How f*cked am I with Blockbuster?

[c-lando]

So, I had the QUEER AS FOLK DISC 6 DVD and forgot to return it before my trip to Cinti. It was due on 5/10/03. I returned it once I got back on 5/12/03.

Today, I received a late notice telling me that, as of 5/21/03, the DVD had still not been returned and that they had automatically charged my credit card for $25.00 to replace the DVD and $7.98 for the Extended Viewing fees.

WTF? Do I just go in and raise some polite, but serious hell?

[DogStarMan]

I heard that if you raise enough hell with blockbuster, they kiss your ass because they have some policy where they can't stand to lose customers.

That being said, I hate video stores. Check out your local library (if it's still open after Shrubya's last tax cut) the next time you need a DVD fix, you'd be suprised at what you'll find. And it's free!

[c-lando]

I often go to the library for books, movies, and books on tape. But, they don't exactly carry the QUEER AS FOLK collection at this time. And this girl needs her Brian fix from time to time...

[DogStarMan]

I've never seen that show, but the title doesn't sound library movie friendly. I heard Hal Sparks is on it. I used to love that guy on Talk Soup.

[c-lando]

Originally posted by DogStarMan
I've never seen that show, but the title doesn't sound library movie friendly. I heard Hal Sparks is on it. I used to love that guy on Talk Soup. Yes. Hal Sparks is the reason I started watching it. He's the best! However, my heart eventually had to drift over to the show's bad boy.

I've been a bad, bad girl.
Just ask Blockbuster.

A$$h0les.

[berzerker]

Just go in and say, "well, maybe I'll just get digital cable..." See if'n they offer to cut you a break.

[DudeMan]

C-Lando -- Definitely try to sweet-talk yourself out of this one, because sometimes a sheepish smile and the truth actually work.

Talk to the manager, be apologetic and say how much you love being a blockbuster customer but you've really gotten yourself into a bind here, and see if you can work a deal.

[foolsgold]

Originally posted by DogStarMan
I've never seen that show, but the title doesn't sound library movie friendly

Xavier's library just ordered the series. It'll go nicely with the Band of Brothers, Sex & the City, Oz and Soprano's boxsets we already have.

God bless, flexible ordering policies and professors who know how to bullsh*t the purchasing department.

Usually, libraries are pretty liberal places, so there is a strong chance that they might have it.

Anyway, I seem to remember Blockbuster having to settle in a class action lawsuit for the very same thing you are getting screwed by. Shivvy probably knows more about this than I do, though.

Fools "worked in a library waaay too long" Gold

[cuddlyevil]

Originally posted by foolsgold
God bless, flexible ordering policies and professors who know how to bullsh*t the purchasing department.

Usually, libraries are pretty liberal places, so there is a strong chance that they might have it.

Amen brother, if the main branch of the nashville public libraries can have a section devoted to "adult" books and periodicals, then you should be able to find it somewhere :)

If they give you any more trouble, can I volunteer to stand behind you and look menacing?

[postfeminist]

c-lando,
this happened to me-- and i just insisted that they double check the shelf copies to be sure that it hadn't been reshelved without being checked back in. In fact, that had happened, and they refunded me the charges and gave me coupons for like 10 free rentals for the trouble... good luck.

pf

[kickinitlive]

funny story...don't tell

i rented 3 candyman movies...and never returned them. cause i just plum forgot. they charged my credit card after 50 days...for $108...a LOT of late fee. i bitched a fit and said that i would pay them in cash, because i didn't want that on my credit card. eventually, they took it off my card, and apparently forgot about it, seeing as how i have not heard a peep from them since, and neither has my credit card

[redbobsled]

One word y'all:

Netflix

[DogStarMan]

I don't know about your experience with Netflix, but I tried it out for a month and a half and in that time, no matter how quick I watched and sent the movies back, their delivery times sucked. I ended up just getting my moneys worth of movies compared to renting them. Plus, one movie they sent me never arrived and they wanted me to pay for it and one movie I sent back never got there and they also wanted me to pay for that one. I just found it to be a very inefficient process.

[c-lando]

OK...so one of my pet peeves with Blockbuster is that they will basically shout the titles of the movies I am renting to the world when they are telling me the return date...BUT, they will always refer to my QUEER AS FOLK rentals as "...and this title is due back in a week."

That said...

I walked into the Blockbuster today, went to the shelf, picked up the ONLY copy of Disc 6 that they own and walked it up to the check-out counter. The guy (wearing the Managment Team shirt) asked if I had found everything OK. I replied that I did and then pleaded my case regarding the "stolen DVD". He replied that he had no idea how that happened, how he never worked days, and how he knows for a fact that the disc has been on the shelf because he looked at them last week and considered watching all of them himself...again. He did a lot of typing, apologized for the inconvenience, reversed all the late fees - including the one I "rightfully" earned, and deleted the pending charge to my credit card.


Yay.

[doctort13]

I have been happy with the service & selection that I receive from Netflix.com . They have always fixed any problems, and have even purchased DVDs that I suggested to them! They have opened more distro-centers, so the DVDs ship faster.

Here is a more "art house" DVD rental service:
http://greencine.com/main.jsp

I have not used them, but they do have a very cool collection.
DSM- look at their anime selection.

The rental video market place is in for major changes over the next few years. As VHS goes the way of the 8-track, and DVD sell through getting cheaper ($5-7), it's a "renter's market".

C-Lando- have you tried www.Netflix.com? Your first month is free. I have been with them almost a year, and they offered me a discount if I stayed for a full year. I pay around $13/month for all the DVDs I can watch (3 at a time). I really enjoy it. I ALWAYS hated renting from "Lackluster" and it's clones. Ever try to talk "film" to the clowns who work at these places?:p

[pathogen.b]

i worked at a chain video store as a shift manager many moons ago and we did that !@#$ all the time. anytime someone would question a late fee i would immediately hit the shelves and find the movie nine out of ten times. in fact, i could never call people on the late list before checking for EVERY movie on the list b/c the slackasses there would do that so often (and another reason why no one called those on the late list, which just made things worse when someone actually did). it was always amusing to ring someone up only to see "182 DAYS LATE!!" flash on the monitor as the movie had sat, unreturned on the shelf for so long... and no one had called the late list in that many days. sweet.

[redbobsled]

Originally posted by DogStarMan
I don't know about your experience with Netflix, but I tried it out for a month and a half and in that time, no matter how quick I watched and sent the movies back, their delivery times sucked. I ended up just getting my moneys worth of movies compared to renting them. Plus, one movie they sent me never arrived and they wanted me to pay for it and one movie I sent back never got there and they also wanted me to pay for that one. I just found it to be a very inefficient process.

Well, when I was using them, I lived in Santa Cruz, and they shipped everything out of Los gatos or San jose (35 minutes away) so my turn around time was always just 1 day. I did read on their website that they have started up regional distribution centers now to fix that shipping time problem. I have since quit Netflix because when I stopped working fulltime I could no longer justify the extra monthly cash drain of netflix...or my cell phone for that matter. Now I just go to this place in Santa Monica called vidiots. It is the best store ever, but very pricey....but there's something about the visual gratification of browsing through and touching actual dvds and tapes that you don't get with netflix.

[Bronzetree]

What's all this talk about Blockbuster adding charges to your credit card? They don't even have my credit card info, because I didn't even have one when I got my first Blockbuster card ten years ago.

Just last week I returned a DVD and a game late. That's about 11 bucks I'm out because I forgot. I never forget to return those damned things. Grrrr.

[doctort13]

I miss Home Cinema in Clifton.:(

[pathogen.b]

Originally posted by doctort13
Ever try to talk "film" to the clowns who work at these places?

nope, but i do pester fast food employees about the inappropriate dietary supplementations that their value meals provide... then the underpaid teen behind the counter tells me to "!@#$ off". word.

[pathogen.b]

Originally posted by Bronzetree
What's all this talk about Blockbuster adding charges to your credit card? They don't even have my credit card info, because I didn't even have one when I got my first Blockbuster card ten years ago.

that reminds me, about six years ago i owed over $70 between two BallBuster locations. i don't remember how that even happened- a bunch of movies, maybe some games, all laziness, whatever. i didn't worry about it then b/c they didn't have any credit card info and i was TOTALLY broke.... they did have my checking account info, however. but hey, i had less than $1 in my account those days, so what could they do? ha ha, indeed. oh yeah, they got their $$$ out of my account and i paid even more fees to my bank b/c i then had a negative balance. excellent.

[lawdog]

Originally posted by Bronzetree
What's all this talk about Blockbuster adding charges to your credit card? They don't even have my credit card info, because I didn't even have one when I got my first Blockbuster card ten years ago.

Just last week I returned a DVD and a game late. That's about 11 bucks I'm out because I forgot. I never forget to return those damned things. Grrrr.

Actually, it's much better if they have your Credit Card info. If they don't, they'll turn you in to a collection agency if you have a late charge. Don't ask me how I know this...

[redbobsled]

Originally posted by lawdog


Actually, it's much better if they have your Credit Card info. If they don't, they'll turn you in to a collection agency if you have a late charge. Don't ask me how I know this...

They did this to me, but nothing happened. Of course I moved twice and now they can't find me..... I think I still owe them 14.00. They aren't getting it.

[somemightsay]

Here's a few sly tricks to get out of paying your late fees that I picked up on from working at Blockbuster for about a month:

1) Take the late film/game back into the store and put back on the shelf in its right spot. They run a report each morning for titles that have been out for over something like 30 days and have an employee run around and verify that these titles are indeed not on the shelf. If they're not, you get charged. If they are on the shelf, then they have no choice but to waive your fees because it's considered FOS (found on shelf) and they give the customer the benefit of the doubt in these cases. It occassionally happens in a legit manner when idiot employees are scanning a stack of 200 movies and don't get yours in, so they are forced to waive the fees either way if its on the shelf.

2) Return the late film/game to different store than the one you rented the title from. I don't exactly remember how this one works, but when someone does it accidentally or other wise the store that it was originally checked out from receives a call from the returned store. The original store then checks it into the system and the charges are waived again. This one is extra fun, because the managers get really pissed off. They have to either make a stop by that store to pick it up, or have it boxed up and sent back to the right store. Not sure on the mechanics of the charges being waived, but when I worked there this one worked as well.

Hope these tips will save you late fees in the future. Down with Blockbuster!!!