this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Tried to pay Netflix to watch a specific movie… and it was hell. (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by snek_boi@lemmy.ml to c/movies@piefed.social
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I figured I'd pay for a month of Netflix so that the movie creators would get paid.

I paid and THEN Netflix asked for a phone number. Why do they need a phone number when we all know SMS spoofing is trivial?

At this point, I hadn't even logged in, and I was done with Netflix. Then and there, I cancelled my subscription.

However, the next day, I was able to log in with no problem. No phone number needed.

Alright. I figured I could use the month's worth of Netflix I paid for. I searched for the movie and tried watching it. I couldn't.

  • "You can't use a VPN"
  • "Your browser doesn't let us spy on you enough"
  • "Honestly we're just tempting you to get this movie through piracy lol"
  • "Nah, we don't care about you. We care about profits xoxo"
  • "Nah. No refunds. We warned you"

I don't know what I was thinking.

Oh yeah, I wanted to support artists. But Netflix made it impossible. What a joke.

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[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Call your bank or card issuer and get them to do a chargeback, tell them you paid for a service which was not rendered and the company refused a refund.

Also, depending on where you live, it is likely that you have a legal right to withdraw. Many jurisdictions enforce a 14-day cooling off period where any party may unilaterally withdraw from an agreement.

Not a lawyer, just a guy who refuses to let corpos get the better of me, and will use every trick in the book to fuck with them until they break.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 41 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If it's a Netflix only movie, watching it on Netflix doesn't get the artist more money. It might get them sign off on future project but Netflix almost exclusively pays flat fee amounts because they do not want to share their viewership data with anyone.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago

Oh wow. Looked it up and it's every bit as bleak as you mentioned. Thanks for letting me know

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 19 points 1 week ago

It's gotten to where paying for shit just marks you as a chump for whatever the next level of their scam is.

"Hey this dummy pays for content, let's get his phone number and socials so we can sell him more garbage he could have gotten for free."

[–] SarahValentine@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 week ago

That's the new game in town. They spent decades hammering it into us that we need to pay for things, but now they've decided to wring every last bit of value they can obtain out of us in the process. They're using the indoctrination to pay for things in order to obtain power over us that money alone can't buy.

Paying them was part of a social contract which they keep adding more clauses to, whether or not we're okay with it. Just go back to piracy. If creators want to get paid, they can stop getting in bed with the fucking devil himself.

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You wanted to support artists, so you paid Netflix?

I'm not surprised that everything seemed hard

[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

These are the people who pay Google to "support YouTubers" instead of just donating directly, or pay Spotify to "support musicians" instead of buying albums and merch.

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How do you donate directly to people who made a movie you like?

[–] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Depending on the person, go to their websites and see if they sell merch, do live shows, or have any side projects. If we’re talking about Leo DiCaprio, he doesn’t need the money, but if we’re talking about a smaller artist, they are more likely to have a side hustle.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

prepaid netflix card, ftw. all they have ever asked for is an email to set up the account if you don't already have one, and a postal code for sales tax determination (doesn't have to be yours, just same country. *wink* *wink*). no name, no phone number, no billing address....

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 12 points 1 week ago

piracy ftw, I don't give anyone anything and I feel great about it. I spend as little as possible. Just doing my part to hasten the collapse of capitalism

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I wanted to support artists.

Then do so more directly. The artists will only see a tiny fraction of what you gave to Netflix.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

Yeah, that's what I've gathered from this thread. In fact, someone on the thread pointed out that Netflix Originals pay for the cost of production + 30% and that's it. So not even paying Netflix do you pay the creators of the content. Insane.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Damn thats wild. Anyways, I tried to pay seeder and they were like lolwut.