Netflix Eliminating Account Profiles - Update

Update #2: There are two online petitions to save Profiles with more than 600 (combined) signatures at Petition Online and SaveNetflixProfiles.com.

Update: Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said that the decision to eliminate Profiles is a "final decision." Swasey also had the following to say:

Netflix is a dynamic company that continues to evolve and grow while consistently giving members to best online movie rental experience.

Think of where we were when I joined a little more than three years ago. Then, we had 2.6 million members and 35,000 titles on DVD. Today, 8.2 million members, more than 100,000 titles on DVD and more than 10,000 choices of movies and TV episodes to watch instantly on the PC and the TV.

With such dramatic growth and site and service improvements comes the occasional adjustment.

While discontinuing the Profiles feature is not desirable for the passionate folks who use it, the decision will ultimately benefit all Netflix members. By discontinuing the feature, we will be able to put more focus and resources site and service improvements that benefit everyone, consistent to how we have grown the service over the years.

Netflix sent out the following e-mail today to inform users that they are eliminating the Profiles feature on September 1st, 2008.

The Netflix help system has more information:

Q: What is happening to Profiles?

A: We will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account.

When? Profiles will be eliminated on September 1, 2008.

Why? While it may be disappointing to see this feature go away, this change will help us to continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.

Do I need to do anything? Consider moving all DVD titles in your Profiles Queues to your main account Queue. To do so, log-in and visit this page

How will this impact my account? On September 1, 2008:

All DVDs currently at home or in transit will be associated with the main account Queue

All Profiles rental history will be added into the main account rental history

Your additional Profile Queues will be eliminated. If you would like to keep a copy of each Profile Queue we recommend that you print them out

Prior to Profiles going away, we will also email you a copy of your Profile Queues

Profiles movie ratings and Profiles Friends connections will no longer be available

You will not be able to transfer your Profiles data to a separate new account

You will be able to set a maturity filter on the main account

How do you feel about the end of the Profiles feature?

Thanks to Wiley, Jesse, Kimberly, Johnny, Sarahbeth, RevRagnarok, Chris, Nina, Jeff, Brian, DigitalDave1, Joshua, Sean, Finy, Chris, Danno, Bill, Brian, George, Stesmo, Sam, Bjorn, Ben, and everyone else that sent this in.

Comments

Thought 1: WTF?!

Thought 2: That's still over two months for them to realize that they are making a horrible mistake.

Thought 3: We have over two months to figure out a way to show them they're making a horrible mistake.

Thought 4: Maybe I'll cancel at the end of August.

Just blogged this myself. I just can't imagine why they thought this would be a good idea. And then to not give any of the "improvements" they claim this will bring makes no sense. Stupid PR move, Netflix.

Personally I'm pissed. This was one of the biggest reasons I have Netflix. Now their referral system is completely useless to me, since my queues will be merged. Not to mention they're bending over every person that has ratings on subaccounts, since they're deleting the subaccount ratings with no option to save them.

[RevRagnarok]

(copy of my submission email, but with typo fixed)

I have two profiles - one for movies, and one for TV shows. That way I am guaranteed not to have all three discs of HBO's John Adams at home at once, but ensures that when I return one of them, the next comes without me manipulating my queues.

I sure hope they replace it with something similar to fix my new-found problem!

[RobertB]

I *just this week* set up a Profile for my son, so that he can watch all the anime he wants over summer break. And I upgraded from 2-out to 3-out to do it. When Netflix eliminates profiles, I'll eliminate that extra disc... plain and simple. In fact, I'll probably go to 1-out, because I have one disc for each profile (my daughter has one too). Blatantly stupid move on Netflix's part.

[Germancity]

Are they going to increase our Q capacity? I've hundreds of entries in other Profiles. Grrrr!

The page they link you to is just the normal "assign DVDs to profiles" page. There's no automated way to import titles from profiles to the main account on the site.

I use profiles to manage different types of movies and because I like to keep more than 500 movies in my list. This is going to be a big inconvenience.

Bad Idea Netflix. This was a good feature.

Profiles is one of the best features of Netflix. It is ridiculous to get rid of them without any mention of an acceptable replacement.

[Adam]

Yeah, not very happy about this. Hopefully they'll get enough negative feedback that they'll change their minds.

[Meredith]

I bet I'm not the only one annoyed by this. Profiles were one of the best things about Netflix. Of course, they're less money-making than forcing people to have separate accounts, so I'm not *surprised* they're getting rid of them, just disappointed.

[Amber]

This is a terrible, terrible idea, and I am not sure what possible benefit they will get out of it. Surely the back end for programming it is not too burdensome? Why tick off thousands of people who like having movies for each family member at home without fighting over queue status?

[MJ]

How is this an improvement for Netflix customers?
I guess they expect us to take out multiple accounts for families? Hmmm, I think not!

Netflix, please reconsider your decision or at least suggest what you have in mind to replace this functionailty. Members of my family have very different movie tastes and your movie suggestions will become worthless if the 3 profile queues from my 4-at-a-time account end up getting merged!

I guess this also means I need to share my Netflix password with my kids so that they can edit the single queue?

This is NOT a good or welcome idea :(

I wonder what options Blockbuster offer in this respect...

[Peter]

This is definitely a terrible idea, and I can only imagine it's being driven by financial motives. Some "bright" person at Netflix figured that many people who now share accounts within a family will sign up for separate accounts, at a premium price.

So, who do we contact to complain??

I can't imagine it being good for the Netflix bottom line either. I just recently changed to the 6 out at a time plan to accommodate multiple profiles. It is actually $2/month more expensive than 2 subscriptions at $16.99/month (for the same 6 disks). However, that $2 a month was worth it for the convenience and fighting prevention between the people on the account. Now, I might as well get two accounts costing Netflix $2/month.

[Ask Bjørn Hansen]

Like many of the rest of you we too used the profiles to separate different types of content so we wouldn't end up with too many discs of some tv show and no movies and sometimes so either me or my spouse or a house guest could have a separate queue.

I can't imagine why it'd be such an expensive feature for them to maintain, and there isn't much opportunity for abuse other than maybe neighbors getting together to share a 3-out plan, but that seems pretty far fetched.

[leonardodicrapio]

Wow, I cancelled Netflix in mid-February (after being a member for over five years). I was going to re-activate my account in late July or early August to save my family's Queues (I believe they are deleted after six months). Now I don't even know why I'd want to do that. I might as well just merge two Queues in Blockbuster Online (which I have re-upped for the 2nd time in the last 4 months). After all, I can exchange the Total Access mailers for "free" Blu-Ray movies in the store.

[Kim Scarborough]

Looks like it's time to jump ship... Anybody know if Blockbuster offers a profiles equivalent?

[Gowan]

How do I feel? Not happy.

Like RevRagnarok, I have a profile for TV shows and a profile for movies. I actually CANCELLED my BB account for TV shows when they jerked me around about coupons and such and increased my DVDs-out at Netflix and added the second profile.

What will I do now? If they don't increase the queue size, I'm not sure. Both queues are pretty close to full all the time. I doubt I'll get a second account, but if I do, I'll make the proper calculations to make sure I'm not paying anymore than I am now.

[Will Foster]

Netflix, if you go through with this, which will really screw up my enjoyment of your service, I'm going to downgrade my account just to fight back. And if you're listening Blockbuster, set profiles up and I'll switch in a second.

[Brian]

Terrible. I don't like having to manage my family's requests all the time. This feature made my life a hell of a lot easier. Bad move.

[Peter]

> I can't imagine it being good for the Netflix bottom line either.

In most cases, it probably will be. For example, we have a 3-out plan for our family, with two for my wife and one for me. This is $16.99 a month, but having a 2-out plan plus a 1-out plan would be $22.98. This more than makes up for your $2/month savings.. :(

[Lisa]

I came on this website in the hopes that the email I just received on this topic was spam because it didn't seem like anything Netflix would do. So now I'm totally annoyed to find out it's true! My husband, daughter and I all like different types of movies and it's so easy for us all have control of our own movie choices through profiles. This is the main reason we have Netflix! I may cancel Netflix and start renting through another service if they do end up removing the profiles. This is the most non-customer friendly thing I've seen Netflix do to date. No way is this an improvement to customers!

[Mary]

WTF is right. I agree with everyone that this is bad idea. Separate profiles is the best way to keep all my movies organized. At least , they could have given us a decent explanation.

[Andrew]

I wish they gave a solid reason for making the change.

I'm totally annoyed they are going to do this. There's no way my wife & I are going to sign up for 2 separate accounts, so now we have to coordinate 1 queue. Ugh.