Over the weekend I wasn’t feeling well, and spent most of my time browsing Netflix on the Apple TV. I found Sports Night, a series I’ve always meant to watch, available to “watch instantly.” I sped through the first season in a day or two, and hoped to finish it quickly (it was a short run). On the third day, I found that Netflix had pulled the entire second season. Just the second, not the first. Just the episodes I hadn’t watched. I went to Twitter, and found that this happens to people all the time.
@Netflixhelps The movie I started last nite is no longer available 4 watch instantly tonite? Kurosawa would want me 2 finish Seven Samurai!—
ConallDempsey (@conalldempsey) June 22, 2011
@Netflixhelps Should seasons by disappearing from the site? Was in the middle of one and now it's not there, Mad Men Season 1 & 2. Eeep.—
Henry Whitfield (@HenryWhitfield) June 22, 2011
@Netflix_CA What happened to Season 1 & 2 of Mad Men?! According to the reviews i'm not the only person having trouble… #leftinthedark—
Daniel DC Gonsalves (@DanielDCG) June 22, 2011
@Netflixhelps why did the show louie stop working? i almost finished the first season.—
Dhruv Patel (@dhruvpatel) June 28, 2011
@Netflixhelps I was watching the show Louie on netflix instant last night and today its gone.—
Adam Rivett (@ArmyofAdam) June 28, 2011
@Netflixhelps So its natural for something to be available for 4 days and then disappear with no warning? That's a waste of my money.—
Bobby Melok (@RAMelok) June 30, 2011
Negotiating video licensing on the internet is a job I’m glad I don’t have and I respect Netflix for tackling as well as it does. But is it likely that Netflix has less than 24 hours notice when a title is about to be pulled? Netflix is such a smart customer service company. What’s keeping them from sending me an email, like a friend would?
Hey, Matt! We noticed you’ve been watching Sports Night lately. We wanted to let you know that Season 2 will be unavailable to watch instantly after June 28, 2011. If you’d like to add Sports Night Season 2 to your DVD queue, click here. Thanks for being such a great customer, etc. (Insert “ebb and flow” boilerplate here, if you must.)
Thoughtful, considerate, proactive. Exactly the kind of customer service Netflix customers expect.
