Err, all of a second after you stand in line for 5 minutes, I assume?
Good lord, what is it about Blockbuster? No one’s EVER happy with anything. They’re trying to do a really cool thing, and people do nothing but bitch, ask “what’s the catch,” and whine that the restocking fee is really a late fee.
Look. Our 2 day rentals? You can keep them for NINE DAYS before being charged anything. For freshly release, big-name movies. Older movies? TWO WEEKS.
Jesus. Isn’t that long enough? Who wants to keep Terminal for two weeks, anyway?
If that’s still not enough for you, you can have the movie for another MONTH and still refund it for a charge of only $1.25. Spare change! 1/4 the cost of the rental! (well, almost).
You know why they charge a restocking fee? It’s NOT a late fee. Everytime a late movie gets “sold,” we have to order another copy to keep stocked. The sold movie has to be changed in the computer from a rental to a sold item. If you bring it back, we now have an extra copy and have to convert that copy back into a rental.
Fuck. Would you rather they charge you another $4 every 2 days, as per the old system?
And nobody’s hiding how it works. There are pamphlets every frikkin 10 feet in my store, not to mention the 5 displays with pamphlets at the checkout counter.
Also, anyone who has a late fee left over from the Old Days gets a coupon for a free rental once they pay off the fees.
Sorry. It’s just starting to get irritating when people start yelling “Scam! Scam!” at an idea that’s actually really cool. Even libraries charge late fees AND charge you for the book if you don’t return it.
If you don’t like it, go to Hollywood and rack up late fees.
I think their “really cool thing” is just a last attempt to avoid bankruptcy. With the explosion of services like Netflix, they had to find some way to keep up. If it’s not up to par with comparable services, people have every right to complain.
I have been actively boycotting Blockbuster since 1985.
Slowly, I shall bring them to their knees.
So what if they’re trying to avoid bankruptcy? That doesn’t make the idea any less neat. Also, didn’t they just buy Hollywood? They at least tried. Do floundering businesses do that a lot (I’m honestly not sure, asking a question here)?
Has anyone addressed what I have been wondering? Their new system is likely to lead to the average renter keeping a given movie for more days. Has their inventory increased to absorb this or will there be fewer copies of new releases?
“And what about those two weeks we spent in Late Fee Camp?”
“Not a single word of warning”.
They are not too high, and I am tired of people saying that. They are directly proportional to what we charge for them in the first place. Example: One day late for a two night rental: 50% of the rental price ($2.50 for a $5.74 rental). One day late for a one week new-release rental: one-seventh of the rental price ($0.60). (technically, a few cents less, actually). The mom & pops around here charge you the entire rental price over again if you are even two hours late, which is double what we charge.
If you agree to our upfront rental prices by renting from us, then logically you also agree to our extended viewing fees.
Then talk to the cashier. It’s possible that they emptied the chute late, or not at all until the evening. We stagger the check-in times during the business day, and three of them are before the “deadline”, which gives us ample chances to make sure that if you return the films before noon, they are checked in on time. Amazingly, we make this a priority, since we don’t like being yelled at by irate customers any more than you would. Sadly, we are not perfect, and if you put it in the slot at 11:45 and we don’t check it in until 3 o’clock, and you get charged, then just be polite and firmly explain that you are 100% certain you returned it before noon.
I credit people for late fees every day. Even the lowliest clerk has the authroity to do it. There is no excuse for not being an assertive customer, and whining about having to pay because your local BB had a hellish Wednesday and didn’t check in your videos on time.
Like I said, we make it a priority, but shit happens.
I just have no respect or patience for people whose default position is to get resentful and defensive. I am way less likely to give them credit than the other kind of customer.
<b>kung fu lola</b>- Do you work at a franchise store? Cause corporate late fees are just a re-check out to the person. Not halved. At my store, a $4.32 7 day rental would be rechecked-out to you after noon on the 8th day. SO, you get another 8 days for the $4.32 rental cost.
Well, my store currently has about 300 copies of I, Robot, Troy, Anacondas, Anchorman, Dodgeball, and other new releases. I have noticed larger orders of new movies coming in.
Smaller movies or Favorites? We’ll see how well that works out.
When people ask folks at my store what incentive there is for them to bring a movie back in less than a month, we just say, “It’s like a good-will policy. it’s okay if you keep it for an extra few hours or day or two, but remember that other people probably want to rent the movie, and they can’t until you bring it back.”
Since the program just started on the 1st, I can’t really say how well it’ll work, and we won’t really know for another month. There are always people who’ll try to scam BB and keep the movie/game until the very last second. But there are a lot of people who will bring a movie in within a week usually on Sundays.
If you want a good chance of finding a movie you want, look for it on Mon-Wends. Most returns come in on Sun and Mon.
Ha! No HTML here. :smack:
…I’m sorry, you’ll have to explain this to me… complain about WHAT?
Well, as the OP I never said it was crappy idea. I actually like the new policy and it probably would make me rent there again.
My point was that I thought the marketing for it was lame. Instead of promoting an “extended viewing time at no extra cost” which is much more important to me as a consumer, they promoted the whole “no more late fees” line which immediately makes the consumer want to know “okay, what’s the catch?”
To summarize my OP,
new renting policy by BB = good
marketing of new policy = sucks
“no more late fees”
“The end of late fees as we know it!”
Compare and contrast. What you’ve done is taken the new slogan, edited it in your head to be the way you wish it to be, then complain that it’s deceptive. “No more late fees, ever, until the end of time, and if you return a movie within 10 years of rental time, we’ll give you a fantastic blowjob.” Hrmph. The blowjob they gave me was only good, not fantastic. Damn Blockbuster! Those bastards!
The commercial confuses me. The slogan they show at the end is: “The end of late fees. The start of more.”
More what? The only possible meaning I see is “more late fees”. But that’s not what they mean. Confusing.
Last sunday, a friend and I were watching a little tube and we saw the commercial and he told me why he won’t deal with BB. One time he returned a rental a little late, so there was a $3.00 fee on his account. Typical operation for a normal rental place would be for him to pay it the next time that he came in or he could no longer rent. So anyway, he gets a letter a few days later. BB had decided to send a collection agency after him. For a $3.00 FUCKING late fee!! That’s right, a collection agency for a $3.00 late fee. He went in, paid the fine and then cut up his card right then and there in front of the manager. The manager explained that he could have waived the fee as a one time courtesy. My friend explained to him that he didn’t have a problem wiht the late fee and would have been happy to pay but it was the siccing of a collection agency for something so minor as a $3.00 fee was what got my friend’s gall.
I wonder how many people are going to dispute the charge(s) with their CC companies or banks? If enough people do it, this could end up eating into BB’s profits, no?
I seriously doubt he got the letter ‘a few days later’. All the stores I worked at had the same account management policies. Accounts with balances get a phonecall at like a week, two weeks, and then a month overdue. After 45 days they attempt to chargeoff to the cc if there is one on the account. After 60 days they are sent to collections. Any calls or letters before that time would probably have been generated from the store itself. Now, mind you, it’s been a few years since I worked there but I don’t know of any business that would send an account to collections ‘a few days later’.
But if it’s the fact that the account was sent to collections at all that bothers you, what do you expect them to do? Sit on their hands until their customers decide to pay? All businesses have a legal right to attempt to collect on debts owed. A late fee is not special in this regard.
I’ll be seeing him next sunday and I’ll see about getting further info from him. Knowing him as well as I do, I don’t think he would have gone over a couple of weeks let alone 60 days before taking care of it. Like I said, i’ll try to get more exact info from him.
I guess the thing that bothers me the most is that while yes, the store got $3.00 they lost out on all further future rentals from him. As well as from me. All they would have had to do was put a hold on the acount till he paid up and I know that he's pretty good about such things like that. IMHO I feel that for a late fee of $3.00 that was considerable overkill. The end result is that the store lost out a lot more than what it would have gained in this instance and the manager should have taken that into account. I just feel that it was overkill and not worth it.I’ve been a Netflix customer for awhile, but back in the day I never had a problem with people at BB. Once I turned something in on time, but got charged a late fee. I talked to the person at the counter and she reversed it. No big. The last time I rented from them, I really was late. I went on a business trip the day before it was due and my flight was delayed due to bad weather. I brought the video in the very next day and had every intention of paying the late fee. But when he found out why it was late, the guy at the counter didn’t make me pay it. I chose Netflix over BB because it’s a great value and much more convenient, but I’ve never had any problems with BB’s policies or services. I can see how the marketing might be seen as little deceptive, but technically, it’s true. No more late fees. And the television ads do state clearly that the customer should visit the store for details and restrictions. And as stated before, they do require their customers to sign a contract. If the customer isn’t reading and paying attention to what they sign, they have no one to blame but themselves.
Slightly off topic here. I’ve also thought that there should be an easy way to get a confirmation of movie check ins.
You people with Blockbusters are lucky though. The smallish town (pop. 9000) where I actually hang my coat only has one non-franchise movie rental place. I think one grocery store and a few convenience stores have a few movies too. Two years ago I rented a movie from the local store on Christmas Eve. It was clearly posted that they weren’t open on Christmas and all rentals were for two days. We dropped it off on the 26th. The next time I went to rent a movie, I had a $4.26 late fee. I tried to politely talk my way out of it, since we did turn the movie in on time. No dice. I talked to the owner. No dice. I refused to pay it. I now have a large movie collection and I get more pay per views. Fuck you, local video store!
I do have to laugh though. Two years ago, this guy had two video stores in town. They have merged it to one now. Apparently others have spoken with their wallets as well.