text: Customer service reps are telling callers that a day before unveiling a price hike, managers told them to expect some angry calls. A Wall Street analyst has accused Netflix of being unprepared for backlash. 
   
   (Credit: Netflix) 
   
   Netflix managers knew some customers would be unhappy with the company's decision to raise prices, and a day before announcing the fee increase they told customer-service personnel to be prepared for angry callers. 
   
   Some of Netflix's customer-service representatives told subscribers today that they added extra employees in the department to help handle the flood of calls, many of them emotional, the employees said. Hundreds of Netflix employees were answering phones today and that still wasn't enough to prevent some callers from experiencing extended delays before speaking to a Netflix employee, the reps told customers. 
   
   
   
   
   
   Starting in September, the company will no longer offer users the ability to access both streaming video and by-mail DVDs for $9.99 a month. Netflix said Tuesday that it was splitting each distribution mode into two separate subscription plans, each costing $7.99 per month. To receive both, subscribers must pay $15.98. The announcement saw the company's blog fill up with 4,000 responses, most of them negative. Over the past couple days, there was speculation that Netflix didn't anticipate how the price increase would anger some customers. 
   
   Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey confirmed that Netflix had indeed prepared employees to receive a certain amount of calls from those unhappy with the hike. Swasey said Netflix did not go into this with its eyes closed. 
   
   "We tested, we researched, we analyzed," Swasey told CNET this evening. "We knew what the reaction would be. We are not surprised. We knew that there would be some people upset by the service and with the price being adjusted." 
   
   Rich Greenfield, a Wall Street analyst with BTIG Research, conducted a test of how Netflix's customer service department was handling calls following the announcement. In a report issued today, Greenfield said he learned Netflix was being overwhelmed by calls. He said BTIG made 35 calls over two hours and waited on hold typically between 9 minutes and 15 minutes. 
   
   Greenfield also said he was unhappy with the response from Netflix employees. He wrote that they suggest to those who threaten to cancel their subscription that they should wait until September, when the plan is due to take effect. 
   
   "There was simply no promo or 'save' technique to offer us a discount to retain our business," Greenfield wrote. "This would appear to illustrate that Netflix is simply not concerned with the prospect of losing customers." 
   
   I called Netflix's customer-service number this evening. I waited 9 minutes on hold and was greeted by a male employee who was polite. The Netflix employee said that he was instructed not to rush anybody off the phone and to hear people out--their complaints or suggestions--and to process cancellations if that was what they wanted. He acknowledged that there were a lot of extra people working the phones and that there seemed to be a lot more callers than reps. 
   
   What everybody wants to know is, are the scores of complaints to the company and those being posted around the Web enough to convince Netflix to backpedal or offer a concession? It doesn't sound that way. 
   
   When asked these questions, Swasey said: "These are our prices." ||||| While everyone continues to go mad over the Netflix price hikes, at least the online rental service is holding on to some of its Hollywood studio contracts and adding more content. 
   
   While everyone continues to go mad over the Netflix price hikes, at least the online rental service is holding on to some of its Hollywood studio contracts and adding more content. 
   
   However, some of that new content will likely not be enough to please subscribers who are upset over the fact that unlimited DVD rental plus streaming plans start at almost $16 now. 
   
   Netflix recently lost a whole slew of Sony-owned content from its digital library, and it's had issues with other studios and networks, namely Showtime, in the last year. Considering many subscribers and the media can now be added to its frenemy queue, Netflix can need all the partners it can get. 
   
   Enter NBC Universal. The Peacock Network and Netflix renewed their multi-year licensing agreement, which not only keeps content from that studio available online, but it also brings some new stuff along with it. Of course, that extra stuff comes with more licensing fees, so you can see why Netflix rates are going up. 
   
   Some of the film picks that will be available in Watch Instantly are top notch (at least in my humble opinion), including "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Motorcycle Diaries." 
   
   New episodes from the standard and generally popular NBC programs such as "The Office," "Law and Order: SVU," and "30 Rock" will also be added to the collection. 
   
   Mysteriously, The Los Angeles Times reports that new episodes of "Saturday Night Live" will not appear anymore in the Watch Instantly section, at least not for now. 
   
   Yet, more episodes of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and "Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane" will become available. Those shows might not be enough to justify paying an extra $6 per month for most Netflix subscribers, but those are just a few of the many programs and movies incorporated to this deal. 
   
   This story was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines
target: – Well, now we know what a portion of those new, higher Netflix fees could be used for: to pay call center reps to deal with angry customers. Customer service reps have been telling callers that the company not only told them to be ready for a backlash, it hired extra employees to take the calls, CNET reports. “We tested, we researched, we analyzed. We knew what the reaction was going to be,” a spokesman confirmed. “We are not surprised.” Despite the extra manpower, the phone lines have been overwhelmed. One analyst found that it took representatives nine to 15 minutes to get to the many callers on hold. When they did pick up, their suggestion was to just cancel in September, when the price increase hits. “There was simply no promo or 'save' technique to … retain our business,” he complained, indicating that “Netflix is simply not concerned with the prospect of losing customers.” But hey, it’s not all bad news, Netflix users: The company has renewed its deal with NBC Universal, so at least you can stream new episodes of 30 Rock.