On Sunday night, Netflix announced yet another change in its setup. The company is now offering two separate websites, one for instant streaming, the other for DVD rentals. This announcement comes after the major price hike that hit news feeds in July finally calmed down. Students are both confused and angered by the changes, which leaves us wondering if the major movie distributor will make it out of this pitfall.
In July, Netflix announced that it was splitting its offerings into “DVD Rental Only” and “Instant Streaming Only,” both $7.99 each. If you kept both, the price was increased to $15.98 a month, an approximately 60 percent price increase from the previous $9.99 (for the streaming and one disc out at a time option).
“The Netflix changes are dumb and confusing,” said Page DeVere, a junior social work major from Fort Myers, Fla. “I don’t know how to respond to them. The price hike was bad enough, but the company split is really upsetting. I don’t want another company to have my credit card information. I would just cancel the DVD service, but not all my movies are on Netflix instant play.”
“The biggest hassle for me might be when they separate the two,” said admissions recruiter Aaron Burtch. “The convenience of being able to manage both streaming and DVD on one site is going to be taken away and I’m not sure customers are going to want to do that.”
“Netflix started out as a great service,” said Emily Snell, a senior journalism major from Ellinwood, Kan. “But based on what I’ve heard, the changes to the service in the past few months make it seem like they’re not as concerned as they should be about meeting their customers needs.”
Many customers are left wondering whether they should stick with the service or just leave all together, while others aren’t concerned one way or the other.
“I received Netflix as a Christmas present last year, so I don’t pay the bill for it,” said Meredith Hrebenak, a senior psychology major from Snellville, Ga. “However, I’m aware of the changes that were made, and I’ll probably leave it at the end of the year when it’s not being paid for anymore.”