It all started with an email.

Hi Lauren,

Your current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will now cost you $15.98 a month. Sucks to be you!

Love, Netflix

p.s. You can easily change or cancel your plans, if you like, we really don’t need you.

So maybe the email didn’t say those exact words, but it might as well have. Anyway, I obviously wasn’t the only one who received such an email, and backlash began almost immediately – both on Facebook and the Netflix blog. Do a search on Twitter for #DearNetflix, and you’ll see.

And what was the official Netflix response to the outrage of their most loyal customers? Stubbornness and lack of sympathy.

[The] noise level was actually less than we expected, given a 60% price increase for some subscribers… We knew what we were getting into.

Oh, and they sprinkled in a little arrogance.

It is expected and unfortunate that our DVD subscribers who also use streaming don’t like our price change, which can be as much as a 60% increase… Some subscribers will cancel Netflix or downgrade their Netflix plans, [but] we expect most to stay with us.

I’m not sure who is advising Netflix to tell their customers that they are not needed, but it has been a PR disaster. It has even impacted their stock price, which dropped 9.26% due, essentially, to no net gain in new subscribers.

I think by now we all understand that this price change is a first step in what will eventually lead to an affordable streaming option with a vast selection, eliminating the need for DVD’s by mail. But in the meantime, customers are stuck with a 60% price increase, an instant movie selection that’s still horrible, and a feeling that their loyalty means nothing to Netflix.

The lesson here is simple, and would seem obvious. Be nice to your customers. If you’re going to have a significant price increase, help your customers to understand the value in it for them. Don’t make your customers feel like they’re being taken for granted. And, most of all, don’t suggest that you “expect” some of your customers will switch to your competitors and further state that it is no bother to you.

Netflix competitors: you should be ready to pounce right now. The world is your oyster.