NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Netflix subscribers threatened to flee in droves when the company whacked them with a surprise price hike, which kicked in this month. Now they're making good on that threat. Netflix on Thursday cut its subscriber forecast for the current quarter, saying it now expects to end the period with 24 million customers -- down from the 25 million the company forecast just a few weeks ago. That's also down from the 25.6 million global subscribers Netflix had on June 30, the end of its second quarter. The writing has been on the wall since July, when Netflix angered many subscribers by saying it would begin charging separate prices for its DVDs-by-mail and streaming video plans. That amounted to a big price hike for Netflix customers, as the cheapest-possible bill for customers who want both services jumped from $10 to $16 a month.
See, this is the thing Netflix, you really fucked up.
You had a good thing going. I was paying you for absolutely nothing on your end. Literally. I ordered The Lovely Bones on June 24, 2010. That’s right, 2010. It’s still sitting on my bookshelf. Not because it was awesome and I couldn’t bare to send it back, the movie SUCKED. No, it’s there because I lost that red, postage-paid pamphlet and god forbid I look up your address online and self-address an envelope. That’s too much work. So what does that mean? It means I’ve paid 9.99 a month for 14 months for nothing. Sure I streamed a few episodes of Parks and Recreation to catch up, but that’s it. $140 for free. And I’m sure I’m not the only one just wasting my subscription. It’s like signing up for the gym.
The gym could literally close the location down the street and keep charging me, I’d never know the difference. Similarly Netflix could have stopped providing movies and tv shows altogether, nevermind cutting back on its catalogue, and continued charing me 9.99 and I would have never cancelled it.
But you got greedy. And now the free ride is over. I’m going to get on that horse today, self address an envelope, figure out how to buy one of those stamp things that people used to use (god I hope you can buy just 1), and mail that abomination of a movie back. Tomorrow I’ll be cancelling my account.
In ya face Netflix.
