My son ran up “extended viewing” fees to the point I had to just quit going to our local rental. Much like blockbuster they change their late fee prices whenever and to whatever they decided. Their new policy is now double the cost of the rential if over one day late. I decided to get my movies from dish PPV from now on.
Two hundred and nine dollars.
Our second oldest son rented a video game and leant it to a friend who apparently never took it back. He said he did but the video store had no record. We argued about it and thought we had it worked out but a year later we got a notice from a collection agency for the now-defunct video store. All this took several years to sort itself out. The bottom line was they had a record of our rental but no record of its return.
I haven’t been to Hollywood Video in two years because I owe them $40 in late fees. It’s been about four years and $35 for Blockbuster.
I love [url=http://www.netflix.com"]Netflix**. One monthly fee, no late charges, huge selection.
Blockbuster is EVIL… Evil, I tell you.
I rented a movie. Yes, I am slack, and I returned it late. They charged me the late fee ($3.50 a day times 10 days) PLUS the COST OF THE MOVIE, which they had listed at $200.
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS??!?
Now, I realize that new run movies are expensive to purchase at first. That’s why they go to rental before retail sale. But, $200 is a little much for a crap movie. (I am extremely embarrassed to say that the movie in question was ‘Final Destination’, which I only saw about 2 minutes of…)
They said they charged me the $200 to cover the cost of the movie because they said they had tried to contact me to get me to return it. They thought I was going to keep the movie, and so it went through on my credit card. I never received the FIRST phone call about it being late. My roommate (who is an evil little butt-gremlin) swore he never received any calls from Blockbuster. (methinks he lies) It took me almost 2 months to get them to reverse the credit on my card, and numerous phone calls to the local head office, the home office, and the actual store where it was rented.
I now rent movies from the local mom and pop store. Their late fees are $1 a day, and they didn’t ask me for a credit card to get a membership.
Actual Late Fee: $115
Actual Amount Paid: $15.25
That’s right, tell me how well I can negotiate.
And I thought my $30 was bad. I wasn’t going to pay it, but I was avoiding every other local place because of late fees, so I had to cough it up.
Totoro, I’m calling you the next time I rack up a large late fee!
You know what’s odd? I kept a PS2 game for a full month, on purpose because it would be cheaper to pay the late fees than buy the game. So, I go to return it, and rent a new video.
“That’ll be 5.48” the Cheerful Assitant Manager tells me.
“Uh huh, do I have any late fees?”
“No.” Is the response.
So, at this point do I push it (how could I NOT Have late fees?) or should I let it go (hey, I don’t want to pay 30+).
“Ok,” I reply, as I hand her a ten.
I go home and I look at my Online banking report. No, no mention of a withdrawl to Hollywood Video. Odd.
I give it a week and check it again. Still, no withdrawl. It’s been over a month now, and nothing.
This wouldn’t be so odd if it was the first time. But this is the second time that they let my substantial late fees slide.
Late fees are the reason I almost always buy my movies on PPV on DirecTV. The last time I returned movies late to Blockbuster (1 day), they charged me more in late fees than it cost to rent the movies. I might add that all 3 of the movies I’d rented were 5-day rentals, no new releases. So, it cost me less to have them for 5 days than it did to have them for an additional 24 hours.
To make matters worse (and the reason I will never patronize Blockbuster again), they referred my late fees to a collection agency. $13 measly dollars, and they couldn’t freakin’ wait until the next time I came to the store to rent something else. They sent me a few letters saying I owed the fees, which I admit that I ignored for the reason above. Not long after, I got a letter from a collection agency. I mailed BB their $13 and swore off of them for life. Idiots.
Pah.
$369.00.
What can I say? I was young and foolish.
:eek:
My best friend has a $54 late fee at Showtime (the video rental store). So instead if paying it up, he uses his girlfriends card, I dont know who is the bigger dumbass, him for keeping a movie for 2 months, or her for leting him have her card (he has caused several late fees)
All I have ever had to pay was 5 bucks.
I have an outstanding fee of $64 that I refuse to pay. Never ever let your friend borrow a rented movie with the promise that he’ll take it back.
I periodically pick up small bills but a friend of mine in Toowoomba wins the prize. She ran up a $380 late fee - she just forgot. Then she decided to just change stores.
And did it again - only $50 this time.
So she changed stores.
At last count she was unable to use 16 different video stores in the city…