One thing that has always bothered me about Netflix’s customer service is the “telephone only” model. Whose shit-brained idea was that? I can see the need to cut costs and promote only one method of customer service, rather than several. But why phones? We’re talking about an internet-based business and you want me to call every time something isn’t working? Why not a web-based customer service system with chat, voice, video, etc. A call system would be the last thing I would expect from an innovative company.

On top of that, they have no easily accessible feedback system. So if I want to tell them their phone-only customer service system sucks, I have to call them to tell them that and they don’t care. Or if I want to make any sort of suggestion, I would have to call instead of a much more convenient web form or email message. Perhaps that’s why their service is starting to blow when they think it rocks, because they have no way of knowing what people want or like.

This last year has leveled the playing field. Netflix now has a much steeper hill to climb since they pissed off a lot of customers and severely damaged their brand. They need to be agressive in how they build back up and offer a great service that is customer friendly. Before, they were flying high, thinking they could do no wrong, but the price hike and Qwikster gave them a rude awakening. Time to get serious and a good start would be better customer service.

There is one thing that works well on Netflix’s site: search. When I want to browse or get recommendations, definitely not using their site to do it.

For starters, I’m not sure how they do their recommendations, but they never change. Probably because I never watch the ones they recommend, but then why even have the feature?

Then we have the overall design of the site, which looks pretty, but is deficient in functionality. I’d rather have an uglier than sin site design that I can actually use, instead of the scrolly, unsortable, unusable piece of shit that is Netflix’s site. I prefer to browse here or here, which are much better alternatives.

A lot of people complain about Netflix’s “New Arrivals” section only having old titles becoming available to streaming, rather than being truly new and current release titles. That’s valid, but my complaint is that they show stuff that has come available within the last few weeks or months, not stuff that came available today or yesterday. There is no way to know when any of the titles actually arrived on Netflix. Sites like Instant Watcher and Feed Fliks do this better. They show what stuff came available today, what stuff is coming soon, and what will be expiring in the near future. Best of all, you can actually navigate the information with ease. OMFG! How is this possible?

Last, but certainly not least, is the Netflix interface on the PS3. While it gets the job done, it is nowhere near what it could be. I’m sure Netflix programmers hide behind the fact that it’s a gaming device so it has its limitations, but I think that is garbage. Why isn’t there a way to search names of actors? You can only search titles. Why aren’t there easier ways to navigate around a 300+ instant queue?

This post will be the beginning of a multi-part series about Netflix. See, I’ve been a loyal Netflixer since 2003. I loved the DVD-by-mail scenario that went so much smoother then trying to go to Cockbuster Video. When the streaming service started, I wasn’t convinced it was going to be any good. The quality and available titles were severely lacking. It has come a long way since then, but still has many problems, which will be discussed in depth over the next several posts.

The focus of this post will be Faceflix. I’ve been seeing a lot of news articles about the merging of Facebook with Netflix. At first, it seemed almost like they were going to make it so you could watch movies while you’re stalking people on Facebook. Now, it’s more like they just want you to be able to show everyone your movie viewing history. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need everyone seeing everything I watch. I guess I’m just one of those old school goobers who thinks that the constant overindulgent sharing of every bit of info is getting out of control. I enjoy blogging and I enjoy connecting with people on Facebook, but my Facebook friends don’t need to know everything about me. If they want to know how many crappy 80s horror movies I watch, they can come and ask me. Of course, if people are willing to pay me, I will share everything. Bazinga!