*UPDATED x2* Potentially hot, potentially cold. Blockbuster to drastically change rental rates.

[wampa]

Originally posted by: Axon

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: Axon

Originally posted by: Krutoy
I've been avoiding Blockbuster lately. I had a one day late fee, which I never paid and they charged a credit card which I used to rent it about $5. While $5 is pretty meaningless and not worth my time going to argue with the manager, I'm still upset over the fact they charged my CC without my authorization. I been buying most of the new releases on dvd's and the ones I didn't buy, I can always get ppv on DirecTv. For all I care Blockbuster can go down, it's one company that's not going to survive all the new technology, and in my opinion will be going out in the upcoming years.

I agree. They've done the same to me and I called up and told them to dump my info. I doubt that they did, and I always pay cash there now. Still, the fact that they just went ahead and charged my card WITHOUT my authorization is scary. The manager tried to justify it by saying they were making it more "convient" for me, but that's a total load.

I mean some worker could get bent out of shape and just start going nuts with my money...

Jesus christ, do people actually read what they sign? Link

BLOCKBUSTER Membership
Applicant acknowledges that he/she has received and read a copy of these Terms and Conditions for BLOCKBUSTER Membership and agrees that the membership card(s) issued by Blockbuster Inc. ("Blockbuster") will be used only as provided in such Terms and Conditions. Blockbuster reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to amend the Terms and Conditions of Membership. APPLICANT ACKNOWLEDGES AND ACCEPTS FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND GUARANTEES PAYMENT FOR ALL ITEMS RENTED THROUGH THE USE OF THE MEMBERSHIP CARD, WHETHER OR NOT SUCH USE IS AUTHORIZED BY APPLICANT. (Guarantee not applicable in California.) Applicant agrees that Blockbuster and its franchisees may pursue all avenues of collection, including use of collection agencies, and authorizes Blockbuster and its franchisees to prepare and submit credit card charge using any of the charge cards listed above to recover all charges and all other unpaid amounts due to (a) Applicant's failure to timely return all items rented through the membership, (b) damages to returned items (not to exceed the retail price of the item), and (c) other unpaid charges and reasonable legal fees resulting from the failure to return rented items.

1. Member must notify their BLOCKBUSTER store(s) immediately by telephone and in writing if their membership card(s) is lost or stolen. Member is responsible for all use of the card prior to receipt by Blockbuster of written notice of the loss or theft.

2. Failure to notify the issuing store of the loss or theft of your membership card(s) may result in the posting of significant charges to the credit card account which you identify on the application.

3. Any rented item not returned to the proper BLOCKBUSTER store within 10 days after rental may, at the option of Blockbuster, be converted from a rental to a sale. Member is responsible for the full retail price of the unreturned item plus all rental and extended viewing fees and other related charges arising from the rental prior to the conversion to a sale.

4.Blockbuster, its affiliates and franchisees (if permitted by Blockbuster) may share and use personally identifiable information collected from you during registration and membership sign up, or generated by use of the membership to develop and improve the products, benefits and services they or selected business partners offer to Members. Blockbuster, its affiliates and franchisees (if permitted by Blockbuster) also may share and use certain Member data in the ordinary course of their business, for example, for account maintenance and debt collection. Except as provided for in the Promotional Elections options, or as described in the blockbuster.com Privacy Policy (a) Blockbuster, its affiliates and franchisees (if permitted by Blockbuster) may direct offers, information and other communications to you by email or otherwise and (b) authorized business partners of Blockbuster, its affiliates and franchisees (if permitted by Blockbuster) may direct offers of goods and services to you by means other than email.

5. Member acknowledges that in corporate Blockbuster stores, rentals must be returned by noon the day they are due to avoid extended viewing fees, which shall be assessed on a per rental period basis. Rental periods and extended viewing fee terms may differ for rentals from franchise BLOCKBUSTER stores. Please confirm the terms when you pick up your order at your BLOCKBUSTER store. Member may ask store personnel for further explanation.

6. Member is responsible for returning rental items to the specific BLOCKBUSTER store where they were rented.

7. BLOCKBUSTER Membership is not transferable. You must be 18 years of age for BLOCKBUSTER Membership.

While I appreciate the condescension, I have had my account for well over 7 years. Previously Blockbuster would simply wait until your next rental to charge you, and then suddenly they changed their policy and will now charge any card of yours that they have on account.

So thanks, but I read what I sign, and I didn't sign that. Now that I am aware of this policy (Blockbuster does not update you, so I found out the hard way) I have stopped renting there, or I rent with cash if needs be.

Furthermore, I'm sure I could find a federal contract statute that doesn't particuarly agree with Blockbuster's manner of implementing terms and conditions.

Yeah I remember when they would charge you for your late fee when you tried to rent another video. But now they would send you mail reminding you to pay off your debt before a certain date. Hollywood Video is better since they have 5 day rentals and some if you return early enough you get a dollar credit.

 

[Axon]

That's true, they do send a number of notices in the mail before they go and take their 5 bucks.

 

[Parrotheader]

I guess I'm one of the few here who wasn't floored by Netflix. I tried it free for a month and eventually cancelled. Yes, their selection is amazing and the way it flows smoothly in regards to shipping times, etc. is also impressive. But for me, having to wait even a day or two on a movie is kind of irritating. Movies are entertainment and unless the entertainment is a major event like a sporting event, concert or something else big that I plan for days (or weeks in advance) my wife I generally like to choose most of our entertainment options (like movie rentals) on a spur of the moment basis. I like the freedom of being able to go into a video store and browse and pick a movie I'm in the mood for right at that moment. We get the same thing from browsing through 8 chanels of Starz trying to figure out which movie we might be in the mood for. Instant gratification basically. I can understand why others love it so much though. On a pure movies-per-dollar basis it's pretty much an unbeatable deal.

And I agree that Blockbuster's prices and policies suck. However, I personally find Hollywood Video to be a great alternative. I can't figure out why they haven't caught on more here (other than the fact that Movie Gallery is based out of this state.) The Hollywood Video I pass every day on my commute has a fantastic selection of new and old movies (never encountered a problem with running out of a new release.) And the fact that every video is a 5 night rental (plus you can get a $1/credit on your next if you return new releases the next day) is pretty nice. One other benefit B&M video rental stores offer is that you can often get previously viewed copies for $8-$10/DVD depending upon the deal (of course if you're just copying DVDs I guess that's not a selling point.)

 

[Battleangel3222]

hollywood video has been owning blockbuster where I am
1. its closer
2. 5 days for 3.50 while 2.50 for 2 days? uhhh no thx
3. all the other prices on everything else their

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Axon
While I appreciate the condescension, I have had my account for well over 7 years. Previously Blockbuster would simply wait until your next rental to charge you, and then suddenly they changed their policy and will now charge any card of yours that they have on account.

So thanks, but I read what I sign, and I didn't sign that. Now that I am aware of this policy (Blockbuster does not update you, so I found out the hard way) I have stopped renting there, or I rent with cash if needs be.

Furthermore, I'm sure I could find a federal contract statute that doesn't particuarly agree with Blockbuster's manner of implementing terms and conditions.

Well, if Blockbuster changed your membership terms and conditions without notifying you, that's a different story. In fact, it's probably one of the reasons for the class action lawsuit against them regarding late fees.

I apologize for the condescension. For every person that DOES read what they sign, there are probably nine who don't. My post was more out of frustration with those nine people.

 

[Fant]

I think you guys forget, when its Friday night or Saturday night, in many areas Blockbuster is the only video store in town. And if you need a movie that nite you have no choice but to spend $5. I myself would always pick Hollywood video or a local store if one exists but often one does not and I have been forced to rent from Blockbuster. When watching with 2 or more people and only renting movies maybe once every month or once every 2 months the price between $3 and $5 doesnt make much of a difference to me. What does bother me is knowing that for an extra $5-$7 i could prob just buy that movie on dvd.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Snowlock

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
they feeling the pain of netflix netflix 0wnz all!

but really, is blockbuster going to stop carrying pan and scam, and stop limiting their selection to R only? all those unrated directors cuts etc are not carried by them....

It is because Blockbuster is run by a religious consortium. Really. Yet one more reason not to shop there. So there is no porn and they don't carry unrated movies and there is even rumors that they edit some of the movies they do carry.

i've heard they are mormon owned. the fundie kind...

 

[DarkNephree]

Who needs BlockBuster when you a DVD Burner w/ unlimitied media (always on sale), NetFlix, and P2P networks. BlockBuster, "peace"

 

[handydave]

Originally posted by: kitkit201
i was a former blockbuster employeee, i hated dealing with late fees, and I was on the other side of it.. do yourself a favor and get netflix.. 14.99 for 2 unlimted rentals a month is a damn good deal.. beats going to bb with the long lines on weekends and driving!

Unless they changed something, this is there two movie plan:

Economy - 2 movies out at a time (limit: 4 rentals per month) for $13.95.

One time this was an unlimited rental per month and still is if you were luckey enough to get in before they changed the plan.

 

[starknaked]

Netflix (and others like them) have various rental plans depending on how many movies you are likely to see in a month.

I was on the 5 movies out at a time plan for a while, $30 a month, but you can see a hell of a lot of movies a month that way. I was watching probably 20 per month, so it came out to $1.50 per movie. Plus, no driving back and forth to the video store, no late fees, and the massive selection that netflix has.

The one thing you can't do with Netflix is decide on the spur of the moment, "I want to see Terminator 2", you have to plan ahead. I didn't see this as a big deal, as I had movies I wanted to see coming in all the time. But if I really did have a sudden urge to see a movie, I still could have headed over to a local video store and picked it up.

And now that I'm used to watching wide screen movies, which is what you get at netflix, I can't stand pan and scan anymore. I'm constantly aware that I'm missing a lot of the movie.

 

[Steelwells]

It's odd to see so many people berate this company over and over for things that are both founded and unfounded.

But I've got to weigh in since I managed four different stores in the Milwaukee, WI, area for about four years (I moved on to a non-retail job about three years ago).

On the membership agreements: Blockbuster has required a credit card or two utility bills to sign up pretty much since inception, and assuredly since 1996 when I started. As was printed previous in the post, the agreement stipulates that if you put a credit card on file, they can and will use it if you have delingquent fees (or simply fail to ever return items). This is not something new, and if you don't want to run the risk of having the card charged, don't use one. It's why they will not accept debit cards for new members - they could not charge them in the same way that they can charge a credit card - it is against the law. However, there is no federal regulations that prohibit this sort of rental agreement (take a look at your next car or U-Haul rental - it's in there). Blockbuster will not charge off an amount until it reaches more than 30 days old, and in that time you are guaranteed to get more than 1 reminder that you owe. If you choose to ignore that, I've got no love for you. If it wasn't a legit fee, take the card in and talk to them about it - don't let it go 30 days.

On late fees: First of all - it's never a "late fee" - it's an "extended viewing fee" and believe it or not, there is no magical button that gets pressed when you step up to the counter that charges you. 95% of all fees are legitimate - a customer brings the movie/game back late and is assessed the fee. The remaining 5% is from careless store employees (of which I did employ more than a few in my time there). People complained about the midnight return time: "How can you expect me to get in the car at midnight in my pajamas and bring in a damn movie?" So Blockbuster complied, giving you until the NEXT day at noon. That is, rent today, not due tomorrow at noon, due the following day by noon. So you can bring it back the next day by midnight, or, if you need the time, before noon on the THIRD day. Blockbuster also prints the due dates of each movie on the receipt itself, under the title, and provides a chart for returning the films on the case itself ("If you rented Monday and its a '2-Day Rental', its due Wednesday by noon" and so on). I refuse to have pity for people that cannot get it right - brining movies back at 1:30pm in the afternoon and saying it was in on time. Sorry - on time was 12 noon. I emptied the drop box at 12:30pm - giving EVERYONE a half hour grace period. No extended viewing fees for those people. Another thing: unless the software has changed dramatically, the computer will not even charge a fee (that means that if the tape is scanned in, it will be on time) until 2pm for rentals due that day. They had to build this in, because on days where it is extremely busy at the noon hour, you had to have time to pull out all the tapes, check the boxes, straighten inserts, rewind those that needed it, and scan them in. So at 12:01pm or 1:59pm, your tape can be scanned in and it won't be late. We were told not to abuse that - and we didn't. If someone brought me a tape at 1:15pm and said that they were sorry it was late, I'd scan it in no problem. But if they dropped it in the drop box, BAM. Fee. It would not be scanned in until after 2pm when fees start being charged. There has to be a deadline, and it would be IMPOSSIBLE to enforce a 24-hour return policy, since on some nights, even with 6 people working, we couldn't get to the drop box every hour. Now, I can't say that where you are renting and receiving fees it's the same, but I treated late fees ethically and helped out people when I could. There certainly are lazy employees out there, and that can do it. Want to be safe? Take the rentals inside, ask for them to be checked in in front of you, and pull up your account right away so you can see the $0.00 show up on the register. A little bit of extra work, but an ounce of prevention, as the saying goes...

On rental fees: I went round and round on this and I am still not sure what's in the best interest of the customer. Used to be $2.99 and $2 a day late. So someone gets a 5-Day rental, keeps it for six days, and pays an extra $2. The next guy keeps it for 10 days, and pays a huge amount, cussing and swearing that he could have just re-rented the damn thing for $2.99 and had it for a second week. So Blockbuster changes the policy to make it the cost of essentially re-renting the item (ie, extended viewing). Now people balk at that because if they are just hours late, its paying for a whole rental period. What the heck do you want? Of course, no one's happy with everything, but they have changed it to try and give customers what they want... but it can't satisfy everyone.

On lawsuits: Blockbuster has settled on some things, but I don't believe they have ever lost, including going up against an antitrust lawsuit and its appeals. The ones for "late fees" get thrown out because it was determined that it is not a penalty for being late, its the customer's choice to keep it for "extended viewing". Once again, don't be drawn in to a lot of hype.



This company paid me pretty well, but lacked discipline in upper management. I stand to lose a good deal of money from 401k and stock options that I got as a manager when I worked there if they go under, but I was not part of anything unethical or immoral when I worked for them. If you don't want to rent there, don't. But don't get on your soapbox when you don't possess all the facts... that's what kills me about much of the stuff posted here. I don't rent as often as I did (got 5 free rentals a week when I worked for them) but the Rewards program is something that has a tremendous amount of customer value. The Game Passes and extra programs they roll out every year are always about getting people to keep coming in. So find one where the employees treat you right, and I think anyone should be okay if they follow the rules renting from Blockbuster. I'm interested to see what the new fee scheme is all about myself...

 

[MrCodeDude]

California Video > *. Every Tuesday and Wednesday, Rent 1, Get one Free. Only new releases are one day, everything else is 2 - 5 day depending on how old it is.

Hollywood Video wants freaking $6 for a 5 day video-game rental. No thx.

 

[bznotins]

Originally posted by: Steelwells
If you don't want to rent there, don't. But don't get on your soapbox when you don't possess all the facts... that's what kills me about much of the stuff posted here. I don't rent as often as I did (got 5 free rentals a week when I worked for them) but the Rewards program is something that has a tremendous amount of customer value. The Game Passes and extra programs they roll out every year are always about getting people to keep coming in. So find one where the employees treat you right, and I think anyone should be okay if they follow the rules renting from Blockbuster. I'm interested to see what the new fee scheme is all about myself...

Great post. Nice to hear the other side of the story. You're right -- some people will complain no matter what the situation.

I see BB in the same situation as the record companies -- the market is changing and BB isn't doing enough to stay in stride. Maybe this new pricing will help, but I always thought a $4 rental was a bit steep when I could buy the flick for $12 or $15.

Now as with the record industry, maybe there isn't a business model that can succeed. That's entirely possible. But what we have now just doesn't work. Change is required.

 

[herkulease]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Snowlock

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
they feeling the pain of netflix netflix 0wnz all!

but really, is blockbuster going to stop carrying pan and scam, and stop limiting their selection to R only? all those unrated directors cuts etc are not carried by them....

It is because Blockbuster is run by a religious consortium. Really. Yet one more reason not to shop there. So there is no porn and they don't carry unrated movies and there is even rumors that they edit some of the movies they do carry.

i've heard they are mormon owned. the fundie kind...

Strange my blockbuster carries Unrated/director cuts. But have been switching to widescreens. I don't mind my house only 2 4:3 tvs, we've switched the 16:9s already.

I have their movie pass and its pretty cheap when you take advantage of it. 3 movies out for 30 bucks. At the arm and leg they want for 5 bucks its pretty cheap seeing as how my family rents tons of movies.

Yes I've tried netflix before but like someone said sometimes Blockbuster beats waiting. As for hollywood video, in my area they stink. They have a huge retail store compared to blockbuster(almost double in size) but its filled mostly junk items and devoted to selling candy/movies.

I do like their game selection, they have it better than the blockbuster . Good thing hollywood sends me 99cent rental coupons.

 

[BrokenArrow]

I had to sign up for this forum just to reply to this idiotic post. You admittedly had a late fee and refused to pay it, and then you whine when they come get their money anyhow? Do you know how stupid you sound? I seriously doubt that you did read what you signed. My wife used to work at blockbuster before having our second child, and I know first hand that they send out mail notices before resulting to charging a credit card. Its not blockbuster with the problem, its people like you that need to grow up, and take responsibility for your finances. Stop blaming others for your incompetence.

 

[yukichigai]

In regards to the widescreen movie issue, I've never run into a problem with Blockbuster the very few times I've rented movies with them. Damn near all DVDs released anymore have Widescreen and Pan and Scan modes both included. But yeah, I usually go to Hollywood when I want to rent movies. The rates are cheaper, the rental time is for longer, and I have a friend there who "forgets" my late fees.

I just go to Blockbuster for games, mostly because they're a block down from me. There's no rate difference between Hollywood and Blockbuster here for games.

But still... maybe I should start going to hollywood more...

 

[wampa]

Originally posted by: herkulease

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Snowlock

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
they feeling the pain of netflix netflix 0wnz all!

but really, is blockbuster going to stop carrying pan and scam, and stop limiting their selection to R only? all those unrated directors cuts etc are not carried by them....

It is because Blockbuster is run by a religious consortium. Really. Yet one more reason not to shop there. So there is no porn and they don't carry unrated movies and there is even rumors that they edit some of the movies they do carry.

i've heard they are mormon owned. the fundie kind...

Strange my blockbuster carries Unrated/director cuts. But have been switching to widescreens. I don't mind my house only 2 4:3 tvs, we've switched the 16:9s already.

I have their movie pass and its pretty cheap when you take advantage of it. 3 movies out for 30 bucks. At the arm and leg they want for 5 bucks its pretty cheap seeing as how my family rents tons of movies.

Yes I've tried netflix before but like someone said sometimes Blockbuster beats waiting. As for hollywood video, in my area they stink. They have a huge retail store compared to blockbuster(almost double in size) but its filled mostly junk items and devoted to selling candy/movies.

I do like their game selection, they have it better than the blockbuster . Good thing hollywood sends me 99cent rental coupons.

If the Blockbuster in my area had the Movie Pass promotion I wouldn't mind renting from them. Because I will not be charged a late fee for a movie, and I would get the opportunity to watch any I want for only $30. The movie pass is similar to the Netflix model since you just pay a monthly fee, and get to rent as many movies as you want in a given time period, and keep them as long as you want.

 

[EverydayTreats]

Not only Netflix but NOW WAL-MART. $15.54/mo, 2 at a time, 18.97 for 3 at a time.
Same prepaid mailers as Netflix.

Blockbuster is being busted. No wonder they are rearranging things.

Bad feelings over later fees are definitely coming back to bite them in the A$$.

wal-mart eh? i didnt know they do rentals.. sounds charming to me..

 

[Pliablemoose]

Blockbuster is in trouble, the prices of DVD's have been dropping & people are becoming movie collectors, not movie renters.

They grew well when the studios were charging $60-80 for a videotape, now that prives have dropped, there's not a lot of motivation to rent vs buy.

I like to go on Saturday nights & get the free rental rain checks for the "In stock or it's free" promos.

They'll need to re-invent themselves to remain profitable.

 

[ABErickson]

Does Netflix carry primarily DVD, VHS, or both? I looked through their catalog and it didn't really say what format the titles were in.

 

[starknaked]

Originally posted by: Big Al
Does Netflix carry primarily DVD, VHS, or both? I looked through their catalog and it didn't really say what format the titles were in.

Netflix carries only DVD's, no videos. This is because of the shipping cost. The dvd's are shipped in a paper envelope both ways, which costs nothing more than the cost of a 1st class stamp I believe, while shipping videotapes would be far more expensive.

Pretty much all the online rental companies rent dvd's, not videos, for the same reason.

 

[Xtremist]

Get with the program people. You gotta have 3 @ Netflix, 4 @ Walmart, and the Blockbuster Freedom Pass like me Don't worry, it's only been temporary (past 3 months). I'm trying to see if I like Netflix or Walmart better. I've been w/ Netflix for over a year now and they're pretty good, but I've been getting a string of unplayable DVD's lately which sucks.

My Netflix drop is Denver (I live in UT), while Walmart is Vegas. Both take an average of two days to get there (send Mon, receive Wed), however I've noticed Netflix has been faster on the turn-around. Essentially, I can get the same number of titles per month through Netflix @ 3 as I can through Walmart @ 4, for about the same price.

Having said that, Walmart would be a good deal for people who keep movies for 2-4+ days since it allows you to have more total inventory floating around at a given time. Netflix is faster though and so if you're like me and send them back... quickly, I think it's a better deal. I've also noticed that like the B&M stores, Walmart doesn't carry some of the more questionable? titles...

I'm definately going to drop the Freedom Pass soon. I got it so that I could catch up on a ton of the recent/new releases (as I'd used Netflix for a lot of the older/weird titles so far). But after a few months that's running dry and their selection is just nothing compared to the online stores.

I'm probably going to revert back to "only" Netflix and just upgrade my account to 5 at a time.

 

[Freejack2]

Blockbuster still exists? All the Blockbusters around here turned into Hollywood videos.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I just buy the frickin movies. I always forget or don't have time to return them and get a $12-$15 late fee. Makes a nice DVD collection too Great for movie nights with the friends...we just pick a movie from the library and off we go.

That's what I've started doing about a year ago (but it started more because I couldn't find my Blockbuster card and now I really don't care if I find it).


Blockbuster is pretty much dead meat. Even my parents use Netflix these days. Video on demand with fast forward and rewind is starting to also cut into business. I think that 10 years from now Blockbuster will have seriously diversified or won't really be around.



BTW: I used to be a BB Rewards member, I have to admit that it was a good deal while I had it.

 

[allisolm]

Is there anyone who can verify the rental rate changes?