Hey, it’s time for me, the official SDMB video martyr. I worked as a video clerk for a store suspiciously like Blockbuster for a bit.
There are good reasons to check IDs and verify information. It isn’t always done, but if you look shifty eyed or otherwise look like you are not trustworthy, they will ask for ID. You really arn’t allowed to rent unless your name is specifically on the account. Chances are your name is not, but clerks have been letting it slip by. You’ll have to have your mom come in and put your name specifically on the account.
The alternative is having accounts that anyone can rent on your account if they can guess your name. BBV employess really, really, really don’t like having to deal with customers that are upset because someone stole a couple hundred dollars worth of videos using their account. The best way to keep (justifiably) irate customers from bugging us is to prevent this kind of fraud in the first place. Thus if you walk in looking shifty eyed and saying stock phrases like “I’m her son!” and “I’ve always rented on this acount”, the employee is probably not going to believe you. We’ve seen too many ex-husbands, teenage daughters, and random people off the street come in an screw up other people’s accounts.
I don’t know about this whole calling-the-house thing. It seems a little intrusive, but then again, they wouldn’t do it if people didn’t lie all the time about their numbers. BBV needs some reasonable grasp on your identy because they are loaning you their property- property which is worth a lot of money (new releases often cost hundreds of dollars because BBV has to buy them before their release date at inflated prices.) Yeah, it sucks, but it does make sense.
And, um, you probably made the clerk happy when you said you were taking your business elsewhere. Most BBV robots would love to see the place burn in flames. Every time someone said that to me I smiled and said they would probably be better off if they did.
Lets see if I can clear a couple things up…
Tax on late movies: When you bring a movie in late, BBV doesn’t really give you a fee as much as they rent it to you again. They just assume you meant to renew your rental of it- and you can keep it for the full rental period without getting charged again. The disadvantage to that is that they charge you like a regular rental.
Automatic Charging: BBV makes every attempt possible to notify people of late fees and collect them without resorting to chargeing. But people lie about their addresses and phone numbers (hence the verification thing)… People move, and then don’t tell Blockbuster. After a while, they get sick of sending letters out into the void, and just charge you for it. I’m afraid this was your fault for not supplying current information.
I’m not saying BBV is good or perfect or even decent, but they arn’t run by grinning devils out to make your life miserable, either.
