How a Netflix customer in Germany won back money after price hikes
A
Netflix
customer in Germany has successfully defended himself against price increases from the media streaming giant, and will get his money back for several years of subscriptions plus interest.
The plaintiff's lawyer, Christian Solmecke, said that the Cologne Regional Court ruled that several price increases made by Netflix were done so unlawfully.
The ruling doesn't guarantee that millions of other Netflix customers in Germany would be entitled to a similar claim, but consumer advocates see the ruling as a positive signal in that direction.
What were the details of the case?
The man had signed up for a Netflix subscription in 2017, originally for the monthly price of €11.99.
Following three incremental price increases, he was paying €17.99 per month for the same service by May 2022.
Claiming he never agreed to the price increases, the man brought a lawsuit and ultimately the Cologne Regional Court agreed that the company had failed to meet its legal requirements to inform him about the contractual change.
According to a
report
by
Spiegel,
Netflix has been ordered to pay the man €191.60 plus interest.
The man had clicked a button which read, "Agree to price increase" but the court found that the simple agree/cancel option was not sufficient.
"A click on an 'agree' button is not sufficient if the user does not recognize that it represents a contract offer," said Solmecke.
A spokeswoman for the Cologne Regional Court confirmed the verdict to the DPA.
A spokesperson for Netflix called the decision "out of the ordinary," adding that "other courts have ruled the opposite...and recognized our previous price increases in Germany as effective..."
Does this mean Netflix owes you money back?
For now, it's unclear to what extent other
Netflix
customers can successfully invoke the Cologne ruling.
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The lawsuit was filed in 2022, and in its ruling the court invoked the three-year standard limitation period, thereby rejecting the plaintiffs claims from 2017 and 2018.
According to this standard, only claims from 2022 onwards could be re-enforced. Also, in it's last price increase in 2024, Netflix had modified the wording in it's approval process.
Still consumer advocates have said the ruling has a "strong signal effect" for customers of streaming services who were affected by similar price increases.
"The court found that the price increase, informed through a pop-up window within the platform, does not automatically lead to an effective change in contractual prices. Rather, it depends on...whether there is an effective offer for an amendment agreement," said Erol Burak Tergek of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Centre.
Tergek stressed that the ruling doesn't only apply to Netflix: "Those affected by a similar situation can therefore independently reclaim overpaid premiums after an ineffective price increase and, if necessary, sue for them."
Following the ruling,
Stiftung Warentest,
a German consumer organisation
created a sample letter
that Netflix subscribers in Germany can use to try and refute recent price increases.
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