# Breaking news on the Blockbuster Late Fees "Scandal" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 30, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856 "2005-03-30T00:21:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Thinktank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Thinktank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinktank)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/81 "2005-04-04T00:09:18Z")
I’m still pissed over the last slew of late fees with BB. Everytime I returned something via drop box I got a late fee postcard in the mail. I finally got sick of it and resigned myself from the store, threw my rental card in the trash… their loss, but I’m sick of scams. I rent something and return it on-time no harm, no -foul right? uh- uh …ridiculous… I gave them a good chance the last time even, I handed the video to a CR and then left, guess what came in the mail? heh… bye Blockbuster… it’s not you it’s-… oh yeah, it’s you… hah ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/82 "2005-04-04T00:37:00Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Let’s say I’m Joe Customer, and I walk into Blockbuster, where they have a sign that says, “no more late fees”. I scratch my head and wonder what the details of that policy are. I say to myself, “Maybe it’s like Netflix, where you can keep it as long as you want but you can only keep one movie out at a time.” (At least that’s how it was described in this thread.) > > At what point do I go from “Maybe it’s like Netflix…” to “I’m going to ASSUME it’s like Netflix, not bother to ask, and just keep the film out as long as I feel like”, and why? Well, actually, BB has a program \*just \*like Netflix, and they have another program very much like Netflix, except that you pick up and return the DVD’s from the store - which is the plan I signed up on- since there is a BB store a couple blocks from where I live. In these programs, ther are no late fees at all, except that you can only have so many DVD’s out at one time, and of course, you have to keep up your monthly fee. But really, BB _was_ being disingenuous with their "THE END OF LATE FEES’ campaign. What they really did was give you a long grace period, after which you buy the DVD, like it or not … unless you return it within 30days and pay a fee, which is a \*fee \*for the DVD being “_late_”, so it IS a “late fee”. :mad: The problem\* I think\* is that the “grace period” is hidden is the very small print. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/83 "2005-04-04T01:22:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > What they really did was give you a long grace period, after which you buy the DVD, like it or not … unless you return it within 30days and pay a fee, which is a \*fee \*for the DVD being “_late_”, so it IS a “late fee”. :mad: You know, maybe I’m just too accepting of what companies set as their policies, but I’d think that if they were going to _sell_ me the movie after the grace period, I’d be happy to get _any_ of my money back. Really, I think y’all are looking at this wrong. You’re not charged a fee when you return the movie you kept out over 2 weeks. You’re getting your money back, less a little. They don’t actually take that $1.25 away from you; they already took, say, $15 from you when they charged you the remainder of the movie’s sale price. _That’s_ the fee, and even then it’s not simply a punitive charge; you’re then free to keep the movie. Sure, you might get a little less back when you return the movie, but hell, most stores you purchase from won’t even give you more than 50% of the retail value back (if they take it back at all), since it’s a used item. But hey, you guys keep calling that tail a fifth leg. Just shows you’re not aware or don’t care about any distinctions beyond ‘They’re taking _my_ money!’ Which is, of course, your right. Just make sure to return movies on-freakin’-time and none of this’ll be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/84 "2005-04-04T05:56:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Just make sure to return movies on-freakin’-time and none of this’ll be an issue. Maybe that should have been their advertising campaign: “No more late fees ever…” “…providing you return all movies by the due date”. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/85 "2005-04-04T07:28:13Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, actually, BB has a program \*just \*like Netflix, and they have another program very much like Netflix, except that you pick up and return the DVD’s from the store - which is the plan I signed up on- since there is a BB store a couple blocks from where I live. In these programs, ther are no late fees at all, except that you can only have so many DVD’s out at one time, and of course, you have to keep up your monthly fee. O.K., except that has nothing to do with what we were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/86 "2005-04-04T13:09:37Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > There are at least three issues being conflated here. Very good point. And one can take your issue 2 and turn it into 3 more ideas: 1. Blockbuster is honest and made a wise advertising decision. They have only my best interests at heart. 2. Blockbuster is basically honest but blundered a bit in their advertising decision. 3. Blockbuster = Satan. Signing a contract with them is signing a contract with the Devil. Every move they make is a deliberate deception. Their subsidiaries include the WTO, Illuminati, and The Intergalactic League of Evil. I’m leaning towards #2. I think their ad campaign may be misleading, but I don’t think it was deliberately deceptive. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/87 "2005-04-04T13:12:06Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > A better analogy would be if the car dealership advertises “FREE REGULAR SERVICE! NO CHARGE FOR REGULAR SERVICE! SERVICE IS ABSOLUTELY FREE!” And they don’t charge you for service, but they do charge $10/quart for the oil. Or they’ll rotate the tires for free, but there’s a $20 charge to put the car up on the lift (which they require to rotate the tires). I don’t think there is a good analogy. Certainly you didn’t give one, as I would view such an auto dealership to be unrealistically desirable! ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/88 "2005-04-04T15:05:45Z")
> [@kung fu lola](#): > > **Edward The Head** , \* in the very segment you quoted\*, I stated that us blueshirts were doing our damnedest to tell every single customer about the policy in person, so your statment that there were only commercials about the policy, is untrue. > We even had a seminar at 7 AM on a Saturday to explain the policy in full to us, and teach us how to discuss it with clients in a way that was clear and accurate. This maybe the case at _your_ store, but at the one I go to they had nothing around except one big assed sign saying NO MORE LATE FEES. Granted I know to take my movies back on time, but no one told me about the new way of things, and there was no way of getting the information. I will say now though that they do have pamphlets and a couple of signs around the store. The signs have been there for a couple of weeks, but the pamphlets were not. I went looking after people were saying how easy it was to get them. The store I go to is not the best run, they hardly ever have enough people working and most of them are not very friendly. They do however try and sell me on the monthly service that I have no iterest in. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/89 "2005-04-04T15:23:01Z")
> [@Edward The Head](#): > > The store I go to is not the best run, they hardly ever have enough people working and most of them are not very friendly. They do however try and sell me on the monthly service that I have no iterest in. As I’ve said before, this is a huge part of the issue. If the store doesn’t disclose the policy, then it becomes a campaign of (semi) deception. However, this is not the fault of corporate, but of the local store manager. Could corporate have made the manager make information available? Looks like they did their best. They printed up materials and distributed them to stores. They could hardly go from store to store to enforce compliance, could they? What could corporate have done to run a more honest campaign? I suppose they could have had commercials with the teeming millions chanting, in unison: No more late fees! No more late fees! Just a nominal restocking fee! Following the return of a compulsorarily purchased movie at sale price minus intitial rental fee! Which followed an extended grace period! Which I was too much of a dumbass to remember! But that seems like it wouldn’t make such a great commercial. (Funny, though.) I’m at a loss here. If you were BB corporate, how would you advertise this new policy in a way that a) brings in business, and b) creates goodwill with customers? ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/90 "2005-04-04T17:02:48Z")
While I stand by my position that it should have been obvious to any thinking person that they weren’t going to get to keep the movies forever for free, I _do_ think Blockbuster deliberately withheld information from their advertising campaign. The really honest thing would have been to explicitly spell out the major part of the policy, that the movie will be automatically _sold_ to you after a week. That’s the crucial piece of information they leave out of their commercials, if I’m not mistaken. I’m sure they made a decision that it would hurt them to divulge that detail in their advertising campaign, and I don’t really blame them for making that decision, but it _is_ deceptive, or at least fails to volunteer the information. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/91 "2005-04-04T17:18:57Z")
Fair enough, but the question to you (and everyone else) is how would you have done things differently, had you been in charge? The more I think about this, the more intriguing the question gets. Do you implement the new policy without telling anyone? Accusations of malfeasence would run rampant. Do you implement the new policy and fully disclose the details on TV ads? It would make for unweildly ads that would likely drive business away. Do you not implement the new policy at all? Clearly this is not an option, as you are already losing ground to Netflix. Do you do exactly what they have done, figuring it to be the best compromise? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/92 "2005-04-04T17:22:36Z")
I don’t actually fault Blockbuster for their policy itself - it’s a reasonable pricing plan. What I fault them for is that they said they were using Pricing Plan A and then actually used Pricing Plan B. Regardless of the merits of B, it’s not the promised A. And if it’s somewhat unreasonable for customers to expect Plan A would actually work the way it was advertised, it was far far more unreasonable for Blockbuster to present Plan A as it was advertised. ---
**Author:** ![Yamirskoonir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@Yamirskoonir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yamirskoonir)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/93 "2005-04-04T17:48:30Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Very good point. And one can take your issue 2 and turn it into 3 more ideas: > > 1. Blockbuster is honest and made a wise advertising decision. They have only my best interests at heart. > > 2. Blockbuster is basically honest but blundered a bit in their advertising decision. > > 3. Blockbuster = Satan. Signing a contract with them is signing a contract with the Devil. Every move they make is a deliberate deception. Their subsidiaries include the WTO, Illuminati, and The Intergalactic League of Evil. > > I’m leaning towards #2. I think their ad campaign may be misleading, but I don’t think it was deliberately deceptive. Exactly, which is what my OP was all about. An American _court of justice_ has decreed that the advertising was misleading, to the point that those who feel they got ripped off deserve restitution (how do people actually receive their $1.25 or so in this situation, anyhow?). I posted the OP because I wanted to know how many other people saw this coming. I put it in the pit because of my amazing powers of foresight. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/94 "2005-04-04T18:14:00Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Fair enough, but the question to you (and everyone else) is how would you have done things differently, had you been in charge? The more I think about this, the more intriguing the question gets. > > […] > > Do you not implement the new policy at all? Clearly this is not an option, as you are already losing ground to Netflix. Actually, I _would_ do that. To me, if a policy is weak enough that part of it must be concealed in order for it to be palatable to the public, then it’s simply not worthy of being instituted. Of course, I don’t think like a businessman. Personally, I think the downfall of many big corporations is that they forget that the way you _get_ to be big is by offering something that people like, at a price they like. The second these companies start “losing market share”, they want to go on some big marketing binge, forgetting that you not only have to get people to _come_ to your store, but you _also_ have to get them to return. Look at McDonald’s, for example. They keep trying to reinvent themselves every week. They forgot that the reason they got where they are is because they made food that people liked and sold it for a reasonable price. They can invent a new McSplooge mystery nugget every week, but if they have lousy, slow service and stale food, people aren’t going to come back. They _ought_ to be focusing on quality, not marketing. The reason Ballbuster is losing market share to Netflix is because people are fed up with their surly employees and poor service. They don’t need to reinvent themselves; they need to fix what they _have_. The biggest complaints I hear about Blockbuster are A) the employees are rude and unhelpful, and B) people get charged late fees because the EMPLOYEE failed to check in the movie when it was returned. In other words, they’ve lost the trust of their customers. Well you don’t rebuild trust by withholding information. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/95 "2005-04-04T22:17:41Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > The biggest complaints I hear about Blockbuster are A) the employees are rude and unhelpful, and B) people get charged late fees because the EMPLOYEE failed to check in the movie when it was returned. I don’t know how many times I am going to say this, but hopefully with this new policy it will be my last. There are maybe four or five ways for false late charges to end up on an account. None of these involve the employee simply not checking in the movie. Blockbuster has been in this business for a long time and they there are multiple safegaurds at each step of the process that makes it nearly impossible for employee laziness to lead to false charges. However, ask any Blockbuster employee how often they get charged for their free rentals being late, and they’ll sigh and complain with the rest of them- even though they are at the store every day and can access their account information whenever they want. Human beings are sigularly poor at remembering when their movies are actually due, but really good at _thinking_ they know when their movies are due and getting all worked up when they are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/96 "2005-04-04T22:53:17Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > O.K., except that has nothing to do with what we were talking about. It doesn’t??? 😕 "Originally Posted by blowero Let’s say I’m Joe Customer, and I walk into Blockbuster, where they have a sign that says, “no more late fees”. I scratch my head and wonder what the details of that policy are. I say to myself, “Maybe it’s like Netflix, where you can keep it as long as you want but you can only keep one movie out at a time.” (At least that’s how it was described in this thread.) At what point do I go from “Maybe it’s like Netflix…” to “I’m going to ASSUME it’s like Netflix, not bother to ask, and just keep the film out as long as I feel like”, and why?" 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bclouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@bclouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bclouse)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/97 "2005-04-05T01:50:19Z")
What gets me is why Blockbuster even began this whole “No late fee” campaign. Were people really that disgrunted with the late fees? I think it was kind of chitzy of them to charge people an extra day’s rental when they brought their movie back 5 minutes late. And what I really disliked was renting a movie late one night and having to return it back at noon the next day. That didn’t seem quite fair. They seemed like they were trying to nickle and dime you when they had the chance. Maybe that’s not true but it felt that way sometimes. I think they were scared into the no late fee campaign because of Netflix’s new business model and rapidly rising popularity. It’s a brand new way of renting videos and works very well if you rent many movies a month. I’m not sure how Blockbuster should have countered Netflix competition but I’m don’t think what they came up with was all that great. Regardless of what some people have say here on this thread, Netflix is very upfront with how they do business. You pay so much a month for a subscription fee, you get to keep so many movies a month, as long as you want. If you want to pay $18 a month and keep 3 movies indefinitely, that’s up to you. Their service may not be for you but it’s very simple to understand. Blockbuster’s new deal seems good but they weren’t very upfront about what it consists of. No late fees unless you don’t do this. Then you buy the movie until you do this. They buy back the movie from you but it costs this. Nothing horrible but not very simple nor totally upfront. I think they would have looked better if they just lowered their late fees and/or were a little more casual about charging you that late fee. If you’re a day late, I feel you should be charged a late fee but if you’re a few hours late then they could let it slide. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/98 "2005-04-05T02:02:37Z")
> [@bclouse](#): > > What gets me is why Blockbuster even began this whole “No late fee” campaign. Were people really that disgrunted with the late fees? I think it was kind of chitzy of them to charge people an extra day’s rental when they brought their movie back 5 minutes late. That doesn’t happen (at least it didn’t at my BB). Employees of Blockbuster Canada have a two-hour “grace period” in which to check in movies, which means that in order to have been charged a late fee, you would have had to have been over two hours late. Also, if you were one day late with a two-night rental, you were charged **half** of the rental price, not full price. One $5 movie, one day late = $2.50. This was one advantage we had over the Mom & Pop places: we didn’t charge FULL price for one late, while they did. Also, we were much more generous about giving credits for late fees. > [@](#): > > And what I really disliked was renting a movie late one night and having to return it back at noon the next day. Also not true. And if it was once true, it’s not anymore and hasn’t been for a while. All of BB’s new releases are TWO-night rentals. Rent it on Monday, bring it back on Wednesday before noon. > [@](#): > > If you’re a day late, I feel you should be charged a late fee but if you’re a few hours late then they could let it slide. If you’re nice to the employees and are a good customer (i.e. not **habitually** late, polite, rent often), they would. I know we did. ---
**Author:** ![enantiomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@enantiomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enantiomer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/99 "2005-04-05T02:19:06Z")
Their new system is **much** cheaper if you run late. I just took three tapes back that were three weeks late and the fee was about six dollars total charged as a re-stocking fee. Under the old system it would have been over twenty dollars. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856/100 "2005-04-05T02:20:15Z")
> [@kung fu lola](#): > > That doesn’t happen (at least it didn’t at my BB). Employees of Blockbuster Canada have a two-hour “grace period” in which to check in movies, which means that in order to have been charged a late fee, you would have had to have been over two hours late. Also, if you were one day late with a two-night rental, you were charged **half** of the rental price, not full price. > One $5 movie, one day late = $2.50. Not only was I never given even 5 minutes “grace”- OR a discount on th e"late fee", at least twice I turned the video in a bit before the deadline, and both times were charged lates fees. It took threats of calling the regional manager to make them change their mind. However, I do see the word “ **Canada** ” up there, and conced things may be different “Due North”. However, you should then concede that since BB America is a different enity, there may be considerable differences. Clearly- dudes in \*America \*were unhappy with the way BB charged “late fees”. If things had been that way “Due South”, maybe dudes wouldn’t have been so pissed. That was the problem with the “late fee”- any tiny amount of lateness made you pay for a whole extra week. But here’s my point. The new “restocking fee” is just that- a “ **fee** ”. Yes? And, you will only be charged it if you are **Late** , true? Thus, it is a “_late fee_” under the “duck test”. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-on-the-blockbuster-late-fees-scandal/296856.md?page=6)