So, some context. Two (almost three) nights ago, I was installing a brand new laptop for my mother in-law. I went to log her into my Netflix account so that she had something to watch while her husband watched "cowboy movies" on the big screen. Immediately got an error. At first it was just saying my password was wrong. It wasn't. Then it progressed into another error and not even giving me the opportunity to put in user credentials. I waited a day. When she texted me asking if things were fixed, I did some testing at home. Sure enough, any device that was already logged in worked fine. Any device that got logged out or had never been logged in, got an error and would not give the option to put in user credentials. Reached out to Netflix's chat support knowing most of their reps would be working from home or not at all and waited the 1 hour wait time for a reply. Again, I am understanding of the circumstances so this did not bother me. Finally, got a rep and the following transcript is over the course of an Hour waiting on them to fix my issue. (which did not get fixed)
Hello, Thank you for contacting Netflix customer support. Here is the transcript from your recent chat.
You NSEZ-403 when trying to log in on multiple devices on different internet services.
You Netflix Error NSEZ-403~~https://help.netflix.com/en/node/114877
Harvey Kate Netflix Hi, I got you! I'd be happy to assist. Can I get your Netflix email address, please?
You ********************
Harvey Kate Netflix checking..
Harvey Kate Netflix What device are you using?
You I have tried on two phones and two laptops across four internet connections.
Harvey Kate Netflix And what the device are you using when you got this error code? You All of them
Harvey Kate Netflix Can you please tell me what brand of the phones you have also laptops?
You My phone I tried the browser and mobile app
Harvey Kate Netflix What browser are you trying to access from your laptop? Is it a chrome, firefox, etc.
You Dell laptops, Google Pixel, and don't recall the other phone
You HP laptop
Harvey Kate Netflix All those devices are having the same error code right?
Harvey Kate Netflix NSEZ-403
You Yes
Harvey Kate Netflix All right, I have the perfect steps that will fix that issue. Just Click Here .I'm happy to stay online and guide you through them if you like. And please let me know if you have any questions :)
You My phone app worked fine until I logged out to test
You I hope it isn't the page directing to clear cookies...
You That doesn't work. Already followed it. Try another solution
Harvey Kate Netflix Right. Just follow the steps given to you and let me know what happens
You You get the same error
Harvey Kate Netflix When you tried clear cookies, were you routed to a different page?
Harvey Kate Netflix got it
Harvey Kate Netflix First one there says, if you tried clear cookies, and got the same error, you need to try again at a later time
You This has been since yrsterday
Harvey Kate Netflix It means that, it's having a problem connecting to netflix right now and try it from time to time
You What it means is it is a Netflix issue and they need to fix it. I was a network engineer. I get this over simplified error message
Harvey Kate Netflix I understand that, but that's the only option we have here. It's not with netflix though, it's with the network connection. And to fix this, try streaming at a later time
You Network connection with 4 separate internet accounts?
You Att, Verizon, and Mediacom?
Harvey Kate Netflix That's what we are seeing here. Make sure those internet provider can access better signals on your location
Harvey Kate Netflix Try restarting your modem, if that works. Or just try Netflix from time to time
You One is a 100mb connection landline that has zero issues streaming
You And it works on devices that has not logged out
You The wireless signal is strong. Getting 80mb speeds on phone. Not an issue on my side
Harvey Kate Netflix Internet connection takes different paths. It's normal that other apps are working and one is not. I understand, you have tried multiple internet providers, but the troubleshooting steps I sent clearly says that if same error message occurs, we need to try streaming at a later time
You My firestick connects fine in two rooms opposite sides of the house
You Same device..my phone was connected and worked until I logged it out during testing. Tried logging back in and suddenly error message.
Harvey Kate Netflix hold on a sec
You You are passing the buck here
Harvey Kate Netflix All right, I have the perfect steps that will fix that issue. Just Click Here .I'm happy to stay online and guide you through them if you like. And please let me know if you have any questions :)
You That is the exact same process we have pretty well covered....
You And it isn't perfect steps that fixes the issue
Harvey Kate Netflix we'll escalate this one to our engineers
Harvey Kate Netflix stay on the line
Harvey Kate Netflix addressing your concern now..
Harvey Kate Netflix Just checking . Still with me?
You Yes
Harvey Kate Netflix Thanks
You Never used browser from yet another laptop (Lenovo) got the error as soon as I clicked sign in
Harvey Kate Netflix As per our engineers, this is an ongoing issue and that they're still working on it. You can also try to use the affected device periodically to check if it's working. If It starts working, that means the issue has been fixed. If not, our engineers are still working on it. No need to call/chat us back. I already addressed everything to them.
Harvey Kate Netflix We're sorry for this inconvenience, but, this will be investigated and dealt with asap
You Ok. Ty
Harvey Kate Netflix Thanks a lot for your patience and time! Keep safe! :)
So, you can see from the transcript, not only did they try acting like I was an idiot for not being able to troubleshoot an error message and following their simple instructions on it, but also not grasping the over simplification of the necessary steps to "fix" my issue. They also go to send me to another page that basically said the exact same thing but to also reset my internet and continued to deny the issue was on their end at all. They go as far as blaming 3 different major internet providers as being the problem and ignoring that is is across multiple devices some of which were fresh installs. Now, I was a Network Engineer for 7 years. I've been in PC repair since the 90's. I've dealt with a lot of this blaming the other guys crap. So, I didn't back down and called them out on the behavior. They finally do their job and check with their techs. Low and behold, they are having a massive issue going on. The answer is that it will essentially be fixed when it is fixed and to just keep wasting my time trying to figure out when. No sincere apology. Just a generic one with a promise to work on it asap which means yes someone is already working on it so I'm hanging up now statement. I wasn't looking for compensation on lost viewing time as I have a lot of devices and knew not to troubleshoot on the primary TV watching devices as I didn't want to break them too. In times when people are really relying on your services due to an epidemic, you really need to have better communication and instruct your staff to not act like everyone else is the problem.
