We are all living with too many subscriptions. And often we can forget when services we are using or have forgotten to cancel. So it is nice to see a company do the right thing and stop charging people after a non-usage of 24 months.
A very small percentage of our members have not watched anything for the last two years and although we make it easy for people to cancel their subscriptions with just a few clicks, they have not taken advantage of that ability. So we decided to stop billing them and will do so for members meeting the same criteria going forward. Like all of our former members, they can easily restart their membership in the future. While this change resulted in a slight hit to revenue, we believe that pro-consumer policies like this are the right thing to do and that the long term benefits will outweigh the short term costs. In a world where consumers have many subscriptions, auto-pause on billing after an extended period of non-use should be how leading services operate.
Netflix Q2 2020 Earnings Release
That said, 24 months is about $250 — and that’s a lot of money for doing nothing. Why not stop charging if someone hasn’t used the service for six-months. I mean, if you aren’t using the service at the six-month mark, you have shown your intent not to watch Netflix.
I know I am being too harsh on Netflix. I shouldn’t be — considering that we live in a world of terrible companies who personify shitty behavior. Like Verizon, which probably has been collecting dollars on AOL subscriptions that no one uses.
I recently got an alert from Verizon that I had not used the cellular account on my Apple Watch for a long time, so they are going to default turn it on in August. Or I should get on a phone and cancel the line. Ironic, that I can’t cancel this online — even though they are happy for me to sign-up for new service online and are thrilled to take my payments on Verizon website.
I hope more companies that offer subscriptions follow in the footsteps of Netflix and offer this auto-stopping of billing.