Some customers also have reported having to wait longer for discs to be delivered as Netflix closed dozens of DVD distribution centers with the shift to streaming. Its ending echoes the downfall of the thousands of Blockbuster video rental stores that closed because they couldn't counter the threat posed by Netflix's DVD-by-mail alternative.Įven subscribers who remain loyal to the DVD service could see the end coming as they noticed the shrinking selection in a library that once boasted more than 100,000 titles. the only country in which it ever operated. With just a little over five months of life remaining, the DVD service has shipped more than 5 billion discs across the U.S. Hastings replaced Randolph as Netflix's CEO a few years after its inception, a job he didn't relinquish until stepping down in January. 'It was planned obsolescence, but our bet was that it would take longer for it to happen than most people thought at the time,' Randolph said in an interview with The Associated Press last year across the street from the Santa Cruz post office where he mailed the Patsy Cline CD. The Patsy Cline CD arrived at Hastings' home unblemished, prompting the duo in 1998 to launch a DVD-by-mail rental website that they always knew would be supplanted by even more convenient technology. Postal Service without being damaged, hoping eventually to do the same thing with the still-new format that became the DVD. Randolph, Netflix's original CEO, wanted to test whether a disc could be delivered through the U.S. The service's history dates back to 1997 when Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph went to a post office in Santa Cruz, California, to mail a Patsy Cline compact disc to his friend and fellow co-founder Reed Hastings. 'Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home - and they paved the way for the shift to streaming,' Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post about the DVD service's forthcoming shutdown. Many subscribers still wax nostalgic about opening their mailbox and seeing the familiar red-and-white envelopes awaiting them instead of junk mail and a stack of bills. Postal Service to deliver entertainment became woefully outdated.īut the DVD-by-mail service still has die-hard fans who continue to subscribe because they treasure finding obscure movies that are aren't widely available on video streaming. That number has steadily dwindled and the service's eventual demise became apparent as the idea of waiting for the U.S. Shortly before Netflix broke it off from video streaming in 2011, the DVD-by-mail service boasted more than 16 million subscribers. That focus may have also contributed to the decision to close an operation that was becoming a financial drain.īut the DVD service was once Netflix's biggest money maker. The growth of Netflix's video streaming service has been slowing down over the past year, prompting management to put more emphasis on boosting profits. It’s the first time I’ve been hit with a scam, and I think I need to do more to make my passwords more secure.1A Netflix, The Streaming Wars, And The Future Of American Entertainment And do keep an eye on the bank account too. How someone did it I don’t know, but if you get an email from Netflix that looks like mine, don’t ignore it. At least, I’m assuming that wasn’t a further part of an elaborate scam!! I just rang Netflix, at 11pm and expecting two hours on the line but much to my surprise I was answered in 30 seconds by a lovely lady in the Philippines (6am there) who closed the account down and will issue a refund. Some scumbag had hacked my account, changed the email and phone number and restarted the account, funded by muggins.

I’d frozen my Netflix account a few months ago, so I was surprised today to see that £6.99 had been taken from my account.Ĭlearly the emails weren’t spam they were real.

Now, I’d changed neither, so my conclusion was that this was a scam and that it was designed to get me to enter bank details to recover the account.

Netflix customer service email