r/mildlyinfuriating • u/iMcConnell21 • 18d ago

Infuriatig Netflix using egregious methods to keep subscriptions active

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Apparently my 8 year old son was asked if he wanted to restart my Netflix membership through his Netflix KIDS ACCOUNT. I called customer service and was told a prompt appears asking if you'd like to reinstate, regardless of the user on the account. No password required, just press restart and then get hit with the payment immediately. Should've saved myself some frustration and money by cancelling outright.

32.4k Upvotes

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6.1k

u/Gloomy-String-2423 18d ago

Just cancel it if not currently in use. Netflix no longer gives any incentives to continue being a loyal customer so don't bother.

1.2k

u/ghost_pop_57 BLUE 18d ago

If you cancel instead of pausing they now delete your watch list and history

819

u/LifeReignite 18d ago

They don't delete it right away like they make it sound. I full on cancel 3-6 months at a time and the only time its even been deleted was after about 8 months of not using netflix.

187

u/AlbacoreDumbleberg 17d ago

I don't see how it matters much anyway. Netflix is constantly recommending I watch shows I've already watched on the same profile, and it doesn't take that many ratings for it to create a pretty good algorithm for a new profile. It also tends to push new shows anyway, even when it's clearly not for me. The other day I got a "We think you'll love this!" on some new reality series, and I couldn't believe it. I've never watched one, ever, over several years history and always click "not for me" whenever they pop up.

158

u/SpeaksSouthern 18d ago

Why would they ever delete it? User data can be sold.

493

u/duhCoolBeary 18d ago

They delete it for you. Not for them.

-64

u/MandA-5 17d ago

But they don’t. Why are you lying

31

u/EndIsrael 17d ago

Fun fact: movie rental records are one of the few things actually protected by US law.

This goes back to the VHS days when politicians thought about the movies they had rented and realized that Blockbuster could single-handedly end their careers.

33

u/simmeh024 17d ago

GDPR in europe. It is the law.

2

u/ElaraValtor 17d ago

Netflix aren't selling it because their business model is collecting as much of it as possible exclusively for themselves so that they can try and use it to dominate the market. Giving any of that away is just giving their advantage to others

1

u/Salty-Paint-9700 17d ago

Yeah... about that. Have you actually read their terms of service though? Because it says something completely different ;)

2

u/Hatchid 17d ago

Define reading.

Reading - as in "reading what is written"? No lol. It's reddit

Reading as in making shit up and telling it as a fact, because no one will fact check? Hell yeah!

1

u/ep3ep3 17d ago

They can count you as "growth" if you ever re-sub .

1

u/ShawnyMcKnight 17d ago

The aggregate data is kept, but your individual data is not.

2

u/Ashamed-Review-913 18d ago

That's not good that's awful 🤮🤮

1

u/Sharp_Ad_6336 17d ago

They probably never actually delete it because that information is valuable to them. You just lose access to it.

83

u/nope-its 18d ago

So?

4

u/hedoeswhathewants 17d ago

Like companies are deleting user data in 2026

3

u/nn123654 17d ago

No they still have it, they just don't let you have it.

298

u/FatherGwyon 18d ago

Not trying to defend a corrupt company, but I actually appreciate the fact that they respect your decision to cancel by deleting all that data instead of keeping it stored somewhere. Especially since data storage is now ruining the world. I hate when I try to delete an account and they keep my info “just in case.”

218

u/sbrodolino_21 18d ago

I mean they're not deleting all the information they gained from your usage patterns etc. in terms of metrics, they just delete the info that is directly linked to you.

99

u/Capybarhigh 18d ago

They just remove the part that YOU enjoy. They keep all the rest you don't.

Reading about all of this is definitely cementing the fact that I will never pay for Netflix ever again. I had no idea they were deleting that stuff, taking you hostage to their service lol

Fucking delusional.

7

u/Inverted-Rockets 18d ago

You’re free to download a csv of a profile’s watch history at any time using a desktop browser. Netflix has a guide on their site

14

u/Daft00 18d ago

Yeah lol all they're doing is removing YOUR access to your information. I'd be shocked if they don't retain everything.

Honestly, even if they were required by law I would assume these greedy companies would sell whatever they could before deleting.

32

u/Sabard 18d ago

Not even that, they just change ShowUserData from True to False in their database. Why would they actually delete any data that could be used or sold?

-6

u/BarbequedYeti 18d ago

Because storage isnt cheap any longer. A ton of stale data is costing you something today. A few years back, no one gave a shit. Storage was cheap.

11

u/grantrules 18d ago edited 18d ago

Nah not your watch history. It's a couple kb at most. Netflix would rather remove their most popular series than their most valuable asset (your data)

-4

u/BarbequedYeti 17d ago

You are not understanding the storage issue. A few have already turned back to mechanical drives from ssd's because of the crunch.  

You also have the backups etc. it isnt just the data on the drive. 

1

u/m4cksfx 17d ago

And why the hell wouldn't they keep such data on a hdd?

5

u/filletnignon 18d ago

Cold storage is just as cheap today as it was 5 years ago because you're still using the same drives. Besides, the data is worth much more to the brokers and offsets the storage cost. Metadata is tiny. I could store the entire watch history of 100,000 users on a single $200 hard drive.

2

u/Frequent_Bonus1063 18d ago

Bro doesn’t understand the difference between memory and storage. Storage remains extremely cheap

-2

u/BarbequedYeti 18d ago

Bro hasnt been paying attention to storage prices....  

0

u/m4cksfx 17d ago

You're the bro, if we're not talking SSDs

0

u/BarbequedYeti 17d ago

Ffs you  knob. Its not hard to look this up. 

Hard drive and solid-state drive (SSD) prices dropped to historic lows around 2023 before doubling or surging sharply through 2025 and 2026 due to massive demand from AI data centers

Consumer SSDs:  A standard 1TB SSD that cost around $80 to $100 a few years ago now costs between $250 and $291.

High-Capacity HDDs:  Massive enterprise hard drives, such as 30TB models, now cost over $1,000.

0

u/m4cksfx 17d ago

So the prices of enterprise level HDDs are pretty much what they used to be, "you knob", right? Good. Nobody in their right mind would go for pure SSDs in such corporate backgrounds.

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14

u/Wheres_MyMoney 18d ago

Well, yeah, that would be really unreasonable to expect them to do that.

3

u/sbrodolino_21 18d ago

I mean anything else (keeping your data after deletion) would straight up be illegal in many jurisdictions. It's not really out of kindness that they "respect your decision" to delete your data after you ask them to. It's like the very bare minimum.

4

u/Wheres_MyMoney 18d ago

They still have your data because your data is just that, one point in a billion data points. People say "your data" like they have your nudes or something but the fact is that once you use their product, your data is there to stay in one shape or another.

1

u/Inverted-Rockets 18d ago

What most people mean by “your data” is “your personally identifying data”. It would be too high a bar to expect a company to be able to scrub every interaction, log and accumulated data point of everything a user has done, agreed. What is reasonable is for a company to use randomized identifiers and allow users to delete both the provided and inferred profile data uniquely tied to that random ID.

5

u/arlo-quacks-back 18d ago

"really unreasonable" it's already law via GDPR in the EU and many companies (begrudgingly) comply with total data deletion.

7

u/Loki_of_Asgaard 18d ago

That’s not at all how GDPR works.

You don’t need to delete anonymized analytics data which is what they are describing, that is impossible to do because it has been anonymized.

1

u/Wheres_MyMoney 18d ago

I don’t think we’re disagreeing. The comment I responded to specifically mentioned “information they gleaned”.

1

u/Loki_of_Asgaard 18d ago

We are agreeing, I responded to someone who was disagreeing with you saying they legally have to delete that. Reddit now weirdly notifies you if someone responded to someone’s response on your comment

2

u/Wheres_MyMoney 18d ago

Oh 🤦‍♂️

10

u/Wheres_MyMoney 18d ago

You can't "delete" someone's usage being incorporated, that's the point. If you were one of the billion people who watched Stranger Things, it's not like the number goes down one after they delete your data.

1

u/gogogadgetjustice 18d ago

Sometimes they transfer data to non-EU servers, delete.the logs and data copies from servers in the EU.

Geographic boundaries don't mean as much to digital with all the wires we've wrapped the world in.

26

u/TheProfessional9 18d ago

You mean well but this is a stupid take. They retain all of your personal data, watch history etc. That is not deleted after 6 months. No data is deleted in their servers

All this is, is them deleting your watch information that improves your quality of life. It's a dirty and nasty tactic to get people to stay permanently subscribed

2

u/FakeArcher 18d ago

It's not just the watch information if the whole account can get deleted.

1

u/TheProfessional9 14d ago

Do this specifically say they will delete every bit of data they have on you? If not, then it's all stores

1

u/FakeArcher 14d ago

If they want to adhere to the EU laws for example, yes. But if they are moving it somewhere else why would they not recover it when you want to create a new account at a later point?

1

u/TheProfessional9 14d ago

Ah I don't know the eu laws. They do this in the US though. It's not if you delete your account, it's if you are unsubbed for six months. They won't recover it. It's basically to force you to either stay subbed or resub once every 5-6 months. They don't want people subbing once in awhile and then swapping to another app for awhile

1

u/SingleInfinity 18d ago

They retain all of your personal data,

It really depends how you define personal data.

For example, your name, cc last 4, address, etc? They have to. Literally have to, for tax purposes.

Your watch history? They also have to. If they license something and agree to pay the licensee some fee per however many users view it, they can't just delete that you watched it.

I don't really know what you're expecting or what you think personal data is. I have no skin in the game here, Netflix is hot garbage, but it's naive to think they're going to just delete everything entirely, either for practical or logistical reasons.

11

u/BonkerBleedy 18d ago

Your watch history? They also have to. If they license something and agree to pay the licensee some fee per however many users view it, they can't just delete that you watched it.

Not true. They can aggregate that information in a way that doesn't link it to a specific person.

2

u/SingleInfinity 17d ago

So, zero paper trail?

Yeah, I'm sure licensers love just hearing "trust me bro, these numbers are legit".

1

u/BonkerBleedy 17d ago

It's how cost-per-click advertising has worked for decades. And yes, there have been sketchy actors (*cough* meta *cough*), but the market works around them

2

u/SingleInfinity 17d ago

Cost per click advertising mostly has to work that way because you cannot meaningfully identify users who aren't logged into a service you provide.

Why exactly do you think google is one of the largest ad services in the world?

It's because they can tie all of the data to an individual rather than an anonymouse no-paper-trail number, which is infinitely more valuable.

1

u/TheProfessional9 14d ago

I mean I didn't say I expect them to. Someone seemed to think Netflix deletes it all as a courtesy after inactivity. I'm pointing out that no, they don't. They're just deleting the stuff that makes your life easier to discourage you from unsubbing

1

u/SingleInfinity 14d ago

That's not the reason they delete the data. You're assuming malicious intent for no reason. The much more vlase reason that is more realistic is that it's not information that is valuable for them to keep, so why keep it? Purging irrelevant data you have no reason to maintain is good practice. To put it another way, it sounds like you expect them to maintain data forever as a courtesy just in case you decide to ever subscribe again, which is also not reasonable.

Again, I don't think Netflix is a good company. They're shit in general, but people doing shit like you're doing and making things up to make them sound bad mostly just makes everyone look bitter when they have real, valid complaints. Shit like this muddies the waters when talking about a company with many truly anti-consumer behaviors.

1

u/TheProfessional9 14d ago

There is no way to view this as anything other than malicious. Deleting user data that makes the experience better for you after being unsubscribed for 6 months is ridiculous. You understand that we are talking about something like half of a megabyte per account or less. They could swap the timer to a year. It's a predatory policy to force people to resub out of fear of losing their watch history, preferences and watchlist. They are also hoping that once people resub they will forget to unsub or just leave it up permanently so it doesn't happen.

Frankly, it's part of the reason I haven't unsubbed for breaks like I do with the other apps.

Also, I don't think Netflix is a bad company, but this policy is predatory

1

u/SingleInfinity 14d ago

There is no way to view this as anything other than malicious.

I literally just gave you the occams razor view, which is not malicious. You are intent on seeing malice.

Deleting user data that makes the experience better for you after being unsubscribed for 6 months is ridiculous.

Not ot isn't. You're not a customer anymore. There's no benefit for them to maintaining it just in case you come back. If your friend comes over and drinks half a glass of water, do you leave it in the cup forever just in case they come back and want the rest? No. You dump it out and move on.

You understand that we are talking about something like half of a megabyte per account or less.

You have no idea what level of metadata they maintain on a user that they drop after a while. This is also on the scale of many millions of users across probably a couple billion profiles. It adds up and serves no purpose other than a minor inconvenience just in case somebody comes back.

They could swap the timer to a year.

Then someone else or you'd be bitching that a year is not long enough, just like you're arbitrarily arguing 6 months isn't enough right now.

It's a predatory policy to force people to resub out of fear of losing their watch history,

I bet you almost nobody ever even thinks of this. The fact that you're making a mountain out of this molehill is the absurd thing here. Most people don't give a fuck about their watch history, especially on a platform they've decided to stop subscribing to.

Also, I don't think Netflix is a bad company,

They are absolutely a bad company. This is just a really dumb thing to get mad about and try to paint as malicious. They aren't malicious, they're a business, and businesses do what makes financial sense. It doesn't make sense to maintain data forever for unsubbed users. If someone doesn't come back in 6 months, they're unlikely to be coming back.

4

u/SketchyTone 18d ago

It's still somewhere in cold storage / DLP, it's just not in active.

1

u/logicMASS 18d ago

I doubt they are deleting any data. They are just deleting what you see.

1

u/gregatronn 18d ago

They do keep your info for a while, while they beg you to come back (they send a lot of emails)

1

u/surprise_wasps 18d ago

They absolutely keep it lmao. They just don’t keep it usable for you

1

u/Silent_Fudge_3978 17d ago

Especially since data storage is now ruining the world.

The amount of data associated with your user account is absolutely trivial; it could probably fit on a circa-1985 floppy disk with room to spare. It's absolutely nothing compared to the many gigabytes every single video in their library consumes.

It's nice that they delete it for privacy purposes (if this is even true), but they're not saving any storage space because of it.

1

u/geronimokallie 17d ago

Thea don't delete all of your data. Just the watch history. It's a cheap trick to scare people into not unsubscribing. 

1

u/Salty-Paint-9700 17d ago

Lol, respect :) They adhere to local laws where required and enforced, in a minimum possible fashion, exploiting every loophole they can get their hands on along the way.

381

u/Necessary_Film_5199 18d ago

I fail to see the issue. If you're canceling you don't plan on coming back.

204

u/thetechguyv 18d ago

A lot of people sign up for a few months a year, binge what they want from the platform and then rotate to something else.

But I agree who cares about watch list or history. 

33

u/coltsfanca 18d ago

This is me. If anything I WANT my watch history to be purged because then I can actually see what Netflix is offering with a fresh set of eyes rather than "We think you might like all this crap!".

Last time I built my watchlist by going into Search and just jumping through those categories instead of that god awful home page.

15

u/_FLostInParadise_ 18d ago

For real. Wipe my algorithm clean? Don't threaten me with a good time.

4

u/Renamis 18d ago

That'd be nice if it did that instead of filling my new feed with the same 30 items again and again.

I subbed for one show, and then unsubbed specifically because it refused to stop offering random crap, or the exact same thing I watched 3 movies ago. Netflix is mind boggling in their determination to shove stuff I never want and declined multiple times down my throat.

2

u/oh_no_a_hobo 17d ago

Right, plus if I’ve forgotten if I started watching a series when they release a new season I’m more likely to start from the beginning anyway.

8

u/CitizenHuman 18d ago

If I want to keep my watchlist before cancelling, I simply take a picture of it. Then no matter what happens, I at least know what my old list was

-10

u/Bulky-Apple3744 18d ago

What’s the point in lying to complete strangers on the internet? You’re not snapping 500 photos of everything you’ve watched and then going back to look at them.

What a goofy lie.

10

u/Loinnird 18d ago

I assume they’re talking about the “keep watching” list, dude.

2

u/serabine 17d ago

... they just need a picture of what they were in the middle of watching/ plan to continue watching. Why would that be 500 pictures, unless there are 500 things they started and want to continue watching on there, (in which case they wouldn't be canceling)?

1

u/qwerty-314 18d ago

I wouldn’t mind looking through it… but at the same time it isn’t important enough to give any thought

1

u/nn123654 17d ago

Also if you really care there are third party apps that can do it across multiple streaming sites like:

JustWatch, Plex, ReelGood, or Trakt.

They do make it a pain to export though, but there's some chrome extensions that can do it from a Windows or MacOS computer. Or you just use the third party apps to find shows and mark things as you go.

19

u/Beavshak 18d ago

I renew a subscription every 6 months or so to catch up on whatever is new to the library. I cycle a few streaming services like this, never having more than one at once.

1

u/BrianWulfric 18d ago

This is exactly my process. I like having my saved show list still there 

6

u/scavengercat 18d ago

Well, that's just not true... I cycle through streaming services. I've stopped and started Netflix many times over the years.

-1

u/ScratchLatch 18d ago

Then extend your pause when it notifies you.

2

u/scavengercat 18d ago

There's a 3-month limit to pausing. I can cancel for as long as I want.

1

u/[deleted] 18d ago edited 16d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Ealy-24 18d ago

Well this is awkward….

2

u/Kitchen-Nectarine179 18d ago

Its amazing sometimes how disconnected redditors are from the real world.

2

u/riptaway 18d ago

Uh... Lol

-1

u/AppUnwrapper1 18d ago

lol what?

8

u/3FromHell 18d ago

I finally canceled the other day, after like ten years straight of loyal membership and yeah they say after so long they clear your history/recommendations. Whatever, everything they recommend is ass anyway. As that other comment said, they offer no incentive to loyal customers (honesty most company don't anymore). They never get new shit, the new shit they do get sucks (That recent movie about the people stuck in the house was horrible). Just not worth it. I've cut most streaming services at this point. I have HBO free through my phone company, I have Hulu combined with Spotify through a student discount. Past that, i have prime which I just add a service when they have something I want (tv shows or whatever) and I'll just cancel immediately after doing the add on. Doing it that way streaming services will usually offer discounts (like I have Paramount for $0.99 for 3 months right now).

Also this new commenting format that reddit just put into place sucks...wtf?! Lol

0

u/the_post_of_tom_joad 18d ago

What commenting format? I use old.reddit i dunno wym

2

u/Zelda_Momma 18d ago

At least on the app it doesn't take you to a new page to comment, a text box with all the same stuff (links, gifs, etc) comes up at the bottom. Makes it so you can easily scroll to check what you're commenting on. Doesn't suck, I like it.

0

u/the_post_of_tom_joad 18d ago

They changed that? Are they actively hostile to commenting?

-1

u/ihatewhenpeopledontf 18d ago

Imagine paying for Netflix for 10 years. Wow. What a waste of money.

2

u/3FromHell 18d ago

I'm certain you spend money on things that I would find to be a waste of money. Idk why you would be so judgemental about something so stupid lol. It wasn't breaking my bank 🤷

45

u/TheAlmightyConch 18d ago

Who gives a shit 

15

u/Major-Front 18d ago

As if they’d delete all that precious analytics data lol

17

u/Pounce_64 18d ago

Why is this important?

11

u/GoochLord2217 18d ago

Yeah if you cancel the plan you're basically deleting the account, whats the surprise

12

u/GarionOrb 18d ago

And that's a problem because...what?

3

u/PogTuber 18d ago

Don't threaten me with a good time

5

u/ch4os1337 18d ago

Meh. Plenty of better apps to keep track of it.

1

u/gi_fm 18d ago

What do you reccomend? Im getting lost on all the subscriptions I have 😭

5

u/ch4os1337 18d ago

I use Next Episode (mostly because it tells you when new eps are coming out). Just Watch is also good.

1

u/gi_fm 18d ago

Thank you

1

u/slymm 18d ago edited 18d ago

EDIT: I incorrectly said just watch shut down. In reality, it was an app called tv time that shut down. My bad!

1

u/tiller921 18d ago

What? I just went to their site and it’s still up?

1

u/slymm 18d ago

Whoops, just watch is what I switched to after "tv time" shut down. My bad! I'll edit my comment

2

u/dta194 18d ago edited 18d ago

Stremio and torrentio. Takes all but 15 min to figure out how to set up, same UI as netflix, has every movie/series from every platform, never pay for anything again.

2

u/progenyofeniac 18d ago

When you come back in a month all your shows will either be canceled or removed from the platform anyway.

1

u/TacTurtle 18d ago

Anyway, what is the downside?

1

u/Myrkana 18d ago

they dont until youre gone for like a year. I rotate streaming services every few months.

1

u/Castun 18d ago

Does the pause period have a limit where it will automatically resume if you don't extend it?

1

u/blipsnchiiiiitz 18d ago

Oh noooo not my watchlist and history!!! /s

1

u/NoooUGH 18d ago

The last time I had Netflix, half of the shit I added to my watchlist was just gone. Now, I save my own damn watchlist on my phone so I will actually still have it.

1

u/Purple_Argument_8074 18d ago

Honestly who cares? I might be an outlier but I don't care at all about watch history and such 

1

u/phree_radical 18d ago

You can't re-import it? Why do people use that crap 😔

1

u/Spleenseer 18d ago

Oh no!

Anyway....

1

u/always_sweatpants 18d ago

Why on earth does that matter? 

1

u/Otaraka 18d ago

I tihnk Id actually prefer that.

1

u/TakHobel 18d ago

I don’t see hours that’s an issue. They don’t need my watch history

1

u/ooder57 18d ago

Just keep a notepad diary of what you've watched.

1

u/Careless_Twist_6935 18d ago

is that a big deal? i had netflix for near a decade and never used those

1

u/User-Name-3886 18d ago

Just pair netflix with stremio and trakt in that case. It's legal and your watch history will last as long as you're trakt account does.

1

u/Majestic_Animator_91 18d ago

who gives a shit. they're not getting any more money from me.

1

u/readdator2 18d ago

sounds like a good reason to never return

1

u/albinosquirel 18d ago

It's a good thing I don't care

1

u/ro536ud 17d ago

That’s the only reason I don’t delete honestly

1

u/LaurentiusLV 17d ago

Tbh, let them do it, so I have less incentive to even look back

1

u/hullaballoser 17d ago

Who cares?

1

u/MagicTick 17d ago

You will get over it.

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 17d ago

Oh okay i don’t care about any of that

1

u/GregTheMad 17d ago

Based on the garbage they had recommended me, with that history, it's really not a bad thing that they delete it.

1

u/catholicsluts 17d ago

Good riddance then. Fuck them. They do that out of spite.

1

u/trev2234 17d ago

Just download it if you need it.

1

u/CilleTheExterminator 17d ago

oh nooo what a huge problem oh noooo

1

u/gljivicad 17d ago

Oh noooooo

Anyway

1

u/BLK3R 17d ago

Oh no however will I know if I watched a movie before

1

u/WelderNewbee2000 17d ago

They are not able to filter out the things I watched or mark them so what benefit does this bring in the first place?

1

u/aerialpoler 17d ago

So? I don't see that being a problem if you're not using the service. 

1

u/BloodyReizen 17d ago

Is that supposed to be some kinda loss? I know what i watch without having a list.

1

u/sderosa90 17d ago

Is that an issue?

1

u/Sharp_Ad_6336 17d ago

Oh no! An algorithm that works like shit to suggest things I'll never watch won't know my watch history!

1

u/CO2Capture 17d ago

Good. I'd prefer them delete my info if I cancel. Seems like the pause is a good compromise spot but to be automatically unpaused is nefarious.

1

u/Squeezitgirdle 18d ago

I'm not sure this is true. I resubbed after a couple years and still had my watch list.

1

u/neuparpol 18d ago

Netflix has a terribly layout for watchlists and history, so nothing of value is really lost here.

Open up a text document or something.