Reed,
Thank you for the explanation. I have been a Netflix subscriber since June 2002 and I did feel offended by the large price jump in my plan (2 Blu-Ray discs + streaming)
I believe that you are making a mistake in dis-integrating the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com sites.
- My family receives great value from the Netflix suggestion service. After rating almost 1,600 movies and TV shows, the suggestions have become a source of eclectic discovery that are almost always spot-on.
- I appreciate the way that queue selections move effortlessly from the DVD queue to the instant queue.
- My family very much appreciates having a single web site at which to search for movies. Once we find a movie, we can then choose the medium on which to receive it.
Though you may see DVD and streaming as distinct businesses, I do not. I rent movies and TV shows from Netflix and consciously decide how I want each delivered.
I hope that you will reconsider your decision to separate Quikster.com and Netflix.com. While they are combined, you offer a service which is stronger than either is independently.
— Art Z.
Update: When I replied to Reed’s email to me, my note was, essentially, rejected. The email address from which his note came, “does not reach [the] customer service team.” Netflix has made three significant mistakes in just a few weeks:
- A huge price increase
- Announced a dramatic worsening of my user experience with their web site(s)
- Made it painfully difficult for me to contact Netflix with my thoughts on the issue
Didn’t you initially blog that the price increase was no big deal? 🙂 Although it wasn’t a lot of money, I wasn’t happy about paying more for the same service. And I’m further disappointed by their ongoing decisions. I’ll be interested to see what it takes for them to get the message that their customers are unhappy and change course.