Comments on The Official Netflix Blog: Customer Service for the Hearing Impared

I am so frustrated today, I went to all the troubl...

2008-08-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

I am so frustrated today, I went to all the trouble of finding this blog post and adding my $.02. I started out with a minor customer service issue/question, which has now snowballed into a hugely frustrating problem because I don't have a spare 20 minutes to wait on hold, and there's no email or online customer service. Offering a phone number is fine, but there was no reason to take away email customer service. The NF press release says it was to avoid 'non-responsive' customer service, but it seems to me it would be better to train CS reps better, rather than just doing away with service. I've been a loyal NF customer for several years, but am considering (for the first time) switching to BlockBuster, assuming they have 21st-century customer service.

What this really comes down to is customer service...

2008-08-05T23:50:00.000-07:00

What this really comes down to is customer service and meeting the needs of a customer. I am a true blue beleiver in good customer service and I think we all should be. I too would be frustrated if I were this customer. I'd like to recommend a customer service book that is amazing with advice and tips to better our own customer service skills.

I have no idea why I have to wait 25 minutes to as...

2008-06-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I have to wait 25 minutes to ask a simple question. Most companies, but and small should take a few lessons on customer service. I'm have a business of my own and I know exactly where I'd be without good customer service...out on the street. A good resource I found is a book called Deliver and Measure by the President of MindShare.

I'm impressed that Netflix responded quickly to yo...

2008-06-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm impressed that Netflix responded quickly to your concern with a great response. When a customer is upset that's the best time to reach out to them to solidify that relationship and create a lifetime customer. I saw a great interview on Fox where the president of Mindshare talked about that.

I'm glad I found this thread, although I find it r...

2008-03-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I found this thread, although I find it rather humorous that it went from being about customer service issues related to the Deaf and lack of email access, to being about other topics.

As a Deaf customer myself, I've been quite frustrated with Netflix lately. You can't say you have a special line for Deaf customers and NOT put it out there for us to see.

I also agree strongly that having a contact form, ticket system, or a way to email customer service is absolutely a necessity. Not everyone wants to waste time telephoning. And not all of us even like using the relay service due to how cumbersome it is and the lack of education / ignorance on the part of the rep. you usually end up getting to "help" you with your problem.

I plan to cancel my subscription to Netflix. Their service in the past was much better than it is currently. I find it personally hysterical that the bigger a company grows, the poorer they become in valuing and appreciating the very customers that made them successful in the first place.

Reinstate email access immediately (or some form of it thereof) ... more customers would appreciate it.

Thank you.

I am very upset with Netflix and I am on the verge...

2008-01-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

I am very upset with Netflix and I am on the verge of canceling my membership. I have had movies on the top five of my list that have been out there for well over a month. I could of walked into Hollywood or Blockbuster and rented these movies now. I get the feeling that the new site is just smoke and mirrors, a way to keep customized thinking they are getting current stuff when they are actually getting old dated movies. This week is it, if I don't get one new release movie then Goodbye Netflix and hello Blockbuster!!

The link.......to the past portal?http://www.netfl...

2008-01-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

The link.......to the past portal?

http://www.netflix.com/AllNewReleases?lnkctr=NavAllNewReleases

Only the few will know..as long as they keep it dated!

Tell me how do you deal with sum one who has half ...

2008-01-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

Tell me how do you deal with sum one who has half a mind to think more than see more less no notes.pls test isa new strings channel theroy has it worked c the see less on more to mind sea ca the way ah ok it comes back to yah think!!! Hounding pest keeps resounding rings in a mind u x the game no xox just whole thinking ++out side this square? are you in there??mmmm buzz shhhhh chi out of sorts? maybe yes maybe no

customer service for anybody. You have changed the...

2008-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

customer service for anybody. You have changed the look so that only a few new releases show. when I ask Help how do I see more, it says click on More new releases at the bottpom. There is no such option.

what happened to the new releases section? This is extrmely frustrating and worse than shopping at the local video store.

Hearing issues aside: How come Netflix won't accep...

2007-12-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hearing issues aside: How come Netflix won't accept customer questions via e-mail?

Michael... I know customer service isn't your depa...

2007-12-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Michael... I know customer service isn't your department, but since you were nice enough to post about it, I thought you'd be kind enough to forward this info to the right people.

The customer service pages still don't have the TTY number on them (the ones that say Answers by Phone). Also, people still use the term "TDD" (as opposed to TTY) so maybe TDD should be added to the "Instant Answers" help database (as well as keywords like "hearing impaired" or "deaf").

Just a suggestion.

I would like to suggest to view my webblogwith art...

2007-12-24T04:56:00.000-08:00

I would like to suggest to view my webblog
with art gallery of my art work

http://artandfaith-john.blogspot.com/

Regards
Tomas

How about a telephone number that works in the US ...

2007-12-23T12:21:00.000-08:00

How about a telephone number that works in the US Teritories - even if it is a toll call?

I would like to have Netflix offer the movie :Ange...

2007-12-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

I would like to have Netflix offer the movie :Angelo, my love by Robert Duvall. Can someone from Netflix notify me if you get some copies in. Thank you, Kathy D

www.ticsi.org

2007-12-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

www.ticsi.org

How about a 'Hall of Shame' for those reviewers wh...

2007-12-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

How about a 'Hall of Shame' for those reviewers whole ranking has drastically plummeted since they've no longer been able to vote for themselves!

< ;-)>

Yes, it's a shame in a way that they didn't wipe t...

2007-12-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's a shame in a way that they didn't wipe the slate clean and start again, but that would have punished all by-the-rules-playing members as well; presumably the vast majority. And I'm already beginning to see lots of names that I don't recognize occupying - and deservedly so - those coveted first 3 review spots, so a couple of years to decontaminate the system sounds about right. And once we can (hopefully!) re-shuffle the reviews using criteria other than allegedly helpful, then the damage can be wholly undone.

"I wonder if this is why I see some reviews deep i...

2007-12-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

"I wonder if this is why I see some reviews deep in the abyss that are marked helpful by 37 of 37 and 59 of 60 and so on."

Until about a month ago, it was possible to vote on reviews every day. So, most reviews you see with those sorts of ratios were heavily gamed. There were some people that had given themselves 1000s of helpful votes. In a year or 2 the system should recover from it and those people's reviews should no longer be glued to the front page of every movie.

To Anon (8.30 am). Thanks for letting us know abou...

2007-12-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

To Anon (8.30 am). Thanks for letting us know about Netflix' great handling of the recent wild fires situation in your area.

We might whine about this or that from time to time (like, what's with the incomprehensible and archaic insistence on a 5 day week in such a competitiveness business??!!) but I don't think most of us would bother to blog if we didn't love so many other things about Netflix's site and service - which, perhaps unfairly, we've rather come to take for granted. That is, I'm not sure that we'd even notice the occasional splinter if the rest of it weren't so painstakingly smoothed and hand polished.

So I hereby add my own thanks, Team, in case you don't hear it from us quite as often as you should.

@ MichaelThank you for the clarification.That's wh...

2007-12-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

@ Michael

Thank you for the clarification.

That's what I get for not really understanding the behind the scenes. I had not tested voting more than once for a review.

Yes, members can vote for their own reviews. Once....

2007-12-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, members can vote for their own reviews. Once. This isn't enough to game the system. (Oh, maybe a teensy bit, but not really).

Ok, so I'm completely clueless about blogging, so....

2007-12-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm completely clueless about blogging, so...sorry! I just didn't know where else to write a positive comment about NF, since the "contact us" area on the website is really just for problems, as far as I could tell, and I hate using the phone, so I'm wasn't going to sit on hold.

Anyway...LOVE NF! You all can complain all you want about different aspects. Frankly, creative, constructive criticism ALWAYS has a positive effect, whether it be to improve what you want improved, or to show you that you need to move on. Obviously, you guys are the ones I should thank IN ADDITION to NF for the fantastic customer service I always get from them. They are listening to you and constantly making improvements. Constructive criticism works best if what/who your critiquing listens. Well, NF is apparently listening. Let me share an experience I had last month, so all of you know what a great company it is that you're supporting.

I live in SoCal and though I wasn't evacuated, my part of the county lost postal service for several days during the wildfires (actually several weeks before all was back to normal), and you don't always think about the little stuff like your movies showing up. You're worried about bills, and paychecks, etc. WELL, NF took it upon themselves to put my account on hold until they were sure that my movies would be delivered in a timely manner. They also suspended any payment due them until everything was cleared up. They emailed me when they did this, and then emailed me again when they had heard from USPS that the issue had been resolved.

When you're in a really crappy situation, sometimes the little things make the biggest difference in just getting through the day. NF, showing that there are humans behind the website and mail delivery, showed me that they cared about ME during a difficult time. It was unexpected, surprising, and one of the neatest things I've ever seen.

So, you guys keep blogging, and I have no doubt NF will keep listening. Obviously, if we weren't all happy with them, we'd walk down the street to HV or BB, the evil corporate machines who love to steal our money! :0) Have a great holiday, however you celebrate, and stay safe!

THANKS, NETFLIX!!!

A loyal customer

I have mentioned to my friends before that the lin...

2007-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned to my friends before that the links buttons should, at least, be changed to “I agree” or “I disagree”. I am not so sure that more points should be awarded to people who have “I disagree” more than “I agree”; that does not mean that the post was not substantial and well thought out.

The “flag this” button should be used for posts that are obviously there just to increase ranking just as it is used for vulgar comments or a post that is not a review. I love seeing 5 stars and then “Hey, my disk was broken!” I’ll flag that every time.

I would guess that the more friends one has, the more likely one is to get more helpful votes – or any votes at all, since new reviews show up on the community page.

But I do think I accidentally stumbled onto a way to game the ranking, unless there are not really any points given for this. I was reading other posts on a movie I had reviewed and my post finally showed. I clicked on the “helpful” link, thinking it would say, “Hey, Junkie, you can’t vote on your own post. Are you high?”

Instead, it let me vote. So, I went back to my community page where I could see my tallies up to the day. Then I went back and voted on a few other reviews I wrote, and the next day, each post I voted on that I wrote was deemed helpful by yet one more point.

I wonder if this is why I see some reviews deep in the abyss that are marked helpful by 37 of 37 and 59 of 60 and so on. If this is the case, then rank really can be gamed and quite easily.

this is dumb- deaf don't use TTY anymore. They use...

2007-12-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

this is dumb- deaf don't use TTY anymore. They use Video Relay Service now, not TTY. Jeez.

RE: Gaming the RankOne glaring problem with the cu...

2007-12-09T23:41:00.000-08:00

RE: Gaming the Rank

One glaring problem with the current system is that generally, negative reviews (even well-written ones) are commonly marked as "Not Helpful" when in reality, the voters mean "I Don't Agree With Your Review."

This means that most of the highest-ranked reviewers have a history of reviewing nearly everything in a positive light.