Netflix Fails to Honor Free Month Offer for Returning Customer

Netflix Undergrounder, Renée claims to have been cheated by Netflix on a free month membership incentive. Renée was a former Netflix customer for a couple of years and eventually received an invitation to rejoin Netflix for a free month of service. It was one of those "It's been awhile. Try Netflix free for a month," emails.

Renée decided to give Netflix another try. According to Renée, after just two weeks of service, Netflix charged Renée's debit card. Renée called Netflix to raise attention to the billing error. The customer service representative claimed the free month was only for new customers. When Renée called attention to the personalized email from Netflix and offered to forward the email as proof, the customer service representative hung up the phone.

Perhaps Renée's story is unusual, but the tale seems consistent with the sort of behavior that has made Netflix infamous. If you were wise enough to have already canceled your Netflix account, be thankful, move on with your life, and don't look back. If Netflix contacts you and tries to entice you back into the Netflix fold with special offers, consider Netflix may not fully honor those deals. If you do take the risk and rejoin Netflix under a special offer, make sure to check your account diligently. Make sure Netflix fully honors whatever promises they make to you. If Netflix pulls any tricks, cancel your account and report any fraudulent or unscrupulous activity to your bank/credit card company. If Netflix cheats you, you might be able to get some or all of your money back through your financial institution.

Complain, Complain, Complain: Giving Netflix Real-Time Feedback

If you get cheated by a corporation, your options are limited. You can boycott the company, badmouth the business to friends, involve the government, or start a consumer advocacy Web site like this one. If none of those options work for you, you can always resort to good old-fashioned complaining. Ah yes, the time-honored tradition of just picking up the phone, getting a customer service representative on the line, and detailing every little thing that annoys you about the company.

Complaining is a very common consumer tactic, and that is because it works. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Unhappy customers who do not speak up, get ignored; however, the ones who keep speaking up, get heard. These vocal consumers often get results in the form of discounts, refunds, freebies, upgrades, etc. Even if these disgruntled patrons do not get perks for their efforts, they do get the benefit of emotional release. Whining can be extremely cathartic.

If Netflix has wronged you in some way, you can always give them a call and let them know exactly how you feel about their transgressions. You do not have wait for a special occasion either. Every time Netflix causes you an inconvenience, frustration, or delay, maybe they should hear about it and explain to you why the weekend is approaching, a single DVD is being shipped from Honolulu, and two of the DVDs you mailed back on Monday have mysteriously not yet been “checked in” by Netflix. If Netflix is doing weird things to your account, the least the company can do is explain why.

Complaining can get results, and one of the most effective methods is via phone. Fortunately, reaching Netflix is cheap and easy. You can call them toll-free at the following numbers.

(800) 279-5688

(800) 585-8131

(888) 638-3549

Rude Netflix Customer Service

In The Huffington Post, an article by Ron Galloway ("Netflix Death Watch") claims indifferent, arrogant, and rude treatment from Netflix customer service representatives. Have you noticed Netflix customer service representatives getting more unpleasant recently? If so, post your Netflix customer service story here.

Netflix Contact Information

Update: 5/3/2016

Even though this particular post had not been updated for many years, it got tons of traffic and still continues to do so.  It seems a lot of people really, really, really want to contact Netflix.  Here is some updated information.

You can call Netflix on the phone and speak loving words to them at the following Netflix customer service phone numbers:

(866) 579-7172
(800) 585-7265

You can also stop by and give them warm hugs at their corporate headquarters:

Netflix, Inc.
100 Winchester Circle
Los Gatos, CA  95032
USA

For those of you who prefer to send your love via email, good luck with that. When valid email addresses get discovered and posted on this site, Netflix soon shuts them down. If you want to try your luck, you can always make educated guesses.  For example, Netflix’s leaders are listed at http://ir.netflix.com/management.cfm. Using those names, you might be able to come up with a valid email address, like johndoe@netflix.com, john.doe@netflix.com, etc.  Emailing a company that clearly does not want to be emailed is very likely to be a big waste of your time.  It is just way too easy to filter, block, or delete emails.

Of course, you could always send snail-mail to one of the illustrious leaders at their corporate headquarters. These days people are so surprised by paper correspondence, a person might actually take the time to read an actual letter.

Note: Most of the contacts you will find in the comments section were shut down by 5/3/2016.  If you have any helpful new Netflix contact information, please post it here.