3 Movies a $700 dollar gift & not even a Thank you from Netflix

Photos of Raul Colon Web Developer Puerto Rico

I had this post scheduled to come out the next few days but since I saw how I am not the only one dissapointed with Netflix I decided to publish this today. This is another post how Netflix has dissapointed me in the past.

I was a satisfied @netflix customer until they decided to raise my prices last November while their service was limited. I cancelled Netflix and also wrote  “Was I a @netflix Platinum Customer?” back in November.

I have a bank account that is my emergency fund. I never even look at that account especially since the funds in that account are for extreme emergencies. I only check that account every once in a while. Since I am a new dad, there are even more tasks added to my already busy schedule that I really did not look at the bank account for a quite a long time. A few days ago I decided to look at my bank account and I realized I was getting charged over $21 from Netflix. When I told them I cancelled  the service, they told me that yes it was cancelled but they where charging me for another Netflix account. They quickly told me to call my bank and report fraud.

It was not Fraud

Back in October of 2008 I had given someone a Netflix gift card so they could try it out for 6 months. The curious part was I had only agreed to pay 6 months. After that, I ran into financial hardships add that to the issues I had with having my house foreclosed and many other issues really put my finances out of control (and I have to say that is my fault).

So I called Netflix and they did say that they had sent the last movie in October and November 2008. Which means the subscription was not even used. So since 2008 Netflix has charged me over $700 for movies that where not returned.

As a customer I put my trust in them by investing in their services. I tried to get them another customer to try their service. And you know what they decided to do about my situation?  They told me they would reimburse the last $21 dollars that where charged to my account and would keeping the rest.

Different to other places I was not even offered the opportunity to talk to a manager and after I requested one and spending a few hours on the phone I realized that they where clearly not going to do anything about it. They really did not care that I paid for two accounts.

I was clearly planning to return with them since they offer streaming to Puerto Rico but with the gift card incident, I am clearly not going to support them.

Kicking the Person when they are Down

Netflix clearly takes advantages of these situations although they could see the account had no activity. I had originally bought a gift card, and the amount charged to my account was ridiculous. They clearly said it was their business model and I am not the only one it has happened to. I have to say it was my fault for trusting Netflix in doing the right thing but then again you can clearly see they are another greedy Corporation just trying to take money away from our pockets not really caring for their customers.

Was this completely legal or ethical? I will let you be the judge.

I can clearly give them an F in customer service and I have no doubt about that. Are there any more Netflix stories regarding accounts being charged that where dormant and it was clear the person did not use the service.

They Don’t want to ship DVD’s but I have to Mail my complaint

I tried to contact @netflix but they said I had to send a letter via Snail Mail ( yes it’s 2011 and I have to mail a complaint). I guess they try there best in creating more business for the USPS but really don’t want to deal with solving an issue like mine.

As of the moment @netflix’s has replied with a few tweets that have not provided me a solution or an answer. 

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Netflixhelps/status/89098928728981504″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Netflixhelps/status/90477898699517953″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Netflixhelps/status/90544227699802112″]

Posted in Customer Service, Featured and tagged , ,

11 Comments

  1. Rodrigo Sanchez on July 14, 2011 at 3:52 am

    this is horrible!!! we always stream netflix and go to red box if we want a new movie. 



    • Raul Colon on July 14, 2011 at 4:18 am

      Rodrigo thanks for the support. Yes this has gotten a bit out of hand! Sad part was that I lost the money and they really don’t care! 



  2. Elco Lao on July 14, 2011 at 11:53 am

    Raul:

    Cuando supe que Netflix incluiría bajar películas por Internet para Puerto Rico, hace unas semanas, revisé sus ofertas y me parecieron buenas… hasta que… hasta que decían que el mes “gratis” que me daban para revisar su servicio, requería que les suministrara la información de mi VISA para hacerme posteriores descuentos mensuales.

    Me pregunté cómo me podía soltar de un servicio como este después que yo les abriera mi cuenta para que me sacaran dineros y observé que no eran muy claros en cómo se cancelaba el servicio. Así que decidí no hacer tratos con una companía que me da un servicio MENSUAL y me dice que ellos, por su cuenta, harán el retiro de mi cuenta, en vez de brindar el servicio, mes tras mes, con la condición de que uno DECIDA si pagar o no el mes…

    O sea, vi que tenían una política parecida a las compañías de cable o satélite que te quieren amarrar por contratos y no te quieren dar la opción de romperlo cuando no te satisface el servicio.



  3. Bianca* on July 14, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    THANK YOU for sharing your experience. Sorry its a bad one, but I was just considering Netflix, until now.



  4. suzy yun on November 12, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    Until today, I have had a Netflix account since 2006.
    I loved Netflix so much that in 2009, I purchased a 6 month gift subscription for my elderly parents who do not get out much.
    I only just found out yesterday that the 6 month gift subscription that I thought ended after the time I agreed to pay for, has been charging my credit card every month for over 2 years.

     As my parents are in their 70s and not that web savvy, I set up their account for them. I’ve only just come to find out that it is up to the recipient of the subscripton to cancel what was supposed to be a GIFT. I called the customer service line to correct this situation. It’s so clear that we honestly thought that the 6 month gift subscription ends in 6 months. Not so.

    The person on the phone would not provide me with any other means of contacting Netflix and told me that this line of communication ends with him.I find it very shady that Netflix would have a GIFT subscription with a clear, finite amount of time stated when you purchase it, go on and charge you every month unless the recipient cancels it. My elderly parents and do not really participate in the internet or use email and any notification I received,  I thought it was for my own personal account. I was so disappointed that I cancelled my own account as well. This practice is not right and i feel taken advantage of. I can’t believe that a company as big as Netflix would rather keep, what is a trivial amount of money to them, than do the right thing and lose a loyal customer. I am so disappointed and shocked that after 5 years of loyalty as a customer that this is how it ends. I suppose they figure they have 25 million subscribers, so who cares if they lose one. 



    • Raul Colon on November 12, 2011 at 3:19 pm

      Suzy,

      I am sure there are so many of us with the same @netflix:twitter  Issue . I think we need to keep on posting to their social media sites.

      And spreading the word so @netflix:disqus  does not continue to take advantage of others. 

      Thanks for sharing your Story!  



  5. Harry on December 14, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    I will monitor more close Netflix charges on my carf
    Thanks Raul for the heads up