Hello, Your Friendly Neighborhood Video Store here. How can I help you?
Um, there’s a $60 charge on my credit card from your store, and I’m sure I never signed a charge for that amount.
<looks up account> Right, that was for two DVDs you rented in December and never returned. We charged the credit card you have on account with us after 90 days.
That’s outrageous. $60 for two videos? And you don’t send out a notice first or anything?
Well, we called you four times the first month to remind you. Our policy is to charge you for replacement copies after 30 days; these went 90. And if we notify you that we’re about to charge your card, sometimes people change their credit card numbers.
But I never agreed to that!
Yes you did. Why do you think we put your credit card on file? It’s a deposit, like when you rent a car or anything. And every time you sign a receipt at the rental counter, you’re signing a legal document that says you agree to pay any outstanding account balance with your credit card on file. It says that at the bottom of every receipt you sign, and we keep them all on file.
But $30 dollars for a DVD?
We reduce the cost, for replacement, to $15, even though those were both new releases that retail for $29.99. And we reduce the late fees to $15, instead of charging you for 90 days of late fees.
Why didn’t you call us?
*We did, we called you four times in December, I have the logs right here. I called you twice myself. *
Why didn’t you call us after that?
Ma’am, in the first place, the phone calls are a courtesy, to remind you if you’ve forgotten you had the discs. We reminded you four times. Even if we hadn’t called you to remind you, it’s not actually our responsibility to remind you to return the discs you rented.
I could’ve bought them for that amount!
Well, you should’ve. It would’ve cost you the same amount of money, and we wouldn’t need to have this phone conversation.
That’s it, I’m going to Blockbuster from now on.
Stop in, I’ll give you a map.