Netflix Needs to Learn Customer Service 2.0

March 30, 2009 by admin

Netflix is definitely cutting edge when it comes to technology, but they are unfortunately no better than other corporate behemoths when it comes to soliciting feedback from their customers.

Netflix informed its Blu Ray customers today of their new boneheaded surcharge for the high definition discs. Netflix is dinging their best customers,like Mahalo.com founder Jason Calacanis, with higher fees while those on lesser plans will only see a marginal increase. Before the charge was $1 per month on all service plans, now it will vary based on the plan level.

What really struck me about this announcement was just how disinterested Netflix is in hearing from their customers. Take a look at the email I got today:

If you wish to continue unlimited Blu-ray access for $2 a month, you don’t need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access anytime by visiting Your Account.
If you have questions about this change or need any assistance, please call us anytime at 1-888-923-0898.

What’s wrong with this picture? Well the obvious of course is that their response to anyone unhappy with the price increase is to pound sand and cancel their account.

But take a look further. One would think a company that transacts business with its customers completely online would encourage those customers to communicate back to the mothership using those same fancy Web 2.0 tools. Nope.

No email return address, no twitter, not even a web form. Pick up the phone and call us. How 1998..

In fact, Netflix only recently put its customer service reps on Twitter, posting their first message on February 20th of this year. It’s in sharp contrast to Comcast (the company everybody loves to hate) who has been aggresively handling customer complaints via web technologies for well over a year now.

Netflix is definitely ahead of the curve technologically, but they have yet to learn that the new standard for serving customers in the Web 2.0 world is to actually interact with them.

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