Over the weekend, a number of Australian and New Zealand Netflix customers were charged multiple times by the U.S. streaming video company in an apparent billing error.
Netflix users took to social media to voice their concerns, with some complaining the excessive subscription charges had drained their bank account.
#Netflix please fix your billing issues, I got charged $11.99/month 11 times until my bank goes insufficient funds. pic.twitter.com/k2acEBmxUL— David (@Dave2307) May 24, 2015
If you use Netflix Australia you might want to look over your bank statement. Being charged four times in a month seems excessive, no?— N (@nick_marland) May 24, 2015
Nice. Robbed by @NetflixANZ while I slept. Nice work #Netflix pic.twitter.com/gSiN5PGxYr— Jamie Collins (@JamieCollins) May 23, 2015
@NetflixANZ guys you double charged me, can I have my $12 back please? Thx— Damien Yang (@damien_yang) May 25, 2015
Netflix just charged me my monthly fee of $12.99 FOUR TIMES IN ONE DAY— kelsey (@kelswby) May 24, 2015
netflix charged me twice im a poor student why would they do this to me— Harry Styles (@kiwiharry) May 23, 2015
Netflix subscriber Billy McLean tweeted at Netflix, saying he'd been charged almost A$100 by the company in 24 hours.
McLean told Mashable Australia he realised he'd been excessively billed by the company on May 24, with a total of eight charges of A$11.99. Every charge is pending he said, but this has still reduced his account's available funds.
@NetflixANZ Ive been charged almost $100 by Netflix in "monthly instalments" in last 24 hours - this is absurd - please explain and rectify.— Billy McLean (@billymclean5) May 24, 2015
Netflix responded to McLean on Twitter, saying he would only be charged once this month. The company did not say why the error had occurred.
As of Monday 1.30 p.m. local time, all charges remain attributed to McLean's account. "I'm essentially A$96 out of pocket at the current time," he said. "I find it poor there has been no formal comms sent by them regarding the situation. [For example,] an email apologising and addressing the issue."
@billymclean5 Hi Billy, apologies for the inconvenience. You will only be billed once for this month.— Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) May 24, 2015
On Twitter, Netflix told customers they would be fully refunded for the error.
@damien_yang Hi Damien, any additional charges will be refunded in full. Apologies for the inconvenience.— Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) May 25, 2015
@BrandonRapps1 Hi Brandon, you'll only be charged once this month with other charges completely refunded. Apologies for the inconvenience.— Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) May 25, 2015
A Netflix spokesperson told Mashable Australia the company is resolving the matter.
"We are aware a small percentage of Australian and New Zealand members experienced multiple credit card authorizations for monthly billing," he said. "The issue has been resolved.
"While no extra money was withdrawn from users' accounts, it may take several days for the authorizations to drop from users' bank accounts. Members may contact Netflix customer service if they have additional issues. We regret any inconvenience related to the problem."
(h/t Fairfax Media)