This is exactly what I thought of. After The Prestige and Soma, the wonder and awe of teleporters were forever lost to me and replaced by a Lovecraftian, world of Cthulhu-esque cosmic horror type dread. Let's have some technological advances for bending time and space a la A Wrinkle In Time or Dune. Manipulate stuff that's not my body.
Arethusa
joined 2 years ago
Gift cards and store credit = "we keep your money."
The reality is that they didn't give the customer back anything. It's the usual corporate sales speak.
"50% off" and "Save $10" aren't actually real either. $10 doesn't appear in customer's bank accounts after a purchase and customers often have no concept of what the item originally cost before it was marked up and brought to market by the the corporation. It's sales and marketing psychological games that many people can't see through. $9.99/$59.99 is cheaper than $10.00/$60.00 true and people somehow feel better buying the former versus the latter as though that penny isn't only a penny and they didn't give the corporation the 99.99% of the money they wanted.
Steam came to my mind with this situation as well. I assume the outcry would be loud if this happened there. But it gives another good reason to shift habits.
Abusive is a perfect description. Exploitative too. I've always viewed store credit as a sucky ~~refund~~ policy. Offline. Whenever I discovered these, usually because I needed to return something, these shops lost my business.
And the above is not even the same situation when you really look at it. This person didn't want to return something. They made a purchase they wanted to keep. Then Amazon just said, "oh, we're repossessing that media and keeping your money. Feel free to use this store credit on something else for which we can repeat this scenario all over again at will. Have a great day!"
I've always felt uncomfortable about "buying" digital media that stays on a cloud. Vudu (Walmart) offers this as well as Google I believe. Renting digitally bothered me less because the notion that it's temporary is inherent to renting. The above situation solidifies my concerns. I've "bought" some media this way but I will never do so again.
Cancelled Netflix as of last month as well and I won't be keeping up any streaming subscriptions long term. One off month subscriptions will serve in a pinch as I travel but with the games corporations play with blocking use between locations, they've rendered themselves as having no purpose.
Wow. This is why owning DVDs is better. And if you can't buy, download via torrents. Imagine these bastards rolling up to your home and reclaiming a movie you physically purchased. We gave them too much power. Time to withdraw it. Convenience is not worth this shit. Get uncomfortable and get your entertainment away from these streamers who don't give customers what they paid for.
DVD rental stores could surely make a comeback given these new developments. Libraries still loan movies as well. Remember, Barnes & Noble didn't run all independent bookstores out of business. And after Amazon savaged Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books suddenly came into existence (2015 - 2022). Greed driven corporations aren't the answer.
I created an account on Lemmy.world earlier this summer but it remained dormant for the most part because I tend to participate in these kinds of forums from my phone. It's similar to a preference to watching movies and television shows on a television. I wasn't streaming until apps and services became available to stream and watch directly on my TV. I just wasn't going to watch on my phone or computer except once in a blue moon.
After experimenting with several apps, Boost for Reddit was what I preferred and used for a long while back there. As soon as Boost became available for Lemmy, the ease of participating here for me was as smooth as silk. For others that Boost was a fave with, it's probably the same.
It's great that activity is on the rise on alternatives such as Lemmy.
I first read the enshittification post during the Reddit blackout. It's on point.
Ahh, may they join Netflix in their journey to 0% then negative revenue. These corporations look at their subscribers with disdain and assume no matter what they do, subscribers will be dumb enough to be treated poorly and still pay them. Netflix is losing subscribers who pay $16 - $20 and replacing them with those that pay half as much. Then they shout from the rooftops that they are gaining subscribers. They've set their trajectory towards their doom. Watching them all burn will be great.
I learned about this at university. Wasn't sure I'd find mention of it online but it's out there. One of the many examples of corporations extra psychotic behavior in the Global South. IIRC they were keen on getting mothers feeding their babies formula particularly so their breast milk dried up and then they would have no alternative, becoming dependent and stuck in a financial bind.
And the baby formula scandal. https://www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?op=1
Sounds like Netflix is panicking and scrambling. The frequency of their subscription hikes increases and increases. Perhaps they think they can price hike their way out of the dissatisfaction they have delivered to subscribers. Keep trying Netflix, find that magic subscription price point that will surely cover for all the subscribers you're shedding with your idiocy and will definitely not hasten your arrival to 0% revenue. Increasing that price won't lose you more subscribers right? Of course not. Burn Netflix burn.