O Procon SP announced this Wednesday (24) that it had notified the Netflix that the company clarified its new policy of charging a fee for those who share the account password, a measure that has been implemented by the platform in some countries for months and is in fact the case was officially launched yesterday (23) in Brazil.
A payment of 12.90/month is required for those sharing the account outside the residence. With the inclusion of Brazil, this Netflix policy is already in effect in more than 100 countries where the platform operates.
In a statement, the agency explained that it had received several complaints from consumers and that Netflix needed to clarify a few issues:
“Understanding what Netflix is actually announcing to its subscribers; whether the company will actually introduce a new billing criterion and how this possible new access system will work, in addition to other related information, so that it is possible to analyze, on the basis of concrete data, possible violations of the Consumer Protection Act”, emphasizes Procon.
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Rodrigo Tritapepe, Director of Service and Advice at ProconSP, says that only with proof of changes and formalization of complaints can it be assessed whether the new form of access fee or the technology used to control has legal support in defense of the Consumer Code .
Platform subscribers who have received Netflix’s statement on the billing change and find it irregular can file a formal complaint on Procon’s website.
Several statements of consumer disapproval of Netflix’s new pricing policy can also be observed on the Reclame Aqui page. In one of these poststhe user mentions that this is an abusive practice:
The additional charge for using the account at more than one address without clear and transparent prior information may be considered an unfair term under Article 51(IV) of the CDC. Furthermore, this practice constitutes an abusive practice within the meaning of article 39, points III and IV of the same Code.
Netflix has not yet officially commented on the Procon SP notification.