Okay, after reading this entire thread I just have to throw my 2-cents in.
1) Extended Viewing Fees - They are not an abitrary number, it is the same price that you paid to rent the movie per cycle (cycle is defined as whatever the viewing period was for that movie at the time it was rented). People should read the membership forms that they sign, its there in blue and white. If you dont agree with the terms, DON'T SIGN IT.
2) 12-Noon due times - If you dont like it, return it the night before. That would keep your movie on time, and you would be following the OLD policy of all rentals due by midnight the next day.
3) Not all blockbusters are corporate owned stores, many are franchise stores. Franchise stores do not have to follow all the policies of the corporate owned stores. Corporate stores are held to a much different standard then franchise stores. I actually had the opportunity to see a franchise store as all the stores in my area are corporate. It was like a night and day difference, the corporate stores I see and use are far cleaner, and more organized, and more stocked with product then the franchise store i saw.
4) Yes, Blockbuster exists to make money. There isn't a cross on the top of their buildings. Thats a fact. But they dont purposely go and select specific movies from specific people and just not check them in.
5) I can't begin to tell you how many incidents I've been witness too, where a blockbuster employee, whether it be a customer service rep, a shift manager, assistant store manager, or even the store manager have been verbally abused over a balance of $4 before they could even get a word in. If people would calmly talked to them maybe just maybe they would be much nicer when dealing with you. Trust me they can remember both the civil and nice customers, as well as the raving lunatics.
6) As a previous post stated, the corporate stores have specific policies with checking in rentals. All rentals returned in a drop off box, or the slots inside the store must be checked in at 10:00 am, 11:00am,
12:00pm (noon), and last off at 1:00pm. this is to ensure any movie returned via this method is checked in on time. So as that previous post stated about someone saying I think it was a few minutes after noon, and it showing it was checked in at 5:00pm (when the next pick up is set to commence) you know they are doing 1 of 2 things, bad memory because they could have been distracted when returning or they know they are lying on purpose. So it is up to who ever the unfortunate soul is who has to deal with that person who was actually late and can't even fathem that they were wrong.
7) Now granted when people are involved there is always the possibility of mistakes. People get distracted, people also can mis-scan as they are scanning a stack of movies accidently skipping 1 or 2. I can't honestly say that any of them want to deal with a screaming, ranting and raving person over a balance. Its not like the employee's want to give blockbuster more money, when they aren't getting bigger raises and compensation for it. Remeber those boxes hold alot more then 20 movies. Now, corporate knows that people make mistakes, so they give their stores a tool to help them locate any rentals that slip past them indicating someone made a mistake. They print up a report once a week for that tells them all the movies that are outstanding past a certain # of days, so they go and check their shelves for those rentals. When they find them if they were actually returned, they check it in and take off the balance, granted there are some instances where a letter or a phone call was already made but that is usually just a time descrepency.
8) Those little white postcards aren't meant to be threatening, but are meant to be a reminder of what is still out on your account or owed balance. Would you rather after 2 months of that balance sitting there you get sent to a collection agency over $2, $4, balances? Hell, I dont like the idea of a collection agency but after a couple of months what do people expect?
9) As for pricing, games aren't cheap and on average are 3x more expensive then dvd's, and are also more likely to not be returned, and even more likely to get scratched severely or lost and destroyed. Who are the primary renters of games? KIDS, how responsible are kids, and i say that in general cause there are some really responsible ones, and some that are just down right irresponsible and dont care about anyone but themselves. Plus, Dvd's themselves arent cheap either when after 2 rents a disc has to be replaced they haven't even made anything off of that disc. So keep in mind pricing is set because of a number of factors.
I'm sorry for ranting on and on, but too many people just want to see 1 side of the situations. Try to be civil to Blockbuster employee's i garuntee you they will make it right if you've been wronged and IF there is a situation where you feel you were wronged, and someone at the store level couldn't help you or refused to help you. There is a District Managers # posted in every blockbuster, just look for it, drop him or her a line, explaining who you are and your situation. I garuntee you he/she will take your problem serious and rectify the situation to your satisfaction thats part of the reason they have their jobs. Its usually posted on the same display that says how "each and everyone one of us is empowered, and expected to take care of you".
Phoenix
P.S. Blockbuster has been looking into removing Extended Viewing Fee's entirely, but that wont happen for a while, they are doing it in test markets to see what customers prefer. We shall see what comes of it.