The Fall of Customer Service

I saw yet another example of poor customer service last night on "60 Minutes". The founder and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings was being interviewed. During one segment he was asked about the lack of a toll-free number for customers to call for help. Hastings spent several minutes searching his own site for a number without success. Appearantly, Netflix prefers to communicate with customers via email only.

After such an embarrassing moment, you would think that Netflix would remedy the situation and display a toll-free number prominently on their site, but they haven't. The only number I could find was to the corporate headquarters. It's a shame because everything else that they do is really great.

The convenience of the site is the reason we signed up for the service in the first place. We got frustrated with our local video store because we often found that the latest movies we wanted to see were available as two-day rentals that had to be returned the next day to avoid a late charge. Not the the kind of experience you want after having packed the baby into the car to get to the store in the first place. It's far better to get the movies you want without restrictions.

But what about Blockbuster, you might ask. They eliminated late fees altogether. That's true now, but a few years back I was a Blockbuster customer, and I was charged several bogus late fees for videos that I returned to the drop box. In one case, Blockbuster even referred me to a collection agency based on a video that I "hadn't returned". I resolved this issue by going to the store personally and finding the so-called unreturned video on their own shelves. Even after that, I had to threaten litigation in order to get their collection agency off my back and clear my name.

You would think after that experience, I would never go to Blockbuster again. But I did. I had moved and wouldn't you know it, right across the street was a Blockbuster store. I convinced myself that my experience was an anomaly particular to the one store I used to frequent. So I went in and rented a couple of videos. I returned them on time in the drop box before the store opened on the day they were due. But they somehow neglected to record the return on time and charged me a fee. I demanded to see the manager, and she refused to waive the bogus fee. I was furious and I walked out there declaring "never again".

So using Blockbuster.com was never an option. I don't care if they're cheaper or have a bigger selection. I refuse to use them ever again. That's what poor customer service can do a for a company. So Netflix better get its act in gear and get that call center up and running. You can bet their competition saw the show last night and are working on their own call centers.