The Dark Side of Netflix

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7/22/2011

Charges for "Missing" DVDs After Canceling Netflix

Too many people are making a costly mistake when canceling their Netflix subscriptions, and since there may be many Netflix membership cancellations between now and September, this is a very important special reminder to help save you from a nasty surprise after canceling your Netflix membership. If you read only one thing on this site between now and September, read this:

Absolutely, clear your Netflix queue of all DVDs and make sure all of your Netflix DVD returns have been acknowledged by Netflix before closing your Netflix account. If you do not take this precaution, Netflix may charge you for DVDs they claim are "missing."

Numerous former Netflix members have reported that Netflix charged their credit cards for missing DVDs after they properly closed their accounts and returned all of Netflix's DVDs. Unfortunately, Netflix is always in control of any evidence when this happens, so there is no way to prove the fraud.

Once you close that Netflix account, barring signature confirmation, you have no way to prove Netflix received all of the DVDs you returned to them. Netflix may claim you did not return your DVDs, and they may stick you with a charge of $20, $40, $60, etc. on your credit card. If Netflix does this to you, you may have little recourse. You will have to dispute the charge with your credit card company. If your credit card company does not side with you, you will be responsible for the additional charges from Netflix.

So, clear your Netflix queue, and return all of the DVDs well before your cancellation date. If all DVDs have not cleared your account, report them as missing before closing your account. If you really want to be safe, you might consider sending your DVDs back with signature confirmation. Yes, signature confirmation is a pain, but so is paying for DVDs you already returned. If you can produce proof of delivery, you will have a much better case if you need to dispute Netflix's charges with your credit card company.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What the heck are you babbling about in this blog?. FYI, Netflix gives you 2 weeks to return any outstanding dvd's. If they are lost in the mail, you can "report a problem" or give Netflix a phone-call and they will refund any charges/or prevent them occuring.

Also they give you 12 months to get the discs back to them for a full refund in the event you forget to return them. They act completely fairly in this practice, and I know because i've issued hundreds of refunds when this occurs.

Editor said...

Are all Netflix employees this bad at reading? If you would have read the article, you would have seen it is clearly about charges for "missing" DVDs after closing a Netflix account.

For some reason, numerous consumers have reported charges for "missing" DVDs after closing their accounts. Sure, Netflix gives a grace period for returning a DVD, but this grace period is useless once Netflix claims the DVD was never returned. Once a subscriber closes an account, the former subscriber is at Netflix's mercy. Are you really trying to claim Netflix is providing great customer service and issuing full refunds to disgruntled former customers?

Also, how is a former subscriber supposed to benefit from the 12-month window for returning a DVD if he/she already returned the DVD and Netflix denied it was received? You do see the logic problem there, correct?

You need to realize you work for a sleazy company. If you know you work for a sleazy company and you continue to work there, you are sleazy too. It is amazing how you Netflix goons sleep at night.

Okay, enough of this. Get off the Internet and get back to throttling, putting people on hold, and blaming service problems on the post office and ISPs.

Anonymous said...

My wife was informed that the last dvd we sent on the same day we cancelled was reported carriers "missing" by netflix and we were charged $15.14 on our credit card. I actually saw the netflix envelope/dvd on the mailbox on the day it was picked up. Our mail is delivered to our house by postal carriers. We have never lost any mail for 32 years at this address.

Anonymous said...

My wife was informed that the last dvd we sent on the same day we cancelled was reported "missing" by netflix and we were charged $15.14 on our credit card. I actually saw the netflix envelope/dvd on the mailbox on the day it was picked up. Our mail is delivered to our house by postal carriers. We have never lost any mail for 32 years at this address.

Tim in Texas

njiid said...

Netflix did the same to me after I canceled my account. That was after I responded to their email asking the status of the cd and I told them I had mailed it.

Anonymous said...

I think that is good advice to make sure all dvds show returned before canceling. Maybe someone shouldn't have to, but I guess it makes sense because that is part of the service we agree to when we sign up, both sending and receiving.

Unknown said...

Netflix claimed I did not return a dvd, and refused to close dvd plan. 4 years later, they have been billing my account for an unused dvd account and claim there are no notes on the account indicating my wishes to cancel. How convenient.

Anonymous said...

2018 and this exact situation is still happening. We canceled the DVD portion during the time they were mailing what would be the final DVD. We watched and returned within several days. Over a month later we were charged $20 for a DVD not returned. Once canceling the DVD portion, there was no longer any way to track activity. We called and protested, and they are supposedly refunding the charges. (Like so many have said, funny, in all our years using the DVD service we never had a return DVD problem.)

rosebud2424 said...

There is 3 dvds have got lost in the mail going back to Netflix and i reported and they put my account on hold. I had to called them and told that it isn't my fault that they get lost in mail. I said to them i have always been honest with them. They was two times i got 2 dvds in mail and they was broke. I have been with them a year you would think when your honest with them they wouldn't put your account on hold but it is fine cause i know i sent them back.

Unknown said...

Same here, I cancelled my account & sent both discs back the next day. Now a month & a half later I get an email saying I got charged $15 for an unreturned disc. It's definitely a scam as far as I can tell but let's see what their excuse is once I call. Complete BS TBH that I have to resort to these measures SMH