Italian court says Netflix must refund customers up to $576 over price hikes

https://www.techspot.com/news/111955-italian-court-netflix-must-refund-customers-up-576.html

24 Comments

  1. LooseMoralSwurkey on

    Look, a country’s government that actually cares about its citizens not getting fleeced by big corporations and tries to do right by them.

  2. w1n5t0nM1k3y on

    While I don’t like the price hikes, I’m not sure I see the logic in this one. Are streaming platforms just never allowed to increase prices for existing customers? What would a valid reason be for having prices go up? Should existing users be locked into their initial sign up price forever?

    >Berlin and Cologne courts ruled that price increases based on vague, generic formulas are invalid because they do not let users understand the real reasons behind the higher costs.

    It’s an entirely optional service and you can quit any time you want with the click of a few buttons.

  3. Streaming services have circled back to the inconvenience of cable tv; pricey, having ads and not one subscription has what you need, forcing you to pay for multiple subscriptions if you want to watch different things, not to mention licensing issues in different countries. It’s just not feasible anymore to keep up with some of your favorite shows when you have to pay several $20/month subscriptions to get a decent quality stream without ads.

  4. good ruling but it doesn’t fix the bigger issue of streaming becoming overpriced and fragmented again

  5. Confident_Dragon on

    > According to the court, the clauses allowing the increases were unfair because they allowed changes to be made without stating a valid reason in the contract

    What a joke. Let’s fine someone based on stupid formality, ignoring rules of demand, inflation, possibility that prices were lower to promote the service, additions to catalog, changes in licensing fees, changes in competition, and million other factors.

    I don’t get why do communist brains think that state is some magical oracle that can evaluate all the factors and determine what’s fair better than free market. Especially Italy’s government, which is one of the most populist, untrustworthy and corrupt in the EU.

    I guess it’s more bearable being fucked by your government when it fucks also someone who has more money than you.

  6. Decent-Experience-8 on

    Imagine being so addicted to television you’re unable to simply cancel the service.

  7. K now do America next.

    Literally JUST got another email from Netflix about a price hike. It’s only like $0.30 but after the last few….fuck them

  8. Maybe if the US still had a functioning consumer financial protection bureau…

  9. I just checked my bill and it went from about $12, to $16 and now $27 in like 6 months, without me realizing this and ZERO notifications (that i saw anyway)

  10. Valuable_Pomelo9772 on

    Streamio. I pay 4~CAD a month for everything, long as it has a torrent. It gets uploaded to my tv from the addons that you select. Dont have to fuck around with any security stuff or pirating sites.

  11. I’m all against corporate greed, but how is this a thing? Don’t people have freewill to cancel Netflix if it’s too expensive?

  12. ChrisOnRockyTop on

    “Up to”

    So they will probably just refund everyone a penny then 🤦

  13. I’ll upvote every punch in the nose Netflix gets.

    Fuckers should have left my screens and households alone. I occasionally enjoy their content, *always* without paying for it now.

  14. Due-Yogurtcloset-552 on

    why do people act like watching shows and movies are a requirement in life..seriously, how many shows and movies do you people need to watch.

  15. So is they why my price is the US is getting hiked?  Because they knew they f’ed up overseas where they have consumer protection and would have to pay up?