On Monday morning, I received an email from Netflix.
I opened it to find a form letter from Netflix Inc.'s CEO, Reed Hastings. In it, he politely informed me that he was apologizing for the way his company had mishandled its last service change.
He also informed me that Netflix would be dissolving, breaking up into two separate companies and two separate services.
Netflix would still offer online streaming service, while the DVD-by-mail service would break off into another company called Qwikster. It would have its own website, its own payment system and its own ratings information.
In short, Netflix would be screwing me.
It's easy to see what inconveniences will arise for customers who have previously enjoyed access to both services. We will now have to visit two separate websites to manage our queues. When a film we're waiting to get on DVD becomes available for instant streaming, we won't be notified because the two websites are disconnected. If we'd like recommendations for movies we may enjoy, we'll have to rate our preferences twice over.
What was once a single, easy service to keep track of and enjoy will now become a convoluted mess of wasted time.
This is the same company that expected to lose a million subscribers as a result of their recent price hikes. I stuck with them after that move.
I assumed that the price increase was justified, and I recognized that, for a film buff like me, the selection offered by Netflix is unrivaled. Still, increasing their prices caused a storm of outrage that you think would have made customer service a top priority at Netflix headquarters.
So I'm left to wonder why a company that is already losing customers decided their best step forward was to alienate the ones they have left.
Clearly Hastings believes online streaming is the way of the future and that the mail service that made his company so successful over a decade ago will soon become a remnant of the past.
He's said as much, and in a line from Netflix's blog (a line conveniently left out of the email every customer received this week), he spells it out by stating that "DVD by mail may not last forever."
He's probably right. Media consumption is rapidly changing, and I have no doubt we'll be consuming very little of our entertainment from physical storage units in the near future.
But as important as it is for a technologically based company to look to new developments in its field, it's absolutely critical for any company to look to their customers.
And it's clear Netflix doesn't agree.
Unfortunately, the stockholders do. Following Netflix's poorly handled price increases earlier this year, share prices dropped 19 percent. I can only imagine a similar fall will accompany this recent change.
Is Netflix destroying itself? It's too early to tell. But we do have to wonder what in the world the executives in California are thinking. They're separated from most of their customers by thousands of miles and an array of computer screens.
Apparently that distance has caused them to forget who's sitting on the other side, bookmarking a whole new website for a service they used to be able to get for free.
When huge corporations decide they can neglect their customers, we're the ones who suffer. For my part, I'll be doing what I can to send a message to the guys in charge.
After all, without Starz, Netflix's streaming options are lacking - maybe enough to justify cutting my subscription.
One single message won't make much of an impact, but I imagine millions will. Let's hope they get it.
Alex Guilmartin is a psychology and pre-law senior at UF. His column appears on Thursdays.
