Netflix lost 800,000+ members in last quarter

Netflix is becoming a perfect case study in how no company is too big to annoy its customers beyond the breaking point.

The company just posted the numbers for its most recent quarter, and showed that it lost a whopping 810,000 subscribers.

Previously, Netflix had experienced consistent growth. We’re talking about at least a million new subscribers every quarter.

So this news is huge, and is surely making the online video company a little more humble.

Netflix had planned to make anyone who wanted to continue to receive DVDs in the mail sign up for a new account on a website called Qwikster, but all the terms and conditions would remain the same.

But to many customers, it was seen as forcing them into an unnecessary hassle and they did not like the idea of having to manage two separate accounts for something that used to require only one.

Netflix has heard the outrage and, despite first ignoring it, decided to axe those previous plans.

The saga was mired in the media, including a parody on Saturday Night Live which portrayed CEO Reed Hastings as a bumbling fool who praised the “merging” of Qwikster and Netflix.

The real Hastings said in a conference call, “In hindsight it’s hard to justify [the Qwikster ordeal]. Qwikster became the symbol of Netflix not listening. We quickly changed course on that, and we’re going to stick with DVDs as part of the Netflix brand.”