The other day I went to blockbuster to rent a movie.
The clerk informed me that I owed money for failing to return my last movie on time. This is not an unusual situation for me, I often return movies a day or two late and pay the fee. However, this time I had forgotten entirely for nearly a week. It seems that after a certain amount of time passes blockbuster sends a letter with the amount due to the address that they have on file from when a member gets a blockbuster card. My address was no longer current, so the mail was returned.
This was flagged on my account. So the blockbuster counter person asks for a correct address. Certainly understandable. I fill him in on the new address and he updates my account. Then they ask for a phone number. I say “no thanks”. I wish not to leave one with them. I pay for the fees and my new movie and head on out.
Next time I am in the store, the manager is the one working the register. This time again he see’s that my phone number is missing from my account. He insists that I give it. I say “no thanks, I would rather not give my phone number”. He says that I must. I ask “if I don’t give a phone number, then I cannot rent this movie?” He hesitates, bewildered. I sigh. And proceed to give a fake number. (at this point, my sense of spite alone forbids me to give the real one) But, I want the line to continue moving and don’t want to cause any trouble.
These days more and more stores ask for a zip code and/or phone number at the register. I am always in the habit of saying “no thanks” to when they ask for a phone number. I feel that I shouldn’t have to give it to buy something in a store. Blockbuster is a little different because technically you are a member, so they can deny membership if you refuse to give certain information.
So, Dopers: What say you all? Am I paranoid freak for not wanting every store I shop at to have my home number on file? Specifically, does blockbuster have the right to not allow me to rent movies if I refuse to give a new phone number. What if I didn’t have a phone?
Give them your cellphone number (if you have one); in the US, it’s illegal for telemarketers to call them, which makes it worthless to Blockbuster, since they can’t sell it.
Um, don’t you give them your address AND your credit care number?
So why do you object to your phone number? I mean, the only thing I could think they would use it for is to call and remind you if your videos are late.
That’s just silly. IIRC, you have to give them a credit card number to get an account, so what do they need a phone number for? Sure, it would be nice for them to have in case they wanted to call you to remind you to return your movies, but they never do that anyway, they just mail the notice. I also prefer not to give out my phone number, since in my experience, when businesses have your phone number, you tend to get marketing calls, which I really prefer not to get. Dunno about the legality of their demanding your phone number, but I would guess they do have the right to ask for it, since it’s a membership thing.
I find that phone number obsession an invasion of privacy, and quite frankly, it is. I used to say the exact same thing…No thanks or I’d prefer not to. But I find that “no, its unlisted” puts a quick stop to the debate. By the way, did they charge you sales tax on your late fee?
Funny story…Hollywood video and Blockbuster both neglected to get my credit card number when I set up the accounts. Now, every once in a while they’ll say “OH, you don’t have a credit card on this account. Do you have it with you so we can scan it in?”.
My normal response? I don’t carry it with me, I’m sorry. They tell me to bring it in the next time, but don’t ask for it again. So neither has it on file.
My local shop uses the phone number as the membership number, I guess they have a cc on file, but I don’t recall. No membership card. I could get a new number when I move in 45 days, but I won’t tell THEM!
Do what I do, just give them (555) 555-5555. Some clerks just stare at me in disbeleif others just giggle but no one has actually refused my service for it.
BTW, why does RadioShack need youur number, huh? I can see with a place that rents you stuff but RadioShack?
Blockbuster in Australia ask for your phone number and address. No credit card, but they want verification of your address from a driver’s license. If you have an overdue video/DVD they will ring and remind you.
One particular store even wanted my mobile number. Then they rang it, to make sure it was a real number!
I used to work at Blockbuster, and I’m not sure if they sell the numbers, but we did use them a lot to call people when they had videos several days late. You wouldn’t believe how many people would come in to discover they had videos out and two weeks late and yell at us for not babysitting them and making sure they returned their rentals on time.
IANAL, but I’d think since Blockbuster is loaning you their property, they’re allowed to require you to give them enough information so that they can track you down if you run off with their stuff-- I look at it as the same concept as credit, but they’re lending you videos instead of money.
All I can say is that one time we put the wrong DVD back in the case. My dad had given them our second line, which has nothing but computers hooked up to it. It took us until we went back there a week later to find that we had done this.
That’s why the library asks for phone numbers, too; so that we can call you if something’s wrong. After that, we switched the number back to our “real” phone number, and we’ve never gotten a call from them, or anyone they would conceivably give the number to.
I’m with you, Debaser. I protect my phone number much more carefully than my address or credit card number.
In my case, it stems from when my (now) husband would get PhoneCallsFromHell[sup]tm[/sup] from his ex. Ever since then, I will not give our home phone number to anyone that isn’t friend or family. I also don’t get a single annoying telemarketer.
If Blockbuster wants to sell my address, let 'em. If someone illegally charges on my credit card, my liability is limited. But if your home phone gets on The List, you will never have peace again.
Anyone who needs to get in touch with me has my cell #. I have exactly two reasons for keeping a home phone #, one of which is DSL and the other is to give to people I don’t want to talk to (Blockbuster being a prime example). I don’t ever answer my home phone.
It really has nothing to do with the law or them lending you anything, it’s a policy and they can make it how they like.
You could open up a soda stand and require that people give you a phone number before you sold them a drink. It’s then up to the consumer if they choose to comply; they have the option to walk away and just not do business there – just like Blockbuster.
As a former employee of, ummm, a place just like Blockbuster, I’ve got to second cercaria.
Blockbuster doesn’t collect your information so that they can sell it to the secret police. They collect your information because they are entrusting you with their property and they need to be able to contact you if something goes wrong.
Stuff goes wrong all the time. People return videos to the wrong store. People return videos with the wrong videos in the cases. People don’t return videos at all. A lot of these are innocent mistakes- but they are still the responsibility of the renter. If we can’t call you, we can’t alert you to these problems so that they can be fixed. Instead, the fees just keep piling up until you happen to come in and notice. And then, most likely, you are going to get in a heated argument with the clerk about why you don’t want to pay that seventy five dollar fee.
And we really, really, really don’t like getting in those arguments. They funny thing is, at some point in the dispute your going to say “why didn’t you contact me about this!”. We like to have this base covered. All we can do is point to the fact that you lied to us or failed to keep us informed and therefor there is nothing we can do.
When you rent from a video store, you are taking some of their property home with you and promising that you will bring it back. This property is worth money- new release videos often cost hundreds of dollars, because video stores pay more to have copies before the general release date. Would you loan something worth hundreds of dollars to somebody who refuses to give you their address? Of course not. You need some way to get ahold of them, and yes, bill them if they never give you your stuff back. Renting videos is not a right. Video stores are not out to get you. But they are out to get their stuff back.
They always phone and remind me when I have a movie out late. At $5 a day, I like the reminder.
I do agree with even sven, and the other posters who expressed similar thoughts. The video rental company owns the movies. I wouldn’t lend out my stuff to someone who refused to give me correct contact info.
I really don’t care who has my phone number. Obviously. I mean, I’m listed in the phone book, which is commonly available city-wide. I have call display. I have voice mail. The evil Blockbuster has my phone number? Yay.
The number is there to contact you for just the same incident that might happen as had. Their tapes are commodities and you only rent them so they have the right to have your phone number. If listed, they can get it from the phone book, and, if you move, directory assistance will give them your new address.
In my business, if I ask for a phone number, you had better give it or take your business elsewhere. I will not play these cute little games with customers because I need their number for a reason, usually to track them down if they ‘forget’ to return something. You would be astonished to know how many calls I have to make a week to get things back and how many times I have gone out with the cops to convince ‘customers’ that my goods need returning and they now owe me a bundle. I am a familiar figure in small claims court and I will go the extra mile to put liens on their property if they still refuse to pay. I have filed for stolen goods also.
Don’t want to give out your number?
Fine.
Then go elsewhere for your entertainment.
If you order something like DirecTV, Dish or Sprint service, it’s because they need to send your information on to those companies for billing. If you’re just buying batteries, they don’t have to have it, and they can bypass that screen (no matter what the sales clerk tells you). But if you’re paying by check or credit card, it’s a moot point to argue about it.
To my knowledge, Radio Shack does not sell their customer database, which is very, very large.
At my Little Job, our customer database uses a phone number as a membership number…easy for the customer to remember, no need to carry a membership card, and we don’t sell or use those phone numbers. I can by-pass entering the phone number when I make a sale, but I must “capture” a certain percentage of numbers per day or I will get written up. It’s one of the goals I have to attain each week in order to retain my job.
At Big Job, we need your phone number for our required database also, but since we provide a custom service, it is not unusual for us to need to call you to clarify an item on your order, or to remind you that you haven’t picked up the order you placed two months ago, even though you promised, even insisted that you would be back in an hour because you needed this item today.
So if you don’t want to give out a home phone number, give your work phone. Every time I call Airborne for a pick-up, the very first thing they ask for is a phone number. If you don’t want to get telemarketing calls, never fill out a contest form to win a barbeue grill or a car or a gift basket…those are the people selling your number. Not me. I’m just trying to keep my job.