Actually if someone is returning a video game late, I always ask them how late it is - I tell them that if it’s only a day late, they can keep it another few days. They usually do.
I’m a little surprised you heard a manager saying this. We’re not supposed to tell people this, and it actually seems to make things worse when we do. (someone mentioned this earlier) People will stop thinking their movies are due back at noon, and start thinking they’re due back at 3. So if they bring their movie back at 3:05, they think they’re only “five minutes” late, but there’s nothing we can do. Then they’re mad. Besides, the computer clock is usually a little fast (it is at almost every store I’ve worked at), so in the computer, it will turn 3 o’clock at 2:50.
But you’re right, the computer doesn’t start charging fees until after 3pm on the day the movie is due. We empty the drop box at 10am, 1pm, 5pm, and 8pm. (although I usually empty it around 2:30 too, because I really don’t like people having fees, especially if they’re only a couple of hours late)
Think about it though, it would be really hard for us to get the box emptied at exactly noon every day.
So remember, if your movie is only a couple of hours late, bring it inside and we can check it in right there. (if the employee tells you to put it in the box, be sure to tell them it was due today - in fact, I would want to watch them check it in)
I own a small, genre/art film focused video store, and while I hate Blockbuster, that isn’t my worry here.
We charge $3.50 per title across the board, for a 3-night rental, which in some cases is effectively longer since we are closed Mondays and Sundays (Thusday and Friday rentals can stay out until Tuesday). To simplify things, we consider a movie “on-time” if it is returned before closing on the due date. Late fees, which we only charge for days the store is open, are $1.50 per day, which is slightly more than what the initial rental price would come out to per day.
We decided to go just a little higher than the initial price because our shop is still pretty small and we don’t have multiples of our titles. Our “hook” is having a wide variety of rarities and inportant films, so having the title back on the shelf for the next customer is important. That said, we usually give people a break on fees, especially if they rent something when they come to settle up.
We explain this to new members (well, not the part about waiving fees, we don’t want to be thought suckers) and all of our members sign a form which spells this out. We only opened a year ago, and I never thought to look into the laws concerning late fees. I pretty much assumed that as long as the renter knew what he/she was getting into, it was up to the company.
I just realized that my above post is quite a hijack. sorry. I got distracted and am actually really worried about this. I don’t want to be doing anything illegal.
I’ve only ever had good experiences. I rent, I occasionally return late, I chat with employees (who are regular people, and not mindless drones as it may occasionally appear)
On top of that, it does say the return date on my blockbuster receipts.
If I don’t return something on time, they just assume I’m renting it again. When I do return it, they charge me what seems like an eminently reasonable fee… which is exactly what I paid in the first place to rent it.
If i neglect to return something the first time, they call me. Second rental period goes by and they send me a little notecard letting me know I owe them some serious cash when I return my copy of Fried Green Tomatoes
They do this until it reaches about $30 in late fees, then they send me a little note that says “You could retun this and pay the late fees, or just give us $15 for the video. No Skin off our nose. Otherwise we’re sending this to a collection agency!”
Seems like a pretty reasonable business practice to me. But, of course, people are stupid, and class action lawsuits are, according to several measures, the most tragic waste of the publics time and money to the grand benefit of Trial Lawyers.
I highly doubt it, because unless you do a lot more business than I would expect (No offense!) the amount of marrow a lawyer could suck out of your bones is worth less than the fees he could get defending me from a traffic stop.
The reason blockbuster is getting sued is because a lawyer can say to a judge at the end of the trial “I need to reimbursed for my fees, and all they’re doing is giving out coupons to the plaintiff’s. I say you tell them they owe me 1 gajillion dollars.”
No customer of yours is going to get mad enough over the $50 he owes you to pay a lawyer, and I wager if one ever did, you’d just say “You know what, forget about it and don’t ever come in here again”
THe class action nature of this suit is what let it get off the ground. Worst that could happen to you is someone threatens to bring you into small claims court because they didn’t ever return your only copy of “Amelie” and you told them they owe you $30 for it.
Oh look! An ignoramus with a poorly-informed hatred of lawyers, dispensing legal advice! There’s something you don’t see every day.
finette6, your location would be helpful information.
In all probability, you do have nothing to worry about. The only reason that the Quebec courts are giving this a close look is because of a specific law in that province about excessive demands on the consumer. Even if you do live in an area with similar legislation, it seems doubtful to me (unprofessional as I am) that “slightly more” than the per-day rental would seem like an attractive target for a suit. Blockbuster (in this instance) was charging 200% of the rental cost – and the courts may yet rule in their favour.
If you’re really worried about it, (and I have to grudgingly agree with Abel’s Brother that you probably ought not to be,) post your state/province/whatever and perhaps someone with a clue about the law in your area can provide you with some more positive reassurance.
If I take a movie out of the library, it’s free for two weeks, but then they charge me $1/day for overdues. If fines have to be commensurate with rental fees, how does the library get away with this shocking display of greed?
I used to rent from Blockbuster when I was in HS, but stopped doing so when I found out they checked movies in at noon. Assinine time, to me. I was in school during those hours, and I could never remember to take my movies back after I got off work (12-1am) the night before they were due back.
Then I went to Hastings, who were a whole lot cheaper and had a reasonable return time. Didn’t have the selection, because Hastings was more a mini-B&N with video rental than a video rental place.
Now that I live up here, I go to Hollywood video. They’re open until midnight, so I have until then to return movies (I usually return them on my way to grocery shop at 11). I like that on the Hot New Releases, I got a $1 credit to my account if I return it by the next day. If something’s late, it’l like I re-rented it - same cost as renting for the same amount of days.
So, I guess what I’m getting at is this: If late fees are too high, or you don’t like when the return time is, go somewhere else. There are tons of places to rent from, and they’re really not all that different, aside from costs. They all pretty much carry the same new releases. The only differences I’ve found were in the old movies sections.
Yeesh. Those folks need to take a breath and relax.
Oh look, a guy on a message board making a casual assumption about someone and attacking them personally! There’s something you don’t see every day!
I find it somewhat heartening that you agreed with me, still I’m not an ignoramus, and I resent the imprecation
I do not have a poorly informed hatred of lawyers. I have a very well informed and casual dislike for the way that the vast majority of them run their businesses and their professions. On the whole I agree that lawyers are a
If you took my genocidal quote from shakespeare as serious, perhaps you should see a doctor. You’ve lost your sense of humor.
I really hate to rise to this sort of bait, but I do feel like pointing out that I am told there exist jurisdictions where folks waste far less resources on lawyers than in the U.S. Instead, disputes are more frequently resolved with AK-47s and the like.
I wonder what these fortunate folks do with all the money that they would have spent on legal fees . . .
Was a joke. I acknowledge that lawyers, along with economists, televangelists, and cockroaches are part of the necessary burden of living in a civilization of any significant level of advancement. The practice of law, and the interpretation thereof, is a vital and important part of our functioning as a civil, rather than a martial, society.
All the same, the same thing that corrupts warlords in places where an AK-47 is sufficient for the rules of evidence, often corrupts lawyers (and doctors, and engineers, and taxi cab drivers). Greed.
You don’t honestly think that the lawyers suing Blockbuster are really worried about the millions of dollars bilked from honest customers? Any more than the hoodlums you refer to care about justice or religious expression or whatever cause they use to run the place?
I’m sure that the class action lawyers who are prosecuting the Blockbuster class action are doing it for the exact same reason that you go to work every day: to MAKE MONEY. However, it doesn’t follow from that that lawyers as a group are particularly worthy of hatred.
Fortunately for the economy, most average non-Class-Action-Lawyers work creating a product or service of value to consumers. CALs file suit (supposedly for the plaintiff class) against companies that deliver valuable services, stating that they don’t deliver them properly. Then, if they win or settle, the companies write a big fat check to the lawyers and give some worthless coupons to the plaintiffs.
I don’t hate lawyers, actually I’m getting ready to give my own lawyer a call in a few minutes. I like my lawyer because he works for my best interest. Class Action Lawyers, OTOH, strike me very much as being in it for themselves rather than their clients.
They could have chosen to be hot dog vendors if they just wanted to make money. Out of the world of possible ways to make money, they chose to work up a lawsuit about Blockbuster Rental Late Fees.
Overall, I don’t believe that reception of a law degree makes you a marrow-sucking zombie in a suit. But that wasn’t the original point. The point was that a suit against a mom and pop rental place for rental fees is below the necessary criteria for class action, and thus unlikely to ever be lucrative enough a target to justify a lawsuit.
Basically my original point. Class Action suits are at best a waste of time and money, at worst are a way for particularly unscrupulous attorneys and businesses to collude to protect a corporation from a huge number of offenses with a single settlement.
I like my lawyer too. I’m glad I don’t need him much, but he’s a helpful guy. Even answered a page at 2:30 in the morning once. (Long story)
First, let me apologize for calling you an ignoramus. Kneejerk response to the “lawyers are motivated by greed” line.
That being said…
That’s not really much of a point, since, if the litigants in Quebec are successful, and if the consumer protection laws in finette6’s area have a similar provision against excessive charges, and if finnete6’s store has a fee structure that is substantially similar to the Blockbuster’s in Quebec, then she would be vulnerable to small-scale litigation.
That’s a lot of “ifs”, so I would tend to agree with your conclusion, but I disagree with the way that you reached it. The class-action suit is going forward in Quebec because there’s a reasonable question as to whether Blockbusters fees are legal in Quebec. If it’s determined that they aren’t, any Mom & Pop video store in Quebec that tried to do the same thing would probably find themselves served with an injunction toute de suite. Of course, the legality of the fees is not decided yet, and beyond that, it seems doubtful that a Mom and Pop video store would try to put something like that over on their customers – customer loyalty is a little more precious to small business owners.
If finette6 has nothing to worry about, it’s because she has sound business practices, not because there ain’t enough metaphorical marrow in her bones to attract greedy lawyers.
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