NETFLIX SUBSCRIBERS EXPRESS MORE DISSATISFACTION

Netflix customers are still angry at the company’s recent moves, but they’re no longer dropping their subscriptions. Industry researcher ForeSee said today (Wednesday) that on its 100-point scale of consumer satisfaction, “Netflix’s well-publicized blunders caused its customer satisfaction to plummet by seven points and 8% to 79.” Once ranked as an online “satisfaction superstar,” the ForeSee study said, Netflix now has merely an average ranking. “Netflix totally misread its customer base and is paying the price, damaging its brand among both consumers and investors,” ForeSee chief Larry Freed said in a statement. “Raising prices by 60% and splitting the baby into separate DVD and streaming services totally undermines Netflix’s cost and convenience advantages. Customer satisfaction is predictive, which means that Netflix’s financial woes may be just beginning.” Meanwhile, Netflix chief Reed Hastings made the New York Times’s list of the four worst CEOs of 2011. As a result of his missteps, the Times said, “Netflix went from beloved icon of innovation to just another big, bad company ripping off customers, and the company’s stock is down almost 70 percent.” Moreover, the newspaper observed, Netflix is facing more problems than just customer outrage. “It has no proprietary technology, is facing numerous well-financed competitors like Amazon, Google and the cable and satellite companies and no longer has sweetheart deals to buy content from movie studios.”