By now I'm sure everyone who watches more than half an hour of television a day has seen the Blockbuster ads touting their new "No Late Fees" policy and watched the crowd swoon. Wow, you may think, that is wicked awesome...
Think again.
At first I thought: so it's like Netflix (where there are no late fees)? You can just keep something out as long as you want?? Sadly, no. The policy actually is:
what does this mean? Basically, it means after 8 days, you've bought the item. If you return it between 8 and 30 days, you will be credited back for the purchase, less "restocking fees". How a restocking fee is different than a late fee is beyond me, except it probably is alot less than the previously completely unreasonable late fees charged by Blockbuster. And these terms can change at any time. Excellent.
This is all mildly annoying, but what has really got me up in arms is the little, tiny phrase at the end of the policy: "Participating stores only". Guess what.. after this huge advertising campaign, and many news stories about "No Late Fees", each store can chose to participate. So check before you rent at Blockbuster, because you could end up like someone I know who recently returned a dvd one day late and was told: you have a late fee on your account. We are not one of the participating Blockbuster stores.
Really... how stupid does Blockbuster think people are?-----
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Comments (7)
URL: http://www.pressuredrop.blogspot.com
Blockbuster just plain sucks. Their selection is awful and their employees are morons. Sure, they have 500 copies of "Troy" and "Dodgeball," but if you want something that's obscure, foreign, or came out prior to the 1980s, you're out of luck.
Netflix rules.
Posted by chris | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL: http://www.upforanything.net
Not only that, but this new policy means all participating stores are giving up their "guaranteed in stock" policy, too (some gave it up long ago). That means the movies you want may not be there anyway.
Posted by CJ | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL:
I agree with Chris re: the selection at Blockbuster..it does kinda suck.
Be careful if returning a rental after they have charged it to your account as a sale. Their policy states they will credit back to the membership account if the rental is returned.
Guess what? They have billed your CC for 35.00. You now will have a 35.00 "credit" on your membership account. Rent away, because you will not get your actual money back without a fight.
I know this because I purchased a "guaranteed" previously viewed DVD that was so scratched it wouldn't play. So, now I cannot get a refund from Blockbuster. I guess they would rather lose me as a customer forever and keep my little 7 bucks.
Posted by Brett | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL: http://www.whatthehellhappenedlastnight.com/blog/
~Blockbuster has obviously felt the bite of Netflix and others who have made renting movies and such simple, w/out the hassle of wicked high late fees...competition is good, but not a good attempt at biting back IMHO by Blockbuster...I got my 'rents a year's subsciption to Netflix for Xmas, and when they opened the gift certificate my mother said "damn good thing, NO MORE LATE FEES at Blockbuster!"~
Posted by btezra | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL:
You all suck, no late fees means just that, of course if your dumb ass keeps it over a week they charge a restocking fee. What do you think you can keep it forever and not pay for it. You stupid morons. Watch it and bring it back. Dont keep it for a week because you can. All you hater out there dissing blockbuster can suck balls. They make billions a year for some reason. Fucking idiots
Posted by kepp | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL:
What the hell do you all mean the selection sucks. Where else can you rent that has this many different movies. I hope you dont go to bitch ass hollywood because they really suck. Fuck net flicks too. Why do I want to have some friends over on a friday hoping to see a movie, and it doesnt show up untill monday because they slacked off and didnt send it or the mail was slow. Thats fucking stupid.
Posted by kepp | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06
URL: http://weblogs.livingreflections.com
thank you for those lovely thoughts from what I can only assume is a Blockbuster employee. I'm glad they hire such thoughtful and well spoken employees, who can spell and punctuate so well.
Seriously, you're selection does suck unless one is looking for a recent movie and no one cared about your late fee policy until you started (deceptively) saying there weren't any more late fees, when quite clearly, there are.
Posted by amy | October 26, 2006 8:06 PM
Posted on October 26, 2006 20:06