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At Netflix, taking on the persona of a Star Trek captain during a live chat with a customer gets you on national TV, a trip to Netflix headquarters in California, your very own captain's shirt and an iPad mini.

Such is the story of Mike Mears, a Denver-based Netflix customer service representative and Star Trek fan. Earlier this month, Mears started a chat with "Norm," a Netflix customer who was having a problem streaming "Parks and Recreation."

They both stayed in character the whole time, and after the transcript of the conversation landed on Reddit, websites around the world picked up the story. Mears was even interviewed on cable news channel HLN alongside William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in "Star Trek."

The exchange resonated with anyone who's ever sat through the hell of an automated customer service call, and it's one example of how Netflix is aiming to do something different with its customer service. Netflix help chats don't feature a robotic, dizzying array of menu options, or a company agent using a script.

"We really allow support agents to be themselves," Brent Wickens, Netflix's vice president of global customer support, told The Huffington Post in a recent interview. "They're not restricted in any way. If somebody wants to talk to somebody in character, we encourage this."

The company's quirky, beloved approach to customer service may help give it an edge as it battles for viewers in an increasingly competitive field. Although Netflix is the biggest name in town when it comes to subscription streaming services, it faces growing competition from Hulu Plus and Amazon. All three companies are investing heavily in original content and exclusive streaming deals to lure and hold on to subscribers.

Even though Netflix continues to add members -- it recently surpassed HBO in terms of paid U.S. subscribers -- the company is bleeding money on content and international expansion, as BuzzFeed's Peter Lauria recently pointed out. As a result, it made a relatively small $31.8 million in profit on $1.1 billion in revenue last quarter. Netflix must keep adding subscribers -- and keep the ones it already has -- to offset its spending spree.

"In some circumstances a customer that has a problem that has recovered delightfully can actually leave that interaction more satisfied than a customer who didn't have a problem in the first place," said Ryan Buell, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School who studies the relationship between customers and businesses.

One way Netflix delights is by not forcing its customer service agents -- most likely the only Netflix employees customers will ever speak to -- to follow that many rules. Apart from asking customers to take a one-question survey at the end of the call or chat, they can say pretty much whatever they want. Since Netflix is focused on streaming -- which costs $7.99 per month -- there's no pressure to get a customer who calls to add a service or buy into a more expensive plan. Agents are encouraged to solve a customer's problem without transferring him or her to another representative. If someone wants to cancel their subscription, agents don't push that person to continue with the service.

Ramon Icasiano, who headed Netflix customer service from 2001 to 2006, said that Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings would sometimes take customer calls -- something Netflix says he still does to this day.

"For us it was a sense of pride," Icasiano said, adding that he doesn't recall Hastings identifying himself as the company's CEO during the calls. "I took it as more of 'here's someone who's so interested in improving the customer experience that he would not be afraid to talk to his customers.'"

One former Netflix customer service agent, who asked not to be named because he was unsure of the company's press policy, said that agents were allowed to joke with customers as much as they wanted. Netflix, he said, encouraged agents to have "at least one moment in a phone call where you would relate to a customer."

"Netflix really wanted to destroy the image of the modern call center, of calling in and talking to a robot," the former call center employee, who said he was paid $13.25 per hour, told HuffPost. "They wanted it to be a personal experience that the customer could look back on fondly."

Netflix is known for its "freedom and responsibility" culture. The company famously has no vacation policy, something that is outlined in the so-called "culture deck," a 126-slide presentation which Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg said "may well be the most important document ever to come out of the Valley."

Although the entire presentation doesn't apply to all support staff -- many are paid hourly and they're a mix of Netflix employees and contracted employees -- Wickens said that the values and overall principles of freedom and responsibility outlined apply to the representatives.

"The responsibility is to solve the problem and the freedom is to do it your way," Wickens said. He added that the customer service mantra at the company, which "is the type of things we put on posters," consists of three elements: "solving the problem," "have fun and be yourself," and "keep it easy, keep it simple."

The former Netflix customer service agent described the call center environment as "insanely stressful," not only because angry and frustrated people sometimes treated him "like a punching bag," but also because of Netflix's high expectations for its employees.

An agent's job performance is measured on customer dissatisfaction, which comes from the survey at the end of a call or chat that simply asks whether a customer was satisfied with the Netflix service experience. There's a goal to keep the percentage of people who answer "no" at around 5 percent. And although there is no limit on how long an agent can take to resolve a customer's issue, the former representative said employees have a goal to answer support questions in under five minutes.

"From a customer perspective, we believe an efficient call is a better call," Netflix said in a statement when asked about that number. "This supports our simplicity bias in the customer experience, partnered with accuracy and finding your own voice."

"There was always a strong emphasis on positivity and empathy and the freedom to interact like real, genuine people," he said. "Once you felt it out with a customer, you wouldn't get in trouble for joking around with them and talking about some movies, as long as you were going to meet the goals for your metrics."

Netflix isn't the only company to take an unconventional approach to customer service. Zappos, the online retailer that was bought by Amazon in 2009, is famous for having customer service agents who, well, act like real humans. Like Netflix reps, Zappos agents don't follow a script, and there's no time limit on calls or chats. And some of the Zappos exchanges have become the stuff of legend: Zappos reportedly overnighted and paid for a pair of shoes for a best man who needed kicks for the wedding, and last year, a customer service phone call lasted for longer than 10 hours.

Netflix's approach to customer service may have contributed to its position as one of the most-loved brands in a recent survey from APCO, a public relations firm. But it's also, of course, good for business. Netflix only makes money from subscribers, so it's essential that people are happy with the service and keep paying for it each month.

Netflix and Amazon both have 24/7 customer support by phone and live chat, while Hulu Plus agents are available by phone or email during operating hours (17 hours on weekdays and 16 hours on weekends). Reaching an Amazon representative on the phone requires a few steps online, and the company calls customers, rather than providing a phone number. A recent request to Amazon's customer service line yielded an immediate response via phone. A call to Hulu did require a short hold, but it was not near the estimated seven minutes that was quoted online.

In a recent live chat, a Netflix customer service representative responded immediately to the help request. The agent, Bill, offered a welcome to his "Netflix temple of knowledge" and asked how he could "restore the balance today." A phone call to the customer support line included just two automated questions: one about whether the account had DVDs and one to get the account service code. After that, the call was answered on the second ring.

How do I use it? My strategy is to mail the three Netflix DVDs on a Saturday so Netflix gets them on Monday so I have a stronger likelihood to get the new releases that come out on Tuesday. On Monday, Netflix informs me which DVDs were sent to me then I usually get it Tuesday afternoon, but occasionally if it is a busy mail week like Christmas, there could be a delay until Wednesday.

On Monday, July 8, I noticed that Netflix showed that the DVDs that I mailed on Saturday, June 29, 2019 were still shown as out. I went to the website to report that I sent them back, but I indicated the wrong date, June 28 or earlier, because I was looking at the wrong calendar. The report includes how and where the DVD was mailed: a mailbox in my zip code. I corrected this error in the following phone call.

Unsurprisingly I did not get the July 1stshipment of DVDs and reported it on the evening of July 9, 2019. I called Netflix on July 10, 2019 when they gleefully reported to me that they always charge me on the 9thfor the month, claimed the hold was lifted though I have no objective proof such as the promised email, and Netflix would send the replacement DVDs that day, and I should get them Friday, which sounds uncomfortably familiar to the reassurances that I got the week before when the customer representative said one thing, but the Netflix website definitely indicated another. Fool me once.

Trying to reach Netflix for help with your account? If so, watch out for this crafty con. Scammers provide fake customer support numbers online and fool callers into purchasing unrelated computer software.

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