Netflix angers more customers with buggy Xbox 360 "upgrade"

Rich Fiscus
8 Dec 2011 2:27

Lately it seems like Netflix can't take a step without tripping over its own feet. The company's latest debacle is the launch of a new Xbox 360 client which has customers complaining about bugs and missing features.
The new client was rolled out yesterday, following Microsoft's update to the console. It takes advanage of new voice and gesture control capabilities, as well as adding access to audio and subtitle settings.
All of this sounds great in theory. In practice it is apparently quite buggy. Here are some excerpts from customer responses to the new client:

This new app is neither easy to use nor attractive. This should not have made it to release at this stage --- not even past the beta stage. What the heck were you thinking? Subtitles, Kinect, Dolby 5.1? Who cares when the software is AWFUL.

Drives me crazy that I can't view a static screen when selecting what episode to watch. Why do I have to be watching an episode to get to a list of other episodes? Not being able to skip forward/back is a pain, and not being able to restart a feature from the beginning is maddening! Please correct these issues!

The new Netflix app for Xbox 360 is one of the most horrific updates I've ever seen. Instead of moving up, you guys sank to the bottom of the deep blue sea with the new slow, laggy user interface.

Another recurring theme in the responses is complaints about the removal of the Netflix Party feature, allowing people in different locations to watch videos in sync with each other while communicating in real time.
Some people went so far as to say that was their primary reason for using Netflix because it allows them to watch movies with their friends who are in physically remote locations.
With all of Netflix's missteps in the last few months, it seems like an eternity since they were the company who did nearly everything (except perhaps customer service) right. With an unprecedented amount of competition in the market, and new services popping up quickly, this is not the time to be making big mistakes.