Several years ago when I was a member of the Netflix movie rental service I had noticed well into my second year of membership that Netflix was charging my credit card the incorrect percentage of state tax for my area of residency. I e-mailed them to complain and asked it be corrected. I didn't want a credit, just the error corrected. Months went by and there was no reply and no correction. I followed up with a few phone calls over the next few months and my request for correction to this error was subsequently ignored each time. They never responded. Months later I decided to cancel my membership due to this (and the little free time I had to watch movies).
Fast forward several years into my retirement and a new Netflix membership and guess what I find? Yep, they are still charging western Pennsylvania residents 7% instead of the 6% state tax they should be. Obviously, let me say right up front that I could care less about the $.10 per month over charge they are costing me but it is the basic principal of ignoring the customer and refusing to fix their mistake and that is what really pisses me off! When you think about the number of potential customers Netflix may be charging incorrectly each and every month over the past 10 years (in every state, not just my own), the dollar amount becomes staggering and very disturbing. I doubt if Netflix is making the same mathematical error when it comes time to pay my state their tax revenue due them. Makes you wonder if it is an error or a purposeful ploy that someone in Netflix has devised to increase revenue.
For you movie buffs, remember the part Richard Prior played in one of the Superman movies? He was hired at a large company as some sort of computer programmer and asked a fellow worker "what happens to these fractional pennies leftover in the payroll formula?" (for the many thousands of company employees). "Oh, those pennies just get rolled-over back into the corporate account," was the answer. Richard Prior decided to re-program the company computers to roll those fractions into his paycheck and on payday his weekly earnings was like $70,000!! Funny as hell, but it stuck in my mind as not being that far fetched and how easily it could happen.
So, HOW MANY OF YOU NETFLIX CUSTOMERS HAVE SCRUTINIZED YOUR CHARGES? Please reply with your state and locality if you find an error. I am going to write to my State Attorney Generals' office and ask them to look into it.
If that fails, I will be looking for a real hungry ambulance chaser to file a class action lawsuit against Netflix that will cause their accounting department a nightmare the likes of which they have never imagined!
Here is a handy zip-code tax calculator to help determine your correct tax percentage for your area of residency.
http://www.Zip2Tax.com/z2t_lookup.asp
Fast forward several years into my retirement and a new Netflix membership and guess what I find? Yep, they are still charging western Pennsylvania residents 7% instead of the 6% state tax they should be. Obviously, let me say right up front that I could care less about the $.10 per month over charge they are costing me but it is the basic principal of ignoring the customer and refusing to fix their mistake and that is what really pisses me off! When you think about the number of potential customers Netflix may be charging incorrectly each and every month over the past 10 years (in every state, not just my own), the dollar amount becomes staggering and very disturbing. I doubt if Netflix is making the same mathematical error when it comes time to pay my state their tax revenue due them. Makes you wonder if it is an error or a purposeful ploy that someone in Netflix has devised to increase revenue.
For you movie buffs, remember the part Richard Prior played in one of the Superman movies? He was hired at a large company as some sort of computer programmer and asked a fellow worker "what happens to these fractional pennies leftover in the payroll formula?" (for the many thousands of company employees). "Oh, those pennies just get rolled-over back into the corporate account," was the answer. Richard Prior decided to re-program the company computers to roll those fractions into his paycheck and on payday his weekly earnings was like $70,000!! Funny as hell, but it stuck in my mind as not being that far fetched and how easily it could happen.
So, HOW MANY OF YOU NETFLIX CUSTOMERS HAVE SCRUTINIZED YOUR CHARGES? Please reply with your state and locality if you find an error. I am going to write to my State Attorney Generals' office and ask them to look into it.
If that fails, I will be looking for a real hungry ambulance chaser to file a class action lawsuit against Netflix that will cause their accounting department a nightmare the likes of which they have never imagined!
Here is a handy zip-code tax calculator to help determine your correct tax percentage for your area of residency.
http://www.Zip2Tax.com/z2t_lookup.asp
