Netflix ditches email in favour of telephone support 21 Aug 2007

No Netflix support 2 Sep 2007 06:02 PM

You think this is well done? What if you can't speak on the telephone and can only email the company? They do not have an email address available and after receiving no movies for almost 2 months now, they did not even email us or call US. With paying for 2 full months services and receiving NO DVD's, on Thursday/Friday it said 2 DVD's from our list would be shipped. Today, 4 days later is states that the 2 movies will be shipped NEXT WEEK. NOTHING is great about their lack of service.

Chloe 17 Oct 2007 03:31 PM

An internet based service having no internet based customer support makes NO sense at all. If I had the time & wanted to be calling customer support, I wouldn't be doing things on-line for pete's sake. That said, it's a big secret but they still have the forms here: http://www.netflix.com/ContactUs Who knows if they actually check it though. I wonder if this is why the web site is full of more mistakes than ever now. Because who is going to freakin' make a phone call over a mistake on the web site?

Tommy 18 Dec 2007 03:57 AM

I agree! The lack of email support is crap. They should have BOTH email and phone support. Why do I want to call and hold for 5-15 minutes just to inquire about a website bug? Like a non-technical person could even diagnose the issue on the phone...

Ann Lessar 22 Jan 2008 05:24 AM

received a gift subscription, but when trying to enter it on the website it says code is not good? tried several times, any suggestions or should i just forget netflix? thanks

Becky 25 Mar 2008 03:12 PM

I also think it is ridiculous not to have an email contact option. I have been a Netflix customer for over a year now, and for almost exactly a year, the service was FANTASTIC, we were receiving all the newest movie releases right on time, but suddenly, EVERYTHING with them has gone haywire for a little over a month now, they are sending me movies that are 15-20 movies down my list (and quite old) while all the new movies get sent to other customers, and I have been having to wait literally for up to a month just to get new releases, among multiple other complaints, so it would be much easier for me to write out all complaints in an email than try to talk to someone on the phone who will take my comments personally and probably start arguing, VERY close to switching to Blockbuster's online service, without bothering to call Netflix at all. I would be much more likely to resolve the problem, and remain a customer if I could email them....

Becky 25 Mar 2008 03:55 PM

Well, I have to add to my previous comment. Just for fun (+many complaints) I decided to give this "great" customer service number a ring, and immediately was informed by a very friendly COMPUTER that my hold time would be at least 15 minutes....hold time turned out to be well over 20 minutes, then my call was answered by the typical custmer service rep that can only tell you what she sees on her computer screen, which is the exact screen I am looking at and telling me that my complaints were mostly unfounded and there was nothing they could do to help me, so I will be looking into Blockbuster here in the next day or two, and when I mentioned this to her, her response was pretty much "oh well"...What a ridiculous waste of time.

John 1 Aug 2008 11:12 AM

I too think they should also allow people to email. Sometimes your request is pretty simple and you don't want to wait on hold for 15-20 minutes, when it would take 2 minutes to send an email.

Yirmin Snipe 15 Aug 2008 09:24 PM

Yeah better service... you want me to wait on a phone for 20 minutes... I'm just going to cancel and use blockbuster.

MJC 16 Aug 2008 01:25 PM

I just became aware of the fact that I can't email Netflix for customer support. I've been a member for over 3 years, and in the first 18 months was able to solve several problems via email. That is good customer service. Bad customer service is making your customers wait on hold for close to half an hour! That is ridiculous. It is like saying "we don't want to hear from you at all"! In this day and age, multi-tasking is a requirement - no one has time to be on hold for more than 2 minutes. Reading about the Netflix member who says that he got unhelpful service after his 25 minute wait time makes me very disappointed in Netflix. Why can't the staff at the Netflix support center answer emails? Do they not know how to read and type? If my company stopped offering email support, we'd go under for sure...

HawaiiMermaid 27 Oct 2008 09:39 PM

This is a WEB BASED company thus the support should be web based. If they refuse to provide an e-mail address for Customer Service reasons, then why don't they just CALL US when a movie ships? I don't think they like putting things in writing. What happened with Netflix a few years ago I believe is happening again; We are 7 -year customers that watches 3-6 movies a week, and have had a new release in the #1 slot in my queue for months now. I had put it in the queue before it was even released in theaters (as I do with most of the movies), and moved it up to #1 as soon as there was a DVD release date. It was released a couple of months ago and it STILL sits there as 'very long wait'. I think it's BS. Are they sending their 'New' customers all new releases over long-term customers again?? We NEVER seem to get new releases on the release date anymore. I wonder why?! Well, I wanted to write and ask, but I CAN'T! I had to call and listen to some kid, who didn't even sound like she should legally be in an "R" rated movie, give some scripted answer about 'well, we have to wait for someone to return one before we can send it to you...'. BLAH...BLAH...BLAH. Whatever! We have been a customer since 2001...when most people thought it was a scam. We sang the praises of Netflix to dozens and dozens of friends and family, and this is what we get. After the lawsuit, you can't be trusted. Not being able to write and receive a response is NOT customer service. It's lack of accountability and responsibility.

HawaiiMermaid 27 Oct 2008 09:56 PM

I just ready BECKY's message and we're in the same boat. I'm anxious to see if I'll get either of my now 'old' new releases this week.

Here's what I did since I can't e-mail; While I sat on HOLD with Netflix, I wrote my e-mail. As soon as they answered I told them that I wanted to send an e-mail and they explained they don't have an address. NOR, do they have a physical address to provided me where I could snail mail it. I said, 'OK...then I'll read it to you...', which I proceeded to do without allowing them to interrupt me. But, before starting I made them sit there for a minute while I watched a few more commercials on the television. Twice she asked if I was still there and I told her I would be with her shortly. You think they liked that? We'll, I didn't like waiting 25-minutes and she barely held 60-seconds.

Once I completed my read she had nothing to say other than the same previously scripted answer. They must say the same thing a hundred times a day. It's now as familiar to me as 'Please have your seats and tray tables in an upright and locked position...'. No empathy whatsoever. Goodbye, Netflix. We're done with you. It was a good 8-years, but we'll take our $$$ elsewhere now. Maybe now I'll get more reading done and enjoy the great outdoors!

HawaiiMermaid 28 Oct 2008 08:10 PM

Just a follow up...

Guess what!?! The movie that has been STUCK in my #1 slot in my queue for MONTHS shipped TODAY! Wow...what a surprise!!! Do you think my calls had anything to do with it?? I mean she TOLD me that I'd 'just have to wait for one to be returned', and that 'it doesn't matter how long you've had it in your queue'. I find it hard to believe that they don't operate by shipping to the next in-line customer. What is it...a lottery??

If it doesn't matter...why doesn't Netflix post a date as to when a movie was entered in your queue??

I still want an e-mail address...

Rebalynn 21 Nov 2008 01:28 AM

I just now realized that Netflix no longer takes e-mails and makes you wait on hold to ask a question. I have been very happy with their service for over 2 years but I too am now angry. About six or seven months ago we put Ghost Hunters Season 2 Part One in our Queue but realized that they did not have Season 2 Part Two available. I e-mailed them and shortly thereafter those discs were available - great customer service. Now I have been watching all of the seasons of Friends in order and am up to Season 7 Disc 3 - which has been sitting up at the top of my queue for a couple of months listed as a Very Long Wait. When I called the customer service line to ask about this (and also to report that I was no longer receiving their e-mails) I was told a canned answer about how popular discs sometimes take longer to get. Okay, I'm sorry but Friends? How long has that series been off the air? No other disc from Season 1 until now has had a very long wait and no other disc up to Season 10 in my queue has a very long wait so why just one disc? I explained to him that I am watching them in order and this has really put a wrench in it but he said there was nothing he could do. If Netflix is trying to compete with Blockbuster they have a poor way of doing it. Are they under new management - maybe a manager with no vision? I am going to stick in there for now but may switch if it doesn't get better. GIVE US AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!

ROSE BRONSTEIN 1 Jan 2009 11:26 PM

I KEEP TRYING TO ORDER "REPEAT PERFORMANCE" WHICH WAS A 1947 MOVIE ON THE NETFLIX WEBSITE BUT NOTHING HAPPENS. IT'S LIKE THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. I AM A NEW SUBSCRIBER AND REALLY WOULD LIKE TO STAY WITH NETFLIX. BUT HOW DO I GET THROUGH TO YOU

LM 10 Jan 2009 12:09 AM

I agree with these posts about no email address. How ridiculous for a web-based service to have no email contact! I don't want to call them, even if the wait time is only a few minutes. I do EVERYTHING via email. I have some suggestions on how to improve their site and service, and I prefer to WRITE it, so it gets sent to them exactly as I want to state it. I don't want to tell it to someone on the phone who may just ignore it or not write it down the way I intended. How annoying. I wonder if they are seeing all these posts about people really angry that there is no email contact? (People who may leave and go to Blockbuster for various reasons.)

Preston 12 Jan 2009 01:11 AM

Just like everybody else here, I just now realized that netflix doesn't accept emails. I'm thinking of throwing a typed out note in my returns from when I invariably cancel sometime in the next two weeks.

My situation is this: I had a movie that was listed as available. They did their "well it's coming from a different shipping center so it'll take longer" thing so they gave me an extra movie. OK, cool, whatever. Problem was, they sent me an email to say it was at the local shipping location, then shortly after sent one to say it was received FROM ME. I've been extremely busy over the past week, and since it's just a freaking DVD, it's really not a super high priority. I went today to poke around, and there's an "I never received this DVD" link, but only with some of the movies.... and the only one listed as "returned" that gives the link was returned a couple days ago (the rest were returned like a week ago), and there is NO OTHER OPTION for just sending a quick thing to go, "Um, yeah, I never got this, even though you said I returned it to you. Maybe you should fix it." It's basically like their customer service department got to their initial training on a short bus.

Now, I really don't have a general problem with social skills, but when something is just that stupid and ridiculous, like a WEB-BASED COMPANY NOT ACCEPTING EMAILS (especially while saying it's so they can somehow improve customer service), I just cannot bring myself to make the phone call. See, I can deal with a lot of BS (and in my line of work, that's 90 percent of what I do), but when things are just that asinine, that's when I lose patience and start cussing idiots out when they give me these inane canned responses (which is what every single customer service rep does on the phone.... like when I call tech support and they tell me to do 15 things I've already done, and then they go, "huh, well that shouldn't be happening." Gee, why did I call you?), especially after I've spent more than 10 seconds on hold. That's why email support works: A quick problem is generally solved with a 30 second email, that takes 5 seconds to read and no more than a minute for the company to correct. Furthermore, email is a fairly passive act that blends into whatever else you're doing; waiting on hold for a call center person basically means shutting off your life for an undetermined future amount of time while you wait for them to not fix your issue and either transfer you to a manager (where you have to wait more), or hang up having not done a damn thing.

Yeah, this is whiny, I know. But come on, this is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever encountered in dealing with a website (it ranks up there with how scout.com can take all my subscription information over the internet, but requires a phone call to cancel a subscription - and the hours of the call center are from five minutes after I leave for work in the morning until about when I get home from work).

fletc3her 18 Jan 2009 03:29 AM

This is terrible customer service. The current hold time is 12 minutes. If you want to let Netflix know about anything you have to wait on hold. Ugh.

I was watching Maverick on the streaming service and a couple episodes don't have sound. I'd like to let Netflix know so they can pull the videos or fix them. I don't want to wait 12 minutes on hold to do so.

By making the telephone the only way to contact Netflix they are losing out on a lot of valuable feedback they could be getting from their customers. Good customer service entails letting customers contact you in the way that is easiest for them. At least they could accept email and not read it like most companies.

Ronbar 26 Jan 2009 08:03 PM

I also think not having an email is a complete waste of my time. I returned two discs in one envelope, I do this quite often, that was 3 weeks ago and Netflix has yet to get them. I did the "report a problem" thing but wanted to follow up with an email stating that both had gone out in the same envelope. No dice, I guess I'll wait until they flag me and email me about reporting two issues.

So much for being pro-active, I certainly will not call to let them know this information but a quick email or form and I would have been able to explain why both had a problem.

artetal 8 Feb 2009 03:49 AM

I am not a member but their pop up ads keep coming on sometimes a few a day withoout an e-mail addy so I cannot block THEMN either. the poppups evade my ppopup blocker as well.

My call to them was unfruiful asince the person answering said that they had no conrtacr with the perosn who does the technical end and could not take me off the list of possible candidates.

I looe for an IP addreess and found that netflix is only one of several companies attached to it or something like that.
so BLOCKBUSTER is doing this??? hmmmm,. but how do I get netflix to stop bugging me. Maybe a letter by mail with a mild stop harasing me threat buried in it. the snnail mai address is visable along with the phone number.

100 westchester Circle
Los Gatos Ca.
no zip but that should be easy.note that it is no longer in Oregon.

Jim 11 Feb 2009 03:40 AM

I love how some people think that phone-only support was an effort by Netflix to be "customer friendly." It is the opposite. They know that many, many people out there don't want to call. Calling is a hassle. Calling takes time.
This is a ploy to reduce their support requests.

And it pisses me off. But I can't tell Netflix that unless I call them. And that isn't really worth the hassle, is it?

See?

Jim 11 Feb 2009 03:46 AM

And another thing... ;-)

Notice how Netflix sends YOU emails asking you for feedback (but only feedback they want to get, like "click this if you got your DVD), but they won't accept email from you on your terms?

I'm calling total bullshit and they should be sent to Gitmo.

Bill Condie 24 May 2009 07:09 PM

I think it's great . . . and you don't get a tech in Timbuktu.

But the tech should have been able to tell me why I need InterActual Player now. He'd never heard of it.

bill 1 Aug 2009 12:52 PM

If Netflix maintains an online presence, then they MUST have an email address!. This should be mandatory for all online businesses and services.

I am personally going to write on each DVD return insisting they re-instate email service. I highly recommend every Netflix subscriber to do the same. Write this request on the DVD pouch itself, not on the actual return mailer envelope.

latisse 12 Apr 2010 04:10 PM

wow

lynsey 22 Jul 2010 09:16 PM

Well, don't they have to have an address, even if just for tax purposes? I would think that might be somewhere in public records or something wouldn't it? I have no idea but I would like to know since I would like to email them/write them and not call. I hate phones. lol

terri 30 Oct 2010 12:41 PM

Have to agree, they need email. I called a couple of months ago to let them know that M7 - Pilot episode is 1 1/2 hours long and they are only showing 45 minutes, it just cuts off. I tried it again today and it's still not fixed. I would bet the person who answered the phone just ignored my complaint. I'd like to send an email, but NO ADDRESS. I hate calling anyone for something simple that should be done via email.

fowler insurance 26 Nov 2010 10:18 AM

Esteban fail.

Karl 16 Mar 2011 02:05 PM

What a bunch of morons at Netflix. This is the only company I deal with that I cannot fix problems via email. PURE CRAP!

Kathy Faucett 26 Mar 2011 08:56 AM

UNSUBSCRIBE
I have been overcharged for about three or four years.
I have been paying $10.00 a month for at least three years....Maybe more. You owe me money. Please send
a check to me.
Please don't try to keep me as a customer, as you have 20,000,000 of them. Just send me the money
you owe me. I have contacted my American Express
not to deduct any payments from you.

Thank you,
Catharine A. Faucett

Kay Alvarado 5 Aug 2011 06:44 PM

2 months ago by mistake I mail one of my own personal DVDs to NetFlix and right after I call them to let them know what I did. They asked me to mail in both movies together and they would return mine in about 2 weeks. A month goes by and I hear nothing from them and I called again. Of course there is nothing in there computer system noting that I had call earlier regarding my movie. They asked me if I received an e-mail from them and I told them no. Nor a letter saying anything about it. Last night after 2 months of waiting for my movie I called. They asked me again if I received a e-mail from them which I had not. Well, they told me that I am out of luck and I would not get my DVD back nor would I receive another movie from them. So, Netflix can lose your stuff and it does not matter to them and they let me know this. I also asked to speak to a manager and was told that managers DO NOT speak to customers. Can you believe this. With the 1,000s of DVDs they have they can speak to you either. And lets not forget you can't e-mail them either. Yet they have access to your bank account and take your money without asking monthly...

Kay Alvarado 5 Aug 2011 06:45 PM

2 months ago by mistake I mail one of my own personal DVDs to NetFlix and right after I call them to let them know what I did. They asked me to mail in both movies together and they would return mine in about 2 weeks. A month goes by and I hear nothing from them and I called again. Of course there is nothing in there computer system noting that I had call earlier regarding my movie. They asked me if I received an e-mail from them and I told them no. Nor a letter saying anything about it. Last night after 2 months of waiting for my movie I called. They asked me again if I received a e-mail from them which I had not. Well, they told me that I am out of luck and I would not get my DVD back nor would I receive another movie from them. So, Netflix can lose your stuff and it does not matter to them and they let me know this. I also asked to speak to a manager and was told that managers DO NOT speak to customers. Can you believe this. With the 1,000s of DVDs they have they can speak to you either. And lets not forget you can't e-mail them either. Yet they have access to your bank account and take your money without asking monthly...