It seems that there’s a recent trend occurring where companies feel the need to fix what isn’t broken, leading to some sort of public bewilderment. First there was Facebook, and then Netflix followed suit.
At least Netflix warned its customers that they’d be making changes to their services instead of allowing them to wake up the next day and log in with disarray.
Earlier this year when Netflix warned customers about their price hike (following another price hike), I decided enough was enough and unsubscribed. Besides, it seemed my friends were using my account more than I was.
To this day, the instant streaming and DVD-shipping service still sends me occasional emails with “Ashley, come back to Netflix” as the subject line.
Thanks to the headlines that Netflix has made recently, there’s definitely no way I’d sign back up.
Back in September, Netflix CEO and Co-Founder Reed Hastings posted a public apology (or something to that effect) on the Netflix Blog explaining how the company would have split into two in order to separately accommodate their DVD and streaming services.
There would be two different sites, Netflix.com for streaming and Qwikster.com for DVDs, and two different costs.
But why?
“So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently,” wrote Hastings.
OK, that’s understandable, right? Well, in the comments section below Hastings’ letter, almost 30,000 customers expressed how distinctly unamused they were.
“Qwikster is lame. The name is lame. The idea behind the name is lame. Dial-up lame. What a terrible, terrible name,” wrote one disgruntled customer in his comment/open letter to Hastings.
“You have lost my trust and faith in your company. I am officially disgusted with what you have done,” wrote another.
After their public bashing, it seems Netflix listened to what (harsh things) people had to say. Monday, Reed announced that Qwikster was no more, according to The Associated Press.
Perhaps it was an attempt to save face amongst the angry mob of subscribers assembling behind keyboards.
“We value our members, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get movies & TV shows,” he said.
This fumble has been compared to the likes of the Coca-Cola’s Company 1985 “New Coke” with the — failed — reformulation of the soda. Unlike the soft drink company that’s been around since 1886, Netflix doesn’t have much room for (any more) errors right now.
Whether they are paying members or not, many Netflix users across the nation have been debating whether or not they should terminate their service. In September, The Associated Press reported Netflix lost around 600,000 of them.
This should be a warning for other business and companies who are successful in what they do: Don’t ruin a good thing, or else you may be subjected to the Netflix effect.
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