In Praise of Netflix

I've had a Netflix problem (of  my own making) for the past 6 weeks or so. We can put outgoing mail out by the mailboxes to be picked up. I don't do that often, but I've done it. I've even put Netflix discs out there any number of times. Well, of course, there was a glitch. Either someone stole it or it did get picked up and got lost in the mail.

I kept hoping that whoever swiped it would watch it and then return it. An honest crook. No such luck. Week by week, I kept waiting for the RECEIVED email from Netflix.

Compounding the problem was a problem I was having with their website so I couldn't even access the account to inform them I've officially given up. I swear I tried 3 or 4 times. Now resolving Netflix is on my pre-Oshkosh to do list.

So today I try again, change my password again, could access my account but when I'd click on "report shipping problem" I would get an error message. Again and again.

There was an option of telephoning Netflix, but I have to say that I really don't enjoy talking to people for help and would rather fix it on line but this time I called. They gave me a 6-digit customer code number for when I called.

I called, was prompted to enter the code (which brought my account up for the representative), waited about 15 seconds and this woman, with a personality, sounding like a human being, talking like a human being, talking in a tone of voice that changed like a human being got on. I told her my story and she said something like "that's not a problem. We'll just say it's lost and get you going again" -- she added, "Of course, we're not going to charge you -- it wasn't your fault it got lost."

What??

She scolded me in a light hearted way and said "Don't wait this long. If the DVD hasn't been received in three days, just let us know."

Ok, but then the frosting on the cake is that she said she'd send out my next DVD and said, "And with your permission, we'd like to send you out a bonus DVD."

What??

I always say that all I want is what I've paid for, nothing more. In this case, I feel as if the lost DVD was in my "custody, care and control" as they on the court tv shows and Netflix would have every right to charge me for it. So not only did I not get charged, but they gave me a bonus as if it were they who had erred.

So here's to this level - oh, so rare -- of customer service.