Netflix issues apology, service credit for Instant downtime

By on Mar 24, 2011 at 7:57 AM
Software March 24, 2011

In the wake of Tuesday’s Netflix Instant outage, the company has issued a mea culpa and service credit to affected users. “We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused,” reads an email from Netflix. “If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to apply your 3% credit to your next billing statement for your Watch Instantly Unlimited plan.” The note does not explain why the service when down, rather it references “technical issues.” The full text of the letter is after the break.

Dear User,

Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching TV episodes or movies due to technical issues.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to apply your 3% credit to your next billing statement for your Watch Instantly Unlimited plan. Credit can only be applied once.

Ready to start watching again? Check out our latest selection.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-866-923-0898.

–The Netflix Team

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35 Comments

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  • Tim242

    LoL@ a 24¢ credit

    • Senor Chang

      That pays for one whole day of Netflix for an outage that lasted a few hours.

      And at least no one had to ask and beg for it like you do w/ outages w/ the cable companies. I’ve had DAYS of outages, attributed to Brighthouse’s cruddy network, and NEVER offered a credit until I called and complained about being charged for days where I had no service. Which ended up being like… I don’t know, $4?

    • Timbert

      Yeah really. How bout the buck it cost me to go grab something from Redbox? :) If you were on any other plan, the email would state “3% of our $7.99 a month plan that lets our members instantly watch unlimited TV episodes and movies” so everyone is getting 24 cents regardless of plan.

    • K2kool18

      Some one always needs to bitch at everything. Netflix didn’t even need to issue an apology but they did and gave a credit. The service was only down a few hours.

      • Tim242

        I am not bitching, as I don’t even subscribe to their shitty service. I was
        just laughing at a credit for less than a quarter. They issue an apology,
        then only credit 24¢…funny shit!

      • Tsw620

        Hey moron, how many companies offer a credit or apology in the first place. I’m glad you are too stupid to recognize a great service when you see it. I’ll take Netflix over any cable or wireless or phone company anytime. Netflix has the right attitude.

      • Tim242

        You should get out more often. You are wound up a little too tight for your
        own good.

      • …

        he’s wound up to tight but ur commenting on something u have no clue about, go troll on an Apple article, you are out of ya element gaydroid.

      • Tim242

        GayDroid…I like that : )

  • pixi

    maybe they were removing the contents from showtime + cbs??//

  • Anonymous

    You know, I actually give Netflix a lot of credit. I really do believe they work hard and offer a great service. I’m almost tempted to call them and tell them to take the credit back off my bill. I pay 8 bucks of month for this service and even with this downtime it’s worth EVERY penny.

    • Anonymous

      Unless you request the credit, it will never get taken off your bill in the first place.

      • Anonymous

        Actually thats not true, I’ve revived and did receive this email without ever requesting it.

      • Tim242

        The email says you have to click the link to get the credit.

      • Anonymous

        @Tim242 I stand corrected! lol. I never noticed that. I’ve revived this emails before and figured it was automatic. Since I never really was looking for the credit I just skimmed the email and dismissed it. Well, rest assured I will not be clicking the link.

      • Richardscatzhouse

        I never noticed it.. as I work. But I thought it was nice of them anyway.

    • Anonymous

      I agree, everytime there’s any kind of problem they offer a credit. Who else does that?

  • Anonymous

    Call and bitch to receive a larger credit.

  • worldbfree4me

    Where is the link?

    • Bluelou65

      You don’t see it? It’s right over there :pointsatlink: works for me. I’m gonna fish .26 more out of my couch cushions and get me a snack y’all.

  • http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

    While I respect Netflix for the quick action to make amends for their error, it just isn’t worth my time to submit a claim for $0.24. Just take my quarter and make your site even better. For one, revert the PS3 app back to the way it used to be where I could access listings of far more movies than the new shortened single page view.

    • Anonymous

      Is clicking on a link so hard?

      • http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

        clicking link, logging in, fill in whatever form they have to accept quarter… yeah I’d rather they just keep it and fix the PS3 app instead.

      • K2kool18

        all you need to do is click the link. So about as much as it took you to write that stupid post

      • http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

        … and all I have to do is bend over to pick up a quarter off the ground, yet I don’t do that either.

        Point is, they can keep my refund and instead focus on undoing the damage they recently did to the PS3′s app.

      • Anonymous

        so do you have another account? It’s suspiciously wierd how every one of your comments i liked by one person

      • http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

        @woodraskam

        Yes, I created two accounts, log in and out after each post, just to give myself a ‘liked’ response.

    • anDROIDfan

      Netflix is counting on many people not redeeming the 24¢ because it’s so small, so they’ll get the benefit of showing goodwill without incurring the expense. They have about 20M subscribers, which would cost them about $4.8 million if everyone asked for the credit. Just saying.

      • http://www.vgchartz.com SuperChunk

        You’re absolutely right. I’m not discounting the great service they did by owning up to their mistake immediately and giving a refund.

        I’m just saying that I’d rather see the PS3 app reverted back to its former self than have the quarter.

  • http://twitter.com/fattychance Fattychance

    Netflix always does the right thing. Always.

  • http://twitter.com/cordial david carter

    “Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching TV episodes or movies due to technical issues.”

    Someone at Amazon AWS pull the plug on netflix ‘by mistake’?

  • tinto

    Three whole percent? I’m wowed.

    It’s true that the cable companies don’t even do that much unless beg, cajole and threaten, but I expected a little better from Netflix. It’s about making it up to customers, not just replacing the lost service.

  • OopsieAL

    They owned up to the service failure and acted promptly and positively. I was at work and therefore not even affected by it…but…I had recently swapped the service out of my bf’s name, into mine, and when I checked email at home last night I had a nice letter from them stating :

    Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching TV episodes or movies due to technical issues.

    We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. This is not a great way to begin your Netflix membership. So that you can properly experience Netflix, we would like to extend your free trial by one day. If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to extend your free trial. Credit can only be applied once.

    Ready to start watching again? Check out our latest selection.

    Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-866-923-0898.

    –The Netflix Team”

    That is nice of them! Great customer service!

    Comcast would never do this. In fact, we came home one evening a while back when we almost dropped Comcast except its the fastest/most reliable where we live, anywho, got home, opened a webpage only to find we’d been routed to a Comcast page stating our modem was no longer supported and needed to be upgraded in order to access the web. Now, mind you, this was a WEB PAGE that loaded…telling us this…so the modem still worked…but they were blocking access and we could only see this page when we opened a browser. They claimed they sent us a letter in the mail about it. We never got a letter, an email, or any other notice whatsoever that we recalled. They also would not send us a modem. We either had to take off work and go pick one up during business hours at their office or go buy our own…which is what we did. Could not be w/o our internet overnight, no ways! Addicted! ;0)~

    I like what Netflix is doing for customer service, though, a LOT. Maybe the other guys will shape up if they have some healthy competition…

  • Netflixcustomer

    I’m having problems streaming movies from Netflix so I called them (April 18). I asked for a credit. They told me if I was dissatisfied, I could cancel my service with them. I guess this is their new customer service policy.

  • Netflixcustomer

    I’m having problems streaming movies from Netflix so I called them (April 18). I asked for a credit. They told me if I was dissatisfied, I could cancel my service with them. I guess this is their new customer service policy.

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