
Netflix: Disgruntled customers rejoining service - zacharye
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57435709-93/netflix-disgruntled-customers-rejoining-service/
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reneherse
What, I rejoin last night and there's already an article about it? ;)

Seriously though, in my search for cheap/free movies what pushed me off the
fence about rejoining Netflix was that they were offering the first month
free, even though I'm not a new customer. All the details of my account were
saved, and all I had to do what update the security code and expiration date
on my card. Pretty damn good UX through the re-signup process.

The annoyance factor came when I tried to watch a movie. I got an error
message with an obscure DRM error code, and instructions to call a Netflix 800
number. Rather than wake Reed Hastings up at an ungodly hour, I Googled around
and followed advice to delete a particular Silverlight related file, and
restart the browser.

Again, no dice, but at least now the error code was one that prompted me to
upgrade my version of Silverlight. Downloaded, installed, restart browser. Log
back in for the third or fourth time. NOW I can watch my movie.

Let's just say that was only mildly annoyed by all of this because the first
month was free. And the process in the end was somewhat less painful than
hunting for a working stream (...or what that must be like, I'm sure). ;)

One free month is more than enough time to re-evaluate whether their streaming
catalog is worth the 7.99 monthly price. I do hope they've added more A-list
movies on the streaming side, because it's just not worth it for me to tack on
another eight bucks to get access to the DVD catalog.

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greggman
I know I'm like the only person in the world who cares about this but I quit
Netflix the moment I saw they used pop-unders for advertising.

People used to be screaming at all the popups and popunders in the early
2000s. People stopped screaming because adblockers and customer complaints in
general end up getting rid of them.......except for Netflix! WTF!

They still use them. Saw a few this week, and I still won't support Netflix
because of it.

Personally, I think as a geek, you shouldn't support them either.

~~~
recursive
I've never seen a pop-under ad on netflix. I've never seen any advertising on
netflix. You may have some malware or something.

~~~
tantalor
greggman is referring to Netflix pop-unders on 3rd-party sites.

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mc32
I don't think it's too surprising. What were their viable alternatives
--besides cutting off from video entertainment altogether?

I don't think they have credible competitors§ yet. There's Hulu and there's
Amazon Prime videos, but neither, to me, have the same breadth.

§I mean, via internet delivery. Even DVD mail delivery, they are very good,
but that's not a growth market.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Hulu's advantage is that they have more things that are available on cable - I
can see Bob's Burgers and Once Upon A Time the day after they air.

The downside is that I cannot watch the first season of the former... unless I
fire up Netflix :)

~~~
reneherse
How have you found the browsing experience on Hulu? I tried it recently and
was shocked at how difficult it was to look through the different titles.

One advantage of Netflix is that they give you a really dense page full of
easy to read selections when you're hunting for something to watch.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Hulu's XBox UI actively conspires against me. Aside from the couple of actual
bugs, it's frustrating as hell. What's worse, Netflix seems to be copying
them. The web interface is better, but still not fantastic.

But they're the only two legal games in town that don't charge an arm and a
leg.

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mmuro
Here's one disgruntled customer who doesn't miss Netflix at all. Redbox fills
the void nicely and it's way cheaper for my viewing habits.

~~~
muhfuhkuh
So, how many discs do you rent a month? Because if it's <5, then I'd say,
okay, you'd be better off without the $8 netflix. But, if it's more...

We love netflix at home. They're seriously starting to ramp up on TV series
licenses and 80s and 90s hit movies now (where we as Gen-Xers go for our
nostalgia trips).

And, I'm starting to see _some_ AAA blockbusters show up from the recent past
(<5 years ago). So, it's coming along nicely for our needs and _definitely_
for the price. I've never understood how people who say "well, cable has
bigger hits faster", but not only do you have to _pay_ $50+ for digital HD
cable, but >$10 on top for HBO/Cinemax/premiums, _and_ pay to "rent" on-demand
recent hit movies.

Now _that_ is the ripoff.

~~~
devs1010
Haven't you heard of Amazon Instant Video? It has no subscription fee and has
the latest movies for rent, on demand, and the highest they go is, I believe
$3.99. I don't have a cable or satellite TV subscription at all but I have a
PS3 and can use Amazon Instant Video with it, I believe there are devices that
you can get to use it if you don't have a current gen video game system.

Personally, I don't like Netflix's streaming video model, I much prefer that
of Amazon's but I would definitely like to see the price decrease. Having a
large library of movies (mostly older, some fairly recent), doesn't do me any
good unless it has the movie I want to watch at that time. I don't watch all
that many movies so when I do watch one I want it to choose from any movie to
do so, not be limited to a subset of movies for which they were able to
negotiate rights to stream them.

I think the "buffet" model of streaming content works for TV shows a lot
better since they're shorter and most people are more willing to watch what
they consider a "sub-optimal" choice of a show than a movie.

~~~
melvinmt
> and the highest they go is, I believe $3.99

So that's 2 movies a month for roughly the same amount? With Netflix, I watch
2 movies a day. Have to agree that the offering is a little sparse, but it's a
much better alternative than watching regular TV.

~~~
jessriedel
> With Netflix, I watch 2 movies a day.

You watch too many movies :)

~~~
jmduke
Perhaps you watch too few?

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laconian
Isn't Hulu going to become exclusive to cable subscribers soon (a la HBO GO?)

~~~
devs1010
Where did you hear this? Its hard to believe given that they've expanded to so
many devices now, I could only see this if they were bought out, in which case
I think another competitor would arise.

