio, who was willing to take hours out of his busy schedule when things got tough with my project.  Without his help and support my project would have come to a halt, and I appreciate his help so much for that.  I also must thank Julie; without her help I literally would have never made it to CSU.  In my time here, she made went out of her way to make my life easier in so many ways and I’ll always think of Julie with the utmost gratitude for all her hard work.  Finally, Aimee.   I could fill an entire acknowledgement section listing the things she’s done for me and the rest of the graduate students in my two years at CSU.  She’s always been an open door and an open ear, and always worked to provide me with the tools I needed to get my degree.  Furthermore, she has proven to be one of the most kind, generous, and thoughtful people I’ve ever met and will always remind me to stick to my principles, even if she’s not around.
I would also like to thank some special friends who have helped me along the way.  First, to my friend Amelia; I always knew that whatever I did, Amelia was there to support me, and whether or not she ever knew it, that support helped me through the entirety of this program.  I’d also like to extend my gratitude to my friend Russell for being there for me in some serious emotional hard times, riding with me, leveling with me, and most of all never making me question the value of our friendship. Thank you to my friend Anne, who I always knew would do (and has done) anything for me in my times of need.  I’ve meet some of the most worthwhile people I’ve ever known in during my graduate school career.  I’m grateful to Brie for all the chats, Dan for reminding me to enjoy the little things, and Margaret for her love and support.  I’m especially thankful for my friend Jerri, who always kept me going, listened to me for hours and hours, knew when I needed to take a stop for some nachos and/or a beer, understood family the way I do, and always took time with me to “take it all in.”
I’d like to thank some of the people who have unknowningly given me an escape from my work when I needed it most.  In no particular order, Jorge Cham, Randall Munroe, Kurt Vonnegut, Issac Asimov, Terry Pratchett, the staff at both New Belgium and O’Dell’s, Ben Folds, Joss Whedon, and Phil Plait.
I’m so lucky to have my [very soon to be] husband, Ryan, in my life.  The decision to love me was never easy, I’m sure, and the sacrifices he made to give our relationship a chance must have been just as tough.  He’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and I never knew I could experience the kind of joy he’s brought to my life.  I would like to thank him so much for loving me and supporting my every move, even on my “crazy squirrel days.”

What is Tour de Fat you ask?  Well New Belgium Brewing company is known by the masses for being the creators of the beer, Fat Tire,  and is known in Fort Collins as giver of free delicious beers in their tasting room.  New Belgium is pretty passionate about the biking revolution and really encourages people to become bike commuters and love their bikes.  They celebrate the wonderful invention that is the bicycle with a now traveling festival call the Tour de Fat .  It’s bicycle festival with beer(and not the other way around, as they reminded us) used to raise money for local bike charities and encourage you to “come dressed as your favorite alter ego,because when everyone’s weird, no one is”

The day started with a bike parade through Fort Collins. We pretty much took over the streets.  I can’t express the shear number of people riding bicycles through town.  We got to the end of the route and there were still people starting.  It probably sounds cheesy but when  i joined the parade i actually got a little teary eyed.  All i could think was that this is how life SHOULD be.  As we rode through town, it was great to watch the other side of the road when the parade route doubled back and not just see the awesome costumes , bike mods , and other fun accessories, but also hear the constant joyful cheers, bike bells, and the phrase “Happy Saturday” fill the air.  It was so much fun.

We got to the festival next.  There were several stages,  a tent for buying beer tokens, places to trade in your tokens for beer, vendor booths, and food booths.  There was also a fun little area where you could test drive some of the specialty bikes and play games.   The entertainment was… entertaining to say the least.  A really fun group of “ninjas” was there who specialized in juggling,fight choreography, and dancing and   was quite hysterical.  There was also probably one of the best live performances i’ve ever seen by the March Fourth Marching Band ,based out of Portland.  The best  way i can think to describe them is if you asked a bunch of circus performers to start a marching band, this is what you’d get.  Stilts, twirlers, dancers, hula hoopers and lots of great music.  They’re amazing and if you ever get the chance,you should check them out.   Sadly my camera was dead by that point so i don’t have any pictures.

Finally one of the most inspiring parts of the whole day was watching the celebration ensue as a local women agreed to give her car up in exchange for an awesome new bike and the promise to live car free for 1 year.  She probably needed all the encouragement she could get as she actually handed over the keys AND the TITLE to her car on stage.  This all went along with Team Wonderbike, a social movement started by the new belgium crew to encourage people to take an oath to use their bikes instead of their cars.  I joined and pledged 150 miles a month(for serious, i’m sure there will be updating on that in weeks and months to come).    I encourage everyone to check the website and consider making a pledge.  There’s no losers here, you will use less gas, have fun, and stay in shape.

If the going gets rough, i’m just going to remember the pledge:

I Pledge Allegiance To My Bike,
As A Patriotic Cure For America.
And To The Public, With Whom We Stand,
One Elation, Undeniable,
With Community And Transportation
For All

-Team Wonderbike

i don’t have a lot of time.  But here’s the over all gist.  Having a GREAT time at the Health Physics Society annual meeting in Pittsburgh.  More details about pittsburgh later, but i would vote A+ for better city than expected.  Sat in on some great lectures.  Especially one about creating imaging models for rad therapy with specifics for infants, including accurate marrow to surface ratios(instead of just constant volume that they’ve used in the past).  I’ve also met lots of fun people and had a great time getting lots of schwag.  my favorite so far was the plastic nuclear watste 55 gal drum model filled with candy, but i just got a pretty funny beer glass from Ortec, that likening one of their latest products to a variety of beer.   

Got to run, people waiting for the computer.

not much here...

Really the only things with an substance in that fridge are a block of tofu, some tofu hot dogs, a few eggs, and some questionable grapes.  I’m not actually a vegetarian, i just don’t really like cooking meat that much.  The gladware is full of fruit salad that’s a week old and the only reason i have milk is because there is actually a grocery store directly on my bike route home so there is no going out of my way to stop.  Anyway, it makes me wonder about how many people feel that when left to themselves, most men don’t really feed themselves much but soup and cereal.  Maybe it’s true but i’m starting to think that reason that women tend to “gain weight when they’re in relationships” is that women who live alone don’t really feed themselves either so they’re skinny.  Seriously, my fridge has looked like this all week, do you think i’ve been eating something besides ramen and cereal for dinner every night?  well you’re wrong, you can’t see the bag of shredded cheese hidden in the drawer.  I had a quesadilla one night.  But seriously, women can be as bad at cooking for themselves when they live alone, look at me.  It doesn’t mean we can’t cook, we just… don’t.  Or maybe this is just the lifestyle of a scientist… one that seems to transcend genders.