1to1 Magazine
Newsletters
Web Exclusives
Webinars & White Papers
Speaking
Netflix Gets It Right
We've all had unpleasant customer-service stories (and, at 1to1, we've certainly all blogged about them), but once in a while a company comes along that gets customer service right.
Today I've come to praise Netflix, not bury it.
As any Netflix user knows, a couple of weeks ago the company suffered a still-undefined "technology issue" that caused an interruption of DVD shipments to its customers. But instead of pretending that nothing was wrong, or pointing fingers at easy targets like the Postal Service, Netflix did something highly unusual:
They sent out e-mails alerting their customers to the issue, and, later, offered a 15 percent credit to customers whose discs were delayed by the outage (as well as, in my case at least, an additional disc rental). Not too shabby, considering that many of the service's 8.4 million subscribers weren't even aware of the problem.
My own Netflix queue page loudly proclaimed the problem -- and oddly listed one movie as "shipping soon" when I'd already returned it -- but I can honestly say I wasn't negatively impacted by the experience. (I'd already waited 76 years to see Carl Th. Dreyer's Vampyr, so another couple of days weren't going to hurt too much.) But I'll certainly accept the credit and the extra movie.
Now fully resolved, the only question remaining is what caused the problem in the first place. Hackers are the most likely answer, but there's a chance that Karl Rove is behind it. (There's always a chance that Karl Rove is behind something.) But kudos to Netflix all the same, for clearly communicating the issue to its members and, without being asked, offering something in return for the inconvenience.
How many companies can you say that about these days?
I'm a huge fan of Netflix, and this is part of the reason why. Somehow it got Season 2 of Heroes in the "Watch Instantly" area 2 weeks before it came out on DVD. Love it! Netflix made sure to address the shipping issues (no pun intended) on just about every page on their site. The company's openness and communication skills are top-notch, as is the quality of the products and service.
I actually started my trial with the company a few days before all these shipping problems. The company sent me a personal email and extended my trial a whole week!
Pretty awesome. This is an example of a company that doesn't have their heads buried in the balance sheet while they make decisions. They understand the value of creating a relationship with their customers.
Kevin I couldn't agree more (I actually blogged about the same thing not too long ago: http://www.insightsfour51.com/?p=393). Nobody likes dealing with customer service disasters but owning up to the issue and providing a swift and honest resolution is really the best tact to take.