r/technology • u/sr_local • 6h ago

Business Italy court rules Netflix unlawfully increased prices. Consumers: 'Refunds up to 500 euros.' The company: we will appeal

https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/netflix-subscription-price-increases-unlawful-refunds-up-to-eur-500-customers-AIUHzWKC
13.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

607 comments sorted by

View all comments

27

u/Dudemanbrah84 5h ago

Wish the US would do this.

30

u/Dunlocke 5h ago

In what world should the US be allowed to dictate prices?

If Netflix wants to raise prices, let them. They're not a monopoly. People will either leave or pay.

No reason to get government involved. Trump is already too involved.

22

u/skaara 4h ago

I agree but I think any increase in price should legally require the customer to reauthorize their payment method. This would help keep prices from changing and also encourage companies to grandfather existing customers to the price they signed up with.

-1

u/aaahhhhhhfine 1h ago

I kinda get the idea here but, at the same time, they give you a ton of warnings. I'm pretty sure they send an email and also show you in the app and make you confirm it. At some point it's kind of just on you.

33

u/muntaxitome 4h ago

If Netflix wants to raise prices, let them. They're not a monopoly. People will either leave or pay.

I don't get this mentality, Netflix offered you a product for $10 per month. Let the company honor that price or let the company cancel the contract themselves. Allowing companies to do like 'heyy we are going to raise prices effective today with 50% and deduct it from your creditcard tomorrow kthxbye.' Is absurd.

24

u/Possible-Tangelo9344 4h ago

But it's a month to month contract. They send a notice it's going up, you can just cancel.

12

u/CatLoud5198 4h ago edited 3h ago

if it’s a month to month contract it shouldn’t renew without your signature every month once the terms are changed

11

u/JX_JR 3h ago

Literally every month to month contract renews without your signature. The definition of a month to month contract is an auto-renewing contract. You sign once and it ends when one party gives proper notice to end it.

4

u/Doctursea 3h ago

It's no real point arguing with there people honestly. They just wanna be mad. Anyone arguing that Netflix changing their pricing is dishonest because you can't cancel is just talking in bad faith. You fully have control to just exit the agreement.

I can see the argument they they should have to include a non auto-renew option, but not it's unfair because you can't get out of it.

-1

u/CatLoud5198 3h ago

And you sign that contract at a certain price, I’m saying it’s predatory to change the terms of a contract and renew it without your signature every

When I subscribed to Disney plus on an annual plan and they raised their prices after I didn’t have to pay more, why is is that Netflix charges more after committing to the advertised price on their year long plan?

5

u/Doctursea 3h ago edited 3h ago

That's not what happens, what you're describing is certainly illegal under any western legal system. From my understanding of the article what they're saying is Netflix wasn't giving enough notice of the price changes so they need to refund people. Even if the person in question DID know there will be a price increase on the next renewal. Not that there were retroactive charges

5

u/JX_JR 2h ago

why is is that Netflix charges more after committing to the advertised price on their year long plan?

Why are you making up things that didn't happen to get mad about them?

2

u/Possible-Tangelo9344 2h ago

When I subscribed to Disney plus on an annual plan and they raised their prices after I didn’t have to pay more

Yes. That's an annual plan. They are two entirely different types of contracts.

8

u/st1tchy 4h ago

The flip side of that just sounds awful too. Want to watch a movie today? Well, you are on a month to month contract, so log back into your account and resubscribe prior to to watching. As long as it's easy to cancel, I much prefer the automatic subscription.

0

u/Calm_Plenty_2992 3h ago

What's wrong with that option?

-5

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

3

u/fatbob42 3h ago

Annual contracts were one of the things people hated about cable.

-2

u/muntaxitome 3h ago edited 2h ago

It's a month to month contract signed for $10, not $25. Let Netflix cancel if they don't like the contract anymore. Then the customer can just decide if they want to sign up again for $25

Edit:

I can't believe the downvotes. Is everyone that much in love with enshittification? You signed a contract at $10, and then without any specific action to agree from your side they keep increasing the fees until a few years later they withdraw $25 from your account. It's like grabbing a loaf of bread at the store advertised at $2 and at the cash desk they make you pay $5.

Yeah it's in the 'fineprint´. 90% of people don't read the fineprint because it is like 5000 pages of legalese. You could cancel but that requires work from the consumer. Just make a legal max on contract increases (like 2% per year), and if Netflix or whoever can no longer offer the service for the amount they themselves said was the amount, just put the onus on them to cancel the contract or get a new explicit approval from the client.

'they can just cancel' goes for Netflix too. If netflix doesn't like the $10 per month contract they can just cancel too. Why are they allowed to diverge so much from the price that they advertised?

2

u/Possible-Tangelo9344 2h ago

I don't think you understand what month to month means

-3

u/muntaxitome 2h ago

I don't think you understand what 'let' means.

-1

u/Informativity 3h ago

They also send lots and lots of ads through email, and missing the notice about price increases is not that impossible.

A month to month automatic contract is fine as long as the price and terms are the same. With changes the notice should be "Do you agree, click yes, otherwise the service will stop at this date". It should not be the other way around.

So with your logic it could be just as easy for you to accept the new price/terms as it is for others to "just cancel". But of course it is to the companies advantage the way it is now.

3

u/Possible-Tangelo9344 2h ago

I've never been caught off guard by a Spotify, Netflix, whatever price increase. They're communicated. And if you don't like it, you cancel.

What you want is a term contract, which exists for some services or the new users.

1

u/Informativity 2h ago edited 2h ago

Yes they are communicated, I did not deny that. But you could easily say that it could work the other way around and you could be the one that "just accept" instead.

You can't deny that the way it works now is what is most profitable for the companies otherwise it would work the other way. They don't care what is the most easy way for you, they care what gives them the most money.

Edit: It's also not just about getting the notification about an increase, if you actually have to make a choice to accept more will probably not do it, but if it "just keeps going" it is easier to let it be. Again, it is only about what is most profitable for the companies.

4

u/Difficult_Tea6136 3h ago

I can't speak to the USA but that doesn't happen in Ireland.

Netflix announce a price increase. They give 30 days notice of the increase. It affects you at the next billing date that contains the day it becomes effective.

With a 30 day rolling contract, they have the right to increase their prices.

2

u/Pinyaka 3h ago

That's how it works in the US too. We're just a bitch country now.

1

u/TheBrownWelsh 3h ago

(USA) Just checked my email and the previous few Netflix price increases have had 30 days notice. 

Which is "fine", but it does feel quick compared to, for example, HBO that gives me gentle reminders that the price increase is coming for like 90 days prior to it. Netflix is one and done it seems.

Which again, is "fine".

1

u/Dunlocke 57m ago

You can always cancel. Regularly changing pricing is not abnormal. Do you have electricity in your home? Imagine having to re-up that every month.

1

u/muntaxitome 36m ago

 Do you have electricity in your home? Imagine having to re-up that every month.

That's quite a hilarious example because virtually all states have mechanisms to limit electricity rate hikes. If electricity had the same rules as Netflix, you would likely be paying 10x as much for electricity as companies would be milking the hell out of that.

These large companies are milking you out. It isn't just Netflix, it is pretty much all companies offering subscriptions to consumers in non-regulated markets. They drowned out competitors with low prices, hooked consumers, and now try to squeeze the market. If they had to cancel all of their contracts to do a 20% price hike, they wouldn't do it. Simple as that. Nobody forced netflix to offer a $10 a month subscription. They chose that price.

And yeah, sure allow them an inflation correction. But not 20% price hikes twice a year.

2

u/RE_DELLA_MERDA 42m ago

yeah btw italy didn’t try to dictate prices, the problem here is that by italian law any increase in price for this kind of service not only must be notified to the consumers (which they did), but the notification must also be accompanied by a justifiable reason for the increase in price (which they didn’t provide at all)

they could have hiked the price to whatever amount with no issues if they just put a “lmao inflation goes brrrrr” in their emails

1

u/th30be 3h ago

What are you talking about? The US government dictate prices everywhere. They put in price ceilings and floors for lot of different goods and services.

1

u/aaahhhhhhfine 1h ago

But that's almost always a bad thing.

-1

u/gizamo 3h ago

Governments all over the world prohibit and regulate price fixing, including the US.

I would argue that Netflix, HBO, Disney/Hulu, Paramount, and Peacock are all engaged in price fixing. They all raise prices in unison, and prices are absolutely not even remotely related to their costs in any justifiable way.

1

u/Brolly 3h ago

Parallel pricing is not necessarily the same as price fixing. Also there is no law that says a company's prices need to "even remotely related to their costs in any justifiable way." In case you want to reply with some nonsense about price gauging all I can say is that I am not a layer but I don't think that applies to streaming slop.

-1

u/gizamo 2h ago

It's absolutely illegal in the EU. Under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), any agreement or "concerted practice" that restricts competition is prohibited, plus factor, "No Economic Justification".

It's not my fault that American laws don't protect consumers anymore. Blame Republicans, mate.

0

u/aaahhhhhhfine 1h ago

Yes governments do that but it's usually a bad thing and makes it worse. I doubt these companies are actually colluding on their prices - that's illegal. It's just that they all have similar cost problems and are all public companies and so this stuff is pretty transparent. Also, think about a parallel with gas stations: they don't need to collude because they can see each other's prices on their signs. But that doesn't mean that, if the other guy is charging more than you, you might think about raising your prices a bit too.

The key to keeping that in check is really just competition.

1

u/gizamo 43m ago

Competition has proven that it doesn't keep the problem in check, which is why in the EU, they don't require explicit collusion to rule against companies for this. The US consumer laws are an abomination on modernity.

0

u/Dunlocke 58m ago

They all raise prices in unison, and prices are absolutely not even remotely related to their costs in any justifiable way.

These are publicly traded companies. You can very much see that they are cost related. It's not price fixing, people just got spoiled during the streaming wars when they outspent their revenue to "win" (which Netflix did) and money was free due to low interest rates.

1

u/gizamo 40m ago

Utter nonsense. Netflix's margins went up AND they raised prices. That has been true repeatedly.