Netflix Apologizes For Outage, Offers 23 Cent Credit

If you got hit by Netflix's instant streaming outage on Tuesday night, you may be eligible to receive just over 20 cents in credit towards your next bill.

After instant service shut down, the site sent out an email to affected customers with an apology, and an offer for 3 percent credit towards the next bill, or, if you have a $7.99 a month instant package, about 23 cents.

Though it's not likely all of Netflix's 20 million subscribers were affected, if they were, and they all rang in for the credit, it could add up to over $4 million for the company.

Netflix blamed the outage on a "rare technical issue."

The full message is below:

Dear User,

Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching TV episodes or movies due to technical issues.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to apply your 3% credit to your next billing statement for your Watch Instantly Unlimited plan. Credit can only be applied once.

Ready to start watching again? Check out our latest selection.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-866-923-0898.

-The Netflix Team

Were you affected by the downtime? Do you think Netflix's response was appropriate? Weigh in below.

Comments

[American African]

04:28 PM on 03/27/2011

I am a big time Netflix user and I called them to thank them for the offer, but I declined to accept it. Any outage, interruption or disruption of service is rare with their service and they still value their customers enough to offer some compensation. Now when Comcast or AT&T offer a credit, I will gladly take money back from either of them.

[bkerensa]

03:57 PM on 03/27/2011

I never got the 23 cent credit =/

[Smitt]

07:18 PM on 03/26/2011

Netflix is a great company. They offer a great service for a cheap price. I have lost a few of their DVD's and they charged me a very reasonable price to replace them. I cant think of another company who's service I have been happier with.

[gtobynj]

03:29 PM on 03/26/2011

The point is, that they quickly acknowledge the problem and promptly offer to make amends. I get the occasional email offering a credit if there has been technical difficulties. I have yet to accept their offer, as the issue has never caused me an inconvenience.

[EdwardMRoche]

10:51 AM on 03/26/2011

At least Netflix was proactive in providing a refund promptly. Most other companies would hold out for a class action suite.

[drp103]

12:32 AM on 03/26/2011

Hilarious, it seems Netflix has a sense of humor to go along with their LOW price!

[MichaelAKD]

07:14 PM on 03/25/2011

think of all the customer good will they could have gotten had they managed this properly and say given users one month free. all that word of mouth, all those potential new subscribers, spinning a minor bad into a very good thing. cost for that free month basically jack, especially taking into account tax write offs in the short term and more and happier customers in the long term. all these corporations with people running them with their mba's and zilch for real world business experience that is why we have what i call the culture of "ignorant arrogance" at the top. a culture which might as well be from another world they are so out of touch with their customers or potential customers as well as their employees. example in colo. the ceo and board members of our state workers comp. insurer spent our monies on a $500K golfing/partying trip, paid for by tax breaks and higher premiums to small and medium sized businesses. shareholders want to see real world experience on the board, somewhere, anywhere on the board so things like this don't happen. smart companies regardless of size promote from within and use of the experience gained on the job by their employees, the ones who work with customers on a daily basis. if netflix was a "smarter" run shop there'd be no story here, not today anyway. P.S. Kudos to AMERICAN EXPRESS for recently shifting call centers abroad, disappointed VERY, surprised NOT!

[SeanMMasters]

12:01 PM on 03/26/2011

Why would you get an entire month of free service for a single day outage? That's just ludicrous. I do not work for Netflix, never have, but they're actually a very well-run company.

[oneseagreen]

06:14 PM on 03/29/2011

a month? free? it was a couple of freaking hours. switch on PBS and get over it.

[TheOtherkind]

07:12 PM on 03/25/2011

I was back up in short order on their streaming service. I had a Netflicks DVD that I shifted to. I, for one, am a fan of Netflicks. The DVD was season 5 of MI-5 (Spooks), episodes 3 & 4. I don't think Comcast even offers that.

[Madmac]

07:00 PM on 03/25/2011

Glad I don't have netflix

[Torrentlover]

06:50 PM on 03/25/2011

When I was a cable subscriber and my service went down, I had to call, wait, complain just to get a "partial refund". I solved that problem by cutting the cord in 2005.

[electricladyland]

06:50 PM on 03/25/2011

Two of those and you'll almost have enough to mail them a thank-you note.

[DeathSquad]

05:41 PM on 03/25/2011

Netflix and Zappos. Awesome customer service.

[Librick]

05:34 PM on 03/25/2011

Pretty good customer service on Netflix' part. Can't even imagine Comcast even considering doing that.

[turk96]

06:36 PM on 03/25/2011

I received a half months credit from Netflix for complaining about them being down for a night. Comcast, on the other hand, refuses to give refunds for any down time. Also, Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft, will also not give any credits even if their servers are down for very extended periods. So, I'd take the 23 cents and be happy (but I wasn't watching when it happened).

[ChristopherAtom]

05:15 PM on 03/25/2011

The new PS3 interface for Netflix BLOWS! They should have left it alone.

[piuvodku]

05:10 PM on 03/25/2011

I saw that it was down so I just did something else. It really wasn't an inconvenience at all and I would probably have forgotten all about it by now if HP hadn't reminded me. The amazing thing is, it still isn't a big deal. Thanks for the offer, Netflix, but you can hold on to the credit.