NETFLIX Raises Fees - Gives Birth to QWIKSTER - REVERSES DECISION!- Page 7

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:25pm

[Luscious]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:26pm

Sheep follow... but they don't always know where they're going.

Updated On: 9/15/11 at 03:26 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:34pm

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:36pm

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:45pm

Why is that mean lady killing the mouse?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:47pm

BECAUSE THE MOUSE WORKS FOR NETFLIX!!!!

[Luscious]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:49pm

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:50pm

You both make such extremely valid points.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:51pm

He's right. I'm wrong. The mouse DOESN'T work for Netflix!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:56pm

I dont know what to think anymore. I feel like a tampon being yanked back and forth!
Updated On: 9/15/11 at 03:56 PM

[Luscious]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:00pm

Okay... it's been fun playing in the sandbox. Thanks for helping me kill a couple of hours. But I work for a living and need to get back to my job now. So I'll let you have the last word, as children are often want to do. Have fun kiddies! xoxo

Updated On: 9/15/11 at 04:00 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:03pm

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 5:16pm

Oh Luscious.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 6:05pm

[Eris0303]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 6:13pm

Too true

[Luscious]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 9:39am

Well... at least he finally apologized and admitted they were wrong in how they handled things. My biggest gripe was always their callous and cavilier attitude toward their loyal customer base. But is forming two completely separate companies that are not intergrated in any way really the answer?

Dear Screwed Over Customer,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something  like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores  do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldnt have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

Its hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to Qwikster. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name Netflix for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (were done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

Updated On: 9/19/11 at 09:39 AM

[romantico]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 10:10am

SO, he admits he F'ed up. Most people would be fired for that. His arrogance/stupidity cost the company stock,loyal customers he'll never get back, and most of all money. If anyone did that how can they still keep their job? The board members should fire him ASAP and bring in someone new to help restore faith in their former customers in hopes of maybe getting some of them back.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 11:00am

Obviously this guy is way smarter than I am. And I'm sure I'll just get used to it. But my first instinct is that this is a very bad idea.

When he raised the prices, I responded by cancelling streaming and reducing my number of disks, because I realized I really wasn't taking advantage of what I was paying for.

But I'd always assumed that, as streaming content grew (and if I finally got a new TV capable of streaming) that I'd re-up for streaming.

But now that he's separated the companies into two websites--integrated only in that they'll charge the same credit card--it seems as though he's leading me away from that notion.

I may still do it, but I feel right now that streaming will just sort of slip out of my consciousness. Of course, I realize Netflix can't sit around waiting for me to catch up.

But still . . .

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 3:12pm

I cancelled streaming after this morning's email. I was willing to keep both streaming and discs after the price increase because it was still the best deal around and the convenience was worth the added expense but now that the two services will no longer be integrated the convenience isn't worth it. I am not going to check between the two websites to see if a particular film is available in streaming (or vice versa) so I dropped down to the service I use most, discs.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 4:46pm

"Qwikster" has to be the dumbest name they could have possibly come up with.

Anyway, this won't have any impact on me or my family personally since we had switched to streaming only months before the price increase was even announced, and we've been quite happy with it.

Amongst some of the responses to the announcement yesterday on Netflix's blog, someone posted...
... this oldie but goodie from THE ONION

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 5:02pm

I had no problem with the price hike personally, but this is where it gets stupid. So there's going to be two seperate queues now? How will I know if a title that I have in my dvd queue is now available for streaming? As of right now it just tells me when it's available but I'm going to have to search each month for hundreds of titles to see which 5 or 6 have been added? BuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuullSH*T.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 9:18am

Netflix Qwikster: The strange logic of the company's decision to divide itself in half. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

[Nettik]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 9:42am

I'm wondering why they chose a name where the first Google result that comes up is this NSFW Twitter page.

http://twitter.com/#!/qwikster Updated On: 9/20/11 at 09:42 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 9:44am

Thanks for that, that was an interesting read.

I've said for a long time now that I honest to God think that video stores are going to make a "comeback". Not in the big Blockbuster/Hollywood Video model but in the original "Mom & Pop" look/feel we all (of a certain age) got to know in the 80's. The simple fact is that if you look at the amount of people who say "Forget you, Netflix, I'm going to use Redbox!", you have an outstanding number of people who are still willing to travel outside of their home to rent/return movies. I think the new model of the video store will and should follow the same price structure of these new kiosks and in all reality, with dvd's and bluray as cheap as they are from wholesale distributers, there's no reason why they should be any more than $1 a day.

I stood by Netflix but right up until yesterday and I will keep my membership and see how this new move goes before I decide to keep/get rid of anything. If I do pick one over the other I will most probably keep dvd's by mail since Netflix is also losing STARZ and the selection will drop dramatically. I'll wait to see how this plays out, though.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 9/20/11 at 9:58am

What I'm wondering is when the split does happen (and if they don't backpedal based on feedback) will our lists automatically be added to the Qwikster website or will we have to add each movie to our list again.